A feeding trough is essential if you keep rabbits at home. Not a single cage with these rodents can do without such an accessory. A dining room for your pets can be bought at the store, or you can be creative and save money by building this simple device with your own hands.

Basic requirements for rabbit feeders

Before you start designing and manufacturing a feeder, you should know that it must meet certain requirements:

1. It should be convenient for your pet to eat.
2. The feeder should be easy to remove so that you can clean and disinfect it often enough.
3. The material of construction should be easy to clean.
4. The size of the device should be large enough so that the rabbit eats easily from it, but not so large that the animal fits into it whole.
5. The design must be robust so that the nimble rabbit does not break it.
6. The container must be built from solid material so that the animal does not gnaw it.
7. When installing the dining room, make sure that it is fixed firmly enough and pets will not be able to turn it over.

Important! Choosing the type of feeder that is right for your rabbits, it is worth considering the number of animals living in one cage. If there are many rabbits, they will be pushed in front of a single hopper feeder, and vice versa, if you have only one or two pets, a long groove feeder will only occupy free space in the cage.

Types of feeders

Tanks for feeding rabbits are different. Consider the 3 most common varieties - bunker, cup and groove, and also find out which ones are suitable for feeding one or more pets, and which ones for a large number of animals.

The bunker tank for food is automatic. Its advantage is that it provides food to the animal in portions. That is, you pour more feed into it, and, as it is eaten, it is automatically added to the compartment from where the rabbit eats. This type of device is suitable for grain, as well as for granular feed. Just keep in mind that 1 hopper is designed for 1 rabbit, so if you have many pets, there should be several auto feeders, respectively.

Cup types with one name indicate what they are. This is a kind of bowl or large bowl, in which it is convenient to serve root crops, grain and granules for pets. This species is popular for use in cages with decorative domestic rabbits due to its compact size. The advantage of such containers is that they are easy to remove from the cage, wash and replace. These feeders have a drawback: rabbits, as a rule, quickly turn them over, scattering food throughout the cage.

Groove types are distinguished by their versatility. They are equally good for feeding grain, hay, root crops, animal feed and pellets. Another advantage of this device is that it can be used by several animals at the same time. Pets line up in front of the tank and eat without interfering with each other.

Learn how to make DIY drinkers for rabbits.

How to make a do-it-yourself feeder for rabbits

Now let's look at the plan for the manufacture of different types of table accessories for rabbits with their own hands, the selection of materials, tools, all sizes and drawings of designs.

Bunker

Car feeders of this kind are most often made of wood or galvanized. Wooden models should be well strengthened so that the rabbit does not bite the device. Homemade models made of plastic pipes and a profile for drywall are less common. We will consider the most practical and durable option made of galvanized iron.

And so, for a bunker feeder you will need:

• galvanized iron sheet 0.4 mm wide;
• riveting gun;
• scissors for metal;
• size 3 rivets;
• screwdriver;
• metal ruler.

To create a template, transfer the drawing to paper or cardboard. Cutting it, you will get templates for your metal parts. The size of the fixture may vary depending on the size of the cell. In our drawing you see the dimensions of a standard sheet metal product 30 cm wide.

Important! Make sure that all free edges and corners of the finished product are rounded and devoid of clues. The feeder should be as safe as possible for the rabbit.

Transferring the scheme to a galvanized sheet, it is better to use a self-tapping screw or a rivet for drawing lines. Then they are obtained as thin as possible, and you will have no errors. When the metal blanks are ready, assemble the structure: bend all the connecting lines using a strong ruler. Next, drill a hole for rivets with a screwdriver and rivet both parts of the container together.

Video: how to make a bunker feeder with your own hands

Cup

Cup feeders can be made of any improvised materials. They can be built from a can, a plastic bottle, or even from a large canister. To create the simplest container from a jar, you will need:

• can;
• metal scissors or a sharp knife;
• pencil;
• file.

Did you know? Many farmers use a bowl feeder instead of a drinking bowl. If the product is made entirely of metal or ceramic , the water does not leak out, remains fresh for a long time and does not become cloudy due to the fact that it is in an open vessel.

Take a jar, measure the line along its perimeter so that the feeder is deep and spacious enough, but so that the rabbit can eat from it easily. Cut off the upper part with scissors or a knife. Carefully walk along the cut edge with a file, cleaning off all sharp hooks and irregularities so that your pet does not get cut during use.

You can simply place such a device at the bottom of the cage, or you can fix it for stability on the wall of the house. To do this, drill 2 holes in the upper part of the product with a screwdriver, through which pass the wire and wind the can to the bars of the cage.

Video: how to make a cup feeder with your own hands

Groove

Doing such a universal feeder with your own hands will not be difficult. The material for it can serve as iron, and wood or plastic pipe. Below we will consider the option of manufacturing such a product from galvanized steel and plywood.

You will need:

• galvanized iron sheet;
• a piece of plywood;
• scissors for metal;
• screwdriver;
• bolts or screws.

Cut the bottom and the wall of your future product from galvanization, and the edges of plywood. By bending the iron along the connecting lines, you will get an almost finished construction. Next, drill holes on the sides where the plywood will be fastened and with the help of bolts connect the side walls to the main part.

Video: how to make a groove feeder with your own hands

According to the method of Zolotukhin

The method of the rabbit breeder Nikolai Zolotukhin suggests that the feeder should be placed on the door of the cage so that one part of it is outside the cage, where it is easy to feed the rabbits without opening the door.

Choosing the material for such a device, it is better to dwell on metal or wood. If you decide to make a wooden version, the intracellular part of it will need to be protected with iron so that the rabbits do not turn it into sawdust.

Read also how to build a rabbitry with your own hands.

For the manufacture you will need the following materials:

• galvanized iron sheet 0.4 mm wide;
• riveting gun;
• scissors for metal;
• size 3 rivets;
• screwdriver.

Cut out all the necessary parts from iron and rivet them together with a riveting gun. In the side walls of the finished product, drill holes for nails with which it will be attached to the cage. Make the holes slightly larger in diameter than the nails so that the structure can rotate. Install the product in a cage, for this, nail it to the door with nails through the drilled holes.

Place a net from the door inside the container. It must be positioned in such a way that between its lower edge and the bottom of the feeder there is a clearance of 2 cm: through it, the feed that is covered from the outside will enter the feeder.

According to the Maklyakov method

Evgeni Maklyakov, a well-known farmer, invented a bunker-type feeder, which consists of two bunkers, in which you can fill in different types of food for rabbits. Drawings for the manufacture of this type of feeder look like this:

In accordance with the drawings, notes are made: 2 side walls, a jumper, an inner wall and a supporting bar. All details are cut out and bent, holes are made for connection, after which all parts are connected with rivets.

Video: how to make a feeder according to the Maklyakov method

The location of the feeders in the cage

The feeders in the cage should be placed so that the rabbits have free access to them. It can be a wall or a door of a cage. If this is a cup-type feeder, it can be put to the bottom, but this is fraught with the fact that animals will turn it upside down. It is better if the feeder is located at a certain distance from the floor of the cage, so that the pets could not get into it completely and did not contaminate the feed.

Also make sure that you can easily remove the container for cleaning, disinfection, and filling. If you tightly fasten it to the rods or the bottom of the cage, then each time you have to disassemble the entire structure.

Did you know? The digestion of rabbits is designed in such a way that no less than two-thirds of their diet should be made up of hay. This is genetically embedded in them, since the wild ancestors of modern domestic rabbits fed mainly on dry or fresh grass, branches and leaves. Domestic rabbits can receive all the missing vitamins and minerals by eating special concentrated feed.

Basic feeding rules

In order for the feeder to serve you for a long time, and the rabbits grow healthy, you must follow some rules for feeding animals:

1. The feeders must be cleaned at least once a week.
2. Animal nutrition should be balanced.
3. Disinfection of feeders should be carried out at least 1-2 times a month.
4. Try to notice in time that the feeders are empty, and regularly add fresh food to them.
5. Keep pets out of overeating.

That's all every rabbit breeder needs to know about feeders and how to create them with their own hands. Using this article, you can quickly choose the right type of product for yourself and easily manufacture it using improvised materials.