# Making my own cages ...?



## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Was wondering ... all the cages that I see are made with bottoms of 1/2" x 1" cage wire. 

Can I make them from 1/2" hardware cloth instead? I have a 100' long roll and would like to make use of some of it for making cages for my future rabbits.


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## Fat Man (Mar 9, 2011)

The wire bottoms are either 14 or 16 gauge steel. Hardware cloth is not strong enough to support the weight of a rabbit. Plus the little berries might get hung up.


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## PD-Riverman (May 24, 2007)

cnichols said:


> Was wondering ... all the cages that I see are made with bottoms of 1/2" x 1" cage wire.
> 
> Can I make them from 1/2" hardware cloth instead? I have a 100' long roll and would like to make use of some of it for making cages for my future rabbits.


Fat Man answered it pretty good. I tried using 1/2" hardware cloth some years back, had a time keeping the bottom cleaned because of the poop hanging up plus I had to put a extra support to keep the wire from bagging so bad. I do not even use that cage any more. It takes to long to hand build a cage that you will hate once you start using it. Being you got a lot of that wire it would be best to use it on the sides and top, and get some good 1 x 1/2 for the floor.


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

I was kinda thinking that might be the way to go, but wanted to get second opinions. Thank you both very much.


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## jkmlad (Jun 18, 2009)

use some of that hardware cloth to attach to the bottom 2" of 1x2 wire that makes your sides. This will make it harder for babies to escape the cage when they have escaped the nest. I have also seen folks use hardware cloth in the bottom of their nest boxes. I have personally made an all wire nest box to use in oppressively hot weather. In those I have used hardware cloth for the floor to try to keep the wee little ones from catching theri feet in the wire.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

jkmlad said:


> use some of that hardware cloth to attach to the bottom 2" of 1x2 wire that makes your sides. This will make it harder for babies to escape the cage when they have escaped the nest. I have also seen folks use hardware cloth in the bottom of their nest boxes. I have personally made an all wire nest box to use in oppressively hot weather. In those I have used hardware cloth for the floor to try to keep the wee little ones from catching theri feet in the wire.


Yep to teh all wire nest box using hardware cloth. Just did the same four days ago as my doe was in the coolest cage I have but its got inch by inch wire and the babies were in danger of falling out the sides.

It works great to keep the babies in one spot and safe and COOL! I only gave it 3 inch sides so Honey can get in and out easily without tipping it over. 

If you have an entire roll of the stuff I would use it for the tops and to clad a 3 or 4 inch strip along the bottom of your cages, clipped to the stronger wire of your cage.

NEVER use it on the bottoms! Half of the cages at our old 4H had it on the bottoms and OMG! Sagging and wires sticking up and rusting and just awful!


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

*nod nod* 

Wonderful posts here. Especially about the nest boxes! I don't think I would ever have thought of that myself.

Was contemplating making cages and hanging them in a wood/metal type building with no sides. Well, some sort of canvas curtains will be added to block wind, etc. Single long row (so I don't have to worry about poop pans) and just let the poop/pee compost right under the cages. We've got three acres of land, so plenty of room for building something like that out under the trees.

Another quick question, if anyone can answer it ... I also have chickens. Would it be okay to let them "under" the cages (they free range)? I've heard that rabbits and chickens together aren't a good thing?


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

cnichols said:


> *nod nod*
> 
> Wonderful posts here. Especially about the nest boxes! I don't think I would ever have thought of that myself.
> 
> ...


I had my cages hung in my chicken pen. It worked fine but I had to wire the topsto keep the chickens off the cages. They kept the piles of poo scratched up so the flies had a hard time breeding in there.


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## craftyfarmgirl (Oct 24, 2011)

where is the best place to get cage wire? We will be making our own soon also I think..


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

craftyfarmgirl said:


> where is the best place to get cage wire? We will be making our own soon also I think..


 I got ours at our feed store but all I could find was 16 gauge instead of 14. 14 lasts better and is MUCH stronger than16 but needs must when the bunnies increase lol.

C clips are strongr than J clips. My hubby got them online but I dont remember where. Just do a search and you should find them easily enough.


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Tractor Supply in my area has 10' rolls of 1"x1/2"x30" "cage wire" for $20. It is 16 guage and while it's not as strong as 14 guage I figure it's better than Hardware cloth!  That's probably where I'll end up getting mine. 

Thanks for the tip on the clips. I was looking at J-clips but if C-clips are stronger that's probably what I'll go with, assuming I can find them. Stronger is better, imo.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

Bass rabbit equipment there are others if you can goggle em up as always shipping hurts ' the better floor wire espicially the galvanized after welding is stider last longer but is more expencive I'm useing the 30 x 36 14 gauge wire cages some I ordered from kw cages some from the local tractor supply they are satisfactory but of corse could be better I like the doors to swing up and in in case a door latch failes or I slip up somehow they are self closeing I'm also considering adding the meatle rod that fits on the bottom for some extra support and 2 x2 s attached on the tops alond several cages in a row to stop them from moveing so much when the rabbits hop round I did not like it when the chickens would jump round or try to roost on top of the cages when I had them in the barn it was a extra messy battle but now that iv got the rabbits hanging in the new open shed they sctatch underneath but have yet not tryed to get on top or roost could be the lower roof(?) The semi preasssembled cages have seemed to work well for me for the time and cost as I can add more as money allows of corse I'm gonna check back to see if someone comes up with a better supplyer or idea


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

cnichols said:


> Tractor Supply in my area has 10' rolls of 1"x1/2"x30" "cage wire" for $20. It is 16 guage and while it's not as strong as 14 guage I figure it's better than Hardware cloth!  That's probably where I'll end up getting mine.
> 
> Thanks for the tip on the clips. I was looking at J-clips but if C-clips are stronger that's probably what I'll go with, assuming I can find them. Stronger is better, imo.


Keep looking! I got a 100ft roll of half inch by inch by 24 inch wire for $126 at my local feed store. Granted it was 16 gauge after weld galvanized and not the 14 g that I was looking for but thats just about half the cost of TSC.

I liked the 24 inch width of the roll as it gave me a two ft wide cage and when I cut 6 inches off to make my cages 18 inches high I could use my off cuts to baby proof my other cages.


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## cnichols (Jan 5, 2010)

Well, our "local" feed store really doesn't carry anything much better than the TSC, unfortunately. It's a pretty small place but I'll check it out before going to TSC. 

I wish wayfair.com sold it ... that's where I got all my other wire (fencing & hw cloth) for much less than I could have gotten it anywhere else AND with free shipping. 

I'm not in any hurry to get this done, so I'll look around on-line and "locally" (which is really 15 miles away) before I hit TSC (30 miles away).


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## jkmlad (Jun 18, 2009)

Several years ago, I ordered a 100' roll of 18" baby saver wire from one of the supply dealers who frequent our local shows. The hardest part of making your own cages for me is cutting the cage wire. It is tedious work, and I always end up with blisters, arthritis problems in my hands, and a product that is not nearly as smooth as the wire the suppliers cut. I asked the dealer if they would cut the wire for me, and they were happy to, for about $1 per cut. While waiting for the wire to come in, I sat down and figured out exactly what size cuts I wanted. I was very specific... and did alot of figuring before I knew exactly what I wanted. I used every inch of that wire to it's best advantage... even figuring out exactly what sized door holes and doors I wanted. One of the things you must remember, though, is that for every cut you make on the wire, you will loose 1". The wire you can get at TSC is not very good quality. I wouldn't waste my baby saver on the tops...if you want to save money, this is where you can use the cheaper wire. Buying cage wire from TSC often means that you waste wire anyway... b/c you can waste alot of wire cutting down cage wire that is 24" tall. Good luck!


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Be sure to give yourself big enough doors! I hate small doors that you have to maneuver rabbits through!

And get a bunch of door edger strips, they will save you much blood loss.

I used every scrap of wire from my 100 ft by 2ft roll but I have several older cages that needed repairs and new larger doors putting on them.

In fact, by the time I was down to my last door I had about five different pieces of scrap wire all clipped together to form a square door lol.


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

If you can scrounge things at your local dump, refrigerator racks make excellent rabbit cage doors. They are usually in good condition since the rest of the refrigerator gives out before the racks do. 







In this picture the watering system hasn't been installed yet and there still needs to be some paint, but the bunnies are pretty happy with it.

This cage was built awhile back. Now I'm thinking a three sided building with lots of ventilation along the three "solid" sides with hanging all wire cages might be a better way to go. In this one the 2" x 4" floor supports need to be cleaned and the calcium deposits build up in some of the areas of the lower cages below the pee spots of the bunnies in the upper cages.

Each time you build a cage, it gets better, though so you may as well start now so you can have perfect cages later.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

I thought you had silkie chickens at first until I saw the ears lol.


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