# Cage Photos - Manure Collection



## Lazy J

We finally finished hanging the tarps for the manure collection system under our hanging cages. We actually have one more set to hang but the lumberyard was out of Conduit and we don't have rabbits that set yet.

We used a discarded Bilboard vinyl sign, 48' x 14' along with 1/2" EMT Conduit and zip ties. The most difficult part was cutting and attaching the conduit to the sides that did not have pockets. 

We will use a scraper made from plywood and attached to a long pole to remove the maure multiple times during a week, the buckets under the ends are to collect urine and water.

I hope you enjoy the photos. The first three are photos of our 24" x 30" hanging cages, the second three are from our 30" x 48" growout cages.

Jim


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## Wisconsin Ann

Great idea  Excellent pictures showing how it's done  thanks for sharing!


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## Dead Rabbit

not a bad idea


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## TxGypsy

Thank you for posting the initial photos on the cage thread the other day and thank you for the more detailed photos. I just finished moving my bank of cages into the workshop in preparation for the coming storm. The floor is concrete and using your method let me protect my rabbits from the high winds/low temps and protect my floor from staining. Very nice set up you have!


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## lonelyfarmgirl

how are you going to reach a wooden scraper that far under the cages to get the tarp at the high end? seems it would be too awkward and heavy due to the angle.


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## Dead Rabbit

lonelyfarmgirl said:


> how are you going to reach a wooden scraper that far under the cages to get the tarp at the high end? seems it would be too awkward and heavy due to the angle.


just tap the bottom of the tarp. it will work the manure down hill/low end of tarp.


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## Wisconsin Ann

Dead Rabbit said:


> just tap the bottom of the tarp. it will work the manure down hill/low end of tarp.


nod. I'd agree that would work. Unless you let the cleaning go too long. Then things might build up a bit and you'd have to take down the tarp..but still not a difficult job. That would be an interesting setup for a cage colony. Long and narrowisih...rabbits able to run and hide and bound about, with all the manure falling into ONE tub instead of into a multitude. 

Oh golly. Now I'm imagining that one tub on the end as a single conveyor belt which dumps into a manure spreader (or a huge worm bin) outside of the barn. 

someone STOP ME!!


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## wolffeathers

We have a very similar setup under our hanging cages. Instead of a tarp we used plastic roofing slanting downhill into a wheel barrel. Most of the waste rolls down itself, sometimes with hay or spilled feed it backs up, but a quick spray of water from the top end gets things rolling again. 

Eventually we will have it setup to roll into compost/worm bins, but while they are inside the barn it will continue to go into a wheel barrel or manure speader.


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## lonelyfarmgirl

looks from the pictures that tapping the tarp would require a hands and knees position, and what about winter? tapping doesnt help when the stuff is frozen.

besides, the OP DID say, a plywood scraper on a long pole.


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## Lazy J

we have a half-moon shaped piece of 1/4" plywood attached to a 10' piece of 1/2" conduit. It doesn't weigh muchand we can reach the bulk of the manure easily.

The single cages are 18" tall and the doubles are 16". The tops of both sets are about 5' off the ground.

Jim


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## Wisconsin Ann

LFG, you don't have to get DOWN UNDER it to tap it. You could use a shovel or rake or just a piece of pvc or something. She's using a stiff-ish material, so it wouldn't take much shaking. You could also just shake from the conduit on the sides to get things rolling. 

14ft is long, I grant you, for a pole. My main concern would be the one at the very top end where the slope is close to the bottom of the cage. We found with our cage/slanted drop tray set up that if they start to clog at the top end, it get full and crammed tight REALLY fast. 

It's a great use of discarded materials tho  I look forward to updates as to how well it works


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## lonelyfarmgirl

duh, can you tell it was late when I typed that?

I cant believe I never thought of doing that myself. I think I will do that with a heavy duty tarp. A lot of my cages have trays but I do have one bank of hanging cages.
Imagine! Never having to shovel up the floor again.


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## Wisconsin Ann

No kidding. Just pick up the tub, or wheelbarrow it all out. Although A series of cheap tubs under the cages might work as well.


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## jessiesue

I hadn't thought of using tarps, we did discuss metal roofing. But this is what we have going. We still like two more setups to go. The tarps would be less expense and easier.








We plan on using totes when I get a few $'s that not already spoke for.


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## Head4theHills

You could make the funnel shapes out of tarps/bill board material too.

we've used those old bill board signs as a hay tarp before-we had a huge stack of hay by the road with a Bud Light billboard on it one winter! :thumb:

One thing I like about the tarps system here is the air circulation-seems like the smell and fumes could get strong over the funnel bucket? I could be wrong.... it's happened before.


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## bluemoonluck

The only problem I see is that the buns can chew thru the plastic cable ties you've used to attach the vinyl to the bottom of the cages. I tried using them to hold my cages together in between J-clips, and within weeks the buns had chewed thru them all.


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## PD-Riverman

My cages have free discarded window screens under them angled down. The urine goes through into the dirt, the poop pellets roll into containers that I feed to the worms. All free and only takes a few minutes to install. If my pens were inside I would put metal under the screens and collect the urine seperate.


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## pfaubush

I've seen this setup with deep holes the size of a bucket in the ground. Drill holes in the bottoms of buckets, set the buckets in the holes so that it doesn't fall in, and the urine goes deep in the hole and absorbs away and all you have to deal with is the manure.


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## Pony

Nice! Now I have some great ideas from which to work when we design our collection system. 

THANKS!


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