# rabbit manure management - wdyd?



## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

How do you collect and dispose of the output from your dear rabbits? Do you have pans underneath the cages? How often do you empty them if you do?

If you don't have those slide-out pans, what happens? 

Anyone compost or vermi-compost directly under the cages? Is that possible? Desireable?

thanks!
Cathy


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## maidservant (Dec 10, 2007)

I just shovel out from under the cages once per month during the cold months, and twice per month during the warm months. Granted, I only have 9 outdoor cages, and four of those are all connected, so it's not a lot of work for my 15 little bunnies. Anyone with more than about 20 though might not be able to keep up with the little gems, lol!


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

We have a set of stacked cages with a slanted board under the top 3 and a straight drop for the bottom 3. We also have about 11 or so cages up on sawhorses. During the summer we shovel as often as needed to keep things odor free. In the winter we shovel when we can. The manure goes either in a future raised bed or out into the garden depending on where it's needed.
Also during the summer we have 5 or 6 tractors for the bigger young ones. No manure worries with those.


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## Fla Gal (Jul 14, 2003)

I shovel it up. All my rabbits are on one level so it's quick and easy to do.

Year before last I had worm bins so I'd have the castings for a garden or potted plants. This year I plan on spreading the poo in raised beds for growing veggies. I'll start some worm bins again when the weather warms up.

I don't remember who posted a site (which I didn't bookmark :-/) that had a chart of the different nutrients in animal manures. Bunny poo was the best all 'round manure fertilizer.

I haven't tried to do anything with it directly under the cages so I can't help you there.


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## Cloverbud (Sep 4, 2006)

I shovel it up and throw it in the garden. It all works out.


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## bluebird2o2 (Feb 14, 2007)

I empty the trays into a trailer then i haul it up too the garden.


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## Beaniemom (May 25, 2007)

I empty the pans into a trailer too, and haul it to the garden. I do have a couple cages where it falls under, I think I'd rather empty pans than shovel you know what. PLus, if anyone comes over, I feel like I should shovel out before they get here! LOL

I'd like to try vermi posting too. There were tons and tons of worms out yesterday (I had the sides of the shelter up and they must have been under there. I should have grabbed some and put them under the hutch! Although my DH tells me they're probably there already, I shoveled a ton out from under that one, didn't see any yet!


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

so what is the 'spatter' factor? If we let the droppings freefall under the wire cages - how much clearance on either side to avoid soiling adjacent stuff? If we're putting the cages in the barn, on a cement floor, would you lay any corn fodder or hay down first?

Rabbits were supposed to arrive today but postponed till next week due to my sick son. Trying to fill the time with thinking things through....


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## Terry W (Mar 10, 2006)

If you make a frame to contain the way the little round things roll-- give your 'splatter factor' about 3 extra inches per side--it's the urine that really gets away!!!

Use whatever absorbent material you wish---- I like peat moss, shavings and ground corncobs. I actually have nothing against using shredded newspaper if I could get it.

I have a neighbor who thought she would raise worms in the manure channel that ran through her barn-- she was raising rabbits in an old dairy barn-- but that didn't work out-- see-- the regular earthworms don't stay put very well-- and they crawled, following the channel out of the barn!!!


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## Beaniemom (May 25, 2007)

Are you going to let the poo drop onto the concrete? I wouldn't recommend that, I hear that the concrete will absorb the urine and it'll smell bad... Just what I heard since I currently have a dirt (mud) floor. I did wonder if you epoxyed the floor if that would keep the stuff from absorbing?


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

You could put a cheap tarp on the concrete under each cage and then some litter to absorb the urine. We get 4' x 6' tarps at Dollarama for a buck apiece... They are handy things to have around. When it comes time to clean out, you should be able to just gather the corners and dump the mess into a wheelbarrow or trailer -- and it would give the concrete some protection.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I've got litter pans and slide out trays. I put wood stove pellets in the litter pans and empty them every 2 to 3 days. The trays get dumped every week or every other week depending on the amount of stuff in them. Usually the poo gets dumped into the garden but since most of my grass got destroyed during deconstruction I have been using the wood pellet "waste" as mulch over the grass seed.


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## smwon (Aug 16, 2006)

Rabbits and chickens go together very well and the chickensâ keep the rabbit manure mixed with the bedding on the floor and keep it dry. The bedding absorbs the urine. Any fly larva is eaten by the chickens. Great combination as long as you have the cages high enough so the chickens don't peck on the bunnies feet and you have it so the chickens can't get on top of the rabbit cages. I loved the set up when I had my chickens and rabbits and plan to do it again this summer.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

I use slide out trays, and just dump them into the garden. In the Winter, I scrape them into the garden with a car window scraper. 

In the warm months, I pretty much clean them every day or so to keep the odors down. In the Winter, I have found that things don't smell as quickly or as bad, so I clean them once a week or when they pile too high to pull the trays out.  

Pony!


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## Terry W (Mar 10, 2006)

Pony

you know as well as I do-- that just makes MORE work!!! Despite my best intentions, waiting that long means I actually have to take the WHOLE cage and really WORK at getting that tray out!!!! And it usually means the inside of the cage needs some serious attention as well.. thankfully, I only have 4 such cages!!!


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Terry W said:


> Pony
> 
> you know as well as I do-- that just makes MORE work!!! Despite my best intentions, waiting that long means I actually have to take the WHOLE cage and really WORK at getting that tray out!!!! And it usually means the inside of the cage needs some serious attention as well.. thankfully, I only have 4 such cages!!!



Okay, let me rephrase that.

I let them go until I ALMOST can't get the slides out...

<hanging head in shame>

Not true. Sometimes, I really have to wrestle them out of there. 

Pony!


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## Home Harvest (Oct 10, 2006)

Out rabbits are outdoors, so we let it accumulate under the cages until our teenage son does something requiring a bit of discipline. We can generally count on him doing something stupid at least every couple of months, then he gets to spend a day shoveling manure.

It's a wonderful system. (BTW - if it needs cleaning, and he hasn't screwed up, then we pay him for his services. Only seems fair!)

The manure/straw mix goes in a pile on the edge of the garden until needed.


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## MaineFarmMom (Dec 29, 2002)

I hung opaque corrugated roofing under my pens. If you hang the roofing at a 45* angle the droppings and urine will empty into a bin at the bottom. It saves a ton of time.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

MaineFarmMom said:


> I hung opaque corrugated roofing under my pens. If you hang the roofing at a 45* angle the droppings and urine will empty into a bin at the bottom. It saves a ton of time.



Oooo! I like this idea! We can do this if we reconfigure the cage stand... Hmm...

There will be some changes come spring!

Thanks!

Pony!


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