# newbie question about size of cage for angora



## meganwf (Jul 5, 2005)

I've been lurking on and off and been researching angora rabbits. I'm thinking of getting one french angora pet rabbit to house in an elevated or hanging wire cage in my chicken run (predator-proof and covered/shaded). The sizes of the cages always seem so small to me! What size would you all recommend? My run is pretty big (maybe 10' wide and 20+' long) and really high so I thought it would help maximize space. 


I also thought I would do two and use one as a hospital or "stop going broody" cage for a chicken. Thoughts? thanks!


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

You can't have too large a cage for a rabbit. Build what you have space for and can afford. Make sure the chickens cannot get on top of the rabbit cage or you'll have one filthy Angora bun. You can certainly use the second cage for chickens, but with only one rabbit you will hardly need a hospital cage. Or maybe you meant for chickens? 

Make sure you can reach all corners of your rabbit cage, which means not making it too deep. A cage two feet deep and eight feet long would be bunny paradise. Enjoy!


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## Somerhill (Dec 13, 2005)

Coming at this question from the other side of the coin - an adult French Angora should have no less than a 24x30 cage, with a 24x36 being better. I had some 30x30 at first, and like Maggie points out, its hard to reach the back of the cage to keep it clean. Rabbits like to sit in a corner, and with angoras, the shed wool and "string of pearls" manure you get will build up in the corner quickly if you can't reach it. 

A doe and litter should have at least a 24x36 cage. Again, catching those little guys if they get in the back corner of the cage can be hard with something deeper than 24". 

Lisa
(notice I make mention of litter??? Angoras are like potato chips, only they also come in a rainbow of colors.)


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Lisa is right about the "potato chip" factor. You could build a long, narrow cage with plans to partition it *when* you get more rabbits. :rotfl:


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## meganwf (Jul 5, 2005)

No! I don't need another addiction... I had better spin the angora I already bought before I think about this some more. But the width is really good to know. I couldn't find any pre-made wire cages that were that nice 8' long paradise Maggie J mentioned! Does this mean I have to make my own? I am so not handy...


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

LOL, Megan, it doesn't have to be 8 feet long. It's just what I would do if I had the space and the money. If you don't want to make a cage, you could put two side by side and modify them so there is a doorway (one you can close) between them. 

That's right, you go spin that Angora fur while you think it over. (Evil grin:  Aside to other forum members: _Ha, ha! She's a goner now! Just wait until she gets that lovely, long, ever-so-soft fibre between her fingertips..._ )


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## Truckinguy (Mar 8, 2008)

The only thing better than one cute, soft, cuddly bunny rabbit is two......or three....ten.....


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## denaliguide (Aug 30, 2008)

I am lucky to have a supply of all cage materials xcept wire floors. I am using chicken wire for sides, and ceilings. I ran across "Plastic Hardware Cloth", so I am using some of this in my drop down, full width doors.

I have built 8' racks, elevated to our 'Power Zones' btwn our waists and shoulders, so we can work and access our bunnies with ease.Within these I can make cages that are 24 X 36 inches; 24 X 30 inches; & 24 X 24 inches. The largest we use for does with kits, and as "grow-out" cages for the fryers, the Mid size can be used for Big Bucks so they can maneuver around the Big Does while they mate, and the smallest size is used for the Rex Does and Rex Bucks respecitively. All of these cages can be mixed in a combo that fits a 8' rack, and leaves us waste chutes underneath.

When completed our rabbitry [ Ironwood Rabbitry ] will contain 5 X 8' Racks, and one 42" cage, and one 6' rack, feed & hay storage. This is housed in an semi-heated attached garage that is 12' X 25' and leave me room for my shop including table saw and to pull my mini-suv inside for light maintenance and oil changes. To date I have 4 of these 5 racks up and almost fully operational as I continue to build cages. The guys next door give me 8' & 3' pallets to construct my racks. The rabbits are gifted with all my shop work too, they know what the saws sound like, and the drills and as I work in there they seem OK with me around. They dont really like some of the saw noises, but they are in fact, getting quite used to me building things in there. Actually some of my hammering seems to be more disturbing than anything else.
The rabbitry is compact, but secure, well lit & semi-heated space is a gift, so my idea is to tightly organize it to maximize its utility. This is a continuing work in progress. So far so good.

DG

" I figure I am gonna have to buy a sack of pellets again before I finish the
remaining 3 sacks of grain, but by that time, I hope to get the pellets down into the 10% range. I'd like to hear any feedback from anyone with input on this. I guess I should be tracking wheat, oat, & barley futures to keep a tab on my future feed costs. That said, this feed bill even with the delivery charge, was a lot better than buying what I now feel was inferior feed at an extra $5.00 per 25 KG [ 55 lb for metric dummies like me ]. That brings my cost down to about 20 cents a pound for all feed, including hay.

Now going off topic, that would give me an 80 cent per live weight pound on fryers [ remember I am using Canadian Dollars here, so use your currency conversion if your in the States ]. Given a 50% 'dress-out' ratio, and adding back 1.00 cent a pound for the Low production fixed costs [ cages, stock, space, heat, light ] or 50 cent a pound for the High production. So typically a fryer's ultimate production cost for me would be about $5.00 or less, using this feed configuration, and utilizing btwn 50-100% of all my cage space and facility, as a 'backyard' or small producer. Since I minimize my costs by building cages & nest boxes, racks and such as I need them from mostly free
materials [ I must buy my wire mostly ], the fixed costs are only an accounting reality. What is not in there is my labor. I havent noticed many posting their labor costs, but it is relevant to acknowledged it as a cost of production.

Back on topic - > I'd say so far, that the concept of feeding rabbits
" naturally " is a good one for me. I cannot say I feed mine 'natrually' but I 
have found my way to feed them better, and mostly without pellets. Next
I plan to hit an ag store and get a mineral block, and make it into little pieces to place there for the rabbits to lick. If I can find a Deer Mineral Block, I'll take that, but I think a regular red mineral block will do. I figure I am gonna have to buy a sack of pellets again before I finish the
remaining 3 sacks of grain, but by that time, I hope to get the pellets down into the 10% range. I'd like to hear any feedback from anyone with input on this. I guess I should be tracking wheat, oat, & barley futures to keep a tab on my future feed costs. That said, this feed bill even with the delivery charge, was a lot better than buying what I now feel was inferior feed at an extra $5.00 per 25 KG [ 55 lb for metric dummies like me ]. That brings my cost down to about 20 cents a pound for all feed, including hay.

Now going off topic, that would give me an 80 cent per live weight pound on fryers [ remember I am using Canadian Dollars here, so use your currency conversion if your in the States ]. Given a 50% 'dress-out' ratio, and adding back 1.00 cent a pound for the Low production fixed costs [ cages, stock, space, heat, light ] or 50 cent a pound for the High production. So typically a fryer's ultimate production cost for me would be about $5.00 or less, using this feed configuration, and utilizing btwn 50-100% of all my cage space and facility, as a 'backyard' or small producer. Since I minimize my costs by building cages & nest boxes, racks and such as I need them from mostly free
materials [ I must buy my wire mostly ], the fixed costs are only an accounting reality. What is not in there is my labor. I havent noticed many posting their labor costs, but it is relevant to acknowledged it as a cost of production.

Back on topic - > I'd say so far, that the concept of feeding rabbits
" naturally " is a good one for me. I cannot say I feed mine 'natrually' but I 
have found my way to feed them better, and mostly without pellets. Next
I plan to hit an ag store and get a mineral block, and make it into little pieces to place there for the rabbits to lick. If I can find a Deer Mineral Block, I'll take that, but I think a regular red mineral block will do. "





Somerhill said:


> Coming at this question from the other side of the coin - an adult French Angora should have no less than a 24x30 cage, with a 24x36 being better. I had some 30x30 at first, and like Maggie points out, its hard to reach the back of the cage to keep it clean. Rabbits like to sit in a corner, and with angoras, the shed wool and "string of pearls" manure you get will build up in the corner quickly if you can't reach it.
> 
> A doe and litter should have at least a 24x36 cage. Again, catching those little guys if they get in the back corner of the cage can be hard with something deeper than 24".
> 
> ...


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## Willowynd (Mar 27, 2005)

Meagan,
I see you live in PA. If you plan on hanging the cage outside, you will need protection from the elements. I am also combining my rabbit and poultry spaces and hanging cages on the outside with indoor compartments. 








We are still working on the inside compartments so no cutouts yet but here is a photo of one of the outsides. You can see the chicken door underneath. Windows are on the sides of the building. I have to buy a bigger tarp to over the outside cages. There is a run around the back and front, but needs to be attached still. My cages for my adult french lop does are 24 by 30, the bucks and young rabbits have 24 by 24 and the does who are pregnant or have litters have 36 by 24. Those are the outside compartments. My inside compartments are all 24 by 24.
Here is the other side of the coop.


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

MaggieJ said:


> That's right, you go spin that Angora fur while you think it over. (Evil grin:  Aside to other forum members: _Ha, ha! She's a goner now! Just wait until she gets that lovely, long, ever-so-soft fibre between her fingertips..._ )



Don't worry. Angoras are not addicting. We have never had more than 40 Angoras at one time (if you don't count the baby ones).

We're not addicted!

Have a good day!


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## Meg Z (Jun 8, 2004)

Here's one of mine...










I make my doe cages 30" by 5'. I make a fairly large door, so I can easily reach all parts of those cages, by leaning in. Even at that size, a litter of eight or more makes it pretty crowded pretty quickly.

If you notice my hay rack on this cage, it can be filled from outside the cage easily.


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## morgansrgr8 (Oct 14, 2008)

Wonderful pic of the hay rack megz. I am such a sight oriented person all the written directions just didnt sink in. My cages are hung just like yours. That makes clean up so nice and easy. Now I can put in a hay manger. Those does just love digging in the hay I put in their cages. Thankyou so very much. 

Linda and Tom


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## meganwf (Jul 5, 2005)

Thanks everyone... love the pic Meg Z--that is what I was picturing. And now I just happened to get an email from someone nearby who has some angora babies... and I took another fiber class Saturday which was putting fun stuff into your carder and making "designer" yarns. Too fun! One woman brought some of her son's hair while others incorporated tinsel and string. Love getting ideas from people!

Now Willowynd you are saying I'll need some kind of "box" inside the wire cage to give it more protection from the elements, yes?

This is the area I'm hoping to hang the cage in:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/frasers/2412795231/" title="DSCN9807.JPG by Scott Fraser, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2131/2412795231_a83dfab018_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSCN9807.JPG" /></a>

or this link:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2131/2412795231_a83dfab018_b.jpg


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