Another thing that there are different schools of thought on, is how to house your herd. Everyone has different variables to work with, and your requirements control what works best for you. I will share some of my findings, through trial and error, and what works for me today. I’ve had three different locations to work with, and each dictated a different method.

First off, I recommend a wire floor for your animals for the sake of cleanliness and ease of cleaning. With 1/2 x 1 inch wire on the floor, it keeps the area they sit on clean. If you feel the need for a resting board, for comfort, make sure it is something that you can clean easily, because rabbits that eat a lot of fiber, generally leave cecotropes all around. More fiber is healthier and the cecotropes indicate that they’re producing enough to get the vitamins synthesized by the bacteria in the cecum. They’ll leave what they don’t need on their sitting boards, wire, and nest boxes, though, and it needs to be cleaned off regularly with a wire brush and scraper.

For a Holland Lop sized rabbit, a 24x24 inch cage is a comfortable amount of space. The sides and top are best made of 1 x 2 inch wire, because it’s cheaper and easier to work with. It also makes it easier to clip feeders, and hayracks onto it with the larger mesh. J clips or hog rings are used to put the wire sides, top and floor together, with special clip pliers. There are economy priced pliers, but if you plan on putting together a few of these, you’re best to invest a few extra dollars for the better, padded set of pliers. If you make a cage that includes the pan area, make sure that you allow a whole inch between the lip of the pan and the floor wire, so it doesn’t grab their toenails when you pull the pan.

We use 24 x 24 inch cages for the bulk of our rabbits, but we have a few 18x24 inch sized we use for growing cages. We also have 3 30x30 inch cages and 3 24x30 inch that we use for more established does and litters. We use 24 x 24 inch, with big doors, for the rest of the brood does. The cages we use for the bucks, juniors and show rabbits, are 14 inches high. I think that does, who will be jumping into nest boxes, require at least 16 inches in height, so they can clear the side and sit on the nest box bonnet if they are so inclined. For this, they need the added height of 16 to 18 inches.

There are several types of cage designs. Some people have what are called hanging cages. They don’t have pans and the droppings fall to the floor. This is a lower maintenance type design, and is good for large herds. It is harder to incorporate this type system into the climate controlled type setup I prefer. There are more than one type of cage with the pan included. There are the type that have legs that nest with the one above it, that have two slides attached on which the pans rest. These are the most expensive design and the bulkiest, as well, but are very stable. I think, if you have a larger breed, these might be the best to have. There is also what I call, the self-contained style cage. These have an area build in made of wire, that houses the pan, so they don’t require legs, or slides. These are lighter, and cheaper and plenty stable for the Holland sized rabbit. We have found that a one piece stack with casters is really handy. It is made with one piece of 1x2 wire that runs all the way from the bottom of the one side of the cages, up the side of all of them, over the top and down the other side. Very stable since it’s one solid piece. The floors of 1/2x1 wire are put in, leaving space for the pans and an extra inch for toe clearance and the backs are attached to each section. I, frankly, wouldn’t mind having this style throughout the rabbitry, and maybe someday we will. I have a potpourri of different styles, because I had to learn by trying things. There is also the self-contained, single unit that is great for a pet rabbit cage, too. They are the same size, with the same wire, but there is just one with an area beneath the floor wire for a pan. They can be placed on the floor for easy entrance and exit, or they can be clipped together to form a stack in a rabbitry. I’ve found these, with large doors to be wonderful, affordable multi-purpose cages. KD Cage has a model that I used for years and it’s reasonable, and comes assembled for those that don’t want to be squeezing clips for an hour or so. You pay the extra, oversized, shipping on them when they’re assembled.

There are different size, shapes and materials used for drop pans. I’ve tried many different types over the years. There are metal ones in several different depths. Some have sides that are straight up and down, and there are some that are flared. I’ve used the 1 1/2 inch deep, 2 inch deep, and 3 inch deep. I find that for my purposes, I don’t need the real deep pans, because in our situation, we can’t wait long enough to clean the pans that would require a deeper pan. The down sides to the metal pans is they do corrode through eventually, and the time it takes depends on the gauge of the metal and if it’s galvanized after or not. Eventually, though, they all rust through. They seem to go faster if you rinse your pans frequently, too. Another down side to them, is they are heavy. The thicker they are, and the deeper they are, the heavier. Because of these problems, we’ve decided that the plastic pans are the best for our purposes. They are lighter, and they don’t rust through. We have the 2 inch deep plastic pans, and they seem to work the best. They aren’t real deep, so if you were going to leave them, without cleaning, more than 3 days, you might find they aren’t deep enough. They run about the same price as the metal pans, but don’t require replacing every couple of years. There are thicker, deeper, gray plastic pans, that are more expensive and probably would hold more droppings, and also don’t need replacing all the time. I have never used this type, but understand that since they’re more rigid, they might not fit every pan area on every style of cage. I haven’t tried them to date, because they are cost prohibitive.

In our rabbitry, we have them in an inside area, so it requires very regular cleaning and means to control ammonia gases. These are the methods we have found to work for us:

In our pans, we use cheap, bottom of the line, clay cat litter. We find that Wal-Mart and Kmart both carry a cheap brand that sells for about $2 for 25 pounds. In our trays, in the area they seem to like using for a toilet, we place a 1/2 inch or so of the litter and dust over the top, with a product known as Sweet PDZ Stall Freshener. This reduces the ammonia released when they urinate, to some degree, and is activated by moisture. The litter is very absorbent, especially compared to pine shavings. I’m sure you’d find that litter is 3 or 4 times more absorbent, at least. We use a cat litter scoop and small dustpan to clean the pans. We do half the rabbitry one day, and the other half the next. We scrape out the wet area, saturate with Zaps It, and sprinkle the wet area with the litter and Sweet PDZ. This method keeps the smell to the minimum with around 60 rabbits.

To keep the air at it’s best, and still control the temperature, we do the following: In the winter time, we run an electric, oil-filled heater in the larger, buck and show rabbit room, and a small thermostat controlled ceramic heater in the doe/nursery room. In the larger room, we run a HEPA air filter, and in both rooms there is a floor exhaust fan, which efficiently removes the ammonia gas. In the summer, we have a small window air conditioning unit in each room, and keep the temperature between 75 and 80. Our target temperature in the winter is around 60 degrees.

Why do we climate control? I admit that it is mostly for my own comfort. I would rather be comfortable when I’m working in the rabbitry. Obviously, I am more willing to spend the time out there, doing the most important things in rabbit management, observation and sanitation, if I’m not freezing or melting. I am more likely to notice that odd behavior in a rabbit, or save a kit that rides out of the box, or notice when a rabbit isn’t having normal stools, if I’m out there, than if I run through there once a day. Another good point, is we have never lost a litter from exposure, or overheating. We try and keep the rabbitry in the rabbit’s comfort zone, so they don’t molt as often, or waste valuable calories keeping warm or cool, that could, otherwise, be used for conditioning.

The second most time consuming management job in our rabbitry is watering. We use heavy, ceramic crocks to hold their water. I empty, spray with a chlorox & water mixture, wipe and refill daily. We treat their water with "Stress B-gon" and apple cider vinegar. We've considered installing an automatic watering system, but were concerned that there might be a problem w/ bacteria and blockages, using a powder that contains active pro-biotics. I am afraid that they would not get the amount of water required to keep their condition at it's best. It is much harder to get the larger amounts of water, required for conditioning, out of the nipples on the systems.In most of the litters, that I have given their choice, 99% picked the crock method. This tells me something important. I feel that if they're going to work as hard as they do for me, I can invest the time to make their life easier, as well.

These are the methods that work the best for us. Not every situation dictates the same methods. In my case, I had to learn what worked most efficently, from trial and error, and you probably will need to, as well, but this should give you some ideas of what to try and why. Good luck, until next time.

Jaylene