Cages for Zolotukhin rabbits: drawings with dimensions, DIY creation

Rabbits, as you know, are not only fur, but also 2-3 kilograms of dietary meat. Keeping animals is not an easy task. Domestic hares are sensitive to infections, drafts. The well-known rabbit breeder N. I. Zolotukhin came up with cages for rabbits, drawings with dimensions and explanations for which are now in the public domain. The advantage of the conditions of detention proposed by him is that the animals give he althy offspring, they get sick less.

Features of the cell according to the Zolotukhin method

The designs proposed by Zolotukhin are combined into blocks of 6 cells arranged in 3 tiers.One block is designed for breeding 18-36 animals, 3-6 in one cage. Each terrace has 2 rooms separated by a corner feeder. The flooring is flat slate/boards and coarse mesh.

Part of the flooring adjacent to the rear wall is made mesh (along the entire length). Through the mesh, urine and feces fall out of the cage. In the cold season, the floor is covered with hay, including the net. The bedding is not removed until spring to insulate the animals' homes.

So that sewage from the upper levels does not fall into the lower levels, Zolotukhin proposed 2 options for the location of the tiers:

1. The back wall of the 3rd floor is straight, the second and third floors have a bevel at an angle, allowing rabbit feces to fall down, bypassing the cages below.
2. Cells from the grid have terraces: the top one protrudes above the second and first, the second - above the first. Animal feces and urine fall on the floor of the rabbitry.

The feeder is located at the bottom of the door. The angled design allows feeding without opening the door. To lay the feed, the door is folded back, the trough is cleaned, feed is added. When the door is lifted up, the trough with food returns to its original place and becomes accessible to the animals.

Uterine compartments are located on one side, one under the other, and can have a common door for 3 tiers. A threshold 10-15 centimeters high should be installed on the side of the door so that the rabbits do not fall out of the mother liquor when it is open. During the summer birth, the mother liquor is separated from the rest of the cage with a board 10-15 centimeters high.

The rabbit makes a nest in the uterine compartment from which the rabbits will not be able to get out until they are one month old. Then the board is removed, the female sits in a cage adjacent to the tier. There is enough room for the rabbits to move around.The board-limiter of the uterine nest in the summer version does not need to be protected from the teeth of the rabbit with metal sheathing along the edge.

In winter, a closed wooden box with one entrance is placed inside the cage. For the comfort of the rabbit, the back wall should be higher than the one where the entrance is.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantage of this design is that the litter stays dry and the cages do not need to be cleaned frequently. Cleaning comes down to cleaning the floor in the rabbitry once or twice a month. An important aspect is the availability of materials at a price, the ability to make rabbitry on your own, without the use of expensive tools. It is considered a design flaw that rabbits on frosty days can freeze in a cage where there is little bedding.

Design

The basis of the structure is a frame made of wooden bars.The frame is made simultaneously on 3 tiers along the entire contour. Vertical racks are calculated taking into account the height of the lower cage above the floor. The bottom of the facade of each tier is raised by an additional bar. The contour of the facade consists of two parts, designed to install the door of the queen cell, the door with a feeder. The intercellular space is divided into 3 parts: two cells and a septum-sennik.

Sizes

Dimensions of a block of 3 tiers, 2 cells each (centimeters):

• width - 240;
• height - 150, including the distance from the floor of the rabbitry to the floor of the lower cage - 30;
• depth - 60.

Tier dimensions (centimeters):

• width - 240;
• height - 40;
• depth - 60;
• width of the intercellular partition along the ceiling - 40.

Cage parameters (centimeters):

• width - 100, including mother cell door - 40, door with feeder - 60;
• height - 40;
• depth - 60.

The dimensions do not take into account the thickness of the bars from which the frame is made.

How to make your own hands

Making rooms for rabbits using the Zolotukhin method does not require special skills, special tools and expensive materials.

Tools and materials

Block Making Tools:

• hacksaw;
• hammer;
• level;
• metal scissors.

Materials:

• boards;
• bar;
• metal mesh;
• flat slate;
• cellular polycarbonate.

The thickness of the timber is at least 40 millimeters. Unedged board - 25-30 millimeters. Grid with a cell from 3 to 4 centimeters. Polycarbonate can be replaced with chipboard.

Production steps

Because of the dimensions, a block of 6 cells is easier to assemble at the place where it will be installed permanently.

Frame

The frame is made of bars. From the side of the facade, it has a thickening of 5-7 centimeters to obtain the desired slope of the flooring. Slate (200 x 60/70 centimeters) is nailed to the frame, a grid (200 x 10 centimeters) is attached to it. Install the back walls of polycarbonate. The cages on the terrace are delimited by V-shaped senniks made of mesh.

Roof

The roof of the upper tier is made of chipboard, polycarbonate, slate. The floor of the third, second floors is the ceiling for the second and first rows.

Matochnik

During the summer round, the mother liquor is fenced off with a board 10 centimeters wide. For the cold period, a wooden box without a bottom is prepared with a hole 15x15, size 30x40, wall height 16-20 centimeters.

Feeder

The trough of the feeder is made of a board or tin for the entire length of the door, 6 wide, with a side height of 3-4 centimeters. The angle of inclination to the door is from 35 to 40 degrees. The sidewalls are fixed on the frame on one nail, which allows you to rotate the feeder along the axis. The outer side is made of plywood
boards.

Common manufacturing errors

Most common mistakes:

• make cells separately and then assemble them into a block;
• Insufficient floor angle.

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