How to build cages

Hello,

I am just getting into breeding and showing MR and I wanted to build my own cages because spending $75-100 for what I want seems ridiculous and it always seems like I have to sacrafice something. I would like it to be 36"x18"x18". I would like them stackable 3 high (attaching by zip ties is fine with me). I would like them to have a door in the front that is about 16". I want it to have a removable litter tray under each cage for easy cleaning. I would like it to have urine gueards as well.

I am having a really hard time finding something that I can build like that. Also, what does the wire spacing need to be? I have been told different things. What materials do I need and how much of the materials? (Per Cage)

Thanks

Rachel

I buy rolls of 1x1 inch wire (for sides and tops of cages) and 1x1/2 inch wire (for bottoms). You can make your own urine guards using scrap pieces of edging or wall molding (sometimes you can get some of these things free from places like Home Depot). Pans can be expensive- When we had the indoor set up at our other house we built an 8 foot long frame that held either 4 2x2 foot cages or 2 nursery cages, underneath we attached a piece of linoleum remnant that sloped to the back where urine and feces would run into a plastic rain gutter that was wired on at a slope and went into a 5 gallon bucket that could then be dumped.

Sometimes you can pick up 8 foot long cage frames that have metal drop pans for starting chickens (a lot of farm and ranch stores will use them in the spring and then either give them away or sell them cheep) We have 3 of those. If you want stacking cages you will need to build tall frames rather than long like I do.

Hope this helps a bit.