Show your cage III

Scarleticia · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:28 am

I want to put in kitchen areas for the cages I'm building.

For a 2x3 cage, should I build an additional 1x2 section for the kitchen and make a separate box from coroplast, or just put in a small cat-litter-box-sized kitchen area in the 2x3?

I guess what I'm asking is does a kitchen area take away from the square footage of the cage? I want to make sure the pigs have more than enough room to run.

I'm building 2 separate cages for the boys and putting them next to each other to see how they get along before I combine their cages into one.

I also want to build a 2x6 with a kitchen but am not sure how to measure out a kitchen area for that size cage either. I'm open to everyone's suggestions...I'm not very creative.

Thanks!!

jedifreac · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:24 am

I would say a kitchen does take away from the square footage of a cage, because they have to "hop the fence into the kitchen" as it were to really run laps.

A lot of people here seem to have 2x5s with a 1x5 kitchen and a 2x4 run space. At least, that's what I have.

Feylin · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:05 am

Technically no, because it's flat floor space. I keep the walls to my kitchens low and easy to hop over so mine just dash right through the kitchens. :)

I use wood stove pellets, though, and they don't scatter around like shavings or carefresh would.

I used to use other plastic boxes for kitchens, but now i've found that cutting coro to fit works better for me. I can make one side really high to keep the hay in, and cut the other sides down low for the pigs.

lissie · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:41 pm

Feylin, how often do you have to spot clean and chage the wood pellets? I'm using Yesterday's News pellets and I'm planning to switch to wood pellets.

Feylin · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:07 pm

I dump the kitchens totally, each time I wash the fleece, which is every 7 days.

The pellets turn to sawdust when they are wet. That would make it really easy to spot clean, if I was doing that.

However, I leave the sawdust. It doesn't stay wet long, honestly. The sawdust softens up the pellets and makes for a nicer walking surface.

I lay the pellets down in a layer about 2-3 pellets thick. It SEEMS like not enough, and the pigs might shove them all out of the way at first, but once a few pellets start to break down to dust they will expand a lot.

I used to use a layer of aspen shavings on top to soften the surface, before I realized the dust would do the same just as soon as someone pees. :)

The pellets are made of aspen and are about $6 ( they were $4 last year!) for a 40lb bag at Lowes. Make sure you get the kind with no accelerant. The pine pellets would be OK too, since the process removes the aromatic oils.

I'm using the wood stove pellets, but horse bedding pellets work just as well. You can get those at feed stores.

lissie · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:23 pm

Thank you :) By the way, I added your old ramp to my cage. The pigs love it.

lissie · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:29 pm

Oh, one more question. Do I have to pick out poos from the pellets everyday like from fleece? I've been picking them out everyday when I poop scoop the fleece and it's been taking me so long to clean. Took longer than scooping poos from fleece.

Mapleowl18 · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:54 pm

I don't with carefresh, I just let it be until the end of the week.

I think spot cleaning really came about when people started getting fleece. I'm not quite persnickety enough yet to pick the poos out of the carefresh.

jedifreac · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:57 pm

you can treat the pellets like other kinds of litter. Just dump all of it when it gets too dirty.

codyNpatches · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:31 pm

Feylin do you remove hay that falls into the pellets? I am afraid my boys would eat nasty hay after it falls into it. I want to switch to those pellets when I enlarge my cage. Praying that the boys won't eat them.

Feylin · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:34 pm

Oh, yes, good point. I do kind of rake up the hay with my fingers.

No spot cleaning! :) It really works well without it, but you could scoop the wet spots if they bothered you.

Lissie, post some pictures! We love to see cages and pigs. :)

pigsforlife3 · Post » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:18 pm

I use 100% recycled kitty litter - I imagine they are similar to the wood stove pellets you are all talking about. Daily I clean out the hay (soiled) and replace with fresh. I also spot clean, using a little scoop to remove any soiled areas. It gets gross and smelly if I leave it without spot cleaning. Once a week when I change the fleece I totally change the litter pans.