Making Your Own Cage Door Latches

There are many hidden costs that most of us do not think about when starting a rabbitry. While most of them are small and insignificant on their own, they can quickly add up to become quite a tidy sum. One of the things we do here at TAP rabbitry to cut down on costs is to make as many of the items that we need ourselves whenever possible. If you have read my series on cage building on our blog, then you will note that the one thing that I did not cover in that three part series of cage building was the making of the cage door latches.

A cage no matter how well it is built is not very secure without a good latch. Now there quite a few cage latching options available on the internet, some are better than others and the prices of such latches is somewhat variable. Although cage latches are not overly expensive $0.85 to $1.50 a piece, if you need say 30 latches this small price could easily cost you a cash outlay of $25.50 to $45.00 depending on the type of latch you are buying. The great thing is that you can make your own cage latches for free in just a few minutes using materials that most of us have around the house.

The focus of this article is to show you how to make the most common form of cage latch available for purchase on the internet for free. That's right, I said for free! Today, I am going to show you how to make the same sturdy and secure cage latches that we use here at TAP rabbitry out of ordinary metal coat hangers that most of you have hanging in your closet. Now, the type of hanger we will be using is the full metal coat hanger, not the type you get from the cleaners with the cardboard tube at the bottom. In order for this to work, you need a one piece complete metal coat hanger. Once cut and straightened, each coat hanger will produce two complete cage latches.

There are a few items and or small tools that are not totally necessary, but they will help make this process quite a bit easier. The first is a 1 inch scrap piece of PVC pipe in which to wrap the metal wire around. A small bench vise makes it easy to hold the PVC in place, but if you do not have a bench vise, you can screw the PVC pipe to a bench or scrap piece of 2x4 then clamp the 2x4 to your bench or table. In addition, you will need a pair of vise-grip and needle nose pliers.

The Steps

Before we can begin to start making the latches, we need to cut and straighten out the coat hangers. You want to cut the coat hangers near the neck (see picture above) then straighten them out as best you can. You should have a semi-straight piece of wire approximately 34 inches in length overall. Take this wire and cut it into two equal parts (each should be about 17 inches long). Once you have all the wire cut for the number of latches you need, you can start making your latches.

Step: 1 – Take your 17 inch wire and make a small hook in the end about ½ to 1 inch in length with your needle nose pliers. Then place the wire with the hook about 1 inch past the edge of the PVC pipe and clamp it into place with your vise-grip pliers.

Step: 2 – Then bend the wire around the pipe to make a U-shaped bend.

Step: 3 – Remove the wire from the pipe and then move your hand down the straight end of the wire until it is even with the hook above and make a 90 degree bend in the pipe.

Step : 4 – With your vise-grip pliers, clamp the wire to the PVC pipe at the 90 degree bend. Then take the straight end of the wire and wrap it around the PVC pipe twice to complete your latch. When done the straight end of the wire should be pointing downward.

Congratulations you have just made your own cage door latch in four easy steps. That's all there is to it, now when you attach the latch to your specific cage door you may need to make a slight bend or modification here and there depending on the type and size of the cage wire that your cages are made of. This simple latch can be used on either the top of the door or the right side. If you have a door that swings open to the left, simply flipping the latch upside down and it will still work perfectly. I know because we had to do that to one of our cages.

Conclusion

I realize that cage latches are relatively cheap, and feel free to purchase commercial latches if you want, know one is going to beat you up for it, at least not us anyway. However, if you want to save a few dollars, there are few latches easier to make then this type. Having said all of that, these latches are made from hanger wire, and if they are on an outside hutch, they will eventually begin to rust. On our outside hutches, our original latches are about three years old, and I made new ones for this article to replace a few that have become pretty rusty. Making these latches only cost me 30 minutes of my time, and heck it was raining outside anyway, so it was a good time to do some cage maintenance. As always, we ask that if you find this information interesting that you please share it with your friends on Facebook and Google+. Don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+. You can also subscribe to our blog so that you do not miss any of our new articles or our notices regarding new rabbit's that are for sale.

Related Articles On Our Blog:

Cage Building Part 1: Gathering Your Supplies

Cage Building Part 2: Size And Placement Matter

Cage Building Part 3: Putting It All Together

Water: The Elixir Of Life

Keeping you rabbits hydrated is extremely important. Summer will soon be here and allowing your rabbits to have access to fresh water will help them to survive the summer heat. On average, our New Zealand or American Blue meat rabbits will drink about 600 to 900ml (20 to 30 ounces) of water a day per rabbit. Depending on the time of the year it may vary somewhat with increased water needs most often noted in the heat of the summer months. If you feed your rabbits fresh greens or allow them to graze on fresh grass they may get some of their water requirements from this source, however rabbits fed pellets and dry hay will need to have an ample supply of fresh water in order to keep them fully hydrated. This is especially true if you live in a more southern climate like we have here in Texas. So it is imperative that you make sure your rabbits have access to fresh, clean pure water to drink throughout the day.

In addition, does who are pregnant or are lactating will consume quite a bit more water throughout the day. Once kits begin to reach the weaning age and you have 6 to 10 or more in a cage with momma the water uptake for that cage will increase significantly and they should not be allowed to run out. Kits have a more fragile digestive system and they should have ample access to fresh and clean water to maintain their health during this early growth stage.

As I mentioned, just having access to water is not enough, your rabbits need to have access to clean pure water to drink throughout the day. In order to make sure we are providing the best possible water source for our rabbits, we remove and wash our bottles and bowls at a minimum once a week (every Saturday) to make sure that their water source stays clean and bacteria free to help prevent enteritis and other complications of the gastrointestinal (GI) system. Few things can kill a rabbit faster than enteritis (which can be caused by a either a bacteria or virus). Making sure your rabbits have access to fresh clean water may help reduce the chances that they will suffer some GI distress, but eventually all rabbitry's will have a few rabbits that get sick with GI symptoms. The key is to try and minimize the risks.

I will be discussing the use of three watering options for your herd in this article 1) water bowls and crocks, 2) water bottles gravity fed vs spring loaded, and 3) automatic watering systems. Of these three options if you are just starting out most of you will be using either water bowls or bottles. The use of automatic watering systems is slightly more complicated to setup and maintain but does claim to have some advantages that make it an intriguing option, but not necessarily the best option for a small rabbitry.

Watering Crocks and Bowls

Probably the most common form of supplying your rabbit with water is via the use of crocks and or water bowls. These options are my least favorite, although with some ingenuity it can be the cheapest option. About half of our rabbits here at the TAP Rabbitry are bowl drinkers. Simply because when we purchased this livestock from other rabbitry's they used bowls to water their herd. I have had some success in transitioning bowl drinkers to bottles, but some adult rabbits just will not learn to use the bottle. For our rabbits that have to have bowls, we prefer to purchase the two piece 20 ounce bowls that twist and unlock for easy bowl removal (Lixit Quick Lock Crock) so that they can be placed in our dishwasher each week to be cleaned. They tend to cost about $10.00 and can be found on Amazon or at most pet stores. We do however have an assortment of bowls that we have acquired over time and still use, but as I mentioned we prefer the Lixit bowls. 

If you are starting out on a budget, the cheapest bowl option is to buy large coffee cups or bowls at the dollar store and zip tie them to the cage corner to keep the rabbits from knocking them over. I know a few breeders who choose this option and it seems to work well for them, the down side to this option is that it makes cleaning the bowls or cups more difficult, and you have to replace the zip ties each time you want to clean the bowls or cups. In the long run, I think buying removable bowls is cheaper, but it requires a larger layout of cash upfront.

Bowls and crocks however are the least sanitary water option. Because your rabbit urinates and defecates on the cage floor in which they walk, they can easily transfer any bacteria from the cage floor to their water bowl when they put their feet in their water bowl. They are after all animals, and they do not care where they place their feet and they will stand in their water bowl I guarantee it. Your rabbits will then drink from these bowls which increases the chance that they will ingest some bacteria which can cause your rabbit to have a bout of diarrhea with deadly results. I am not saying that if you use bowls or crocks that your herd is more susceptible to getting sick than if you use bottles, what I am saying is that if you use bowl or crocks, you need to be vigilant about cleaning them as they get dirty relatively easy putting your herd more at risk for disease and GI distress. I have found that because our rabbits do put their feet in their water bowls so often, that a mucousy slime will quickly grow and we need to empty and wipe out the bowls every couple of days in addition to washing them once a week.

Water Bottles (Ball Bearing Gravity Fed VS Spring Loaded Nipples)

If we had our choice, all of our rabbits would be on the bottle or an automatic watering system. The two big advantages to using water bottles over crocks or bowls is that 1) they hold more water (32 ounces), and 2) your rabbit cannot place their feet in the water making it more sanitary. This means that you have to go out and water your herd less often throughout the day, and they will have a sufficient amount of water overnight when they are most active. In addition, because your rabbits cannot stand or place their feet in the water bottle, you have drastically reduced the chance that they will suffer from bacterial illness of the gastrointestinal system due to dirty water.

There are a couple of different options when buying water bottles for your herd. There are the gravity feed bottles which have one or two small ball bearings in the spout, and then there are the bottles that come with the spring loaded tips in the spout. The gravity feed bottles are quite a bit cheaper (about half the price) than the spring loaded tip bottles, but they are quite inferior in function. The gravity fed bottles leak easily, and any time your rabbit bounces around the cage water will leak from the spout. Our first two water bottles were of this type, and I watched 32 ounces of water slowly leak from this bottle as our rabbits moved around in the cage. To refill the entire bottle you have to remove it from the cage wall and them fill the bottle and then place it back in it's holder which is somewhat flimsy. In addition, these types of bottles are difficult to clean even with a bottle brush, there are some areas in which you just cannot reach. Needless to say, we only purchased this kind of bottle once, and we immediately returned all three.

Fortunately for us, on a visit to our local Tractor Supply we discovered some 32 ounce spring loaded tipped, top fill water bottles from Lixit. We purchased one for a trial run and have been using them ever since for our rabbitry. This type of bottle costs about twice the amount of the cheap gravity feed bottles ($7.99 from our local Tractor Supply) but they are definitely worth the additional cost. The best part is the bottles are even cheaper than the 20 ounce Lixit crocks (when you add shipping), and they hold any additional 12 ounces of water making this a “win, win” situation for us. If you are just starting out and you want to use bottles to water your herd, do not waste your money on gravity fed bottles, you will be disappointed.

Automatic Watering Systems

Used by commercial rabbitry's, an automatic watering system has a large reservoir that holds the water for all of your cages. This water is then funneled down to each individual cage by small flexible tubing that has a spring loaded nipple on the end to allow the rabbits to drink from it. This is the same type of spring loaded nipple that is used in the Lixit bottles we use here at TAP rabbitry. I do not have any experience with automatic watering systems and while they are convenient and can save time when it comes to watering, I am not sure how easy they are to clean and maintain for the small home rabbitry. The use of black tubing helps to keep the growth of algae down (algae likes light), but then you cannot physically see if the inside of the tubing is dirty or has slime growing in it.

My major concern with this type of system for the small scale rabbitry is that if the water some how gets contaminated with bacteria you could lose your whole rabbitry overnight due to enteritis or other GI related diseases. In addition, if one of your rabbits gets aggressive and pulls off one of the nipples or chews through the tubing, your system will empty itself and none of your rabbits will have water until the problem is discovered. While this could be a minor inconvenience, if you were gone for a day or two, you could come home to a severly dehydrated or dead herd. Many people use a form of automatic watering systems on a small scale, and one may be in our future. You can find many examples on YouTube, however, if you have less than 20 cages or are just starting out the spring loaded bottles in my option are the best option.

Water Additives: Are They Really Necessary?

Contrary to what some people will tell you, rabbits do not need water with added vitamins they should get all their vitamins and minerals from their feed. Adding additional vitamins to your rabbits water may sound like a good idea, however, these vitamins when added to water may encourage them to drink excess amounts of water increasing their vitamin uptake, and as we mentioned in our article on 'Proper Rabbit Nutrition', excess vitamins can effect your rabbits health.

The one thing we do add to our water is one tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar (with the Mother) to each gallon of water we give to our rabbits. It is said to have many immune boosting properties and other beneficial side effects when given to your rabbits. We started using this when we first started raising rabbits, I cannot scientifically verify all the beneficial claims (increased number of kits per litter, increased breeding success, and many others), but we continue to use it on a daily basis for it's positive immune properties. There are some interesting articles on using Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) with the mother on Rise and Shine's Rabbitry page 'Apple Cider Vinegar For Rabbits' and on Mad Hatter's Rabbitry page 'Using Apple Cider Vinegar With Rabbits. Check them out for more specific information regarding using ACV in your rabbits water.

Conclusion

A continuous supply of clean, fresh water is essential to the health of your herd. There are many watering options from the simple bowl or water crock, to spring fed bottles, to automatic watering systems. For us here at the TAP rabbitry we prefer the spring loaded bottles because of their larger water capacity (32oz) and their ease of cleaning and maintenance, and the fact that our rabbits cannot stick their feet in them. There is nothing wrong with using bowls for watering, they have been used for hundreds of years and we even have a few 'hold outs' that just will not learn to drink from the bottle.

While we do not think that our rabbitry is large enough to consider an automatic watering system at this time, such a system may be an option for us one day. Before that happens though, I will have to do more research into the care and maintenance of such a system. For now, we will continue using the spring loaded water bottles and crocks for those rabbits that will just not learn to drink from a bottle.

When it comes to proper rabbit nutrition, you may have some success in your rabbitry buy using a less desirable pellet feed, however if your rabbits water source is inferior and or contaminated both your rabbits health and your rabbitry will suffer greatly. Water is the true elixir of life, and making sure your livestock has access to such should be one of top priority's in your rabbitry. As always we ask that if you find this information interesting that you please share it with your friends on Facebook and Google+. You can also subscribe to out blog so that you do not miss any of our new articles or our notices regarding new rabbits that we have for sale. 

References:

Mad Hatter Rabbitry: Using Apple Cider Vinegar With Rabbits.

Rise and Shine Rabbitry: Apple Cider Vinegar For Rabbits.

Making Sausage: Brautwurst

Of all the sausages we make, brautwurst are my wife's favorite. Based on a traditional German brautwurst recipe, this recipe has a slight Texas style twist. Instead of caraway seed, I use cumin in this recipe. As caraway was not readily available, sometimes the early German settlers in Texas were forced to use cumin as a substitute for caraway seed which was a popular spice in Austria, Germany, Hungary. To be honest, most people do not even notice the suttle difference in taste between these two spices when making brautwurst, but if you want a more traditional flavor, then substitute caraway seed for the cumin. However like those early settlers, I did not have any caraway so I use cumin in all my brautwurst.

As with most sausage recipes, this recipe is originally made with pork, however pork and rabbit which are both white meats, are very similar in texture when cooked, and both make great sausages. Sausage making has always been a way for farmers and hunters to preserve as well and use all the meat from any animals they butchered or were able to successfully kill during the hunt. On our small homestead we raise New Zealand White (NZW) and the American Blue (AB) rabbits for meat. A great thing about rabbit meat is that it is all white and very lean. To make a good tasting juicy sausage, you do however need to add some fat to any sausage to keep it from drying out. In this recipe as with our chorizo recipe the fat content is 20 to 30%.

The Recipe

For the fat component we purchase a product called 'Wright's Ends and Pieces'. It is, as the name implies the ends and pieces of bacon that have been trimmed off during the processing and packaging of bacon. It comes in 3lb packages and is a great source of quality fat needed for sausage production on a small scale. If however you are only making a 2 ½ to 5 lb batch of sausage a 1lb package of smoked sliced bacon will do nicely.

Brautwurst

2 1/5 lbs rabbit, deboned
8 ounces (½ lb) ends and pieces or smoked bacon

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 ½ teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

½ teaspoon cumin seed, ground

½ teaspoon nutmeg, ground

½ teaspoon allspice, ground

¼ teaspoon ginger, ground
natural hog casings.

De-bone the rabbit and chill thoroughly. Grind the rabbit meat and bacon together in small batches using the coarse plate (chili grind) on your meat grinder. Combine the meat in a bowl with the spices. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate for an hour. After the sausage has cooled, take a small portion and pan fry to determine if the spices in the sausage need to be adjusted. If you are satisfied with the flavor, then it is time to go ahead and grind the meat mixture one more time through a fine plate (hamburger grind) on your meat grinder.

Chef's Note: You can omit the second grind if you want it is not essential, it does however help distribute the spices more evenly and makes for a finer texture of the sausage, but it does not affect the overall taste. There are some types of sausage such as kielbasa which is usually stuffed with only a coarse grind, but I feel that double grinding makes for a better texture and spice distribution.

If the sausage casings you are using are salt-packed, rinse and soak them for 30 minutes. If you rinse and allow them to soak while you are grinding your meat, it will save you some time. Slide the casing onto your sausage stuffer's tube. Put the meat mixture into the stuffer and run the motor (or press the mixture, if using a manual stuffer), pushing the mixture until it begins to emerge from the sausage stuffer. You want to start pushing meat into the casing before tying off the end to make sure no air is trapped in the casing.

Chef's Note: You can make sausage by yourself, but it can be a bit tricky depending on the type of sausage stuffer you have. Better that you have a friend or family member help, and then share some of your sausage with them. Fellow rabbit breeder, blogger, and friend Steve Coyne from Texas Rabbit Barn is generally my partner in crime when it come to making sausage.

Tie the casing into a knot and start extruding the meat into the casing, slipping more casing off as necessary. You want the casing to be tightly packed with the sausage mixture, but not so full that it bursts. At first, this can seem tricky, but as you go you'll get the hang of it. Now you have one long sausage. Gently twist it into 6 to 8 inch lengths. Take a small sewing needle or sausage pricker and prick a few small holes in the sausage anywhere you see air bubbles. Cut apart or leave in a string and refrigerate until ready to cook, no more than two days.

Long Term Storage

To store any additional sausage you will need to freeze it. For short term storage you can freeze the links in zip lock bags, just try and squeeze out as much air as possible. For longer storage options, I prefer to use a vacuum sealer such as my trusty old foodsaver. To store fresh sausage in the foodsaver or other vacuum sealer, place the links on a cookie sheet and then place them in the freezer for about two hours to allow them to firm up and then vacuum seal. If you try and vacuum seal them when they are still soft, it will squeeze them flat and or possible cause the skins to burst do to the vacuum. Freezing them for a short time before vacuum sealing prevents this.

Conclusion

This recipe was originally posted on my 'Culinary You' food blog back in November of 2014, but I wanted to do slight update and then repost it here for those of you who are looking specifically for rabbit and or sausage recipes. As in my original post, our preferred way to eat brauts is to grill them for about 6 minutes per side using indirect heat. (i.e. heat grill with both burners, then turn one burner off and place sausage on side of grill without the flame, then reverse the process). However you can cook them as you would any commerically prepared brautwurst.

As always, we ask that if you find this information interesting that you please share it with your friends on Facebook and Google+. Don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ or subscribe to our blog so that you do not miss any of our new articles or our notices regarding rabbit's that we have available for sale.

Related Articles On Our Blog:

Making Sausage: Spanish Style Chorizo

Making Sausage: Spanish Style Chorizo

Today we are going to be making a Spanish style chorizo sausage. Spanish chorizo is somewhat different from the chorizo we see in the Mexican markets here is south Texas. Local or Mexican style chorizo has an added chili powder component and a few additional spices, and wil be the subject for another article. As with most sausage recipes, this recipe is originally made with pork, however pork and rabbit which are both white meats, are very similar in texture when cooked, and both make great sausages.

Sausage making has always been a way for farmers and hunters to preserve as well and use all the meat from any animals they butchered or were able to successfully kill during the hunt. On our small homestead we raise New Zealand White (NZW) and the American Blue (AB) rabbits for meat. A great thing about rabbit meat is that it is all white and very lean. You do however you do need to add some fat to any sausage to keep it from drying out. In this recipe as with our brautwurst recipe the fat content is 25 to 30%, however the original chorizo recipe I used called for 2lb 8oz pork fat for 5lbs of meat which makes the fat content 50%. So if you want more fat in your chorizo, try using 2lb 8oz of bacon in this recipe.

For the fat component we purchase a product called 'Wright's Ends and Pieces'. It is, as the name implies the ends and pieces of bacon that have been trimmed off during the processing and packaging of bacon. It comes in 3lb packages and is a great source of quality fat needed for sausage production on a small scale. If however you are only making a 2 ½ to 5 lb batch of sausage a 1lb package of smoked sliced bacon will do nicely.

Spanish Style Chorizo

5 lbs rabbit, deboned
20 ounces (1lb 4oz) ends and pieces or smoked bacon

5 tablespoons paprika

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons cumin, ground

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
natural hog casings.

De-bone the rabbit and chill thoroughly. Grind the rabbit meat and bacon together in small batches using the coarse plate (chili grind) on your meat grinder. Combine the meat in a bowl with the spices. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate for an hour. After the sausage has cooled, take a small portion and pan fry to determine if the spices in the sausage need to be adjusted. If you are satisfied with the flavor, then it is time to go ahead and grind the meat mixture one more time through a fine plate (hamburger grind) on your meat grinder.

Chef's Note: You can omit the second grind if you want it is not essential, it does however help distribute the spices more evenly and makes for a finer texture of the sausage, but it does not affect the taste.

If the sausage casings you are using are salt-packed, rinse and soak them for 30 minutes. If you rinse and allow them to soak while you are grinding your meat, it will save you some time. Slide the casing onto your sausage stuffer's tube. Put the meat mixture into the stuffer and run the motor (or press the mixture, if using a manual stuffer), pushing the mixture until it begins to emerge from the sausage stuffer. You want to start pushing meat into the casing before tying off the end to make sure no air is trapped in the casing.

Tie the casing into a knot and start extruding the meat into the casing, slipping more casing off as necessary. You want the casing to be tightly packed with the sausage mixture, but not so full that it bursts. At first, this can seem tricky, but as you go you'll get the hang of it. Now you have one long sausage. Gently twist it into 6 to 8 inch lengths. Take a small sewing needle or sausage pricker and prick a few small holes in the sausage anywhere you see air bubbles. Cut apart or leave in a string and refrigerate until ready to cook, no more than two days. To store longer, freeze in zip-top bags with as much air squeezed out as possible, or for longer storage use a vacuum sealer such as a foodsaver.

Conclusion

This afternoon, my friend Steven Coyne author of the Texas Rabbit Barn blog came over and and brought 12lbs of ground rabbit meat and I added 16 pounds of my own. Together we made 10lbs of chorizo and 20 pounds of bratwurst. Having a friend or spouse to help you make sausage is essential. You can do just about everything yourself except stuffing the sausage. We try and do this a couple times a year. Making sausage is a great way to expand the types of meals you make with rabbit, and it is a great way to introduce people to the taste and flavor of rabbit.

I like to grill my chorizo, about 6 minutes per side on my gas grill using indirect heat. (i.e. heat grill with both burners, then turn one burner off and place sausage on side of grill without the flame, then reverse the process). You can also pan fry them until done. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. As always, we ask that if you find this information interesting that you please share it with your friends on Facebook and Google+. You can also subscribe to our blog so that you do not miss any of our new articles or our notices regarding rabbit's that we have available for sale.

If you want to see us making sausage and being somewhat silly check out the video link below:

Other Related Articles:

Making Sausage: Bratwurst