Message:
Subject: How to Build a Big Cage for about $60-70
Posted by Joe M. on January 16, 1999 at 10:37:04:
One of the threads just below is about whether to build or buy a cage, and i have a few minutes to burn so i thought i'd share the plan i've used to build, which is simple and effective. you get a cage that's 4x4x2' deep (houses four comfortably, probably even more), with a door that needs some space to open up. takes about six hours or so to build once you have the stuff.
you need:
(1) sheet plywood, cut to (1) 4'x4' section and (2) 2'x4' sections.
(8) 4' long 2"x2"'s
(4) 2' long 2"x2"'s
(4) 4' long 2"x1"'s (the door)
(1) 4' long 2"x4"'s
a couple of 1'x1'-ish square chunks of plywood, optional
8'x4' piece of "hardware cloth" - wire grid with 1 cm spacing
a box of poultry staples - heavy staples that you hammer in. might be able to get away with a staple gun, but i think these are better.
a box of common nails, about 1 1/4". screws are better if you have a drill to drive them in.
a mighty fine set of wire cutters
hand saw
a bungee cord
you use the 4'x4' section as the back of the cage, and the other two 2'x4' sections for the top and bottom. take the bottom, and put four of the 2"x2"x4's around the outer edge. you'll have to trim a few inches off of two of them to do this.
hmmm. i forget the easiest order to do the rest in, but you end up putting the top and bottom on with 2"x2"x4' posts holding up the top in front. all of the edges have 2"x2" stripping around to attatch the hardware cloth.
finally, make the door from the 2x1's. you need it to be 4' square, so again trim two of them. i've always butchered attatching the corners on the door with a ton of nails or screws, and it always occurs to be that buying screw-on metal bracing plates would be brilliant. but i haven't done that yet.
cut the hardware cloth to a 4'x4' section, and two 2'x4' sections with a few inches in every dimension to allow for slop attaching it to the frame. at the home depot i bought it from it came from rolls that were 48" wide, so they just rolled off 8 feet. it's the most expensive part of the cage by far, and cutting it is as arduous a task as building the rest of the frame. i reccomend dropping ten bucks on a nice, long handled pair of wire cutters if you don't have them already. if you move, you can toss out the lumber, roll up the hardware cloth and take it with you, and rebuild it again with just $25 of lumber.
hammer on the hardware cloth to the openings with the poultry staples. the door is probably the most challenging; you need to cut out a square at each corner to fit it into the space. it bulges outward some if you did it like i did.
attatch the door to the rest of the cage via the hinges. the first time i built the cage, i put on a fancy metal closing bracket for the door, but i have since found that just using a bungee cord hooked to the side of the cage, and then the front, is the lowest effort way to close it.
and the plywood scraps i put eyelets in the corners and tied them to another eyelet in the roof of the cage as shelves for them to run on, set food bowls, etc. and, obviously, give them somewhere else to sleep and hide from the light. i screwed some tupperware containers into the back, works well.
oh, yeah -- the 2x4's are attatched to the bottom of the cage to get it off the ground, makes it easier to open the door.
happy hammering --
joe