How to Transform Your Backyard Rabbits into an Epic Manure Factory!

[@joannc147]

Dang - your Stream of Consciousness has set my brain on fire! I have NO construction experience and suddenly I see what I need to do. Just sketched out a plan. Brilliant! Thank you, sir.

[@NicholsCounty]

Thanks

[@eannajayshaay4478]

I like your set up! Good job. We did kinda the same set up but two cages tall. We stapled corregated plastic to the boards under the cages instead of the black tarp like plastic. Ours pans are placed to the back of the cage instead of the front. I drilled small holes in my pans just like you show but after awhile I had to make bigger holes in the pans for the urine to drain as they kept clogging. Get a cheap narrow 8" rake to push or scrape the bunny berries that don't freely roll into the pans and a hand hoe to scrape the pans clean. They'll come in very handy. Thanks for your video 🐇

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah I noticed clogging as well. Now once a month I pressure wash the bins or use a brush on them to unclog those holes. I'm going to redo some of this and get rid of the plastic and go with metal.

[@janet1278]

Barry and Janet again, Looking forward to seeing you all soon this spring ! Keep the vids coming my friend !

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah, see you soon.

[@TuanLe-ko5rm]

I’m blown away by the amount of urine

[@NicholsCounty]

It's more than you think. I sell this stuff if you want any, just let me know.

[@PertanianTerpadu]

Wow... great manure collection system idea. Nice sharing... 👍👍👍

[@NicholsCounty]

Thanks!

[@debbieurias5151]

I had a friend who built a rabbit hutch for me that had several cages that had a poop collection system he used metal sheets for poop a pee and anything that got stuck or hung up he made a poop pusher to help clear the collection system. I put a super large flower p with hole in the bottom that allowed the urine to drain out. To keep the smell down I would sprinkle Peat moss over the poop in the flower pot I also grew lavender plants And when I would cut them Under the rabbit cages no the metal to keep the flys off. I washed the metal sheeting often also. I got a lot out of your video showing thing to think about while building you collection system. Please continue making your videos. I know I will be watching all your videos and putting a like on all of the. Plus I'm a subscriber too.

[@debbieurias5151]

I'm sorry for my spelling errors. I hope you can read past them😃

[@NicholsCounty]

Great. Thanks. Yeah I have to rework it a bit. But its doing great. I have a poop pusher as well. I'm going to be putting some more cages on the other side of my shop soon.

[@mllokie9075]

Beautiful love to see ideas as I am looking at getting rabbits for mea and to help in the “soil amendments “ for the garden

[@NicholsCounty]

They're perfect for that.

[@emilyblue7787]

Thanks for documenting your process! It was really helpful to see.

[@NicholsCounty]

Glad it was helpful!

[@janet1278]

Barry and Janet here . Lose the black plastic and replace with metal coil that’s used for flashing in construction of residential homes. Put it shiny slick side up . Pee will run of it like a new Teflon skillet . You’ll Love It !!!

[@NicholsCounty]

Thanks I'll look into that.

[@brandonguy43]

Look up how to make biochar. Basically its homemade charcoal loaded with nitrogen and microbes. Put bucket of homemade charcoal at the collection site of urine. It will suck up all the smell, and you have a sellable product...loaded biochar. I use homemade charcoal in my pig pens, chicken pens etc to keep smell down, then eventually dig out and put in garden. Great stuff, my tomatoes were almost 10 foot tall last year. Worms in garden are drawn to it eating the microbes housed in the porous biochar turning your garden soil into black gold. The real reason rabbit poop is valuable to gardeners anyway is worms love it right away because its a cold manure and will break it down to be more available to the plant. Biochar helps hold the worms there longer after the worm poop is all eaten because more microbes stay in porous biochar the worms are after. Plus biochar slow releases nitrogen back in soil plants are after. I promise you if you make loaded biochar you will sell it if you do it right and market it to the right people. Alot to look up and learn but worth it i think.

[@NicholsCounty]

Thanks for the tips.

[@jeremywehrly4969]

Another option is to try the plastic shower wall instead of the plastic but you would need plywood to support it since it is not rigid. I think it sells for about $25 for a 4'x8' sheet at lowes/home depot/menards. I like the setup and I will be getting rabbits soon so I will incorporate this design into my hutch, thanks!

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah there are a bunch of options out there. Thanks.

[@lennylink8772]

That was good watching. You could try chloroplast (plastic cardboard) it's cheap. It seems like a larger vessel for urine would be needed, perhaps with a spigot to fill up bottles. It was interesting seeing the young bunny droppings. Another option would be a worm bin underneath, but I really like just keeping the rabbit manure separate.

[@NicholsCounty]

I fill up a 3 gallon buck everyday. I just dump it mostly. I did make a 55 gallon drum with a spigot, but ended up abandoning that.

[@robertmcintyre3191]

round pvc pipe cut in half for the sides of the bins might be a little better.

[@NicholsCounty]

I don't understand where that would go.

[@joannc147]

@@NicholsCounty I think he means the 1/2 of pvc to cover the space between the bins - to prevent urine and poop escaping thru the crack (suddenly I feel like a 6th grader making “poop” and “crack” jokes)

[@NicholsCounty]

@@joannc147 Oh. I ended up using white plastic gutters, $6 for 10 ft. easy to cut. They work great. They're a lot deeper and cheaper than any PVC pipe.

[@79PoisonBreaker]

I like your idea . I was thinking a screen at steep angle to get all solids to drop in a collection bin and a tarp or other plastic draped under the screen with a hole in the low spot to put a bucket or bin to collect the urine. I plan to use fuel wood pellets( cheap compostable) to soak up urine to boost compost piles and fertilizer

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah, that would work. I just dump the urine directly into my compost.

[@truthseeker9561]

I have a tin roof piece under each cage, into a gutter and just wash it down into a bucket with holes.3 rabbits up top, 3 on bottom. Cheap and easy. Can clean area in 10 mins

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah, I definitely over thought this. But it works great.

[@OdisWhite-w4n]

What was the original purpose of those bins and where did you find them? Thanks!

[@NicholsCounty]

I buy and sell stuff for a living. Bought a few thousand of them. Got them from a washing machine part factory. Built my rabbit manure system around them.

[@AdrianaGomezGarlandofGrace]

How often do you have your rabbits leave the crates? Do they roam or exercise? Are they always in a crate? Learning how to have backyard rabbits here.

[@NicholsCounty]

I keep rabbits on grass for about 2 months before processing them.

[@troywuestefeld2893]

Does the poop not clog up the drainage holes?

[@NicholsCounty]

It does after time. I just wash them out every month or so when I empty them. I built a better set up with slots and hardware cloth.

[@troywuestefeld2893]

@@NicholsCounty do you have a video of it

[@cultivatingcraftsman6941]

Try finding a red worm farmer to sell the manure to, with the urine being drained out it shouldn't be too acid for worms

[@NicholsCounty]

Funny you say that, before I had gravel brough in, there were a ton of red worms under the pans where this drained. I'd rather sell in smaller quantities than in bulk. Thanks for the tip though.

[@fxald4801]

You can remove the black polythene and put a plastic zink instead. It's more durable and Don't demand replacements

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah gonna change mine out to something better soon.

[@Donnie_M.]

The problem nowadays is shipping costs, it has really put a damper on online selling. Biden economy for ya.

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah it has definitely gone up. But that's all I do for a living is ship stuff. So this wouldn't be too hard for me to figure out.

[@jansan9125]

Great video. Did this cut the smell down or is there no difference?

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah it doesn't smell at all. Manure is mostly dry.

[@StaceyHelmick55]

Where did you get the totes

[@NicholsCounty]

I bought out some warehouse locally.

[@lesliedutoit]

Great system. I see that you have 2 "labels" for each cage. What info is registered?

[@NicholsCounty]

I haven't done tattoos yet. So I just keep the serial number, cage number,birth date for adult. And then another tag for Kits. Buck x doe. Number of kits. Date of birth.

[@auntieann3000]

Could you just make a removable screen separator under the cages or even under each cage out of hardware cloth & 2x2 or 1x2 to catch the poo & let the urine fall through to the bins? A lot easier & cleaner, just pull the screen trays & dump into whatever you put poo in.

[@NicholsCounty]

There are a ton of ways to do this. I'm pretty happy with my set up. Thanks.

[@TammyRittimann]

Where are the bins from?

[@NicholsCounty]

I bought out a local company that had a bunch.

[@jilltalley4670]

Where did you get those plastic crates at?

[@NicholsCounty]

I found them locally.

[@janet1278]

Oh yeah….. where do you get those bins for 2 bucks a piece at ? I’d be lovin me some at price !

[@NicholsCounty]

I bought a couple of truckloads from a washing machine manufacturer. I had to buy a bunch to get the price down.

[@buckreynolds7475]

You be selling them on eBay I would like to buy some of them

[@NicholsCounty]

I do but, they sell on eBay for $50. Shipping is expense on these because of the size. I sell them locally for $6.

[@buckreynolds7475]

@@NicholsCounty I can't afford the shipping

[@NicholsCounty]

@@buckreynolds7475 Yeah I didn't expect you to, it's not reasonable. I've sold quite a few on eBay, but I've sold thousands locally. If you're ever in Paris TN, reach out to me.

[@buckreynolds7475]

@@NicholsCounty ok

[@peteroldroyd7531]

think before you build !!!

[@NicholsCounty]

Yeah. No kidding.

[@MistressOP]

are the able to eat there poo pellet? Because they should be able to eat some back?

[@NicholsCounty]

What?

[@MistressOP]

@@NicholsCounty Rabbits eat there own poo. It's what makes cage rabbits so hard. coprophagy is them reeating like a cow chewing there own cud. When you have cage systems like that it falls through and sometimes they can't eat it. Making it cost you more feed.

[@rachellestringer]

It's true they eat their "night poops" "wet poops". They look like little chocolate corn on the cob, Is very different than the dry balls. I keep rabbits in kind of a colony on my porch and from what i've observed , they eat it straight from the.... well, Let's just say I don't think it gets a chance to fall 😅

[@bobfloyd875]

Those last clips look like a real crap shoot. lol. does this stink a bunch ?

[@NicholsCounty]

I clean it out every week. So, not really. Every now and then, I'll catch a wiff

[@buckreynolds7475]

They don't look like they are up under your cage far enough

[@NicholsCounty]

They are.

[@buckreynolds7475]

It ain't to the back of the cage or it don't look like it

[@Hag10125]

Hangi ülke burası

[@NicholsCounty]

Merica!

[@authorsindysmith7771]

I hope you are nice to your bunnie

[@NicholsCounty]

Yes. I am.

[@ДмитрийМочалов-ц9ю]

Россия смотрит !!!

[@NicholsCounty]

Alright.

[@buckreynolds7475]

It would work better if you want up them under your cage

[@NicholsCounty]

Its under the cage. There is no urine or manure on the ground if thats what you think.