Bragging a little: New cage!

[paula.m.moore]

Hello to everybody ... Just wanted to post a few pics of the cage I built this past weekend ... It's 5 levels and houses 12 pigs. The first two levels each house three girls and the top three levels each house a pair of boys. That's me in the photo and I'm 5'6" so you see how big the thing is.

I'm very proud of myself because I did the entire thing on my own. The past two cages I've actually paid someone to cut the coroplast to size for me, but not this time. I was determined to do it myself. It only took about 5 hours on Friday but I got it all cut and scored just right - 27" x 84".

Saturday I got up at 7 and got started and wasn't done until 10 that night, but the piggies are happy and I'm happy they are in their new cage.

The materials for the whole thing was about $170, for coroplast, grids, and zip ties. That makes me pretty happy too!

Further complicating matters is that I have a broken wrist right now - that's a cast on my right hand in case anybody's curious. [Nobody call my orthopedist, please!]

So here's the first pic:


Bottom part of the cage (most of it anyway):


And the top part (again, most of it):



The room is small enough that we can't back up far enough to get the whole thing in the photo, so the left side is rather, missing, but it's more of the same.

[Justin]

OMG! You gave a whole new meaning to word "cage"

[socal805]

OMg that is an amazing cage! Is it hard to clean and get the pigs in and out of?

[paula.m.moore]

Aww, thanks guys. I really worked hard on it.

socal805 - It isn't hard to clean because I use fleece, so I just fold up the top and shake it out. I put two doors on the front of each so no matter which side the pigs are on I can reach in and get them out.

They generally run to the "kitchen" side and hop in their pans when I'm trying to get them out and so far they haven't figured out that doing that makes it sooo easy to get them.

[Harrys Dad]

Great job!!!! Looks pretty sturdy! Did you mount it to the wall?

[paula.m.moore]

Nope, it's not mounted to the wall, but I used literally 1200+ 40 lb. zip ties in addition to the grid connectors. Every grid is zip tied to the grid on either side of it at least three times. My fingers hurt from pulling so many zip ties tight. My husband commented that in an earthquake at least we know their cage will stay together. That's kind of the idea, really.

[Karsluma]

That is AMAZING - I'm wondering how you can even see the pigs in the top level? I am 5'1" and would never be able to see them!

[Cosmictadpole]

Wow!! Do you have to climb a ladder to clean the upper levels?

[paula.m.moore]

I have a wooden box thing, about a foot high, that I stand on to get the very back of the top level of the cage. Otherwise it's a breeze.

As for not seeing the pigs on the top level, I will cut the coroplast down 2-3" in the front for all the levels, actually. Then it won't be a problem at all. That's the last step I had planned and just haven't gotten around to doing it.

Thanks to everybody for your nice words! This was a HUGE project for me and it's not exactly something I can talk to my coworkers or neighbors about, they don't care!

[sophistic_chick]

OH MY! That is one remarkable enclosure. I bow in the presence of the cage. Awesome work.

[ArtisticRainey]

My stars! That's one big cage! You'd think it would take a long time to clean, but I imagine not too much. I just got my coroplast and it's such a breeze to clean! And I love the smell of vinegar

Well done!

[wiggley_narco]

Wow, that's amazing!