Chinbin cages?

bunnicula · 10-30-2003, 07:54 AM

Has anyone made a cage based on Chinbin's plans? Were the plans easy or hard to follow? Is there anything that you'd change about the cage?

bunnicula · 10-30-2003, 08:11 AM

In case you've never seen the cages, there's a pic of the cages here:
http://www.chinbin.com/chincage.html

The instructions for building it are here:
http://www.chinbin.com/cageplans1.html (there are a few pages of instructions).

I like the cages, but I'm not sure if I want one that big or not. I am sure that I would change the two doors to four doors, and add a pull out tray for the bottom.

Denise · 10-30-2003, 09:25 AM

Those cages are beautiful!

I really like them and they sure do look roomy enough. Danielle, if you end up making them, let us know how it turns out.

Candycane · 10-30-2003, 11:35 AM

I have always liked ChinBin's cages and almost built one. I think that you are right about the size, doors and pan.

Carlee36 · 10-30-2003, 11:42 AM

I did build my cages somewhat based on Chinbin's design. I personally feel that if you divide that to split it into two cages then it is too small for a family of chins, and I think that they are also too tall for raising chin babies in. My cages are built from melamine with two opening doors on the front, and the new dimensions will be 3 feetx3feetx2feet
If the cage is just for pet chinnies ( not breeders) then I guess they could be a bit taller.

carleen

bunnicula · 10-30-2003, 06:00 PM

I wouldn't be dividing my cage (at least anytime soon) because I only have one chin...

Do you have any pics of your cages Carlee?

Carlee36 · 11-01-2003, 03:37 PM

Hi Danielle,
I don't have any pics, but I could take some. I am just about to alter my cages though to the new dimensions of 3 feet X 3feetX 2 feet. Currently I have several different sizes. The first ones I built were 4 feetX 4 feet X 2 feet. These are great but too big and taller than they need to be for breeding purposes. I currently have those divided into two though as my introduction cages. The next ones I built were 40 inches high X 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. I like these the best except for the height. I don't have pull out trays, so I may look into getting these custom made and incorporated into the new design. The last three I built are 40 inches highX 2 and half feet wide x 2 feet deep. I feel that these are great for housing two chinnies as pets, but not quite wide enough for my breeding purposes. So I am going to flip the smaller cages over onto their sides and divide them in half to become maternity/ seperation cages. The medium sized cages will also be flipped onto their sides and altered to become my new breeder size cages and the biggest ones well.... one may become the new play/ exercise cage with a flying saucer installed among other toys etc.
Sorry I know I've rambled on here, but this is what I plan to do with my current cages and then build some more new ones too.

Carleen

tunes · 11-07-2003, 09:34 AM

I built this cage and it is a really nice cage, however, I do have a few issues with it. First, it is HUGE. I mean it takes up tons of space. When I only had four chins that was fine, but now being up to 19 it just isn't practical. Also, some of my chins don't like it. It is so tall and the the drop is sooooo far to the bottom, that I had to put in additional shelving to make sure they had a break point from top to bottom. Also, kind of a pain in the butt to clean cause you can't pull the tray out or disconnect the cage from the bottom. You have to scoop everything out. I would definitely not recommend raising babies in this cage. I could just imagine all the injuries when they flop off the shelves.

On the other hand, chinbin seems to have had great success with these and seem to use them all the time with their babibes, so who knows?

bunnicula · 11-07-2003, 09:40 AM

tunes, you've expressed all of the problems that I forsee with the cage. I think that I want to make a similar cage, only smaller and with a pull out tray. I'm just not sure exactly what size cage I want to build...

tunes · 11-07-2003, 09:49 AM

Since a lot of mine are in breeding now, or possibly will be when older, I am going to switch to a smaller cage because of space. A guy I know who is not comfortable with breeding runs (neither am I) decided to make his cages himself. They re 24 x 24 x 24. It doesn't sound big, but for breeding they are very nice. They have pull out drawers in the bottom, each cage has a nice big shelf to rest on, a wheel in every cage, toys on the floor, and hanging toys as well. I will ask his permission to post the picture he sent me so you can see the size. I have seen these in person and there is lots of room and the chins were just running all over. Best of all, he put the shelf in such a place that the babies would just fall a short distance into a nice soft bed of shavings.

He also made one breeding run, because he bought out a herd that was used to them, and even his breeding runs are much bigger than at any breeders I have ever seen. At least double the size of the runs. I know some chins can't get used to all the open space after they have been in breeding for so long. I have one like that now. She hasn't even been bred and she just got terrified of the bigger cage. So, I put her back in a small cage, then moved her to a little bigger cage, then will move her up gradually. She's outgoing and friendly in the little cage, but just cowers in the corner of the big cage. Go figure! You'd think she would love all the freedom.