Breeders and cage space

[mishalaa]

I've been expanding my herd and I'm trying to figure out how many more cages I'm going to need to make/buy. I know the rule of thumb is 3 cages per breeding female (does that include the cage the female is in, or is it 3 cages in addition to the one the female is in?), but I was wondering what others' experiences are with cage space.

For my part, last year when I had the huge sum of 8 females in breeding, I had 16 cages total. They were filled up more often than not, but I managed, mostly by keeping siblings together for a while. I now have 29 females in breeding and a total of 72 cages, though many of them now are unused. However, many of my females have yet to litter as well...

I would like to get to the point where I do have 3 cages for every female, aside from the one she's already in - I just hope I have some time to do it before my cage space reaches critical.

So I'm looking for others' experience with the breeding female to cage space ratio. Those of you who have less than 3:1, do you manage? Those of you with 3:1, do you usually have empty cages? Do you think you could manage with, say, 2:1? 1:1?? Do you do a lot of pairs/trios in your caging? Mostly singles? And so on.

 

[starleomach]

I breed mostly in colonies. I try to keep some empty cages for females that need to be isolated and I also wean into groups so I don't really follow the 3 cages for every female rule.

 

[AZChins]

I have colony cages, as well, for breeding and weaning. I prefer to wean into large cages with maybe 6 to 7 same sex chins per cage.

You could go with two cages per breeding female, but it depends on if you are keeping all your kits or selling them or selling just a few. I keep about 20 smaller cages for separating male chins from females and the colonies for the youngsters and growers.

Are you breeding in runs or pairs? That can make a difference, too.

 

[mishalaa]

See, that's the thing though, I keep many of my kits to grow them out and show. Until this year, I rarely put a kit up for sale, and even now I only put up a fraction of the kits I have. So, ideally, a month or two after weaning I would want singles per cage so I can judge their show potential.

I do runs, but have some pairs, but I don't think number of males makes a difference?

 

[6Dusters]

I feel your pain Mish. However I only have three females in breeding. One is split from her mate right now. I will keep her seperated for some time to give her a break. She had a breed back.

My second group is a colony trio. This is a new experience for me. They now reside in the bottom of an FN ( baby proofed ) due to one of the girls giving birth yesterday. They had been in a large Quality Cage. The QC was not a baby proof cage.

Right now I am faced with seperating a nine week old kit from his sisters after the NY show. Unless he sells there.

Alicyn from Sycamore Chins makes the most wonderful cages. I'll have to take some pictures and post them here to your post. They are super space saving and easy to use. The one that folds flat has two seperate compartments with a jump hole in the middle. :thumbsup:

 

[AZChins]

Yeah, it wouldn't make as much of a difference since you have more breeding in runs than pairs. Chances are the males won't have to be removed nearly as much as I have to remove my males. I need more cages for them because they are removed completely when their girls (they're in pairs and trios) are having their little ones.

If you're showing, you do need the cages for single chins. But, hey, get some larger cages for keeping newly weaned kits together for those that probably won't be shown. They like it, it's less work and (I think) it takes up less space!