Rabbit cages all wire cage floor

[Chicks 'n ducks]

Perhaps you could go over the 1 by 1 wire with a layer of chicken wire? That would do it.
Unfortunately I do think that the kit's legs will get caught unless you can make the holes smaller somehow.

 

[townchicks]

I'm primarily concerned in the first 4 weeks of the kits life, how much danger there may be to their front feet on one by one wire. Slip through and pull it back out, or slip through and get the elbow hung.

Adult rabbits will be in danger of slipping through it. They will break bones trying to free themselves. If you hold a rabbit with it's hind feet dangling, it can break it's own back, just by kicking in the air, that's how powerful it's kick is. If they get stuck, and start thrashing, well, you can guess what. I totally get that you have been given this wire, and buying different wire may be an issue, but it is penny wise and pound foolish to go with the 1x1 on the floor, IMO. Just having a board for resting on, will not prevent legs getting through the wire on the rest of it.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

1x1 is just too big. Real talk, a smaller newborn kit could popcorn out of the nestbox or get pulled out while nursing or get born on the wire and it would slip right through with everything but its skull and hang itself. Also adult front paws will slide right through and back paws could get dangerously stuck.
Personally I raise for meat and have solid bottom floors with bedding. I use hay bedding but I know that's expensive to some. They eat it and dig through it and enjoy having it as long as it's clean. Kits born "on the wire" with a solid floor and bedding often live much longer because they are born into hay bedding.
Nobody can stop you from choosing 1x1. But you've been duly warned that it may save you money in the present and cost you grief in the future.

 

[Xerocles]

Okay guys. I know I'm going to come across as hard-headed and argumentative. But honest that's not the case. I appreciate everything everyone has told me. I'm just confounded by the 1/2 by 1. I mean. Why not 1/2 by 1/2? That's what I use on the outside of my chicken run, but that was to stop snakes and mice. Wouldn't 1/2 X 1/2 be more comfortable? If I'm going to be buyimg wire anyhow? If a kit's leg will slip through one by one, if he were headed in the wrong direction, why wouldn't he slip through a 1/2 by 1? And certainly is not so poop can go through. They're round. I don't want to do stupid things that will hurt my rabbits, but I just really balk at the thought of doing things "because that's what you do".

 

[ChocolateMouse]

1/2x1/2 wire is also fine. But it costs more, usually comes only in smaller gauges. And the holes ARE small enough to keep poops in that way. (I've run a couple wire floors at 1/2x1/2 and it was disappointing to see that. Defeated the purpose of the wire to some degree.) Poop isn't perfectly round, they're not marbles, they're usually a little oblong, lumpy or soft enough to push through with a little wiggle room.

1/2x1 is just the cheapest commercially available lowest maintainance combination over all. Other options like 1/2x1/2 or solid are fine if you're willing to spend more or do more work.

It's basically just about risk to cost management.

 

[Xerocles]

@ChocolateMouse I LOVE YOU! Those were exactly the type of responses I was looking for. Had I thought the 1 by 1 would work, I would never have posted this thread. I would just have made the cages. But I'm a child of the sixties. Question authority. Never trust THE MAN. Consequently I've always had a problem doing things because that's the way they're supposed to be done. Money is not an issue ( who am I kidding here? Money is always an issue). But I made my 16 foot by 16 foot chicken run using 16 ga 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch wire, 6 feet high. Because it was the best way to help Fort Knox my chicken run. So I already knew that 1/2 by 1 was the standard. I was just looking for real world confirmation, and the why. You gave me that in clear concise and logical terms. Still not sure I buy into that whole poop won't go through 1/2 by 1/2, but you said you tried it and it doesn't work. Good enough for me. Empirical evidence. Again, thank you, and thank everyone else for your input and for trying to help me.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Bear in mind my rabbits are, at minimum 8lbs. More of them are in the 9-11lb range - big. The bigger bunnies have SOME of the poop stick in. Not a lot but enough to have to maintain. I also feed a high fiber diet so slightly bigger poops. Very little catches on the 1/2x1, but I think 1/2x1/2 is totally fine if you're OK with a bit more effort (scrape the poop thru the bottom every couple days, maybe a min or three per cage). If your bunnies are a lil smaller like 6-8lbs it's probably nbd.

Lots of things work better than commercial, just require more money and time. That's what commercial doesn't want. It's all about cost reductions, not about health or quality of life. If you put forth more effort and money you can ofc make a better life for your rabbits. But if you're looking for least effort and cost without serious health detriments, commercial's the route to go.

 

[cassie]

They can get sore feet from just being on wire. You have to give them some blocks of wood, usually long enough/wide enough to lay on. Also, I'd think that one by one would enable small feet to go through and possibly get caught and/or twisted.

Gee. I had rabbits for years on all wire floors and I never had one with sore feet. I had New Zealands. I don't know about the giant breeds though.

 

[Bunnylady]

The standard isn't just 1 x 1/2, it is to put the half-inch-spaced wires on the side the rabbits will be on. That is to maximize the amount of surface area the rabbits' feet are on, spreading the weight around as much as is reasonably possible. I think the reason the other dimension is 1 inch is largely economy; half as many wires as 1/2 x 1/2 so cheaper to produce and buy. Go much further than an inch in between, and you are increasing the chances of wires getting bent, but the more material you put under there, the more there is for stuff to get hung up on. I have had rabbits that developed sore feet from being on wire; mostly Mini Rex (Rex are notorious for having thin foot padding). If half inch wire can do that to such small rabbits, I can't see any good coming from giving them even less to stand on. Even with 1/2 x 1, I have sometimes seen broken claws and broken toes. Having seen a rabbit get a foot hung in the 1 x 2 inch side of its cage and break its own back struggling, it just seems to me to be asking for trouble to put that opportunity on the floor, too.

 

[JadeFarms]

Do not use wire, even if it’s half wire, put something they can stand on over all the wire. It was a sad sight to see with my friends rabbit, don’t do it to yours please! It was all the right size, and some rabbits get hurt, and some don’t, don't take a chance.