I've been pondering this decision for awhile, whether or not hanging cages or standard cages with dropping pans are better for our bunnies. Last year we bought nice new 24x24 cages with dropping pans. We cleaned the pans once a week, twice in the summer, but we still had a problem with attracting fly's. And with fly's comes maggots and worms for the bunnies. Not to mention rabbit urine is not the most pleasant smell. With hanging cages the manure and urine drops onto the ground under the cages. Having cages without trays like these are great for hygiene. Yes, I will need to clean the cages occasionally but I won't have trays of urine and poop to empty daily. The droppings fall to the ground below. The hay and bits of food also fall. So, what to do? Well, I've read lots of different solutions. I plan on trying the worm bed option. Not only does this option keep the fly population and smell to a minimum, it will also create a second form of income for Cady and Aiden. They can sell the worms to fisherman and the casings for gardening.
Hanging the cages has proven to be a little trickery than I thought it would be. I bought these amazing cages from a breeder in Kansas City. They are 71' long with two separate compartments that measure 36x24. Needless to say these are fairly large cages. Which is great for my bunny friends but makes hanging them problematic for me. The cages are heavy, and the hooks have to have constant pressure while you are putting on the other hooks—if not they'll come off and you have to start over. I screwed eyehooks into the rafters of our barn and added s-hooks to that. I hung a chain from each of eight hooks from each two compartments of the cage. We placed another s-hook on each chain, level with each other, at the height we wanted the top of the cage to be. Then we hung one end of the cage first and pulled it out from the wall to maintain tension. We then hooked the remaining two back hooks followed by the remaining two front hooks and then slowly released the cage into place. The only thing thing that I don't like is that the cages swing quite a bit. I'm planning on rehanging the cage in a Y form. I read that that may reduce the swinging. Other than that It's amazing how much nicer it is to have the rabbits in hanging cages.