Making Run Forks

These are used to block males into a female's cage so you can catch them. My herd is very curious and social, it's more of a difficulty to get away from them or keep them away from your tools when things are going on with the cages. Chins are strong enough to drag a full sized pair of nippers into a run when you're not looking!

I needed something to split a run and decided it was time to make some forks.

Ideally forks should have spacing condusive to the size of wire you are using in the runs, most common is 1" x 1/2". To buy forks you'd have to find someone making them and the last ones I saw for sale were $20 each, about five years ago.

Old style forks were made out of refridgerator shelving, though you can also use oven racks or anything that looks like it may fit the bill. In my case, it was some old closetmaid shelving that the previous homeowners left out back.


These are not as sturdy as the oven or fridge shelving bars. Chinchillas can bend them if they go at it long enough so I use two sets to divide males and leave at least a three inch gap between them.


Tools used; Dremel w/cutting disks, saftey glasses and about 5 minutes.