Hi Mark, and Welcome to the site!

I had my own rattery for a number of years, only I bred for show animals, not feeders, but the breeding is the same no matter what.

The cheapest way I found to do it was this:

Housing: You can use rubber maid or sterilites, whatever is available to you. Punch holes into the container along the sides, several rows if you must. You are trying to get good air flow. Also, to keep along the air flow and ventilation.. cut out a square in the top of the lid (good sized), and cover with fine wire, like chicken wire, drill holes along the big hole you cut to wire in the chicken wire you are going to be covering the hole with.

Feeding: Feed them rodent seed, you can buy it in bulk in feed and grain stores. Also, I fed mine table scraps, anything we would eat.. and fruits and veggies. Also, you can feed them dog food, but please dont feed them any dog food that has RED DYES in it, red dyes are bad for our snakes.

Breeding: Generally, on a large scale breeding, you will want 1 male to up to 4-6 females. You can leave your males with thier harem even while they are raising thier babies, he will not usually eat them... but they will eat babies that are not theirs. Females go into heat cycles every 4-7 days, pregnancy lasts 21-27 days. The babies are generally weaned at 5-6 weeks of age. Also, most rats are sexually mature at that age. Be very aware, females go into heat IMMEDIATELY after they deliver thier litters, so, a female will get pregnant right away, she will wean the babies earlier though because she knows she has a new litter on the way. Any female thats pregnant or nursing needs lot of protiens in thier diets, it fattens them up and thier babies through the milk, keeps them healthy too. You can at some point freeze your rodents for later use, I can direct you as to how to euthanize them humanely if you would like. Feel free to PM me on that. Also, you may want to separate any male babies from thier fathers soon after they are weaned, I have seen the males get brutal with thier own male babies after they are older. Also, be aware that packs of rats have a pecking order, females included. So, if you find that you have a rat or a few that are whiney or squeek alot more than others alot of times for no apparent reasons, thats what breeders refer to as NERD rats, they just have social issues, does not mean there is anything wrong with them, but rat packs will often "pick" or designate a few for guinee pigs, meaning, it is those who get to try new foods, and if they die from it, the pack wont eat the new food, it is all dependant on social order. It is normal.

Hope this helps ya.