Flemish Giant Housing Accommodations

I'm going to start breeding Flemish Giants and I decided on the spare stall in my horse barn. As a family, we've decided that we have enough horses (aka no more!), and that leaves us with one extra stall in Upper Bi-Level. There is an outside door we can open in the summer to improve ventilation, along with strategically placed fans to get fresh air in and the smelly air out. The horses' body heat keeps the temperature from dropping too low on cold winter nights, and that particular stall is out of the way of winter drafts. All I'll have to do is give them lots of bedding in the winter.

I'm thinking about using large dog crates (I've had one for my personal Mini-Rex for all 8 years of his life and it works well) but should they be directly on the ground (that's what we call the rubber mats lining the bottom of each stall) or raised? (And if so, how?)

Also, how should I handle waters in the winter? I've heard about water heaters but I don't want to run any risk of fire because this is the horse barn I'm talking about (aka flammable material deluxe). Is there a particular heater that works best for this kind of situation?

Lastly, what kind of bedding should I use for my Giants? We use pellets (which expand into fluffy sawdust) for the horses and obviously won't work for rabbits, and I worry about straw being palatable, although (at least for horses) it is better for birthing stalls because it doesn't suffocate newborn foals by sticking to their wet nostrils. Is the same true for rabbits? I was thinking wood shavings would be best, but I want others' input.

Thanks.
K

I did the same when I had my flemmie.. I had him in a 12x12 box stall with wood shavings for bedding and a pile of hay he'd dig in and make himself comfortable... I didn't need to worry about freezing because it was a small barn and the horses' body heat kept the water from freezing though I'd swap it out twice a day.

I use horse bedding pellets covered by a layer of straw or hay in my indoor rabbit's pen.

Straw is best thing I know of for nestbox material, especially in winter, because it doesn't absorb water and insulates beautifully.

Zass":2qmo5547 said:

I use horse bedding pellets covered by a layer of straw or hay in my indoor rabbit's pen.

Straw is best thing I know of for nestbox material, especially in winter, because it doesn't absorb water and insulates beautifully.

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Thank you. The pellets under straw is a beautiful idea. I know how absorbent the pellets are, that would be perfect. I was just worried about them eating the straw or hay and not having enough bedding to keep warm in the winter. That's what my current rabbit does, and he freezes on those nights below zero.