Need some creative ideas on keeping my rabbitry cool

[bo_murphy]

Hello everyone, just wondering what you guys do to keep the temp down in your rabbitry during the summer, especially if you live in the South like I do. I live in lower Alabama, and it's mid May and already hitting nearly 90. As of right now, I have two box fans running all day hitting both rows of cages. Last year, I also suspended an old trampoline mat over the roof trying to keep it somewhat shaded to keep the temp down on the tin roof.

I'm convinced that my bucks went sterile last summer, because I had 4-6 "successful" breedings with different doe and buck combinations, but when it was time for the kits to come, nothing. I have read that once a buck goes sterile it takes up to 3 months to come back around, and sure enough, this spring I have had 5 successful litters so far with 5 more due this week.

So what are your methods for keeping your rabbits cool during the heat of the summer? Thanks guys and gals - Bo

 

[caroline]

I have a tin roof too. I went to the good will and bought cheap sheet. I hung them around the out side of the barn and then put soaker hoses on the tin roof. I run the soaker hoses on very low drip and it cools the roof as well as running down the sides of the barn and getting the sheet wet. Then as the fans blow it creates a cool breeze. It has lowered the temps for the bunz by 10 degrees or so.

 

[Zass]

I use ice bottles, wetting the roofs of hutches, trees for shade and hopefully this year I get a fan to where they are located. Local ordinance demands they be 60 ft away from any buildings (or in one :? ) So they are 60 ft from my power supply.

 

[MaggieJ]

Here in Southern Ontario we don't have major heat problems, but we use a fan on the hottest afternoons and I keep a spray bottle of water and spritz rabbit ears if they seem to be feeling the heat. You get to know which rabbits can handle it and which ones can use a helping hand. Because rabbits cool themselves through the ears, spritzing helps quite a bit.

 

[bo_murphy]

Thanks for the replies

 

[Ramjet]

I thought of building one of these with a vent drop for each cage ... Its relatively cheap.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Yv5RyQP4I[/youtube]

 

[JohnMc]

Well if you put your rabbit hutches on a trailer like one poster did -- 40mph with the shades up ought to do it. :mrgreen:

 

[grumpy]

Here ya go: fixin-to-start-t8728.html

grumpy.

 

[TAG]

Has anyone tried any of the small solar fans to help keep the rabbits cool? If so which fans have you tried?

 

[Miss M]

Hello everyone, just wondering what you guys do to keep the temp down in your rabbitry during the summer, especially if you live in the South like I do. I live in lower Alabama, and it's mid May and already hitting nearly 90. As of right now, I have two box fans running all day hitting both rows of cages. Last year, I also suspended an old trampoline mat over the roof trying to keep it somewhat shaded to keep the temp down on the tin roof.

I'm convinced that my bucks went sterile last summer, because I had 4-6 "successful" breedings with different doe and buck combinations, but when it was time for the kits to come, nothing. I have read that once a buck goes sterile it takes up to 3 months to come back around, and sure enough, this spring I have had 5 successful litters so far with 5 more due this week.

So what are your methods for keeping your rabbits cool during the heat of the summer? Thanks guys and gals - Bo

Other than a sprinkler or soaker hose on the rabbitry roof and giving ice bottles to the buns, you've pretty much covered what is available to us down here in the high humidity we deal with down here.

None of the evaporative cooling things really work here, especially when balanced against the fact that you'd be creating perfect mold growing environment because of the already-high humidity. Wetting the roof doesn't do that, and the water doesn't have to actually evaporate in order to cool. It just has to absorb some of the heat from the roof, and carry it away.

Other than that, shade (the trampoline was brilliant), fans, and ice bottles pretty much round it out. I used to use ice bottles, but one of the other ladies explained why she doesn't -- if they're used to ice bottles, and the temp spikes one day while you aren't there to give them ice bottles, they could be more vulnerable to the heat. You keep the ones that thrive in the heat and humidity, and you develop your own local strain that is suited to the climate. <br /><br /> -- Wed Jun 25, 2014 11:16 pm -- <br /><br />

Has anyone tried any of the small solar fans to help keep the rabbits cool? If so which fans have you tried?

Could you give a link, maybe, to one of the ones you're talking about? I hadn't heard of these.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I have raised rabbits in N. california, with extreme temps, [120 degrees] but it was dry heat, I had a building with swamp coolers and a sprinkler on the roof that was turned on with a sprinkler solenoid valve and a 120 volt Grainger thermostat switch that energized the whole circuit.
-- When I was in Florida, I put the rabbits under a big oak tree in complete shade, and put shag carpet [from the garbage bin behind the carpet store] on the roof and hanging down the sides, and put the sprinkler on the roof with a solenoid /switch as mentioned above. [so it would come on all by its self when I was at work]