Rabbit shed upgrade
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MnCanary
Well-known member
I don't know the answer. Kentucky is variable over a longer period of time each year. I AM sure that you can breed toward withstanding the weather, and that your herd will adapt just because you keep breeding the survivors.
As I think about this, I don't know how a rabbit behaves when it is too cold. Can you tell by looking that a rabbit is uncomfortable because it is cold?
Rabbits by Accident
Well-known member
MuddyFarms
Well-known member
A few thoughts I have had about the heating subject:
I do know that rabbits need to become accustomed to whatever they are living in. They need to grow in a winter coat each year. So taking a rabbit that has been indoors for the first half of the winter and putting them outside in the cold could be a situation that calls for helping them adjust with additional heat. If I had heated my rabbitry and they never grew in a winter coat, I would not be inclined to just stop the heat on them. It seems it would need to be a gradual decrease in additional heat for maybe a month or more to help them get in a good coat?
Lots of breeders bring in kits in nest boxes at night or all the time for the first two weeks of their lives when it is really cold (relative to their areas). The kits are taken back out to the cage for nursing. The breeders typically make a point to put them in their coldest room or garage, so the kits are not shocked when they are taken back out for the day. Care might also need to be taken when putting the kits back out 24/7 when they are two weeks old, so that they are not shocked at that point. Basically just trying to keep the rabbits used to whatever they will be living in.
It seems like rabbits will become accustomed to whatever the most common temps are. So with huge swings like @Rabbits by Accident shows there in her post, I would expect that they are already accustomed to the colder average temps (they grew even slightly thicker coats and just physically prepared for it), and then they are feeling even more hot on the hotter days than if it was summer and they had a summer coat? I think I would be more concerned during that kind of winter weather that they would get too hot on the 80* F days, rather than them getting too cold on the cold nights. Kits in nest boxes also adjust their behavior depending on the temps. If they have lots of good fur and plenty of bedding, they can adjust appropriately to cold and heat. If they are cold, they all fluff up the fur, bury themselves in it, and cuddle together, thus increasing the heat in the nest. If they are too hot, they all move to the top, pressing the fur down underneath themselves, and spread apart, thus cooling themselves off. If it is a cold night, I have noticed that my does will check the nest and pull more fur if they think the kits will need more.
Now, I do live in the Northwest, so I don't know for certain how this might work there in Texas! We have days that are in the 60s and then go down in the 30s. Lows of 5* F are coming up again. We also have 'spring' periods where the temps get nice and warm again for the most part, and then just as quickly it switches back to cold winter below the 30s again.
I do know that rabbits need to become accustomed to whatever they are living in. They need to grow in a winter coat each year. So taking a rabbit that has been indoors for the first half of the winter and putting them outside in the cold could be a situation that calls for helping them adjust with additional heat. If I had heated my rabbitry and they never grew in a winter coat, I would not be inclined to just stop the heat on them. It seems it would need to be a gradual decrease in additional heat for maybe a month or more to help them get in a good coat?
Lots of breeders bring in kits in nest boxes at night or all the time for the first two weeks of their lives when it is really cold (relative to their areas). The kits are taken back out to the cage for nursing. The breeders typically make a point to put them in their coldest room or garage, so the kits are not shocked when they are taken back out for the day. Care might also need to be taken when putting the kits back out 24/7 when they are two weeks old, so that they are not shocked at that point. Basically just trying to keep the rabbits used to whatever they will be living in.
It seems like rabbits will become accustomed to whatever the most common temps are. So with huge swings like @Rabbits by Accident shows there in her post, I would expect that they are already accustomed to the colder average temps (they grew even slightly thicker coats and just physically prepared for it), and then they are feeling even more hot on the hotter days than if it was summer and they had a summer coat? I think I would be more concerned during that kind of winter weather that they would get too hot on the 80* F days, rather than them getting too cold on the cold nights. Kits in nest boxes also adjust their behavior depending on the temps. If they have lots of good fur and plenty of bedding, they can adjust appropriately to cold and heat. If they are cold, they all fluff up the fur, bury themselves in it, and cuddle together, thus increasing the heat in the nest. If they are too hot, they all move to the top, pressing the fur down underneath themselves, and spread apart, thus cooling themselves off. If it is a cold night, I have noticed that my does will check the nest and pull more fur if they think the kits will need more.
Now, I do live in the Northwest, so I don't know for certain how this might work there in Texas! We have days that are in the 60s and then go down in the 30s. Lows of 5* F are coming up again. We also have 'spring' periods where the temps get nice and warm again for the most part, and then just as quickly it switches back to cold winter below the 30s again.
toss the heating lamp, rabbits do not need them. They have fur coats! 
they tolerate cold extremely well. I live in snow belt Ontario... they are FINE in the cold.
they tolerate cold extremely well. I live in snow belt Ontario... they are FINE in the cold.
Rabbits by Accident
Well-known member
In defense, I think they do well in constant cold weather, but when it goes from 80 - 30 - 75 - 19 - 79 - 23 . . . . I worry that they won't have sufficient fur due to the warm spells. . .toss the heating lamp, rabbits do not need them. They have fur coats!
I have the same kind of temperature patterns. I always wonder about Dosiedo0e in the cold. I finnaly got my mind wrapped around her tolerance when I went out to check on her at 10F and found her hanging out in the wind rather than in her hide. She simply didn't care. On the other hand, I do make sure she has plenty of calories available.
I used to rescue rabbits all the time. I always just tossed them outside regardless of the weather EXCEPT on the very hottest days of the year. Those days I'd give them some adapting time if they were solely indoor bunnies from AC homes.
In the winter I'd give some straw to the new rabbits and they did just fine. They didn't huddle and shiver, they simply went around being bunnies. I'd make sure they had enough to eat and some straw to set on though half the time they simply ate the straw. Any that looked cold (and ate the straw) I'd give a board to sit on until they pooped it messy, but that was the exception not the rule.
So in an environment where temps fluctuated, I'd expect the rabbits to simply adapt because they are used it as they've lived in it since they were born.
In the winter I'd give some straw to the new rabbits and they did just fine. They didn't huddle and shiver, they simply went around being bunnies. I'd make sure they had enough to eat and some straw to set on though half the time they simply ate the straw. Any that looked cold (and ate the straw) I'd give a board to sit on until they pooped it messy, but that was the exception not the rule.
So in an environment where temps fluctuated, I'd expect the rabbits to simply adapt because they are used it as they've lived in it since they were born.
