Rabbitry in cold weather ?

[Hutch81]

I have a few questions and hope a lot of you can chime in... I live in new jersey and it gets pretty cold here durning the winter, not as cold as a lot of places but it does get cold... I keep getting mixed advise...
I have wire cages 30x30 and I built a frame were they slide in, so if you can picture this... Built shelter over there heads and back and side walls are covered... The sides are t11 sheeting, 2 cages side by side and 2 on top... Here's my question, what kind of nest boxes to use, do you keep nest box in all year around... Do I build boxes and fill with hay just for the winter and use metal nest box for breeding... Open or closed boxes... The one breeders house I went to said he keeps his boxes in all year around and then that's what he uses as nest box... Now at first I was building closed box out of pine with wood bottom to keep the chill out... But to me that's only gonna get dirty and I'll be replacing boxes , wire floor still have the cold draft... Do I wire bottom and place cardboard down then cut some wood to fit bottom so I can replace... Please post pictures and maybe some advise...

 

[TwoAcreDream]

I am in NY and it is cold here currently. My rabbits are inside now for
the winter. I do have outside hutches but those will be used in the spring
again. I thought about outside winter cages, but it can get bitter here,
in the winter. Cold, wet, snow, and wind. Not good.

I need more nest boxes. I have the metal ones and like them best. They
have the wood bottoms. I use hay and hope the mommy pulls lot of fur.

What I like best to use is a big plastic dog crate for maternity.
My current litter is in one with mom. The babies are 3 weeks old and won't
stay in the nest box. I will be taking out the nest box soon. The floor is
solid plastic so no worry about little feet. More often to do cleaning though.

I was using 3 of these units for my broody hens for hatching. Worked out
real good. Now I am using the same crates for my bunny maternity units.
I got these units used. No way could I afford to buy them new.

 

[Peach]

Rabbits can do well, free of the wind and elements down to -20F. I live in GA and I have not had it get anything extreme -yet- but I suggest prepping properly. All my rabbits have crocks since it's easy to dump it should it turn to ice. On the nights I know it's going to get really cold, I pour hot water in the crocks so it buys them more time to get water throughout the night. I use metal nesting boxes and they work wonderfully year round.

 

[ottersatin]

I breed my Rabbits year-round,
located in upstate N.Y. It does get very cold
but if the Does build a proper nest the kits do just fine.
My rabbitry/barn is not heated, I keep the doors closed in the evening.
i give nestboxes only to the Does who will soon be kindling.
The bucks do not get a Box. I have only 11 Rabbits at the moment,
as I cut back when winter arrives. Two bucks and nine Does.
I have 14 cages in the rabbitry. Single Tier accept for the Bucks beneath two does.
I may hang two or three more Doe cages for overflow because I do not house
any in outside cages in the dead of winter.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[skysthelimit]

Wood boxes last a surprisingly long time, years, provided your does don't eat them (mine do), bleach em out and that's that. I have solid bottoms, wire bottoms and pegboard bottoms. I've had a kit get a foot caught in the wire bottoms, and bedding is lost, not my favorite, but they let moisture out.

Some have tops and some don't. Depends on the doe.

My all time favorite are the plastic nest boxes, Rubbermaid or Sterlite containers.www.minirexrabbits.com/nest_tubs.htm The does don't eat them, I drill holes in the lid and bring the whole box in with me. Usually I used hay, and my does pull lots of fur, and that is sufficiently warm enough to winter lake effect storms off of Lake Erie. I've been using shredded paper this past year, and it works fine. I bring in the nest boxes because the plastic ones are light for the first few days, and really I just like handling nekkid kits.

I don't heat the barn, that would quickly drain my bank account. This barn is older than I am, lol.

 

[Hutch81]

I Might nail a moving blanket up over cages them a tarp in front of that... When not in use, I'll roll both up and tie them up on roff

 

[Dood]

Smaller size rabbits like Mini Lops will not do as well in the cold as a large 8-12 pound breed and a small litter of kits with only 1 to 3 in it will also have more difficulty keeping warm that larger litters.

I use nearly fully enclosed wooden boxes with just a 4x4 opening to help hold in heat and some of my does get them year round - the ones who don't chew or turn them into litter boxes.

 

[skysthelimit]

Somewhere I posted my outdoor hutch. I no longer have that computer so I can't just load the picture. The back was tarped off, and the front had wind screen on it. The front faced my back patio, and in the daytime I pulled the wind screen away, if temps were above freezing.

 

[jessie15273]

Hello! I live in NJ as well! I have a friend who has something similar to what you are describing and she has a heavy blanket attached to the open front, with a tarp over top. The cover stays down at night and on colder days. Another alternative is to cover parts of the cages with greenhouse plastic. I will try and find a pictureof my big hutch.

Where are you located?

 

[Hutch81]

Thanks everyone

 

[3mina]

I'm a bit farther north than NJ and my outdoor Rex do great through the winter, it gets down to -40 for a few weeks at a time and they don't even shiver. I keep them in a roofed all wire cage bank, if the weather is miserable I give everybunny cardboard boxes but half the time they don't do anything but destroy them.

 

[Dood]

:rotfl:

I'm a bit farther north than NJ

Yeah, just a bit :lol:

 

[3mina]

:rotfl:

I'm a bit farther north than NJ

Yeah, just a bit :lol:

Thought you'd like that :mrgreen:
But MatSuAK has me beat by a few hundred miles for raising in the north

 

[karenm99]

Hi all,
I'm in southeast Virginia and it doesn't usually get too cold, but on the chilly nights I put in boxes that I get for free from the liquor store or walmart filled with hay with a doorway or two cut in. It's like Christmas when they get the boxes, they play with them, sit on top, and can get inside if they get cold. And the best part is they can eat them if they want.

 

[MatSuAK]

This is my first winter with rabbits, & so far they are doing great. Babies and adults. I'm getting lots of exercise changing frozen water, other than that, no big deal. My bunnies are on wire, I gave them some 1/4" board to stand on, but they didn't seem to use it. Cages are in a shed, no insulation. Everyone has told me rabbits will do fine in the cold as long as there are no drafts, and you can keep them supplied with adequate water. Raising Satins and Satin X's, roughly 7-9 lb adults.

 

[dobergoat]

Gets pretty cold here. Last winter the rabbits were in our big coverall which had 2 doors open for sheep to enter/exit. So there was drafts. We had them in wire cages, with the platic mats to sit on, cages were covered on sides and top with empty feedbags.

For kindling boxes we used the wire ones lined with a thick cardboard box with 2/3 or the roof ( 1/3 cut out for entrance hole). Filled with straw. Once the doe made her next and kindled, I would just toss some extra straw in her cage if the temp did any crazy drops. Only litter we lost was in the spring, when we had a hot spell +15 then all of a sudden went back down to -1C and the doe didn't pull more hair or put the extra staw in.