Shed Material Question

[katiemarangi]

Hey there!
I'm looking to buy a ~10ftx10ft shed to start housing more rabbits. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the resin sheds they've been coming out with? Tuff wooden sheds are a little out of my price range at the moment, and I was looking at a steel-reinforced resin shed with 4 windows, skylights, and some ventilation shafts. It's a Lifetime brand shed. I'm on the central coast in California, so our weather is tolerable for rabbits 99% of the time and I will probably get it better insulated anyways. I'll keep the doors open during the day, weather permitting. The location is also next to an outlet so I can plug in a fan or AC for the occasional hot day. Mainly just wondering if anyone has any experience with these types of sheds and how they seem to hold temperature inside, their durability, etc. Or if you guys have any specific recommendations for sheds around that size and preferably under $3.5k. Thank you.

 

[MnCanary]

I have no direct experience. But--anything made of resin (plastic) breaks down in sunlight. Painting it would help slow that down. Ask the manufacturer about that, and also ask them for some recommendations from their customers that have this shed.

 

[Cindy in SD]

I would build a them wooden shed, or wooden hutches. Plastics, etc., can't take the constant barrage of photons the sun flings at them. We keep ours in the small "barn" my hubby and I built, along with a collection of poultry and three sheep. It's been awfully cold in there (for November (as in -7°)) and everyone is fine. Even the few chickens that have larger combs haven't had any frostbite. Ventilation is key. Moisture makes the cold bite a LOT harder.

These are all animals that are adapted very successfully to thrive in conditions that would kill humans in a matter of hours. It's the price we pay for our big brains.

I made the girls nest boxes with 1/2" hardware cloth bottoms and though I'm not breeding them yet, I gave them the boxes, filled with hay the sheep have wasted around their mangers, and they seem to like having them. The poor little buck doesn't have room in his cage, but I did give him a tile to keep the hay from falling through and he seems to like that. I'll figure out something for him soon, that doesn't use up all his space.