Diamond
Well-known member
The heat question:
We get a few days here and there of temps in the low 90's but it usually cools off at night. They are the exception, 80-85* is the average 'high' temperature in late summer here, and the coastal weather pattern is usually a few warm days followed by some cooler ones, with a cool wind coming in over the Coastal mountains from the Pacific in the evening.
Does anybody here live in a similar climate zone and have either problems or success raising rabbits through the summer? I've talked to a few people who raise rabbits here and heard 50/50. Some say, no problem they breed year round and others say they have problems with small litters, mastitis, does eating their kits in the summer. I am hoping that taking precautions to keep the rabbits cool may help reduce the aforementioned problems.
My husband and I picked a cool spot on the property for our rabbit barn, it has a vented cupola on the roof and we can put a fan system in it to cool it down. We're planning to pack the western wall with straw bales for insulation against the afternoon sun. I am also collecting plastic beverage bottles as they get consumed and turning them into ice blocks for the bunnies.
The good news is it won't get real warm here until late July, so I have a chance to raise a couple more litters. I have 3 does, one is due ANY DAY!!, I just bred the other and am waiting another 30 days before breeding the third. Ideally I would like to raise one litter a month year 'round, but may expand to doubling that number.
We get a few days here and there of temps in the low 90's but it usually cools off at night. They are the exception, 80-85* is the average 'high' temperature in late summer here, and the coastal weather pattern is usually a few warm days followed by some cooler ones, with a cool wind coming in over the Coastal mountains from the Pacific in the evening.
Does anybody here live in a similar climate zone and have either problems or success raising rabbits through the summer? I've talked to a few people who raise rabbits here and heard 50/50. Some say, no problem they breed year round and others say they have problems with small litters, mastitis, does eating their kits in the summer. I am hoping that taking precautions to keep the rabbits cool may help reduce the aforementioned problems.
My husband and I picked a cool spot on the property for our rabbit barn, it has a vented cupola on the roof and we can put a fan system in it to cool it down. We're planning to pack the western wall with straw bales for insulation against the afternoon sun. I am also collecting plastic beverage bottles as they get consumed and turning them into ice blocks for the bunnies.
The good news is it won't get real warm here until late July, so I have a chance to raise a couple more litters. I have 3 does, one is due ANY DAY!!, I just bred the other and am waiting another 30 days before breeding the third. Ideally I would like to raise one litter a month year 'round, but may expand to doubling that number.
