WPFarmstead
Songster
i read about someone using a 5gal water bucket system w/tubing to feed their water bottles or a nipple at ea end for ea rabbit cage; i like this idea. i have lots of garden watering tubing, i wonder if i could rig something up with this? but when it gets hot here the water gets hot also; just like in the many water buckets i have out for the ducks, after a few hours the water is warm, so i refill w/cold water for them. and then in the winter the water will freeze??? we got (from the rabbit owners) 2 water bottles w/heated bottoms, i havent pluged them in to see if they work yet, hopefully these will work in the winter?
what do you do?
I was having issues with using a 5 gallon bucket, but since I moved to a 55 gallon barrel it stays quite cool for them and I use a mesh tarp to help shade everything. If you have the tubing in the sun, it will get quite hot and even grow algae. In winter, I use crocks (cheap version is a breakfast bowl from Big Lots for $2). I have enough now, that I can bring out hot water and bowls from inside and trade out the frozen bowls twice a day. I also put a sheet of plywood around the base of the pens to keep out drafts and use tarps to keep them protected even more. Where the hutches are, I'd have to run extension cords to keep heated bottles and in my experience, it's easier and cheaper to go with crocks.