cooling rabbits outside

[millipede]

I think my wife just went out and bought a BIG fan. We have two hutches I built with more cages underneath. This covid thing spooked her when shopping got tricky so she had this idea that we NEED to raise our own food, just in case. We have 13 or more rabbits now... we live in NW Arkansas and, it does get hot in summer. Should be upper 80's (F) here today with some 90's coming soon. Some summers we will hit 100...(one summer we had 106°F a few days in a row.

I don't love the fan idea because of electricity use. I'm also concerned about rain and who we're going to make sure we always have the fan turned off and covered safely EVERY time it rains. Will I stay on top of that???
Oh, editing to add... If we used fans... if it's almost 100°F out, will a fan even do enough to cool them???

We have some shade and I hope to set up more soon.

I've seen stuff about freezing water bottles... but, that's a lot of work for that many rabbits, lots of bottles in and out every day. We might not keep up with that. I've seen a few tips here and there but none of them seem perfect.

I've considered misters... wondering a few things about such an idea.
1. Anyone use this method and have thoughts?
2. Would you put the misters to spray directly on them or, just on the roofs as it should still cool the area?
3. I wonder how much water this will take over the summer. We have well water... never had issues with running out of water or anything but, I might want to do some math on such a thing.
4. If misting over the pens and not directly on the rabbits, will that cool the area enough if it's HOT... like 90's hot?
We've hit some mid 80's here lately and they all seem to be doing okay so far.

Oh, a second topic on the same rabbits....
I built them all using 1/2" hardware cloth, even for the floors. She's now watching youtube videos and such saying never to use that as it's bad for their feet. Currently, we're just putting in enough hay so they're not ON the wire right now. She told me we need to replace the floor. The way I built it, I'm not going through the trouble of rebuilding them. LOTS of J clips holding all the wire together and that stuff doesn't come apart easily. I don't want wood floors because they'll be difficult to clean well and will rot. My wife things we need to put coated wire over the hardware cloth. That's just another cost...
So I'm considering the options...
1. Put coated wire on top of the hardware cloth.
2. Is there a way to coat the hardware cloth itself that would protect the rabbits' feet?
3. Just keep using hay. This is my favorite option as it's not another project for me... HA

 

[cassie]

Why is the wire bad for their feet? In every commercial rabbitry I have ever seen the rabbits are kept on wire. I kept mine on wire. I never had a rabbit with sore hocks. If I did I would have butchered it. That problem, like many others, is hereditary.

If you poke around the internet in the right places, you should be able to find all the information you need. If memory serves, the agricultural extension in Arkansas has an excellent bulletin on raising rabbits. There are others. Start looking for information meant for the commercial producer, not pet owners. Avoid the latter like the plague.

Some years ago I was doing research to set up a commercial rabbitry. There was a rabbitry and rabbit processor nearby that was eager to buy all the fryers I could raise. I ended up downloading and printing out notebooks full of information. Things happened and I was unable to pursue the project. I ended up moving halfway across the country. If I had kept those notebooks I would be happy to send them to you but I didn't. The point is, if I could find the information, so can you.

 

[millipede]

if I could find the information, so can you.

Searching the internet these days is like gambling. My wife spends HOURS a day looking stuff up. It's not all perfect.
The bit about commercial vs pet is a good point. She's feeding them all lettuce and spinach and some other veggies EVERY day. I feel like they eat better than we do sometimes. HA. I'm kind of thinking we don't "need" to do that for the meat rabbits. But the internet told her they "need" to get fresh veggies every day.
the internet is also what told her about the wire. This is the standard 1/2" wire that's not coated. It is a little rough and a few of the rabbits have rough feet.
Also, I'm asking here(probably would be better in an actual rabbit forum, but hey, this is for other pets so, doesn't hurt) because sometimes getting answers from real people with experience is way better than simply searching on the internet and trusting what you find.

Like the temperature thing. It's 86°F out there right now... the internet says anything over 85°F is going to cause problems... I'm not finding any info about them being in the shade, is 85 still the limit? which way of cooling works better, etc...

I'll check out the Arkansas agriculture stuff. I've looked at their pages for something in the past... don't remember what. ha

 

[21hens-incharge]

Shade...lots of solid shade.

When I had 14 rabbits each with their own hutch I had wire floor in each. Never a sore foot or issue at all.

I ran a swamp cooler through ductwork that fed each hutch. That said my hutches were wood on 3 sides with wire fronts. I had 2 loooong rows facing each other with wire fronts and the roof of the ones on the left met the roof of the ones on the right high enough I could tend them in shade and never stooping. All this was under my big shade trees. I also froze 2 liter soda bottles for each hutch to have 2 a day. When to hot they would lay along the cold bottles to cool off.

Colorado has very low humidity. I don't advise high humidity areas to try a swamp cooler.

It was a tremendous amount of work.

On the temps.......mine were looking miserable if it got to 85+ degrees.

I think which way of cooling is best depends on the set up and the climate/humidity and the breed of the bunny.

We kept rabbits for 11 years.

 

[cassie]

As I said, look for the commercial stuff as opposed to the hobby and pet stuff. A number of the agricultural extension offices in various states have good bulletins. I have Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennett. I also have a book or two on commercial rabbit production but I don't know where they are right now so I can't tell you anything about them. I found my books on amazon. The Bennett book is a good all around reference for the backyard producer and I recommend it. It covers housing, breeding, feeding, and butchering. It isn't very expensive and I think you will find it practical and very helpful. I did. I would be careful with the greens. Too many greens can kill youngsters. I fed my rabbits commercial pellets. Period. They did just fine on that. If I were raising them today I might give hay, too.

I do miss my rabbits. I have thought about getting some Florida Whites for meat and show, but the thought of going out in sub zero weather to take care of rabbits or any other critter does not make my little heart go pittypat with glee.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Lots of other people have given great replies, and I only have 2 pet rabbits for now (I'd love to get more to try out breeding and potentially for meat one day) so I can't say too much about how to keep that many rabbits cool...Although I agree plenty of shade is a good idea. For fans, we have a waterproof fan and I've left it out in many showers and even a few storms. (I typically like to keep it off in lightning storms to be safe) Never had an issue. Although yeah, electricity may be a concern. While it might not do much, it keeps the air moving and I think it certainly improves the situation. I live in FL so we get horrible hot weather here too.

For me, I've had my rabbits outside for years and we have kept them in the shade with a fan on them, and I try to regularly put frozen chunks of ice (we don't use the bottles. I just fill old yogurt/sour cream containers and pop them out, so the rabbits can lick the ice too) and they have done fine. And we get 90 degree weather regularly with 100 degrees and upwards in the sun. A mister might be a good idea to try to cool the area/roof around them, although I'm unsure how well it might work on the rabbits themselves. They aren't supposed to get too wet anyways.
Also, for frozen bottles, I usually only put them out once a day in the hottest part of the day. If you decide to try doing that, doing it only once might help keep the work down while still helping your rabbits keep cool.

Honestly I have heard lots of people's opinions about pet rabbits and how they should be kept, and it drives me crazy. Wire is fine so long as you give them something to sit on for a break for their feet, like wood or tile or some kind of mat. Also, I see greens as more of a treat than a source of food. I get meat rabbits (and breeding rabbits) will have different diets, but a rabbit lives primarily off hay and/or pellets and greens aren't a needed staple. Mine are very healthy without them.

I hope I was a little help, and I hope you can find a way to keep your rabbits cool!

 

[marmca]

I think my wife just went out and bought a BIG fan. We have two hutches I built with more cages underneath. This covid thing spooked her when shopping got tricky so she had this idea that we NEED to raise our own food, just in case. We have 13 or more rabbits now... we live in NW Arkansas and, it does get hot in summer. Should be upper 80's (F) here today with some 90's coming soon. Some summers we will hit 100...(one summer we had 106°F a few days in a row.

I don't love the fan idea because of electricity use. I'm also concerned about rain and who we're going to make sure we always have the fan turned off and covered safely EVERY time it rains. Will I stay on top of that???
Oh, editing to add... If we used fans... if it's almost 100°F out, will a fan even do enough to cool them???

We have some shade and I hope to set up more soon.

I've seen stuff about freezing water bottles... but, that's a lot of work for that many rabbits, lots of bottles in and out every day. We might not keep up with that. I've seen a few tips here and there but none of them seem perfect.

I've considered misters... wondering a few things about such an idea.
1. Anyone use this method and have thoughts?
2. Would you put the misters to spray directly on them or, just on the roofs as it should still cool the area?
3. I wonder how much water this will take over the summer. We have well water... never had issues with running out of water or anything but, I might want to do some math on such a thing.
4. If misting over the pens and not directly on the rabbits, will that cool the area enough if it's HOT... like 90's hot?
We've hit some mid 80's here lately and they all seem to be doing okay so far.

Oh, a second topic on the same rabbits....
I built them all using 1/2" hardware cloth, even for the floors. She's now watching youtube videos and such saying never to use that as it's bad for their feet. Currently, we're just putting in enough hay so they're not ON the wire right now. She told me we need to replace the floor. The way I built it, I'm not going through the trouble of rebuilding them. LOTS of J clips holding all the wire together and that stuff doesn't come apart easily. I don't want wood floors because they'll be difficult to clean well and will rot. My wife things we need to put coated wire over the hardware cloth. That's just another cost...
So I'm considering the options...
1. Put coated wire on top of the hardware cloth.
2. Is there a way to coat the hardware cloth itself that would protect the rabbits' feet?
3. Just keep using hay. This is my favorite option as it's not another project for me... HA

You may try freezing some larger containers, get a fan (box type usually economical) put ice block and fan at one end of cages.
This works okay if cages are in a row. Fan blows over ice and down aisle of cages.
Also ceramic floor tile can be frozen - 90 + temps here. Tiles put in with rabbits afternoon, gives some relief in hottest part of day.
Cooling fruit branches, helps if fast growing and on your lot
Cucumber in water
Is this something that could work for your setup?

As for wire and feet, mine have enough hay to eat, build nest or just rest on. Everything removed at least once a week. They do tend to use one corner mainly for bathroom. So feed in furthest corner, it will get spread about