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Has anyone else had enough...

Hugo's There

Wise Old Thumper
of the cold weather :(

I am on the go non stop and am exhausted.

I can't keep the water bowls from freezing, it took 2 and half hours this morning to defrost them all carefully and by the time I had finished the first lot had started freezing again.

I am constantly heating heatpads day and night to keep the older buns warm, but they are geting cold so quickly.

None of the buns can come out of the hutches as the ground is frozen solid and they hate it.

I am now buying 3 bales of hay a week and I have run out again until more is delivered wednesday.

I am so scared that if they don't die of cold they will die of dehydration.

It was minus 10 at 9am this morning and the garden didn't get above minus 7 all day. we now have freezing fog too and it looks like the temperature is going to get lower as the week progresses. :?

How is everyone else coping and what else can I try to keep the buns warm and watered?
 
Do you feed veggies? Rabbits will get quite a bit of their water requirement from those so if it doesn't upset the tummies you can up those a bit.

I'm not having too much trouble with freezing. I have a water bottle, covered in a snug. It's underneath the folded sheet over the hutch so the spout stays pretty protected too. It's frozen a couple of nights but not all. It was fine when I checked last night at midnight when it was -4 out.

With the bowls, I'd get duplicates and leave the spares in the sink to defrost. It will save a lot of time! I've two bottles and alternate them so I don't have to faff about with defrosting.

The trouble with putting heat in, is if you don't insulate it just leaves again. It will stay warmer in the hutch, the heatpads will last longer etc. if you get some good insulation going. Try getting cardboard boxes just slightly smaller than the internal size of the hutch. Then pack the couple of inches gap between the box and the hutch wall with straw (better insulator than hay). It's like having cavity wall insulation so should make a difference :)
 
:( im fed up too, but my buns are fine as they are inside a garage which has a little heater in there to keep the chill off.

ihope things get better :(
i hate winter!
 
Thanks.

I used to have duplicates of everything but with so many now it is impossible. We use mainly bowls which are harder to keep from freezing.

Our garden gets no sun at all in winter, its great in summer as it is lovely and shaded for the buns, but it makes the winter so much harder :(
 
Yep, I'm fed up too! I've only got 9 outdoor hutches but it's still a nightmare trying to feed and water everybun before work.

I tend to boil the kettle before I go out, and bring the bowls into the kitchen to defrost with the boiling water whilst I'm outside feeding everybun
 
Have you tried floating a pingpong ball in the bowls? (going on fish pond logic there :oops: )
What kind of bowls do you use? Are they the ceramic 'rabbit' ones if you know what I mean?
 
I'm in and out a good deal at the moment to the playhouse, and I only have have 2 guineapigs and one rabbit. It's a long dark old walk adown the garden though lol. Today I kept the door shut all day, for the first time ever and didn't let him run in and out. I have warmed the snuggle pad three times, changed the water 3 times also and yesterday I made fleece window covers for the three playhouse windows for night time. They say that at the middle of this week it will hit -12 in our area !
 
Have you tried floating a pingpong ball in the bowls? (going on fish pond logic there :oops: )
What kind of bowls do you use? Are they the ceramic 'rabbit' ones if you know what I mean?

Not tried that. I am using ceramic ones. Even the ones in hutches in the middle of stacks in the new bunny shed are freezing within a couple of hours today.

I can cope with having to do them in the morning and evening but they are literally freezing within a couple of hours today:(
 
im fed up of it too ... its not quite so cold here but still having to defrost water at least twice a day ..

i cleaned out a hutch yesterday lunch time and a bun had weed on the newspaper...which was then frozen solid to the floor of the hutch .. :(
 
im fed up of it too ... its not quite so cold here but still having to defrost water at least twice a day ..

i cleaned out a hutch yesterday lunch time and a bun had weed on the newspaper...which was then frozen solid to the floor of the hutch .. :(

Its awful isn't it. I used to have that problem with my piggy pen but this year I built them a new one and put a false floor in with insulation inbetween and it has been OK so far :)

If you are anything like me you feel so guilty that you can't do more to make them comfortable :(
 
random suggestions - can you put socks on the bottles? perhaps hiking/thermal socks that will stop them from freezing? OR snugglesafes or ceramic tiles heated in the microwave under the bowls?
 
Its awful isn't it. I used to have that problem with my piggy pen but this year I built them a new one and put a false floor in with insulation inbetween and it has been OK so far :)

If you are anything like me you feel so guilty that you can't do more to make them comfortable :(


i feel guilty all the time ... im putting their big covers down when it gets dark to help keep the cold out ...then i feel guilty cos thweyre in the dark .. i leave them in the hutches cos its warmer in there...then i feel guilty cos they look bored .. :? :roll:

I dont mind dry , cold days ... but its just too cold ...and the slightest thaw and everything is soaked .. :evil:
 
Brr! I'm so glad I started bringing mine in as housebunnies for the winter. I really don't know how I would cope if they were outside - I spent 5 minutes out there this morning (-7) and I couldn't feel my fingers anymore :shock:

I do use the Snugglesafe at the moment to put under the bird's water dish to keep it liquid a little bit longer for them to drink, but with so many bunnies I know that's not a realistic suggestion for you :?
 
i feel guilty all the time ... im putting their big covers down when it gets dark to help keep the cold out ...then i feel guilty cos thweyre in the dark .. i leave them in the hutches cos its warmer in there...then i feel guilty cos they look bored .. :? :roll:

I dont mind dry , cold days ... but its just too cold ...and the slightest thaw and everything is soaked .. :evil:

I'm glad I am not the only one who feels like this :(

Heatpads under bowls would be great but when you are already heating 12 round the clock to keep bunnies warm it is totally impossible
 
I too am fed up of this weather.

My greatest worry is dehydration, both of the chickens and rabbits. I left for work today at 7am, when it was -7°C, of course I put fresh water out then but I was never sure of how long it would last! Coming home at 7pm, the first thing I did was check the water and put fresh out, I was relieved to see how much of the water had been drunk from the bottle and is wasn't far off their usual amount for the daytime (they do most of their drinking in the morning in my experience). Of course I have put fresh out now and will do again this evening.

I'm fortunate that Floss has a shed which gives a bit of protection and Clogg's hutch is against the house keeping it just a little bit warmer than it would otherwise be. Just wish there was someone home to keep an eye on them :(

Hannah
 
Have you tried using plastic bowls? I use these ones for their water bowls:
http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/Cat-Food+Bowls/Wilko-Round-Plastic-Cat-Diner-Small/invt/9531040?htxt=PsAGyAqy%2FDSGVBgOHPBfATKVETOKIWHcwqoICuDrG%2FxTcDPfxIrYzUvEu76RzzM6wutKTeo9AOCB%0AtDs76aYYKg%3D%3D and I haven't had the water freeze so far. I use ceramic bowls for their food and those are always freezing cold when I change them in the morning, but the plastic bowls don't seem to be cold, I guess they don't hold the heat in the same way.
 
I hate it too. I wish it would go away. The vet suspect my Frankie's bloat is the cold weather. He's in an insulated playhouse as well. :(
 
It was -4 this morning when I left for work,and felt awful having to leave their little doors open for access to the runs.
WhenI got home it was back to-4 again so they were all locked in their sheds and I put their heaters on early.

I hate thinking of them spending days on end just trying to stay warm. Can't wait for the summer to see them all out flopping in shady places!
 
Someone suggested putting snow in a bowl for overnight as it won't melt...anything like my buns love eating snow!
 
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