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Who has outside buns and has freezing winters...?

ripminnie

Wise Old Thumper
What housing do your buns have and how do you make sure they're warm enough?? It's freezing here in winter (last year it got to -15) :( but I'm considering rescuing two buns that will live in a dog kennel/run in the garden. I only have 2 indoor buns at the moment. And how do you find looking after them when it's so cold? :wave:
 
It's horrible, but it's doable. Last year I used silver backed beach mats to good effect and whilst outside their area was -9, mine always stayed above freezing (and I know that because their water never froze). They are in an aviary style thing.

I have two who are hutch and run based and they were also being wrapped up in silver backed beach mats but they still got below freezing.

I also used loads and loads of hay and snugglesafes. I had to get up in the middle of the night to reheat all the snugglesafes, but it was worth doing. I would use one or two for the bunnies, and then one under the water bowl if it looked like they would freeze (only used that for the hutch/run based ones).

I hated looking after them in such cold weather but it had to be done. I was constantly worried and stressed and I'm sure I wasn't the only owner. I'm lucky my outside ones were all healthy last year.
 
I can't actually answer your question as we've only recently had our 2 buns (2.5 weeks ago) and so this coming winter will be our first. Ours have their hutch in the shed so are like doubled up with housing and if it gets really cold I'll still put a blanket over the hutch as the shed can be draughty. I'll also increase the straw in their bed chamber (I read somewhere that in deep winter they should have a whole bale of fluffed up straw to snuggle into at night). Other than that, I don't know. You and I are learning together by the looks of it.

I would think that make sure where the kennel/hutch is, is not in direct line to get full windy blasts (i.e. not in an alleyway or at the bottom of one) and you will need to cover the hutch with at least one blanket at night (has to be waterproof too I should imagine) or somehow block off the mesh part of the hutch to help keep it dry/wind free. Watch their water doesn't freeze by changing it as often as necessary when it's really, really cold. Also, as mentioned above, lots and lots of straw in the bed chamber area, with a decent thickness of newspaper and/or shavings on the bottom of it to raise them up off the wood a bit more. I think you can get special heat pads too, or even hot water bottles - but both will eventually go cold in the night so don't know if they work or not.

I would think that someone with plenty more experience than me will give you further advice but that's all I can come up with :)

edited: told you! Sky-O beat me!
 
Our buns come into indoor hutches at night into a brick building. we had over a week of nighttime temps - 10, the year before we had a couple of days where the daytime temp did not get above -10, one day was -18. In honesty my rabbits had to spend a large part of winter in their hutches, so this year we are planning to reorganise the building so they all have permanent indoor runs, albeit a bit on the small side.
 
When we first got Poppy we had terrible storms, rain and wind and she was a baby and fine in her hutch :) her next hutch had about 6cm thick insulation in the bed bit. When it snowed last year she had a warm hutch with blanket and snuggle pad and covers but she sat out in the uncovered part of the run :lol:
 
My bunny had a nice warm hutch to overnight in but preferred to stay in the open in his litter tray...even when the temps were -15:(
 
Hiya :wave:

Does the silver bit face inwards or outwards? Where do you get them from?
Think I'll have to get some snugglesafes...

I hate the cold :( so I will hate going out in it, but I really want these buns!! :?

It's horrible, but it's doable. Last year I used silver backed beach mats to good effect and whilst outside their area was -9, mine always stayed above freezing (and I know that because their water never froze). They are in an aviary style thing.

I have two who are hutch and run based and they were also being wrapped up in silver backed beach mats but they still got below freezing.

I also used loads and loads of hay and snugglesafes. I had to get up in the middle of the night to reheat all the snugglesafes, but it was worth doing. I would use one or two for the bunnies, and then one under the water bowl if it looked like they would freeze (only used that for the hutch/run based ones).

I hated looking after them in such cold weather but it had to be done. I was constantly worried and stressed and I'm sure I wasn't the only owner. I'm lucky my outside ones were all healthy last year.
 
Hiya :wave:
Thanks for your reply :)
I have had quite a few outdoor buns before but now I live somewhere that gets a lot colder, so need to be prepared for that.. :(

I can't actually answer your question as we've only recently had our 2 buns (2.5 weeks ago) and so this coming winter will be our first. Ours have their hutch in the shed so are like doubled up with housing and if it gets really cold I'll still put a blanket over the hutch as the shed can be draughty. I'll also increase the straw in their bed chamber (I read somewhere that in deep winter they should have a whole bale of fluffed up straw to snuggle into at night). Other than that, I don't know. You and I are learning together by the looks of it.

I would think that make sure where the kennel/hutch is, is not in direct line to get full windy blasts (i.e. not in an alleyway or at the bottom of one) and you will need to cover the hutch with at least one blanket at night (has to be waterproof too I should imagine) or somehow block off the mesh part of the hutch to help keep it dry/wind free. Watch their water doesn't freeze by changing it as often as necessary when it's really, really cold. Also, as mentioned above, lots and lots of straw in the bed chamber area, with a decent thickness of newspaper and/or shavings on the bottom of it to raise them up off the wood a bit more. I think you can get special heat pads too, or even hot water bottles - but both will eventually go cold in the night so don't know if they work or not.

I would think that someone with plenty more experience than me will give you further advice but that's all I can come up with :)

edited: told you! Sky-O beat me!
 
Both my buns, including one with a stomach condition were fine outside all winter. They are in Wendy houses and had snuggle boxes, lots of hay, sunscreens covering the runs and plenty of straw covering the floor.
 
My buns are free range and go into a big brick built shed in Winter,I put dog beds full of hay in there and have vet bed which is inside a cardboard box,I also put a,bunny proof radiator in there so it at least takes the chill off,plus the concrete floor is covered with rubber matting
 
My buns are free range and go into a big brick built shed in Winter,I put dog beds full of hay in there and have vet bed which is inside a cardboard box,I also put a,bunny proof radiator in there so it at least takes the chill off,plus the concrete floor is covered with rubber matting

Have you got a link to this?
 
My two live in a shed with attached run. They have a double story hutch inside the shed, which has no downstairs doors so they have permanent access to the lot. I just put lots of hay in their bedroom section and cover the hutch with two duvet style horse rugs. I was worried about them but they were fine, in fact they prefer cold weather to hot. The only problem was keeping their water bowl liquid in the coldest days. I tended to have quite a big bowl and fill it with tepid water. This encouraged them to drink straight away and although it freezes quickly I was replacing it 5 times a day to keep them hydrated. They also had lots of vegetables with high water content. I think that it's the single buns who suffer most, my two are very snuggly so were fine.
 
Have you got a link to this?

I've got these in my insulated sheds http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=tubular+greenhouse+heater&tag=yahhyd-21&index=aps&hvadid=66320413031&ref=pd_sl_1lqaoule1_e. Can't remember which website I got them from but I can highly recommend them.

Very cheap to run and keep an insulated shed above freezing. Never got any worries about frozen water bowls :D and I know I can lock the oldies in at night if necessary and they won't get cold. The oldies also have carpet tiles on the floor in the shed as they don't move around quite as much as Pea and Pod now so I worry about sore hocks etc.
 
I've got these in my insulated sheds http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=tubular+greenhouse+heater&tag=yahhyd-21&index=aps&hvadid=66320413031&ref=pd_sl_1lqaoule1_e. Can't remember which website I got them from but I can highly recommend them.

Very cheap to run and keep an insulated shed above freezing. Never got any worries about frozen water bowls :D and I know I can lock the oldies in at night if necessary and they won't get cold. The oldies also have carpet tiles on the floor in the shed as they don't move around quite as much as Pea and Pod now so I worry about sore hocks etc.

Hmm, we do have electrical access to big enclosure, but not to the other two outside runs. Something to think on.

Thank you very much!
 
i have mine in a shed and it got to -14 here last winter, it was awful. :(

i put layers of cardboard on the floor and about a foot of straw. packed big cardboard boxes full of straw and hay and on a night i put in 4 heat pads between the 3 of them. fed them a bit extra too.
i would go out an hour after seeing to them and the water would have frozen so i got a microwave hotplate to stand the bowl on and added a little glycerine to it which helped a little.

buddy wasn't at all happy and i worried about the girls as they were only 6 months and Lulas coat didn't seem very thick.. but they were ok.
wish i could bring them in but its just not practical. :?
 
What housing do your buns have and how do you make sure they're warm enough?? It's freezing here in winter (last year it got to -15) :( but I'm considering rescuing two buns that will live in a dog kennel/run in the garden. I only have 2 indoor buns at the moment. And how do you find looking after them when it's so cold? :wave:

I'm about 20 miles from you and my two were outside all winter with absolutely no problems at all. They live in a 10 x 4 dog kennel/run. It's insulated from the bottom with inch thick polystyrene and the run is tongue and grooved up to about 18 inches high with a double layer of thick polythene sheeting on the upper portion with just the bottom door open to the air. All I did was give them a piece of vetbed in the enclosed kennel (fully lined out with polythene under plywood) and plenty of hay in their litter trays so they could tunnel into it if needed. I also pegged a heavy towel loosely over the front at night.

Guess where they were most of the time? Near the flipping door in the draft! :lol: I ended up moving the vetbed to where they liked lying so they'd use it. I gave them extra pellets, though was rather embarrassed in spring when they got their vaccinations and the vet said they were fat. :oops: Had to put them on a diet. :lol:
 
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I've got these in my insulated sheds http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=tubular+greenhouse+heater&tag=yahhyd-21&index=aps&hvadid=66320413031&ref=pd_sl_1lqaoule1_e. Can't remember which website I got them from but I can highly recommend them.

Very cheap to run and keep an insulated shed above freezing. Never got any worries about frozen water bowls :D and I know I can lock the oldies in at night if necessary and they won't get cold. The oldies also have carpet tiles on the floor in the shed as they don't move around quite as much as Pea and Pod now so I worry about sore hocks etc.

Do you have any idea how much one of them would cost to leave on overnight each night? This is something I would definately look into for the winter as I really am worried about leaving them out in the cold:?
 
Have you got a link to this?

Its just a radiator with the thick plastic bunny proof covering over the flex,I then wrap some chicken wire around the radiator and the bit of flex that is attached to the rad as I cant get the plastic to stay there properly,I use some black tape but its not flush.I hope you understand this Tracy as Im a bit pants at explaining,I would take a piccy for you but Its all packed away until Winter xx
 
Its just a radiator with the thick plastic bunny proof covering over the flex,I then wrap some chicken wire around the radiator and the bit of flex that is attached to the rad as I cant get the plastic to stay there properly,I use some black tape but its not flush.I hope you understand this Tracy as Im a bit pants at explaining,I would take a piccy for you but Its all packed away until Winter xx

That's a good explanation so as far as I'm concerned I do understand :) (although I'm probably picturing something completely different from what you actually have).

Some stuff to think on, thanks.

I have this feeling we're in for a worse winter this coming winter than last winter, which worries me incredibly, although, with four outside groups, I could move them if I had to, although the whole house would be turned over to bunnies. :lol:
 
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