Housing Dilemma regarding Hot summers

Hi, I have 3 bunnies and 1 dislikes the other 2 so she has to be housed separately. She is almost 6 years old and previous summers she was housed in a heavy dog run with a cedar roof housing. This setup is mostly in the shade.

Unfortunately I had to house the other two bunnies in it as they are bigger than her and I felt need more space. She is currently living in a 10 x 12 feet shed. It gets very hot in the summer and I'm looking for ways of cooling it. We have a heavy wire screendoor that is lets in some air but I'm still concerned.

I bought her a hutch and run but she doesn't like it very much. I woukd rather keep her in the shed if possible as it is a lot bigger. There goes $600 .....bunnies

How do you guys keep your sheds cool in the summer? I live in western Canada and so our weather is very similar to england I believe. Gets up to 28 to 30 degrees celcius.

Thank you!

Would it be possible to add a permanent run to the shed on concrete slabs for the bunny? Then she could go in and out of the shed whenever she likes if it's too hot, without the danger of predators.

Could you bring your single bunny inside?

Open the windows, paint the roof white, add a run.

You can get special solar reflecting paint, we used some on our conservatory. It comes in white, or there is even more heavy duty stuff which us silver.

Thank you for all the suggestions I would love to have her inside and I've tried it in the past but she was so upset and stressed out. All she would do is try to dig her way out of her litter box. I'm considering giving it another go. She is 6 in June and I'm worried it is too late for her to live inside and be comfortable with it. What do you guys think?

The shed is totally painted white so that is good. I was thinking I could use frozen water bottles and fans to cool it down?

I also might be able to move the new hutch and run into a shady spot. I have to move our fishpond though.At least I have time to do all this as its not hot yet.

This is the hutch I got her. She is a netherland dwarf. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/precision-pet-products-nantucket-chicken-coop-rabbit-hutch

I suppose you could sell the hutch and buy an a/c unit if you could keep the wires out the way in the shed? May be less stress than having to keep changing ice packs. But if it were me, I'd be tempted to try her in the house again, do you have a quiet room you could keep her in where she might not be as freaked?

I actually brought her inside a couple days ago to see what she thought and she was totally fine! She was happily zooming around checking everything out. I have a nook by my backdoor where I set up her litterbox and food. She can look out the backdoor as its glass.

I have moved her back out just for now as I thought I should move her slowly? Also, I have a problem. I'm allergic to her hay ☹ and the wood pellets I use in her litterbox. So I am going to get paper pellets called Yesterdays News instead. But what can I do about the hay? I also know my husband is allergic to hay. He is at sea right now so I have time to figure it out.

She was so cute racing about the house! I'm going to get a babygate so when I'm out she will just stay in the nook.

Glad to hear she was happier inside this time around

With the hay, I guess it depends how allergic you and your husband are. You can buy hay which has had all the dust extracted - as such it is better for allergy sufferers, but probably still wouldn't be ideal if you are really very allergic. This side of the pond I seem to be able to get it in pet stores, but not Tesco or the main supermarkets. I think it would probably also be helpful to minimize the amount of hay which gets everywhere. Easier said than done, but I have found that putting hay in a heavy, ceramic cake-mixing bowl reduces the amount that falls out everywhere, compared with hay racks.

You've probably thought of this already, but just make sure if she is free roaming that either she is restricted to an area where she can't do too much damage (our rabbits only have access to the conservatory for this reason), or else everything is "bunny-proofed", that is no wires exposed. I have found it is quite difficult to persuade bunnies not to chew soft furnishings too, but it depends how precious you are about your sofa / if your bunny is better behaved than mine!