# Rabbits outdoors in winter?



## Mrs. Mucket (Apr 22, 2010)

We live in USDA Zone 5 in an area where the average low is 20 degrees F. What kind of hutch will meat rabbits need to be wintered outdoors? Or would they need to be in an outbuilding of some kind?


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

they need to be protected from direct wind, but other than that if they have plenty of food and water, and if you give them a nice snug box to climb in and hay to eat and burrow in they will be fine,


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## Guest (Sep 30, 2010)

They will be fine in 20 degree weather. Rabbits actually do fairly well in cold weather, its drafts that will get them. The key is to cover your hutches on all sides, via tarps, plastic sheeting, or the like...anything that wind can't get through. I cover my hutches on all 4 sides. The fronts are rubber tire mud flappers. They are heavy enough to hang down and not get tossed in the wind, but flexible, so when I need to access the rabbits, I just pull up the front flap. I leave the bottom open for SOME ventilation and light (they do need to be able to get some fresh air). I also add a winter box stuffed with hay. This gives the rabbit a place to cuddle into. Many people do without boxes and just stuff the hutch with hay or without any bedding and just cover the cage.

Again, its not so much the actual temperature, but being out of the wind and precipitation.


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## Pat Lamar (Jun 19, 2002)

I had raised rabbits in upstate NY in the Adirondack mountains only 3 miles from the Canadian border. They were in outside wooden hutches. Each cage had a nest box stuffed with straw (bucks, too) and I hung burlap over the front. Straw produces heat. They did just fine and I didn't lose any to the cold. The REAL challenge is in providing liquid drinkable water. If a rabbit can't drink, it won't eat, and if it can't eat, it's unable to produce enough energy to create body heat. Use water crocks and put only enough water in it for the rabbit to drink its fill before it freezes. A few hours later, add a little more warm water and continue in this manner until the crock is full and needs to be emptied to start over, again.

Pat Lamar


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Keep them dry and out of the wind and they will do fine. I agree with Pat about the need for liquid water. Her method is a good one, but there are many different solutions to the problems of frozen water containers.

I use those dollar store freezer containers. Two per cage. One has holes punched in it and is wired to the cage as a holder. The second sits inside it and holds the water. I take a bucket of warm water down to the rabbitry. The ice block unmoulds almost instantly in the bucket and I then refill it from the bucket and put it back in the holder. There is no one "right way" - lots of options, so find the one that works best for you.


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## Jackie (Jun 20, 2008)

I have kept rabbits outside lots in -40 weather. Planning on doing it again this winter. They will be out of the wind and all will have a wooden box to go into when I am done building them. I have never had frozen ears or anything. 

Obviously if you live somewhere that gets wet in winter you will want to make sure your rabbits stay extra dry. Wet and cold is obviously much much worse than wet and dry. We stay dry all winter up here.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

All our outdoor hutches have a big wood box attached to each end so each rabbit has there own place out of the elements. I make sure they have plenty of bedding in the winter. I do cover all sides of the wire parts of the hutches with wood for the winter, except the very front & bottom. On real cold nights, snow storms or really windy I have tarp's set up for each one that I pull down over the front(I always have an old quilt under each tarp also- I think it helps to keep the water from freezing so fast.).


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## EasyDay (Aug 28, 2004)

Rabbits fare far better in colder temps than in the summer heat.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

rabbits do great in the cold, suffer in the heat. keep them protected from the wind and wet, and they will be fine. I use crocks, ceramic mostly, some metal. I have enough for 3 per cage. I water 2 or 3 times a day, depending on what is going on. I remove the frozen bowl and replace with an empty. then bring the frozens into the house in a 5 gallon bucket and spread them out on the basement floor to thaw (we have heated floors) 

I always feed warm water in winter. they drink more that way, and learn to drink when I serve, or get nothing.
we get 20 below here.


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## Kyah (Oct 29, 2007)

Our winters get very cold here some years, sometimes the temps will dip wayyyy down to -30 C and the rabbits have always been fine. 

I use large tea/coffee cups for water for the older rabbits in winter. I take a small bucket of lukewarm water out with me and dip them in the bucket. The frozen ice cube pops out and I refill it. For the fryer pens I use tobacco tubs. They are a very rigid hard plastic container, they hold almost a liter of water and they're free, lol.


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## Mrs. Mucket (Apr 22, 2010)

Thank you all for your quick responses and good advice. It sounds like we will be all set for winter.


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## jjgrappler (Jul 26, 2010)

I have actually been looking for a way to build little shelters for my rabbits. I have all wire hutches with a wooden frame and I wanted to build little boxes for them. I found a pretty good idea I thought today, I was passing by the farmers market when I noticed that the wooden crates they carry apples in. I asked if I could have some if they were going to be thrown away and they were happy to oblige. I brought them home and cut openings for doors and sat them upside down stuffed with straw. The rabbits love them and I didn't have to pay anthing for them. Just an idea for anyone


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