Keeping Rabbits In Winter

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

In order for rabbits, even in winter, to please their owners by replenishing their livestock and gaining weight, it is very important to provide them with a comfortable winter. This is not so troublesome as it might seem at first glance

Rabbit room and cages in winter

If the rabbits do not live in a heated rabbitry, then such a room will definitely have to be prepared for the winter. The most important thing is to completely eliminate the possibility of drafts - at negative air temperatures, even a weak breeze can blow all the heat out of the room. Therefore, it is imperative to inspect the rabbitry for the presence of unsealed cracks in it. All doors, vents and windows must be tightly closed. Brick (or slag) walls are checked for cracks, when cracks are found, they are plastered over and putty; gaps are also closed in log or plank walls. It is also important to make sure that the ceiling is also insulated at least to a minimum. In this case, it would be nice to sheathe the ceiling and walls with corrugated cardboard (a used one is also perfect), and sheet polystyrene would be an ideal solution. The room for keeping rabbits should be warm, then they will readily breed.

Pregnant rabbits are usually provided with a separate cage, dividing such a cage into two halves: in one half, the rabbit will walk and eat, and the other half is set aside for the mother liquor and is clogged with hay. The purity in the mother liquor must be monitored especially carefully.

In winter, rabbit cages are usually raised 80 to 85 centimeters from floor level. And in order to simultaneously maintain the hygiene of rabbits at the proper level, the floor can be made with a net or with cracks so that the sewage does not remain in the cages, but immediately goes under them (sewage in the cold period freezes very quickly, and it becomes much more difficult to deal with them).

Heating options for rabbits in winter

There are not so many options for heating rabbits in the winter. The most effective and affordable way is a special heating lamp (250 - 500 watts). Usually such lamps are transparent and equipped with a large bulb (alternatively, red lamps can be used). Electricity consumption per day when using such a lamp will be from 6 to 12 kW. A lamp is hung anywhere in the rabbitry, the most important thing when placing it is to make sure that it does not touch anything, otherwise the heating lamp can quickly fail. When choosing such a heating option, you also need to monitor fire safety - since the lamp is very hot, you need to keep it away from flammable objects.

Another option for heating rabbits in winter is electric heating stoves. Their high efficiency is due to the larger area of heat transfer, but you should know that such stoves will consume much more electricity than heating lamps.

Rabbit winter diet

In winter, rabbits need a special diet, because they burn a fairly large amount of fat, which is spent on fighting the cold, and the lack of adequate nutrition can negatively affect their health. In addition to ordinary hay, vitamins and minerals must be present in the diet of rabbits. Also, several times a day, rabbits need to be given boiled potatoes, carrots, beets, you can also offer food leftovers from the master's table. If possible, it is a good idea to periodically give rabbits spruce and pine legs - they contain a huge amount of vitamins (moreover, rabbits eat not only needles, but also bark). Such nutrition will easily provide pets with weight gain. Do not forget that in winter the feed rates are always increased.

For the comfort of the rabbits, you should also make sure that they have access to water (ideally, the water should be warm), and that food does not freeze in their feeders. Immediately after eating, excess feed is removed.

With the onset of frost, drip-type drinkers must be changed to open drinkers. Watering rabbits also needs to be systematized - water is given to animals in winter at the rate, as well as feed.