Texas? Forget the swamp cooler, too humid. Misters will NOT work on the rabbits and will just rust your cages-your humidity is too high. Now, if you rig them up to wet the parts of roof that are in the sun, that would help. Do not enclose this unless you are putting in an a/c unit, they will die. Fans-you said one in the middle? Not enough unless it’s a giant oversized one. 35′ is a long way to push air. I’d put three at least in this…stagger them, so one on the end on left, one in middle, one on the end on right. I have 3 going in a 10×20. You need more airflow pushing the hot air out. I would also add one at the end of that middle row…I can’t tell what that is, but if it’s two levels down the middle they’re going to get hot fast, too many bodies too close together. If you have solid dividers in cages, put those at the end of the rows -the dividers block airflow. The end that’s in “full sun”…how much of it? Can you put shade cloth across the back at that end (use the beige ones)? You’ve got to get that roof out of the sun-the metal will literally bake your rabbits. If you have to buy shade cloth and throw it over the top and tie it down, do it. Best thing would be insulation under the roof, foam sheets or anything. You might consider something on top of the cages for an added buffer between them and the roof-the corrugated plastic at home depot comes in 8′ sheets, I’ve cut those in half so they’re 2×8 and laid them across the cages. It looks like you have an auto waterer, seriously consider adding crocks especially in the cages the struggling animals are in…I never set mine up after I moved because I came out one hot day and half my rabbits were curled up against the water bowls cooling off, even the plastic bowls. Some also put their feet in the bowls (watch out they don’t stay there too long and get a fungal infection, if they start losing hair on top of their feet it’s plan B time). Source: I’m in Florida…its 92 in the shade right now…
Tag: Weather
Since websites like to randomly disappear and take information with them, I’ve decided if I type out a long reply to someone on Facebook etc I will also copy it here as a backup.
Someone in one of my Facebook rabbit raising groups asked how rabbits survive when their temperatures are going to be (max) 85. Here was my reply:
85 is cool for us! It was 95 in the shade on my porch yesterday and it’s just starting, and we have 90+ percent humidity so sprinklers and misters don’t help on the pens. My rabbit area is a tarp topped , open wire sided (I added) canopy in partial shade. Shadecloth (beige) to within 1 foot of ground on most of 3 sides. I have two of these setups (one is the chickens’ that I’ve added cages in). Main setup has 3 fans-one on top of cages blowing hot air out, one directly on the rabbits (at one end of cages) and an small oscillating that blows on lower cages. The main fans are sealed motor models against hair, one fancy from amazon and one $65 version from walmart-both are fine. I am currently using water bowls after noticing how many like to lay against them (mostly plastic, but some ceramic) and how many will soak their feet. Would be a lot less work to hook up my auto system but if it’s cheap cooling I’m for it! My rabbits are Dutch (not some fancy purpose bred heat breed) but most of my line has been in the state for many generations in non a/c rabbitries. Rarely I will do anything near the rabbits (or any other animal) other than a quick visual check in the middle of the day, it’s too hot and I don’t want them excited. Yesterday I dumped some water on a few rabbits, but it is a mom and her large litter that for some reason were cuddled together…they are getting big and need to be pulled. That will be fixed shortly as I just got more cages to build in. I did remove 3/4 of the hair and bedding from a litter that’s in the next box so they don’t overheat.
Down here in Florida the seasons consist of hot and a little less hot. For the past week we’ve been in hot season although not quite too scorching…. The plant covers have been put away , plans for shade houses are already running through my mind, then I decided to check the weather forecast . The first forecast says the low will be 39 in a few days! Considering its been 85, I didn’t believe it. But according to several other sites it is happening. So apparently we are going from hot to almost freezing in one day soon. Gotta love the season changes!
