Rabbits are pretty cold-hardy animals that can enjoy a chill down to 59 degrees Fahrenheit and be okay at as low as 53 degrees Fahrenheit.
Below that temperature, bunnies may suffer from frostbite, hypothermia, and respiratory issues.
So, if you want to keep your rabbits warm in winter, consider the following tips.
1. Keep Rabbits Out Of The Wind And Wet
Your animals must be under the nice roofed shelter that keeps them dry all year round, both summer and winter.
I have a spacious barn where I have a cage set up for my meat rabbits. It has a proper wall and ventilation around, and a door.
You must have at least three sides of the wall to help protect your animals from the windblow. You can also keep rabbit hutches in the shed, with all sides shielded and a hole for them to
go in and out.
2. Block Drafts Without Blocking Ventilation
Okay, ventilation is a must to make sure the rabbit cage and hutch have a way to let air in and out. This helps avoid the ammonium smells from the urine of your animals and any of their feces.
The fresh air and nice humidity make your bunnies always happy in both summer and winter.
You can use tarps, plexiglass, hardware cloth, and hay bales to block cold drafts.
3. Raise the Hutch Off the Ground
Elevated hutch works great in the rainy and winter months. It helps prevent snow, moisture, and cold ground from reaching the rabbits.
It can be anything above ground, up to your knees. If you have already prebuilt a hutch and want to keep it off the ground.
Build a structure like a standing or four-legged support, where you can place your cages or hutch outdoors.
If I have to make one for me, I would take a wood frame (2x2s) and cover it with hardware cloth, and install a couple of opening lids.
Don’t make it too tall; only a foot tall is enough. Place it over the garden bed, and make sure it doesn’t move with movements indoors and outdoors.
This also helps you prevent predators from accessing your bunnies from the ground. In the spring, you can put a panel on the bottom and convert it into a rabbit tractor.
4. Provide a Cozy Nest Box Inside the Hutch
What is it like to have litter during the winter?
Yes, you can take your kits and young rabbits outside during the winter if you have a draft-free structure.
Also, make sure the shelter has cozy nesting boxes with plenty of bedding and hay. Before assigning kits to does, you need to confirm that they are good mothers.
Mothers must be able to pull a significant amount of their fur to keep their babies warm.
5. Don’t Use Heat Sources
Rabbits don’t need a heater, heat lamps, heating pads, or any source of heat, as they have their own natural coat of fur that can keep them warm in cold weather.
I also don’t suggest you install these, as young bunnies can’t grow their fur naturally.
So, when a cold snap comes next season, they cannot keep themselves warm even when mature.
Once you give them the outer protection of warmth, they cannot tolerate the winter shock.
Also, don’t bring your kits inside, as they may be affected by weather shock both indoors and outdoors. They may experience 60 degrees Fahrenheight indoors and 30 degrees Fahrenheight outdoors.
If the temperature drops outdoors even further, it can be hard for them to forage and survive.
6. Add Deep Bedding With Straw
I always recommend my friend to use nice bedding of straw to make the hutch warm and the animals happy.
As straw has hollow stems, it traps heat better and insulates better than hay. It should be a few inches deep and refreshed when it seems trampled and dirty.
You can also give rabbits some supplement of fur if your does rabbits shiver or your does don’t pull enough fur.
Besides, take some cotton from your old blankets or pillows and throw it in the hutch.
7. Use Heated Water Bottles or Crocks
I find watering the homestead animals the most challenging chore in the winter months, and if you live in the mountain regions, the waterer condition worsens.
Water freezes quickly, so you need to check it frequently and provide it with fresh water twice a day at least.
If you use an automated watering system in the summer, you need to bring out a new method to give fresh bowls of water. \
Perhaps, you want to get heated crocks, insulated bottle covers, or swap water twice daily
8. Use a Properly Insulated Rabbit Hutch
It’s something nasty that drafts remain under the rabbity belly or around.
Use plywood, a box, a cardboard box, or anything that acts as walls. You also need to consider wild rabbits burrowing into a snug windproof tunnel underground.
The foam board, reflective insulation, and straw bales around the outside also work fine.
9. Feed Higher-Calorie Winter Diets
Rabbits need additional energy as they burn lots of energy during this time to keep themselves warm. So, you need to provide them with enough food and water.
But make sure you provide them with rabbit feed and lots of fiber.
Hay is a great source of fiber, which rabbits digest easily. This helps you prevent overfeeding your animals.
You can also give them some caloie boosters such as black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS), alfalfa for non-breeding adults, and extra pellets.
10. Provide Exercise Opportunities
Exercise is vital for animals’ health and helps keep them warm. Rabbits are naturally playful and hop around happily.
So, you need to have enough space both indoors and outdoors for your bunnies to play around and keep them active and warm.
Add some toys and entertainment kits for bunnies and keep them busy to keep them out of boredom.
Final Thoughts
If you want to breed rabbits for meat over the winter and harvest all of them in the spring, you need to keep them warm and take care of them in a freezing environment.
I recommend you harvest the bucks other than the original as they get big enough.
Most keepers don’t have carpentry skills, and readymade hutches are not really nice for an outdoor setting, so you can also raise rabbits indoors until spring.
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