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Buck Jones

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2004
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Down the shore in, New Jersey, USA
Just because I've just come in from feeding the"herd" and changing water crocks during this new cold snap we'reexperiencing, the thought occurred to me that it is quite possible someof you might not know that feeding a pinch of black sun flower seedsdaily to your outside rabbit during cold weather is supposed to enableit to maintain its core body temperature more easily.

Black sunflower seeds, high in energy from fats and oils,are,therefore, considered a "hot" food and usually not fed frequentlyduring other seasons, although some showers have been known to feed alittle prior to a show in order to enhance coat quality, I've been told.

The seeds are especially beneficial to smaller breeds like ND, Polish,etc that have more difficulty maintaining body temps during inclementweather. I suspect most of you have house rabbits and thosewho keep them outside are aware of this practice, but just in case....

Buck
 
Thanks Buck, no I didn't know that. I actuallydidn't even know that rabbits could eat sunflower seeds sothanks.When I had hamsters I gave them sunflower seeds. WithDaisy being outside I will get some as we are currently experiencing acold snap at the moment with temps at the lowest -3.

While on the subject of cold snaps, what is the coldest that a rabbitcan comfortably stand? I know a lot of people in America keep theirbunnies outside and it gets a lot colder than in UK, but I just want toknow that she isn't going to get too cold, they sayit may getto about -5 here in the next couple of days.Having said thatshe has got a windshield/raincover and my back is only small so thehouse and the back wall shelters any wind. I'm also giving her extrahay.

Thanks

Vickie
 
This would notapply to me, as Sebastian is inside, but just as a stray thought so asnot to confuse anyone, are you referring to shelled seeds or meatsonly?

Raspberry
 
Vickie,

I've heard and read of people bandying around temps like -20F, as longas the buns are well insulated from the cold with a nest box and withstraw or some such measure. MY BunnyBoys mentioned -40F inCanada, but said her dad built double-walled nest boxes withStyrofoam cores which she filled with straw. The buns wouldburrow into the straw.

Someone here, I think it may have been her, mentioned one of her bunswhimpering from the cold, whereupon she brought her buns in to theirgarage. That would have been during that -40 degree clime Iam sure.

It is my understanding that buns can stand low temps due due to their"fur coats," but that droughts and wind wreak havoc with theirconstitution and health. It would appear if one protects themaccordingly, they can withstand a great deal of cold.Obviously, if a bun is whimpering from the cold, it is more than it canhandle.

Many people do not understand that water is critical to a bun duringcold weather. A Buns needs to eat in order tomaintaintheir core body temperature, especially dwarfs andminiature breeds, even ifthey arenot being terribleactive.They will not eat ifthey do nothave access to water when it needed or wanted. If we do notprovide them with unfrozen water appropriately during inclementweather, they may in turn diminish their intake of food and cause themto enter into a state of hypothermia.

Having written all that, I personally start to get nervous when thethermometer approaches zero degrees F. Granted, itis a personal quirk, but in our latitude and climate zone, zero degreesF hurts because of the relative humidity which seems to "wick" intoone's very bones. I 've felt less uncomfortable camping outwith the National Guard in Yellowstone Park, Wyoming at -12 degrees Fthan I do here in NJ at 30 degrees above zero.

In any case, that is my own personal cut-off point at which all bunscome into cages in our unfinished basement which is pretty much an even60 degrees F for the most part of the time. Once inside, theywill remain there until we get at least a 30-40 degree day before Iwill put them out again, so as to offer them some acclimation time tothe outside ambient temperatures.

I admit to being a little gun shy regarding weather extremes because welost our very first bun, Montie, to the converse, heat.Montie had endured 85 degree heat for years, as did our other buns atthat time. I used that upper limit for bringing buns into therelative coolness of the basement, so I gave it little thought.

When Montie developed weepy eye, I realized that I, perhaps, had failedto take into account his advancing age( guesstimated eight or more) andshould have brought him in before he was stressed enough to develop thecondition.

Long story short, the pasturella induced weepy eye was subsequentlyfollowed by blowing snot, pneumonia, and his demise in spite of myefforts to save him. I don't think it would have happened,then, if I had taken him in out of the heat and humidity earlier.

As a result,since then I have a tendency to take avery cautious and conservative approach to exposing my bunsto temperature extremes, high or low.

Buck

 
RaspberrySwirl wrote:
...are you referring toshelled seeds or meats only?
Click to expand...
That "option" never occurred to me. Shelled, I suspect, as Ibuy them at a local feed store where they are sold primarily forbirds. They come by the pound in plain plastic bags labeledin magic marker as Black Sunflower Seeds. I am of theimpression the seeds should be black for their oil content orsome such rationale, as opposed to some greenish(?) types I've seen inthe market.

Buck
 
Thanks for that great reply Buck.

I've just been out to her, and although it is cold, its not windy inthe back and is quite crisp. I had my coat on, but it was unpleasent. Ihave loaded her with hay in her sleeping compartment and her fur feelsquite warm. Her water bottle hasn't frozen (actually I have never hadan experience where it has) and I've given her more pellets and someoats. She seems very happy, she excaped in the back and I hate it whenshe does that in the dark, I can never catch her again :)

I alway get a bit worried when its going to be cold. When the weathersays its going to be snow or frosty I always feel really bad on her forbeing out.

The sunflower seeds that I thought you meant where the one for birds,they are black with a white stripe through the middle. Are they theones you mean?

Vickie
 
DaisyNBuster wrote:
...The sunflower seeds that I thought you meant where theone for birds, they are black with a white stripe through the middle.Are they the ones you mean?

Vickie
Click to expand...
You and Raspberry are making me work by being so specific!LOL But, that's okay, because I should be specific and I wasnot sure. Your query forced me to trundle out to the shed, inthe cold I might add:p, to viewactual seeds, then pound down14 flights of stairs( a slight exaggeration) to the basement freezer toactually read the writing on the plastic bag.

My seeds do not have a stripe on them. They are solid black,although I do recall giving seeds with "stripes" on them in previousyears. The writing on the bag said, Black OilSunflower Seeds. 5 Lb. $2.99(U.S.), to give you anidea of their relative price.

Unless there is a distinction made between Black Oil SunflowerSeeds and just Black Sunflower Seeds, it probablydoesn'tmatter all that much. The feed storecertainly does not sell them expecting them to be ingested byrabbits. They are with the other wild bird seeds beingsold. I like the word "oil" because I know it is the fat inthe oil that does the stoking of the furnace, so to speak.

I am not angry, not put out by your request(s). I'm surprisedthe post generated any response at all and flattered that you would paythat close attention.

I do love you Brits! Did I mention sometime that little overa year ago the Missus and I spent three weeks with her "pen-pal" of 50+years and her husband in South Ruislip? Helen and Pauline"met" when Helen was a "Brownie" and Pauline a "Girl Guide."They have maintained contact with one another for all these years!

Ron, Pauline's husband, used to work for BBC and spent a good deal oftime with us when he was on assignment. The "girls" first metin person about 25 years ago, but since then Pauline's son married anAmerican girl and they live but 2 1/2 hours away, so we see Ron/Paulinewhen they visit the grandchildren here.

Last year was the first time we went to London, though. Ourdaughter from CA flew in to join us all, because she had spent timewith Ron and Pauline when she was studying abroad. We alllived under one roof for three weeks and got along famously, at leastwe thought so...*chuckle*

Candace was to Pauline, the daughter she never had for they have twowonderful boys. Our lives,families,careers,retirement, etc. paralleled in so many ways it was like looking at a"foreign" version of one's self. It was so neat andcomfortable.

They traipsed us all over the English countryside visiting "real" pubsand enjoying the most excellent English food, in spite of what a lot of"snooty" travelers say! We introduced them to their first"boot sale," and got them to go to Portobello Street for the first timewith us. We did so, so very much because we were beingferried around by "experts," with no loss in time or travel connections.

English humor is superlative and Ron is a raconteur of thegenre. I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed your country andyour countrymen and women.

Sorry, 'bout that digression. I'm such an Anglophile that Icannot help myself. Wouldn't it be jolly if we could meet inEngland someday. Oh, God! I'm slipping into "English" as I type. I doso love your colloquialisms!

Got stop! Got to stop! Bad Buck! Bad Buck!

Buck


 
Buck Jones wrote:
You and Raspberry are making me work by being sospecific! LOL But, that's okay, because I should bespecific and I was not sure. Your query forced me to trundleout to the shed, in the cold I might add:p, to viewactualseeds, then pound down 14 flights of stairs( a slight exaggeration) tothe basement freezer to actually read the writing on the plastic bag.
Click to expand...
Oh blessyou ,going to all that effort for us.

Glad you enjoyed your visit over here and got to taste some good old english grub!

How lovely that your wife still remains friends after all those years. What agreat story.

I love London. I have only ever been a handful of times in my life.Seeing parliament, Buckingham Palace and Big Benis quiteamazing. When you went to London did you visit thoseplaces?

Even down there is completely different to where I live. We are morerural. You will have to make sure that when you come over here againyou drop in on us, we'd love to see you. I live about 10 minutes fromthe country and I could show you some country pubs that serve up ahearty Sunday Lunch!

Vickie
 
DaisyNBuster wrote:
...Seeing parliament, Buckingham Palace and BigBenis quite amazing. When you went to London did you visitthose places?

Even down there is completely different to where I live. We are morerural. You will have to make sure that when you come over here againyou drop in on us, we'd love to see you. I live about 10 minutes fromthe country and I could show you some country pubs that serve up ahearty Sunday Lunch!

Vickie
Click to expand...
Indeed we did and the Eye, too! And about every other day wewould visit another pub somewhere out in the country. As asound recordiston assignment, Ron had traveled the length andbreadth of the U.K., as well as the world. Trust me when Isay we visited not a few genuine country pubs, the kind where youordered you lunch at the kitchen door and the floors were all unevenand out of true due to centuries of wear.

We even raced over to France one afternoon to replenish our rapidlydiminishing stock of French wines. Visited the oldest Englishwinery,as well. Someone on the Internet queried what wehad seen. I replied with a paragraph as long as anyI've ever written, just giving the place names of places we had been,with no descriptions at all. They couldn't believe we haddone it all in three weeks, with no pressure, nor hassles.The beauty of being with knowledgeable hosts!

We even visited the local pet shop about every other day for our bunnyfix by holding and petting their stock! Purchased a leash andharness I've never seen for sale here in the U.S and had a wonderfultime trading rabbit lore with the lady shopkeeper. It was awonderful vacation and when we got home, we did not need a "vacationafter our vacation."

Buck
 
This is great to know Buck, eventhough Shadow isnot a outdoor bun, I do have friends who breed rabbits and keep themoutdoors. Shadow (my bun) was trying so desperatly to getinto the hampster food last week and on one occassionsuceeded:Dand I was prying the seeds away from her mouth inpanic:?
 


I can honestly say I did know about sunflower seeds I read it somewhere here in an old post (I quite often go reading through old poststo pick up info on things and stumble across info on other things andfrequently get side tracked)

We have had a cold snap rather suddenly here for 2 days now we havegone from 40 degrees C to about 10 and it's happeened rather suddenly(over night), I popped in a few sunflower seeds in Bindys dish, theyare normally the last things to be eaten. Our daughter has 2 rattiesand sunflower seeds we were told are like junk food of the rat worldand I was wondering if it was similar in the bunny world. Nice to havebut not on a daily basis? (this I wil look into)

 
It would make themost sense that they would still be in the shell if it is the oil thatis what is beneficial to the rabbits. Thank you, by the way for allyour traipsing around! :)I used to have the black oil seedsaround all the time for the birds also. I am just somewhat surprisedthat the shell pieces aren't harmful to the inside of a rabbit'sdigestive system, as in puncturing the stomach or intestines.

Raspberry
 
Buck Jones wrote:

Someone here, I think it may have been her, mentioned one of her bunswhimpering from the cold, whereupon she brought her buns in to theirgarage. That would have been during that -40 degree clime Iam sure.




Nope, that was me. I have a 12 or 13 yr. old and it was too cold forher--don't remember the exact temp that day but it was below zero mostlikely. The rest were just fine and stayed outside.I try toavoid bringing them in unless absolutely necessary because thetemperature extremes are hard on them....and they like being in theirown cages. I know most of them get nervous in the basement kennel. I'mkeeping an eye on Smokey right now, but am really hoping not to bringher in....she doesn't like it at all....

Rose



 
Took me over an hour but I can't seem tofind info that says "nasty things" about sunflower seeds, just to limitthem so they are not getting too "fat" on them.

I did find out that sunflower seeds help to reduce the amount of Mercuric chloride levels in bunnies Kidneys and muscles.

So there we go, guess they are like other foods, all in moderation is the key
:)
 
rabbitgirl wrote:
Buck Jones wrote:

Someone here, I think it may have been her, mentioned one of her bunswhimpering from the cold, whereupon she brought her buns in to theirgarage. That would have been during that -40 degree clime Iam sure.




Nope, that was me....
Click to expand...
Rose
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clarification. No slightintended. Just poor memory. Posts move so quickly.

Buck
 
isnt is funny

i have been looking at black oiled sunflower seeds but for birds

i didnt realise rabbits could have them as well


 
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