Outdoor housing - keeping them warm

[hannaroo]

Hi everyone!
I have two outdoor bunnies at 6 months old and its starting to cool down at night here in the UK. (About 8 degrees at night).
I've already put carpet down in the hutch and a cover over the hutch and its stays a about 10 degrees in there but I was looking for information about keeping them warm in the winter and how your rabbits cope with the cold.
I have got snuggles safes for when it gets cooler again but when do I put them in?
Many thanks x

 

[jemm]

Hi, I have noticed it has got a bit chilly recently. Mine live outdoors, I have put some extra straw and hay out for them. What I do in the winter is put an old recycling box in the sleeping area for them obviously with a way in and out, it just adds an extra layer of insulation for them when it gets real cold I put an old duvet over the top half of the hutch this as seemed to have been ok over the last winters. I have heard about some heat pads as well but not sure exactly what these are.

 

[Rabbit Lover02]

I have my rabbit outside, but it isn't even winter yet, so this will be helpful to me too. I know with my chicken coops during winter we cover them with plastic tarps and it keeps really warm in there. So maybe we could do that with our hutches.

 

[hannaroo]

Snuggle safes are microwavable pads so now wires and can last up to 10 hours although mine give off enough heat for about 6 hours. You can buy them from amazon at about £15 each x

 

[Zaiya]

I use poultry heat lamps for my rabbits! All you have to do is position them so they don't cook the rabbit, then plug them in! We have a day/night timer that they are plugged into that we turn on when it's a little cold outside during the night. It works by a mini solar panel, and it turns the lamps on when it's dark! If it's really cold, we leave them on all day.

If you want pictures, let me know, as my description isn't very good...

 

[majorv]

Rabbits handle the cold pretty good. What's important is to protect them from the cold wind. I don't worry about ours unless it gets below freezing for any length of time. We have both shade cloth and tarps hung around our cages to protect them from the wind and wet once cold temps set in...around 40F and below. Our temps don't get much below freezing but we have a damp cold, which is worse than dry cold.

 

[hannaroo]

Thank you all for your quick responses! I really appreciate it zaiya if you could either upload the pictures or message me them that would be fantastic. My dad is an electrician and we've discussed putting in a poultry lamp before so it would be an easy thing for me to do and we can base it on your set up. Their hutch is outdoors but situated by my garden fence and house to shelter them from the wind and rain and we can move it 90 degrees if there's strong winds in a different direction.
I brought tarp to go over their hutch cover to stop it getting damp, a rescue foil blanket to go between the hutch and cover and will by a polythene cover to go between them again to keep the heat in but still allow ventilation at the front. This is the first year of them facing a winter so I'm a little nervous and want to keep them nice and comfortable.
My sister is moving out in October and me and my mum have discussed bringing them inside and having a bunny room but she's not keen on the idea so I'm getting all the right equipment ready now if they stay outside or my sister doesn't move out in the end.
I'm dedicated to still going out with them very morning and afternoon so they won't loose out attention wise too.
If anyone else has any more suggestions or pictures please chime in, it all helps and will be helpful for anyone else with outdoor accommodation

 

[akane]

Rabbits like cold. We get to -30F here in the winter which is about the same C and my rabbits don't care. I give them a box of straw but unless it's windy they don't use it. Mine are in a building though so I don't have to worry about snow and rain getting on them just wind coming in the vents and cracks in the doors. Anything above subzero temps I personally wouldn't even bother doing anything extra so long as they can get out of wind, rain, and snow. They also like to go play in the snow in good weather which is anything above 0 without strong wind. We continue to have babies down to -10F before we have to bring the boxes inside between feedings.

 

[NDrAbBiTs58041]

I use poultry heat lamps for my rabbits! All you have to do is position them so they don't cook the rabbit, then plug them in! We have a day/night timer that they are plugged into that we turn on when it's a little cold outside during the night. It works by a mini solar panel, and it turns the lamps on when it's dark! If it's really cold, we leave them on all day.

If you want pictures, let me know, as my description isn't very good...

Please send pics. As my buns are outside as well
And this is a help to me also.

 

[Zaiya]

OK, here are a couple pics.

Pic 1 - The set up where the lamps are screwed to the ceiling of the hutches.
Pic 2 - The timer and all of the options it has. It has two plug-ins on the bottom.