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View Full Version : Rabbit's,ice bottles,and 103 degrees



nell67
08-05-2010, 06:47 PM
Yesterday,the temp here was 103 degrees,I have soft drink bottles filled with water,and frozen for days like that,but this time it did not work.

I lost a total of 17 rabbits,my grand champion Californian buck, a Californian doe,and 2 New Zealand red does,2 mini rex juveniles ( 6 weeks) a Netherland Dwarf kit (4 days old) and 10 Californian kits (4 days).


Rough day,gonna hurt the purse,as the mini rexes were spoken for,and were supposed to go to a new home this weekend,the cali's were also spoken for as soon as they were weaned.

OUCH

welderguy
08-05-2010, 07:00 PM
Im sorry to hear about your devistating lose, I dont know if this will work for you but , a friend built a swamper cooler for his chicken coop and it kept it about 20 degrees cooler during the day . If your interested I can explain how he did it .

gryffynklm
08-05-2010, 07:39 PM
Wow nell, sorry to hear that.

BENESSE
08-05-2010, 07:43 PM
That's terrible on so many levels. Not an easy thing to deal with.

Camp10
08-05-2010, 07:48 PM
Sorry to hear that Nell. I'm not much of a rabbit guy so if this is a dumb question, sorry...are the Cali's not as tough and that's why you lost more or do you think it was just bad luck for them?

klickitat
08-05-2010, 08:06 PM
The ice is good, but also free water as much as possible and salt. Do not forget salt blocks in the cages during the super hot weather.

nell67
08-05-2010, 08:07 PM
Cali's are pretty tough,BUT they are a heavier breed (meat) rabbit,probably why more of them died.

welderguy,post away,what ever I can do to keep from losing more would help,I have never lost more than one rabbit from heat before,and next week the temps will be back over 100 ag.ain

nell67
08-05-2010, 08:09 PM
The ice is good, but also free water as much as possible and salt. Do not forget salt blocks in the cages during the super hot weather.

Each cage has 2 bottles of water,filled 3x per day,and a salt block in each.

klickitat
08-05-2010, 08:11 PM
Each cage has 2 bottles of water,filled 3x per day,and a salt block in each.

That is just a sad situation. I am sorry that you lost rabbits. I also raise rabbits for meat production. Loosing them and feeling helpless because you have done everything you can is an ugly feeling that I have felt before too.

crashdive123
08-05-2010, 08:25 PM
Sorry to hear it Nell.

Rick
08-05-2010, 09:08 PM
Dang, Nell, I'm sorry. I have no idea how your hutch is set up so forgive me if I post something that doesn't apply. You can rig two tarps over the hutch with about a 4-6 inch gap between them. That will allow air flow between the tarps and make it cooler underneath than if just one tarp is used for shade.

Rhetorical questions just for ideas.

Can you rig a large fan to keep the pens ventiflated?
Can you set up a hose to mist the cages? Even for a few minutes every hour or two.
Can you freeze some towels flat for them to lay on? Maybe in a chest type freezer.
Can you hang wet towels/rags over one end of the hutch to moisten the air?

That's about the only things I can come with off the top of my head.

nell67
08-05-2010, 09:18 PM
Dang, Nell, I'm sorry. I have no idea how your hutch is set up so forgive me if I post something that doesn't apply. You can rig two tarps over the hutch with about a 4-6 inch gap between them. That will allow air flow between the tarps and make it cooler underneath than if just one tarp is used for shade.

Rhetorical questions just for ideas.

Can you rig a large fan to keep the pens ventiflated?
Can you set up a hose to mist the cages? Even for a few minutes every hour or two.
Can you freeze some towels flat for them to lay on? Maybe in a chest type freezer.
Can you hang wet towels/rags over one end of the hutch to moisten the air?

That's about the only things I can come with off the top of my head.
Very good Ideas Rick,was thinking along the lines of the tarps,the hutches (10 of them) are in 2 rows facing each other. Tenting tarps along the middle could work.

welderguy
08-05-2010, 10:00 PM
I am going to try to explain how to make this cooler and I hope I do it so you can understand without pictures.

Material List

1. old ice chest

2. rain gutter

3. a short length of PVC ( 6 inches) 1/2 or 3/4 inch

4. a evaporative cooler pad.

5. a submersible water pump.

6. silicone caulk

7. a length of rubber hose that fits on the pump

8. assorted screws and zip ties

9. a box fan

10. a hose clamp

first make a 3 sided frame with the gutter large enough for the filter to fit in silicone and screw toghether to make water tight. set this aside for now.
Take the rubber hose and in one end squeeze in a little silicone , fold the hose over and seal with hose clamp, now make small holes 1/16 inch in maybe one foot of the hose.
next drill a hole in the cooler lid just big enough for the hose and cord from the pump to fit through.

open the lid and place the pump inside the ice chest ( cooler) now run the cord and hose through the hole you just drilled, silicone them in place both top and bottom of lid.
Close the lid now lay a bead of silicone across the top of the lid about 2 inches wide place the gutter frame on silicone bead and fasten to cooler lid with screws. let the silicone set up before doing the next step.
now cut the 6 inch PVC in half , drill a hole through the gutter and lid big enough for the PVC to fit in and silicone it in place.

fill the cooler with water to maybe a 1/3 full put a block of ice in the water. place the box fan behind the gutter plug in pump turn on fan and you have cool air blowing on the bunnies.

I hope this is easy to follow and it works for you, they sell these type of evaporative coolers at farm stores but there on the expensive side.

Winnie
08-06-2010, 02:57 AM
That's really the pits Nell, Like KT said when you've done all you can and still lose thm, it hurts.

Spectre1
08-29-2010, 05:23 PM
I've raised meat rabbits for many years, and for hot weather the simplest thing I've found to do is:
1) Freeze 2 liter bottles, they can lay their whole body against them that way.
2) Forget the water bottles...get water crocks and fill them with ice. Serves a duel purpose, the water stays cool and they can lay against the crock to stay cool.
3) Throw a sprinkler, or sprinkler hose on top of your rabbitry or hutches during the hottest part of the day.

In 20 years of raising rabbits I only lost 1 to the heat and I live in the south.
Hope this helps.

nell67
08-29-2010, 05:52 PM
I've raised meat rabbits for many years, and for hot weather the simplest thing I've found to do is:
1) Freeze 2 liter bottles, they can lay their whole body against them that way.
2) Forget the water bottles...get water crocks and fill them with ice. Serves a duel purpose, the water stays cool and they can lay against the crock to stay cool.
3) Throw a sprinkler, or sprinkler hose on top of your rabbitry or hutches during the hottest part of the day.

In 20 years of raising rabbits I only lost 1 to the heat and I live in the south.
Hope this helps.


I have only lost a few over the years,all together would not have equaled what I lost that one day,I have raised them since I was a kid,showed them for years in 4-h,and I know there have been years where heat and drought equaled,if not surpassed what we have had this year,have not lost one since either,I have an enormous amount of plastic bottles frozen in the freezer,and rotate them out a couple times a day when it gets up there.

Thanks for the suggestions!