This winter has been rough, I haven't seen this much snow and low temps since we moved up here in 2001. I have 22 hanging cages under our deck outside, which is great when the weather is nice.....its got great airflow and theres no need to clean pans, we just scoop the manure onto the gardens--its GREAT fertilizer! People often wonder how bunnies handle cold weather, in my opinion they do much better in the cold than they do during the summertime. Seems like the main thing you really need to keep an eye on during the winter, is to make sure the water bottles don't freeze. Some people switch to crocks during the winter, because they are easy to knock the ice out of and refill. At some point I think I will switch over to crocks. But, right now I just deal with frozen water bottles.....my husband works for Coca~Cola, and when the Asheville Civic Center stopped selling Coke and switched to Pepsi he brought home one of those drink carriers that the vendors carry around drinks to sell--like you see at a baseball game. Here's a picture below:
It works great, it has individual holes that the water bottles fit perfectly into. And the best part is, it has a strap that goes around the neck, so both hands are free to gather water bottles off each cage. So what I do is, gather all the frozen bottles and bring them inside and thaw them out with some warm water in the sink. Once they are thawed out, I refill them-leaving about an inch of empty space, to allow the water to expand when it freezes, so the bottles don't crack. During the wintertime, you need to check the bottles several times on really cold days so the rabbits have access to water.
I dont know about you, but I'm ready for Spring!
-Malena
No comments:
Post a Comment