Pet rabbits outside through winter?

alchemist33

Hello everyone. We recently got two rabbits (miniature Rexs), whose hutch and run has so far been out in the garden. We've been moving it around daily so they get fresh grass as well as their other food.

But winter is coming. We have a sizeable shed we can move rabbits, hutch and run into, but I don't want them to stay indoors for months on end either because a) they might get too soft to the point where an unexpected cold night outside does them harm in spring and b) the fresh grass outside must be good for them.

So, when do people bring their rabbits inside, and how long do you keep them for? Or do you throw a cover over the hutch and leave them out?

alchemist33

Any bunny lovers there?

RosieJoe

I have mine in an outdoor hutch all year round without issue. I just make sure that their bedding area has more wood shavings/ saw dust down for added comfort.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Had rabbits outside all year too, not a bother.

The rabbit run was self made and water proofed. Make sure to have nice clean dry bedding and your rabbits will be fine

alchemist33

Thank you both

I think we'll bring them in. The hutch and run don't fill me with confidence as to how much I can weatherproof it!

ferretone

Yeah, I would try to make better accommodations than those shop-bought hutch-and-run jobbies for over-wintering rabbits, definitely. Mind you, I wouldn't regard them as adequate accommodation for any kind of rabbit, at any time of year, anyway. They are just too small, and too short from top to bottom anyway.

If I were you, if I really wanted to keep rabbits out at all, I would pick out a bit of your garden, against your existing wall, at least 3 by 2 metres, dig that out, pile in decent fence posts at 1m intervals around that, and pour a good depth of concrete all over that space. Then you just need 2cm square mesh around the 3 sides against the wall, and over the top.

This gives you a decent area to space a selection of rabbit hutches around, which you can bed down with loads of straw, and some also with litter trays, if your rabbits like to use those: that makes the cleaning up a lot easier, week-to-week, if they can keep their soiling separate from their sleeping.

We built an arrangement like this for my sister's rabbits, and it made everything so much better for them, without costing very much. I'd say yours would appreciate this much more than being kept in an inadequately-sized space in summer, and being shut indoors in winter in a shed.

It would be a different story if you were thinking of having them as indoor, family rabbits, interacting with all of you all day, but I think you've made it fairly clear that that is not the plan.

Edited to add: and it makes sense if you have grass and so-called weeds on your property, such as dandelions and thistles, to cut some of those each day to feed the rabbits, in addition to the hay that should be their staple in winter. They don't need to be able to reach them themselves, so long as you are there to bring them to them.

alchemist33

Cheers ferretone. Thanks to mulling this over all week, I now have plans. I'm going to "fence" off a large area fo garage to give them a big indoor run over winter, then get another run to double what they have outside in spring. We're even dabbling with the idea of converting a wendy house/wooden shed construction in future to make life better for everyone involved.