Californians in California...dumb question

[Lil Chickie Mama]

This is going to sound really dumb or silly, but sadly I am serious. How well do Californians do in the hotter climes of California? We had NZ's when I lived in Vacaville which has pretty similar weather to where I am now and despite giving them lots of water and frozen pop bottles and being located under the shade of a tree, they died of heat stroke. The last one was wrapped around the bottle
I do NOT want this to happen again and as I prepare for rabbits again, I want to select the best breed and set them up as best as possible so they don't just arrive at table weight, but have a happy life until then. NZ's may produce a little more meat, but I like the look of Californians. Besides it's just me and my DH and he isn't so convinced about eating rabbit so amount of meat isn't the main issue. I've never eaten it but I'm intrigued, what does it taste like? And again if it was lost in this bohemith of a post, how well will Californians do here? Temps in summer often between 95-105.

 

[JoieDeViveRabbitry]

This is an interesting question.... I have done a little internet research and not come up with any promising answers. Most things are saying they hate the heat

Here is what I would do;

If you have a good amount of rabbits that you plan on raising and you thoroughly enjoy them and their meat, then by all means go all out and make them a summer retreat from the heat. Build them a rabbit barn in the shade (or plant immature shade trees around it), perhaps with mesh/wire sides for PLENTY of ventilation and then you can also cover up the side with screw on wood panels in bad or cooler weather, I have seen rabbitries like this. You can have it open on both ends, and place a large air circulating fan in one end to keep the air constantly moving.
You can also do the frozen pop bottles or large 12 X 12" ceramic tiles kept in the freezer (I have a freezer in my barn). I keep double the tiles I need in the freezer, so they have a new one halfway through the day.
What I like most about tiles is that they are easy to sanitize and scrub in a bleach solution or whatnot...
You could go as far as to make them an enclosed rabbitry with Air Conditioning! If you went this route I would MAKE SURE to use those clear plastic roof panels that allow sunlight in as the rabbits need light, especially breeding doe's. Some people on Back Yard Chickens have given their chickens AC and Heat so why not rabbits?! I like my rabbits more than my chickens personally (Shhhh, don't tell anyone over at BYC!)....

IF you have a small herd, you could very well keep them inside your house with AC or fans but I wouldn't do this with more than 6 rabbits.

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

Thanks, JoieDeViveRabbitry! I did plan on making a small outdoor area (for starters, let's see if I like the meat) for them, so thank you for the advice on how to make it work. They will be near my chickens (shh don't tell BYC'ers to you either, I know about Cocci risks but, I'll be careful!) and the area is a chain link fence style with an apron both going out for predators and another going in for diggers. I would have them in a hutch that is long and has compartments/cubbies/whatever for them, but I have to look it up on what you can do (look for another post of mine). I was 8 when I had rabbits before and they were just 2 does housed together for pets. It would be a pretty open hutch using hardware cloth as my screening and the one closed side would be facing the south so it would block much of the heat. Then in the winter I can reverse it so the GET the sun. The west side would be already shaded by the chicken area so I'm trying to be very cautious and plan it out well in advance. I don't have electricity out to that area and DH won't let me have it, but we almost always have winds and the chickens have an oakie style swamp cooler (shade cloth+soaker hose+wind) so it would carry over to the rabbit area as well without bringing any quantity of moisture. I like the idea of the tiles, I'll have to try that. My chickens stay happy and we've had a pretty hot summer so far, AND they are black so I'm hoping that if they're fine all will be okay with rabbits. I'll have to look up the clear plastic roof panels, is that like those yellowish opaque inserts that let in filtered light? That would work good I think...just wondering about cost.
I am planning to start out with just a trio and see where that takes us. I still have much research on proper care and housing to do before I can consider an actual purchase, but I like to be prepared. If all goes well I may move up to a quad of 2 bucks and 2 does so I can do line breeding but we'll see. If in the beginning when I only have a few I may move them inside on the hotter days, but DH might not be too happy so it would only be if there are very few (so I can sneak them in without him noticing!)

 

[trestlecreek]

Yep, rabbits can tolerate cold much better than they can the heat.
Here in IN, I can make due in the summer. When it gets over 85 degrees, I put frozen water bottles in their cages and I make sure ventilation fans are running and I have a osculating fan I turn on. We probably have a total of 15-20 days out of a year that go over 85 degrees.
A lot of people here have AC rabbitries though,.... If planning to breed them,...I would guess you may have to have an AC'd barn.... they do really have a hard time in the heat....
The goal would be to not let the temp. get higher than 85 degrees....

 

[waynesgarden]

Being up here in Wester Maine, I'd be the last person to advise you. however, I would advise you to "ask local."

Here's a link to a local rabbit breeders association from the ARBA website:

BIG VALLEY RA - STOCKTON.
BRUCE BATES - 13061 DAVIS ST - HICKMAN, CA 95323

Joining a local group is the single best way to see how others in your immediate area cope with conditions like climate.

Keep those bunnies cool!

Wayne

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU WAYNE!!!! I am so new to this, I never would have known that you could join a local rabbit group (or that they existed outside of 4H) and especially thank you for posting some that are in my area!!! See, this is why I love this website and all the BYC/BYH-affiliates! Keep them below 85 gosh, it's like 85 in mid-spring/mid-fall here! I may have to create some kind of plastic wall (hey, I'm just trying to come up with ideas here, I'll perfect it later) that is kind of a tube and fill it with ice. Or just make the back wall out of PVC pipe and fill them with ice everyday. Looks like I will be ordering more shade cloth before I get them too, but I was going to do that anyway. I have more planning to do, and people to contact....off to google Big Valley RA... (thanks again Wayne)

 

[rachel]

I was (very) briefly toying with the idea of rabbits. I saw that 85 degree thing and realized there's really no good way to have them outside here. It was in the 90's the first part of November here.... I guess we have two months that usually don't hit 85.

 

[PatS]

Lil Chickie Mama~

When you get the chance to contact those folks, please let us know what you find out. I have almost exactly the same situation you do. It is just the two of us. I am interested, hubby not. Summers here (No. CA) are much like yours, we have several weeks where the temps can hover in the low 100s. Evenings almost always chill down to the 50s though. Folks do raise rabbits (we have an active 4-H and also some folks who raise for their tables), but I know folks lose some to the heat.

We have been raising chickens this year and love it. I did string up a mister in the run for when it got really hot. (The chickens were afraid of it, but they frolic in the rain -- go figure!) Maybe I could do that for the rabbits? It was not that expensive, I think about $30. I'll try to do some research and see if they can stand the moisture. Or maybe someone here knows???

 

[Stauffer]

if you find the frozen 2 liter pop bottles are thawing out too quickly....get some solid colored juice jugs--we always used the Minute Maid Orange Juice and Fruit Punch ones...they didn't seem to thaw out as quickly. Being in OH, we didn't have to deal with extreme heat like you might be...but the humidity is always horrible here in the summer.

Cals are my favorite breed of meat rabbit...never ate any myself as I don't care for the taste of rabbit..but sold a lot and they were my breed of choice for my 4H market rabbit projects (most 4Hers used NZW).

 

[kelsystar]

Here in NW Oregon, we usually get two or three non-consecutive weeks of 100+ temps and it is terrible! Keeping them cool is a stressful full time job, as we don't have any permanent heat-mitigating strategies. Our buns live in our carport, which is shaded most of the day by large maple trees. In the afternoon, though, when the sun is low in the sky, things really get cooking in there.

We learned lots of lessons last summer. Don't breed in the heat! Not only do bucks become sterile at 85 degrees, mamas have more complications. One doe that was pregnant during the heat spell birthed 8 kits, 3 of them stillborn. Her previous pregnancy went super easy and she raised 9 kits, so it had to be the heat. She was super stressed the whole time, ended up with mastitis, and we had to cull her. It was awful.

This year, we're going to get our big breeding push done in the late winter and early spring so our does are done nursing before it gets hot. Then do another big breeding push in the fall after the heat has passed.

We also made the mistake of buying a new buck and moving him in the heat. He was a Champagne d'Argent, which I was told doesn't do as well in the heat as other breeds. Stupid me, I moved him anyway and he died.

We didn't give them frozen pop bottles because they kept trying to eat them. Luckily I had plenty of Ball freezer jars. No chewing possible! I froze half full water bottles and then filled them the rest of the way with water. We also wet their ears down with tepid (not cold!) water periodically. I've heard of people dipping their buns in tepid water as well, but we didn't try that. I'd be too afraid of fly strike. As a last resort, though, it might be worth it.

The biggest thing that helped, I think, was placing damp towels over their cages and running an oscillating fan over them.

Oh gosh, just thinking of those horrible weeks has me all stressed again!