That was the high yesterday according to the remote digital thermometer on the porch (the readout part is in the house) which is in the shade. It's the one I look at for the most accurate temperature. That's the record for me since I've been here (8 years). I don't believe I've had 100 before now. Yesterday was supposed to be the peak of this heat wave. If it gets no hotter than that we're good here.
I don't know what it was in the barn. I didn't want to know as there was nothing else I could do for them. But the gals handled it with just the fan. There's only 8 does in the barn, and only 4 have litters 4-5 weeks old. No losses. I think it really helps that the cherry tree and crape myrtle on the west side are mature and providing a lot of shade on the wall and roof. The does are all on that wall. The rest are outside in the Summer House and I wasn't worried about them. I've said it before, it's also the breed. Dwarfs are so small and hardy, they can take a lot of heat as long as they have good ventilation.
I thought of some tips to help cope with heat in an enclosed rabbit barn if AC isn't an option. You know several already. Frozen water bottles or tiles, misters, and of course ventilation and fans. I can't do frozen bottles. Just don't have the freezer space. I could maybe do cold tiles. A mister isn't an option due to the wooden floor in the barn. Fans is the best I can do.
1. If at all possible, reduce the herd going into summer. Less body heat, and less waste that generates heat.
2. If you reduce the herd, you should have empty holes. Hot air rises you know. Move as many as possible to the lowest tiers. I also suggest putting the most valuable players in the very bottom tiers. You know, the ones you couldn't bear to lose. Also put as many as possible on the coolest walls. North and east or the shaded walls.
3. Clean more often to control the radiated heat from the pans.
4. An outside option for a good part of the herd if you can. A shade structure like a porch or carport is about as cool as you can get outside on a scorching day. It provides free air flow without the need for fans. Even a cheap portable canopy will do. Just make sure it's big enough to shade the cages all day. Attach shade cloth to the sides that allow the sun to shine on any cages.
5. Plant shading plants on the south and west facing walls. I love my cherry tree. It grew fast. Other fast growing plants are crape myrtles, bamboo, hybrid willows, and vines. Native wisteria or grape vine grows very fast and would cover a tall trellis structure in front of the wall in no time. While you wait for it to take off, you can grow annual vines like morning glory or hyacinth bean. If using wisteria or grapes, make sure the trellis is very sturdy. These are hefty vines when mature. Another good shade vine is called Silver Lace Vine. It's a very robust perennial that grows very thick quickly. It's covered in tiny white flowers like a bridal veil for a long bloom period in late summer. It also needs a sturdy structure. If attaching the trellis directly to the barn wall, add shims or brackets to hold it away from the wall. The cooling comes from the air space between the plant and wall, and the more air space the better. Of course, planting now won't help much this year, but doing it now will help next year, so make those plans. Be sure and keep those new plants well watered through the heat and lack of rain.
The chicks are doing good. I close off the back bedrooms when I'm running AC and it's gets pretty toasty back there. They don't need the heat lamp unless it goes below 60 outside at night, and I don't think that will happen before they're big enough to handle it. I'll move them out to the barn in another week or so when they are acclimated to lower night time temps.
I do believe that one is a mottled blue! Cool! Maybe what they call splash. I don't know what the difference would be, maybe just the name of the color. The 2 light ones are looking like they will be white. I hope they are actually mottled buff because that would be pretty, but the wing feathers starting to come in are white so we'll see.
Sadly, I lost the partridge silky girl out in the pen last week. I don't know what happened. When I went out there in the morning she was dead. Bummer. I really liked her. She was one of the reasons I hadn't turned the rest of the birds out to free range yet. I think I'll try now. They need to learn to forage and there isn't anything to forage on in the pen. My plan is to separately pen up breeding groups next year. Got a couple ideas for that which I'll work on before next spring.
Keep cool as best you can.
tnt
