Preparing Your Rabbits for Winter: Cold-Weather Care for Outdoor Buns

While you’re grabbing extra blankets and fuzzy socks, your rabbits are putting on their own winter jackets — and trust me, they’re better at staying warm than we are.

Most new rabbit owners assume that cold weather is dangerous for outdoor rabbits. But the truth?

Rabbits handle freezing temperatures extremely well — as long as they stay dry and out of the wind.

The real winter threats are:

• Wind (drafts)
• Moisture
• Damp bedding or cages that freeze solid

Not the temperature itself.

Research shows that healthy rabbits tolerate temperatures below freezing, thanks to their dense undercoat and ability to insulate body heat (National Research Council, 1977). But wet fur + windchill strips that insulation quickly.

Let’s break down exactly how to keep outdoor rabbits warm and prepare your hutches for winter in a way that keeps them warm, dry, healthy, and thriving — without heat lamps, without expensive heating systems, and without stressing them out!

1. Housing: Protect From Wind and Wetness (Not Cold)

Yes — rabbits can live outside in winter, even in freezing temperatures, as long as they are dry, protected from drafts, and have proper ventilation.

To give rabbits the best winter environment, focus on:

✅ Blocking wind
✅ Staying dry
✅ Ventilation (to prevent ammonia and humidity buildup)

Rabbits can tolerate sub-zero temperatures as long as they stay dry and out of the wind.
Damp + draft = dangerous. Cold + dry = rabbits thrive.

How to block drafts without trapping moisture & winterize a rabbit hutch:

• Place windbreaks on the back and sides of cages using:
• Corrugated plastic panels
• Plywood sheets
• Greenhouse film/shrink plastic
• Leave the front or upper section open so condensation and ammonia can escape.
• Position front openings opposite prevailing winter winds.

Think windblock — not airtight.

Pro Tip: Respiratory problems in winter are often the result of excess moisture and ammonia from their urine when proper ventilation is lacking, and not cold temperatures alone.

2. Bedding & Hide Boxes: Insulation That Stays Dry

Outdoor rabbits don’t need thick bedding everywhere — they need the right bedding in the right place.

For general housing:

• Keep wire floors clear of hay. The goal is clean, dry feet and bums!
• Hay on wire absorbs urine → freezes → becomes a cold, unsanitary platform.
• Provide a bottomless wooden hide house so rabbits can huddle and trap their own body heat.

Pro Tip: Rabbits generate heat by digesting hay — give unlimited hay in winter.

Only in extreme cold (below zero / bitter windchill):

• Add loose hay inside the hide box only, on the cage floor, to cuddle up in.

This keeps cages cleaner and reduces frozen waste buildup.

3. Winter Nest Boxes & Cold-Weather Kindling

When breeding rabbits in winter or late fall, setup matters.

• Nest box base layer: pine shavings (absorbs moisture)
• Top layer: straw and hay (best insulation)
• Give does extra hay to build with

Save and store clean pulled fur from other does to use if a new mother doesn't pull enough.

Check on expectant does frequently as they near their due dates in the winter.
Kits born on the wire must be moved immediately into a warm nest.

Pro Tip: Straw insulates better than hay — hay absorbs moisture, but straw traps warm air pockets.

A full blog on Winter Breeding & Cold-Weather Litters is coming soon.

4. Water: Prevent Ice (Not Freezing Temperatures)

Hydration is more important than warmth.

Bottles freeze quickly, so outdoor rabbit keepers prefer:

✅ Heavy ceramic crocks
✅ Rubber feed bowls (easy to pop ice out)

Daily winter watering routine:

1. Carry a 5-gallon bucket, half-full of warm/hot water to the rabbitry.
2. Drop frozen crocks into the bucket — ice releases and pops out.
3. Refill crocks with lukewarm fresh water.
4. Repeat twice daily (or 3× in extreme cold).

Do not add salt or additives.

Pro Tip: Salt does not prevent water from freezing — it only increases sodium intake.

Research confirms consistent water access in winter prevents GI slowdown and dehydration (Cheeke, 2018).

Heated crocks and bowl warmers exist — but are not mandatory.

5. Heat Lamps: Don’t Do It

This is the hill we will die on.

🔥 Heat lamps cause more rabbit deaths in winter than cold ever will. 🔥

Reasons to skip heat lamps:

• Fire Hazard (barn fires are real and fast)

• Creates Condensation → respiratory illness
• Prevents proper winter coat development
• Rabbits become dependent on artificial heat, lose cold resilience
• Extremely dangerous if you lose power and they lose the heat they have come to rely on.

Instead:

• Provide wind protection around cages and hutches
• A bottomless wooden hide box
• Clean and dry living conditions
• Extra hay only in extreme cold for snuggling

Pro Tip: Rabbits are built for cold. Heat lamps are built for burning barns down.

Mic drop.

Adding heat creates more risk than benefit. Let their winter coat do its job.

6. Winter Nutrition: Fuel Their Internal Furnace

Rabbits burn more calories when maintaining body heat. Increasing feed slightly helps them maintain body condition.

Recommended winter feeding:

• Increase pellets + hay by 10–20% during long cold spells

• Free-choice hay at all times
• Add high-fat foods such as Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (BOSS) (1-2 Tbs)
• Add immune-supporting herbs such as oregano. 

Pro Tip: Rabbits don't need “warm mash” — they need quality calories and fiber.

7. Show Rabbits & Youth Exhibitors: Winter Conditioning

Show rabbits tend to bloom in winter IF they stay clean and dry.

Tips for keeping coats pristine:

• Groom regularly/as needed to remove furballs and loose fur.
• Never place hay on the wire floor (except in extreme cold situations as mentioned previously)
• Keep nails trimmed
• Monitor hock condition — frozen urine patches are abrasive

Pro Tip: Deep litter or bedding on the entire cage floor causes urine scald — use bedding only in nestboxes for newborn kits, and in extremely cold temperatures inside bottomless hide boxes for adults and juniors. 

8. Seniors & Underweight Rabbits

These buns need extra calories and extra monitoring.

For seniors or rabbits who feel bony:

• Increase pellets + BOSS as mentioned above
• Give 1-2 Tbs rolled oats daily
• Add a hide box with straw if very frail
• Check body condition daily

Winter is not the time to ration feed.

Final Thoughts: Winter Can Be the Easiest Season

Rabbits are built for cold. They are not built for wind, dampness, drafts, or neglect. Rabbits can live outside successfully in cold weather, if they are set up properly.

If you remember only three things:

1. Dry beats warm.
2. Ventilation beats insulation.
3. Heat lamps = nope.

If you winterize correctly, your rabbits won’t just survive winter — they’ll thrive in it.

Winter can be hard on us humans, but your buns know it is the season they (and their fancy fur coats!) were made for—and they’re counting on you to make it great! 😊

Have a winter rabbit tip you swear by?
Drop it in the comments — we love learning from fellow rabbit keepers!

 

✅ Want weekly rabbitry tips and seasonal care reminders?
➝ Join the Cuniculture Club email list.

 

✅ Download: Winter Rabbitry Prep Checklist (PDF)

[ Download Winter Checklist (PDF) — coming soon ]

References

• National Research Council. (1977). Nutrient Requirements of Rabbits.
• Cheeke, P. (2018). Rabbit Feeding and Nutrition.
• Avenell, E. (2014). “Herbal Immunomodulators in Animal Health.” Journal of Veterinary Herbal Medicine.