FLYSTRIKE SURVIOUR!!!WARNING,GRAFFIC PHOTO'S!!!!!!!

[Shiloh Acres]

Thanks for the reply.

Temps here are over 100, almost 110 for part of the summer. We're enjoying a cooler few days but it will go back up. Humidity is normally high at the same time.

I've heard rabbits can be damaged over 85, and mine definitely show signs of distress over 90. I have them in a deeply shaded part of the yard in completely open wire cages, with the roof raised at least 3 feet over the rabbits. Last year I used large frozen bottles and a fan to cool them, and lost one I'm thinking to heat. This year I have too many cages to be able to freeze the bottles for them. Fans feel like a blast of hot air, and they do seem much more comfortable with the mist. However, our terrible winds died down two days ago, and I'm expecting an increase in flies now.

The llama has two year's wool on her now, and while she is not the suri type, her wool is pretty thick. If I don't spray her down, she goes to the goose pool and lies by it and dips her neck in all day. That isn't the most efficient cooling area for a llama, so I spray her. She comes anytime I bring the hose and stands and turns for me, letting me spray all over, so she's pretty well trained to that.

I don't know ... My grandpa kept rabbits in a large barn with industrial fans, and his were fine. I'm going by what folks tell me, and what I see as signs of distress in my own animals. But flystrike is a big concern to me.

Oh, and no worm beds under the rabbits, though I'm considering it. They have pits, and the chickens turn the manure well, and I remove it periodically fir the garden. I also wet the ground under their cages once or twice a day to cool them and get the manure finished sooner.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day S A, Your reply raised a few questions ,

1.the floor of the cages are clear of the ground?
2.using chickens to turnover the manure,does this not raise a lot of dust?From memory Rabbits are susceptible to to respiratory illness.
3. The wet manure will most certainly attract the "fly's" .
4.Compost worm beds under will give you another line of income,IE:worms for "fishermen" and protein for the "chooks" and the finished product is really great for the vege garden.
5.What sort of Rabbits are you raising,Show or Meat?
6.The roof over the cages,are they Tin?If so they may need to be higher or add another roof much like a tent "fly" or hang a misting spray between the fans and the Rabbits as the mist will cool the air flowing over the stock.

How about a photo of your setup,I for one would like to have a look.
Regards ...............T.O.R............................

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I have two different kinds of cages, but the answers to your questions are nearly the same for both. I'll try to get a photo later today.

1. The old cages are light wire setting on a wood open frame with a heavy wire "floor" to support the cages. They are high off the ground, plenty of space under. The newer ones are heavy wood frame with stronger wire floor, raised on blocks so they are off the ground, but not too high. I'm probably going to raise them higher.

2. There really isn't a lot of dust? Not from that yard. The soil is dark and moist and the chickens aren't making things dusty.

3. With the dying down of the winds, I saw flies in the duck pen yesterday. I never noticed them heavier than usual in the rabbit/chicken yard, but there will be flies out there.

4. I probably will all worm beds, for possible income and certainly compost.

5. They are meat breeds. The Calis are from very good show stock, and while I'm not interested in showing, I could probably sell them as good show prospects for a generation or two as my buck and the parents of my does were high winners. I'm raising them for meat though, and such characteristics as high production, so when I move on to the next generation or two, maybe not. They are intended by me for meat though.

6. My roofs are just old tin. I started out with misters on the fronts of the fans, and now I'm experimenting with suspending them from the edges of the tin all around the cages. Either way, the fan blows on them and carries misted air towards them.

I will try to get a photo.

And thank you!