Winterizing the rabbit colony

I really like to keep things simple in the winter because I just don't like being out in the cold anymore than I have to. So, I winterize the rabbit colony so that not much time needs to be spent in there. Today, I cleaned it out really well and cleaned all the "holes"/nesting areas. Then I lined and stacked enough hay bales so that there is enough hay for the winter in the colony but they are stacked in such a way that they also provide hiding places or nice warm beds for the rabbits. I put a good deep layer of clean shavings on the floor and made sure the feed can was full of feed. The feed will have to be refilled as it only holds enough for 2 months at a time. I also put another water bucket in there so that if I only get out there once a day then they have plenty of water, feed and hay. I moved the nesting holes around so that everyone of the girls can feel like they have some privacy. I also swept down all spider webs and covered a hole with hardware cloth to prevent anything from coming in the colony. It is a good idea to do maintenance things before inclement weather so that things stay in good working order and you don't have to be out anymore than necessary when the weather is bad. I do like where we have the colony in the barn, but I am just not sure that it is as big as we need it to be to accommodate all of our bunnies. We will see how it works out in the next year though and see what is happening by next summer. I might try putting some does in cages raised off the ground to kindle so as to prevent overcrowding. I have seen where we have had litters since we have moved but something killed one litter and then another litter was killed and eaten. hence the hardware cloth over the hole that might allow something small in. We know we have snakes and we have killed one rat (a really big one at that). Both love to eat baby bunnies, but competing does will also kill rival females' litters. The first litter that was killed was scattered all over the colony so we think that is what happened. Putting does in raised cages separately will give more room for does that are nesting on the floor. So we will just have to get a feel for our colony in this new situation and new place. Adjustments might have to be made. Blessings, Kat