Do you leave your buns out after dark?

I'm feeling a bit sorry for my outside buns as they are literally only getting a few hours run time each day now it's getting so dark. I don't, and can't have attached runs where I live so it is an option to let them please themselves and we also have visiting foxes every now and then.

I was considering leaving them out for a couple of hours after dark on the evenings I'm home, the runs are right outside my windows and I can leave the curtains open so they are 'flood lit' but then the wiser part of me is saying it's not worth it.

Then again your average urban fox isn't normally bothered whether it's light or dark.

Do you think 3-4 hours a day will suffice over the colder months?

Its better than nothing Sooz and sounds fine to me. Mine are often out after dark, if I don't get back in time to shut them in shed before dark falls. I have never, touch wood, seen a fox here though.

Yep mine are always out after dark as im usually at work til at least a few hours after its pitch black outside xx

I dont shut my two in until around 8ish, they are out from 8am or whenever i drag my carcass up on a weekend.
In summer i leave them til 10 or 11.
At least they are getting out, its better than nothing, im sure they will be fine

My dad has just built me an attached run (will post pics in accomadation shortly) for Dumpling and Treacle and I leave them out all night, I have never seen a fox where I live (touch wood) but if I did I think I might shut them in.
I think 3-4hours is fine for them, some bunnies get lots less.

now i work from home i won't have that dilemma - but if i worked in an office still i would have either had to put them out in their hutch/run combos and get them in in the dark-ish or leave them in the shed all day so would have done the former (unless terrible weather). but i think at least yours get a few hours out a day anyway whatever you decide.

I feel terrible that my buns only get about 1.5 hours maximum but that seem to be happy with that !

Jenny x

Yes I do, They seem to like the dark but I put mine away around 11pm before I go to bed

Mine stays out til about 9 or 10 but he does have an attached run, I still shut him in his hutch at night though, I worry it will be too cold in there with his flap open. Left to him I think he'd run around all night oustide, he comes out his hutch into his run when I get home from work at 7 and does a few laps then comes to greet me.
Darkness seems to be his favourite thing!!

Hi I try to get Johns in by about 10pm otherwise its b freezing chasing him around the garden at the time, winter or not!

If he goes in voluntarily around 5pm and has been out since wake up time of 9am ish, I put him in for night - he is most disapproving!

x

I let mine out as soon as I wake up in the night and get them all in when it gets dusky - at the moment I am doing that around 3:30-4:30 - BUT my Celeste refuses to come in AT ALL much to my annoyance. So the other 3 are in hutches all night and Celeste has free range of our garden. I dont actually think he can get hurt because we have no foxes and he has a million hiding places but I still dont like it and I want him in. Angel is nearly as bad as him but she is in the hutch now til I know if she is having a phantom pregnancy. Which should be by tomorrow!

Mine are outside from 8.00 am until 4.30 pm when I start to think about putting them away. It is dark by 4.00 t0 4.30 and I usually let them have a little longer and they are away to bed by 6.00 with their tea.

Mine are out during the dark too, usually around 8pm now, but in the summer usually around 11pm
And they always know when its time for bed. when i want a hug, they come running up to me for nose rubs, but when its time to be locked up, they are always up for a chase!