New to feeding rabbits naturally

Greetings! I am new to this forum. I have been raising meat rabbits for approximately 1 year. I started out by feeding them pellets, but gradually switched them to a non-commercial, natural diet. I watched youtube videos and read various articles on this topic. Basically what I have gathered on the matter is the rabbits should graze on grass as a substantial part of their diet. The remainder of their diet can consist of weeds, leaves, vegetable scraps, fruit scraps, etc. This is pretty much what their diet consists of. My question is, since they are not getting commercial pellets, which theoretically would give them a balanced diet in terms of nutrients, is there anything else I need to be giving them? A typical day's diet would consist of the following for my rabbits: grass, leaves, 1/2 cup or so of leafy greens, possibly potato peelings and a few pieces of fruits. Doe this sound like a well rounded diet for a rabbit that does not consume pellets? Would this diet I put forth give the rabbit the sufficient protein, calcium, vitamins, minerals and all them other essential nutrients the rabbit needs to live a healthy life and produce healthy kits?

Your help is apprecited

Welcome to Rabbittalk, hoosier89. :hi:

It's certainly possible to feed rabbits a natural diet instead of pellets --I did it for years -- but what you suggest has some deficiencies.

Rabbits not fed pellets need a trace mineral salt block.

Working rabbits require more protein than pets and I don't think the diet you propose would have enough. They need 16 percent minimum.

Potatoes and potato peelings should be cooked; they can be toxic when raw. Green potatoes and potato sprouts (eyes) should never be fed.

They should have free choice hay, preferably with a reasonable alfalfa or clover content. It must be fresh and of good quality, free from mould and excessive dust. Alfalfa and clover hay provides protein and timothy or other grass-hay provides fibre.

I found it helpful to feed small quantities of grain (wheat, barley or oats). I gave mine about 1/4 cup per rabbit per day. More than that and the does got fat.

Green feed (weeds, tree branches with leaves etc.) are preferable to vegetables, although you can certainly feed some vegetables as well.

You will need a good working knowledge of what plants are safe for rabbits. This list is a good starting point.
safe-plants-for-rabbits-list-t55.html
Always use the Latin names for identification of new plants; common names vary from location to location.

Hope this is helpful. Natural feeding is super, but it requires a lot more thought and experience that pellet feeding. Go slowly.

How long have you been feeding without pellets? Are you pleased with the growth you're seeing? What is your plan for winter when there isn't anything green and growing outside?

However each of us feeds, natural of pellets, we have to pay attention to how it's working for the rabbits we have and where we live. You'll find lots of information here on RT and while at first it can be confusing to get so many very different opinions you can find what you need to figure out what works for you. Welcome and good luck.

Thank you for your reply MaggieJ. I will take these things into consideration.

Rainey, they have not had pellets for about 6 months. I am fairly happy with their growth. I have a buck and two does. They are not quite as fat as my friend's rabbits. He uses pellets pretty much exclusively. They are not obscenely underweight either. My plan is to give them grass clippings I have saved over the summer after cutting the grass and also giving them leaves, oatmeal and other fruit and vegetable scraps.

JMHO,
I think... as long as you observe your rabbits at least once each day, and get used to seeing what a normal, healthy rabbit looks like, and feel the rabbit every week or so, to determine muscle mass in the back, excess pot belly, and to be able to notice any abnormal lumps and bumps, you can pretty much continue with what is working, -- but-- when feeding as you describe, -- more careful observation is important, -- nutrient levels in grass change with the season, and with the individual maturity of the grass variety. so-- seasonal feed adjustments can be very important to maintaining the health and overall condition of your rabbits. and-- should you decide to breed, the nutrient and energy requirements will immediately, and drastically increase.
When I first started raising rabbits as a child , there were no "rabbit pellets" available for me to use [I didn't even know they existed ] I was given a book , called "raising poultry and rabbits on scraps", published by Penguin Press, about 1942, or so, -- I would suggest that you give it a read and see how rabbits were fed before the age of rabbit pellets. There is a lot of information about rabbit raising in that book, -- I , as well as many others here, could add a lot to what is written in the book ,but it gives a very good idea of what worked well , before "rabbit pellets". - when "natural feeding " was the only option...
again--.. JMHO

Welcome to Rabbit Talk

I also feed a more natural diet, although my lactating purebred American Chinchilla does still require pellets in the winter as they cannot maintain condition on my hay, grain and forage diet. It took me several generations to get my meat mutt bloodline adapted to this diet as the vast majority of modern breeds are selected to thrive on commercial pellets and nothing else

I agree with the advice given by others but would add...

You must be very careful in how you dry/cure grass clippings, they compact easily, are quick to mold and can become toxic to rabbits.

With the diet you are feeding you'll likely find that once the does start having litters they will loose body condition and take much longer to get back into good form for another litter.

Some signs that there might be nutritional deficiencies are - poor coat quality; poor muscle tone, especially along the back/loin; frequent illness

The following can also be symptoms but can also be due to genetics and/or common issues that happen with first time mothers - not getting pregnant; small litters; cannibalizing the kits; not producing sufficient milk for the litter; abandoning the kits

Michaels4gardens thank you. I actually just ordered the book off of Amazon. <br /><br /> __________ Sun Nov 15, 2015 11:16 am __________ <br /><br /> Dood, thanks for the input.

hoosier89":17x46x0a said:

Thank you for your reply MaggieJ. I will take these things into consideration.

Rainey, they have not had pellets for about 6 months. I am fairly happy with their growth. I have a buck and two does. They are not quite as fat as my friend's rabbits. He uses pellets pretty much exclusively. They are not obscenely underweight either. My plan is to give them grass clippings I have saved over the summer after cutting the grass and also giving them leaves, oatmeal and other fruit and vegetable scraps.

Click to expand...

Did you have litters since stopping pellets? We take a break from breeding over the coldest months and the adults keep good condition on hay, grain, roots and wheat fodder (grown out about a week) When it's really cold they need more grain or roots. And when does kindle before there's much fresh forage we have dried nettle and willow dried when it was newly in leaf. The buck we have to watch to keep from getting him overweight and most of the time he doesn't get grain.
At first I was concerned about protein levels--many who don't feed pellets feed alfalfa in some form, but we haven't We feed willow year round--fresh or dried-- I think that has higher protein than most of the rabbit-safe trees. Mulberry is the other high protein tree and we've planted some and are waiting for them to get big enough to start feeding. I hear they grow like weeds in many places.
That is a long way of saying that there are many different ways to get the needed nutrients--you just have to be aware of your rabbits' condition and figure out what is available where you are to meet their needs. It is quite doable without dependence on pellets. Sounds like you're off to a good start if they are at satisfactory weights.

Rainy is right that instead of alfalfa or clover hay, one can feed willow or mulberry branches with leaves. They are excellent and the rabbits love them. If you have an abundant supply of these trees, you might want to consider making extensive use of them.

We have an organic feed producer here in Ontario, but the high protein ingredient they rely on is soybeans. Certified Organic here is strictly monitored to make sure it is not GMO and that no chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used. But I'm not thrilled with using soybeans anyway. If this is something you want to consider, remember that soybeans must be cooked - either steamed or roasted.

So yes, you can work around the issue of feeding a high protein hay, but if it is available in your area at a reasonable price it is certainly the easier way to go.

Rainey,
Yes, we have had success in breeding them since switching to a natural diet. When I first did the switch, I don't think I was letting them graze as much as the should have been. Which leads to my next question, how long during the day would you let a rabbit graze since grass is the cornerstone of a natural diet?

We don't let ours graze--thought about pasturing but were daunted by what we read about how often they'd need to be moved and how long we should wait before moving them over the same ground. So we gather buckets of forage from the time things start growing in spring until they stop in fall. Takes a good bit of time and we also dry feed for winter. We do gather grass, but also lots of "weeds"--dandelion, chicory, plantain, etc. and clover and stuff from our garden--tops from the carrots, turnips, radishes, thinnings and leaves from sunflowers and every day they get something woody, mostly willow but quite a few others as well.
There are so many ways to feed rabbits and varying opinions about them. We've put ours together from parts of several recommended diets. What I find important is to watch your rabbits and see how they're doing and make adjustments as needed. I like to keep an open mind and never stop learning, but I also know that whatever one feeds, someone somewhere will have it on a list of unsafe foods or say it's wrong.

So Happy Learning and best of luck with your rabbits.

Rainey, thanks. What kinds of things were you reading about how often to move the rabbits and how long before you let them graze in a repeated spot?

I don't keep track of where I found information unless I plan to refer back to it so don't remember where I read it, but seems to me it was in more than one place. What I remember is that rabbit "tractors" need to be moved at a bare minimum once a day and that the same ground should not be reused for a year. Also read that rabbits will dig out, predators dig in. And that folks with rabbits on the ground had problems with coccidea (sorry about the spelling) and since we're on land that has been farmed a long time, I thought it would likely be a problem.And somewhere, perhaps right here on RT?--I read that people who'd tried comparisons with some growouts grazing and some in wire cages, growth was slower for the grazers. So we've never even tried putting them on the ground to graze--all of this I'm telling you is hearsay, not experience.

Earlier in this thread, someone mentioned having a salt block. What purpose does a salt block serve? Is it for the minerals? For teeth health? Sorry for all the questions. Just in the process of learning.

A trace mineral salt block is needed for rabbits not getting pellets. Both the salt and the minerals are important. Pellets already have salt and minerals added.

I used one of the reddish ones meant for general livestock. They only cost $2-3 and they last a long time. If your rabbits are in individual cages, you can just knock chunks off the block with a hammer and serve it in crocks to protect the wire from rusting.

Some people prefer the loose minerals but I have no experience with them.

I'm transitioning to non-pellet food slowly. We cut our own hay this fall and they eat (and sleep on) that and the hay is the only thing we give them "off the land." We also have a sprouting fodder system where I sprout a mix of barley, alfalfa, and black-oil sunflower seeds.

I know this isn't a complete diet, so I give a few pellets in a J-feeder. Often, the pellets will sit there and sit there and then I'll go out one morning and they're gone. Like most animals, the rabbits know when they are lacking in a key nutrient and as long as I feed them things they prefer over the pellets, they only eat the pellets when they need to.

I do put trace mineral blocks in the cages, but they go untouched.

Thanks for the reply SoDak Thriver.

I have been reading various blogs about naturally feeding (I am still waiting on my copy of Feeding Chickens and Rabbits from Scratch), and came across a diet that someone has implemented with their rabbits. I was curious what you all think about the balance of it. They let the rabbit graze for several hours a day (maybe half the day), the give small amounts of fruit and vegetables, greens and the have put together a cheap feed mix that consists of oats, wheat, split peas and sunflower seeds (I assume the peas and seeds are to make up for the protein that they are not getting from pellets) as well as a salt/mineral block. The diet I have been using seems to be working, but my main concern is (and many people I know have given me flack over it) is I have not been giving them enough protein. I figured I may start giving my rabbits a feed mixture similar to what the blogger used (oats, split peas, seeds).

Thoughts?

hoosier89":2lxoxb84 said:

Thanks for the reply SoDak Thriver.

I have been reading various blogs about naturally feeding (I am still waiting on my copy of Feeding Chickens and Rabbits from Scratch), and came across a diet that someone has implemented with their rabbits. I was curious what you all think about the balance of it. They let the rabbit graze for several hours a day (maybe half the day), the give small amounts of fruit and vegetables, greens and the have put together a cheap feed mix that consists of oats, wheat, split peas and sunflower seeds (I assume the peas and seeds are to make up for the protein that they are not getting from pellets) as well as a salt/mineral block. The diet I have been using seems to be working, but my main concern is (and many people I know have given me flack over it) is I have not been giving them enough protein. I figured I may start giving my rabbits a feed mixture similar to what the blogger used (oats, split peas, seeds).

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

my thought is-- if it is working don't fix it, other peoples opinions are usually based on "other peoples" opinions...and vary rarely on any real practical experience of their own, in exactly what you are doing.

Michaels4Gardens, thanks. That's probably what I will do. Thanks!

__________ Tue Dec 15, 2015 7:37 pm __________

I put an order in with somebody I know for a bale of grass hay for feed for the winter. This person also carries alfalfa, but I chose grass hay as I have heard people say that a rabbit's diet should consists mainly of grass hay as opposed to alfalfa. He in turn told me that I should stick with pellets as they are made from alfalfa, and according to him, alfalfa is what rabbits need more of for the protein content. He told me that my rabbits would not even eat the grass hay. So now I am confused. People are telling me contradictory things. What are your thoughts?

__________ Tue Dec 15, 2015 7:39 pm __________

Also, I purchased the book about raising poultry and rabbits from scrap. It is an interesting read. What I didn't know was that rabbits could eat leftover meat, fish, bread.

hoosier89":1eiuujq7 said:

Michaels4Gardens, thanks. That's probably what I will do. Thanks!

__________ Tue Dec 15, 2015 7:37 pm __________

I put an order in with somebody I know for a bale of grass hay for feed for the winter. This person also carries alfalfa, but I chose grass hay as I have heard people say that a rabbit's diet should consists mainly of grass hay as opposed to alfalfa. He in turn told me that I should stick with pellets as they are made from alfalfa, and according to him, alfalfa is what rabbits need more of for the protein content. He told me that my rabbits would not even eat the grass hay. So now I am confused. People are telling me contradictory things. What are your thoughts?

__________ Tue Dec 15, 2015 7:39 pm __________

Also, I purchased the book about raising poultry and rabbits from scrap. It is an interesting read. What I didn't know was that rabbits could eat leftover meat, fish, bread.

Click to expand...

I think you should value the opinions of people who actually have experience doing the things you are doing, [or trying to do] and not the opinions of people who have never raised rabbits without pellets or maybe never raised rabbits at all. and-- be very careful with the bread, a small piece like 50 cent size is plenty to start out with, as rabbits love it and will over eat bread, get clogged up. and be dead by morning-- in the book they talk about mixing it with potato and other foods, as well as serving sizes, and being sure they have hay to go with these things ..[that part of the instructions is very important] - and be sure to transition gradually to any new feed-