Hay diet?

Is it possible to completely cut pellets from my rabbits diet? I want to feed them hay as well as fresh fruit and veggies when we have it on hand until I start growing fodders which will be soon as well. Is hay enough for them? Or do I need to have pellets if I'm mostly feeding hay?

If you feeding just grass hay then probably not.

If you are feeding alfalfa hay it is enough for maintenance of adult rabbits. It allows for "fair" growth for growing rabbits. If you added oats to the diet things would improve due to the added sulfur amino acids. If you feeding growing rabbits you need to provide at least 15% protein along with a good amount of sulfur and lysine amino acids.

http://feedipedia.org/ is a really good place to start.

In today's world of nutrient depleted soils, GMO, and chemically grown hay crops, I doubt you will have very good luck maintaining good health with hay alone...

Ok so I have to keep up pellets and adding oats would help. What kind of oats specifically? Not sure if you said as I kinda read it quickly because I'm glad to have answers. It's just grass hay. I was wondering why they were still eating so much. I'm just trying to cut back on pellets and make their feed more natural as I work towards getting rabbit tractors and fodders.

I meant the oats would improve growth if feeding primarily alfalfa hay.

Weeds are higher in protein and could be used to balance grass. I suggest you get familiar with what grows in your area and what might be rabbit safe. Willow, roses, blackberry/raspberry, plantain, and ragweed are a good places to start. Then add oats and some sunflower/pumpkin/watermelon seeds.

I haven't seen any blackberry/raspberry we do have plantain but we use it for plantain salve. No willows that I've seen but maybe I should venture out and see what I find. My rabbits have never really been into pumpkin, but watermelon is another story! I know there is a rose bush outside but it appears dead, what part of the rose can they eat? I'm not sure what ragweed looks like so I'll look into it and see what grows in my area and then I'll go on a hunt for it Thank you for the advice alforddm!

ButtonsPalace":3iadlqd6 said:

I haven't seen any blackberry/raspberry we do have plantain but we use it for plantain salve. No willows that I've seen but maybe I should venture out and see what I find. My rabbits have never really been into pumpkin, but watermelon is another story! I know there is a rose bush outside but it appears dead, what part of the rose can they eat? I'm not sure what ragweed looks like so I'll look into it and see what grows in my area and then I'll go on a hunt for it Thank you for the advice alforddm!

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When talking about pumpkins and watermelon as a supplement I'm primarily meaning the seeds. They are high in protein and the sulfur amino acids. Pumpkin flesh is very good for rabbits, but mine don't seem to like it raw. The seeds they will eat raw but they like them better if they are dried. Watermelon flesh should be handled with caution as the "meat" is high in sugar. The rinds are fine to feed but like any fresh food introduce slowly if they aren't used to it.

Any type and part of rose is fine to feed. New growth will be the highest in protein, the stems highest in fiber. If you have multiflora roses feel free to feed as much as they will eat ( :lol: they are invasive).

I wonder If I could get the rose to stem off in I planted part of a branch. Then I could multiply them and make a pretty rose garden for my buns. I only give my buns the rinds. Like the rind of pumpkin, canteloupe, etc. I've gave them the seeds with the guts before as well and they were not interested at all! I'll see if I can find some seeds! I want big babies for meat, so would feeding mom high protein make bigger babies? Would they grow faster if mom had more protein? I really wanna be successful with my rabbits and I'm obviously willing to do pretty much anything for my rabbits and I want happy healthy big bunnies :3 *Is there a high protein rabbit food I might be able to find? Do those exist? *I'm gonna look about ebay and amazon for pumpkin seeds and oats in bulk Big, healthy babies are my goal!

__________ July 3rd, 2016, 8:23 pm __________

Ok so here's an amazon link for pumpkin seeds I found and I was wondering if this would be ok?
https://www.amazon.com/Spooky-Pumpkin-S ... pkin+seeds
https://www.amazon.com/Nuts-Pumpkin-See ... pkin+seeds

ButtonsPalace":1ln74f0m said:

I've gave them the seeds with the guts before as well and they were not interested at all!

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Try drying/roasting the seeds and I bet they gobble them up!

ButtonsPalace":1ln74f0m said:

I want big babies for meat, so would feeding mom high protein make bigger babies? Would they grow faster if mom had more protein? I

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The short answer is maybe....

Genetics is a large part of how fast a rabbit grows. So, having rabbits that have been selected for fast growth is a large part of getting good growth. However, the rabbits we have today have for the most part been selected to thrive on a diet of pellets. This is in part because pellets are a complete feed. Because of this, not all rabbits will transfer to a non-pellet varied diet. So, your kinda at the mercy of what you can get if you're trying to transfer to a nonpellet diet. Some rabbits will do well and some won't.

My plan is to work them off the pellets as I keep babies. I'm looking to keep fast growing, rabbits that do well on a non-pellet diet. I know it'll probably be a bit before I get them fully off of it but I want to feed the least pellets possible. I feel like they'd taste better if they weren't full of pellets. I mean wild fish taste better than pond fish *My opinion* So why wouldn't the same apply for rabbits? I know wild rabbits are gamey *Never had rabbit before* and meat rabbits are better *More meat and their muscles aren't as developed* (Correct me if I'm wrong this is stuff I've heard from those who hunt) so I figure I don't want my rabbits to taste like pellets :/ So I need to feed them fresh fruits and veggies, hay, seeds, etc. I mean maybe I'm getting to in my head I am a overthinker >3< But I'm working on not overthinking even though it's easy to do!

ButtonsPalace":qs7zzaez said:

Is it possible to completely cut pellets from my rabbits diet? I want to feed them hay as well as fresh fruit and veggies when we have it on hand until I start growing fodders which will be soon as well. Is hay enough for them? Or do I need to have pellets if I'm mostly feeding hay?

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The book "Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps": A Penguin Handbook , - by Alan Thompson, and Claude Goodchild will give you an idea of how raising [breeding] rabbits without feeding pellets was done "successfully" --- To avoid the tedious and painful trial and error learning curve, I would suggest you read this book before you just start feeding rabbits "whatever" someone tells you works for them ... an idea of the nutrition and energy requirements of breeding and growing rabbits will help. Keep in mind--when you compare the price of pellets to the price of hay and grain, you must deduct the cost of feed that is wasted. pellets have very little waste when fed in good quality feeders [like "Bass feedsaver"] ... although "fodder" is a good source of vitamins, and enzymes, it is a poor energy source for nursing and growing rabbits.
JMHO,

ButtonsPalace":cxct2b5d said:

My plan is to work them off the pellets as I keep babies. I'm looking to keep fast growing, rabbits that do well on a non-pellet diet. I know it'll probably be a bit before I get them fully off of it but I want to feed the least pellets possible. I feel like they'd taste better if they weren't full of pellets. I mean wild fish taste better than pond fish *My opinion* So why wouldn't the same apply for rabbits? I know wild rabbits are gamey *Never had rabbit before* and meat rabbits are better *More meat and their muscles aren't as developed* (Correct me if I'm wrong this is stuff I've heard from those who hunt) so I figure I don't want my rabbits to taste like pellets :/ So I need to feed them fresh fruits and veggies, hay, seeds, etc. I mean maybe I'm getting to in my head I am a overthinker >3< But I'm working on not overthinking even though it's easy to do!

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I transitioned our first trio off pellets and now have all rabbits that never were fed them. It's more time and work and the growth is slower. From your other posts, I think you've had some trouble getting rabbits bred and some housing problems as well as health issues. I just wonder if trying to transition onto natural feed now is one thing too many. Would it help to set some priorities about what to work on first for your herd? It's so hard to be trying to do too many things at once and they all those issues--what you have for breeding stock, how they're housed, health, and feed--will affect the outcome you want--getting lots of healthy and fast-growing rabbits. That's just my thought--and doesn't directly address the question you ask in this thread. On that, I agree with m4g about the book that is helpful and there is also lots of information you can find in old posts here on RT although it takes some time to sort through and find what is applicable.
Wishing you all the best in your rabbitry.

I won't be doing this right now.. It's just kinda a thought for plans in the future I have more than enough going on right now and my goal right now is to get the program started and get more does and cages. I'll get that book as soon as I have the money to buy it. Today we are going to be making stands/legs for all my hutches and moving most of the rabbits into the goat room *as we call it* So they won't be around chickens.. It's surprisingly not dusty in there... The only health issue I had was one doe who was VERY high stress *You could put your hand in her cage and she'd run circles around her cage grunting and her eyes looked like they were gonna pop out of her head.* She got really sick but we culled her and cleaned her cage 2 days in a row with vinegar water and I plan to go out today with the last of our vinegar in a bucket of hot water and douse it before I scrub it some more. It's been sitting out there 3 days now. I'm not sure how much longer I should leave it just sitting there empty but I'm not sure if I'll put a rabbit back in there but I know at some point I'm going to need to. I know the disease only lasts 24-hr without a host but It's hard to put another rabbit in there without thinking it's gonna get sick and have to be killed as well... I have priorities lol Rainey. I'm trying to plan out future stuff. Like in my new post "Really thinking bout Guinea pigs" I'm just tossing around some thoughts for some different things I might want to try, like guinea pigs for meat, natural feed for rabbits, etc. My first concern right now is getting a hopper popper and a roll of wire to repair/make cages.