ramblingrabbit
Well-known member
Just fishing for a little feedback...
background:
We've been feeding the meat rabbit herd twice a day forever. We feed mix of pellets and fresh forages in the am, much larger helping of fresh forage and pellets, plus a little bit of roots, fruits, or sugarcane in the evening. they also get sticks or twigs to chew on. forage is just placed on floor at front of hutch (ie not potty areas), and pellets go into crockery dishes. hutch floors are swept out before each feeding and few remnants composted. it works, which is why weve done it so long.
But im thinking about switching over to once a day, just in pm. It would be less work, is the main reason--more humane for us. when i first got started with rabs i was a lot fussier about things, and it was kind of a pet project (not as in pet rabbits, just as in hobby)--but now its just another chore (tho vital one) and one i would gladly simplify to save time and energy. And Ive noticed that they eat the most during the night (esp the first few hrs after sunset) anyway. So we would feed them the same things in the same amounts, just all at once in the afternoon. The biggest problem i can forsee is the nursing bunnies and growouts soiling their fodder with urine--tho the growouts have mangers, and once they get bigger they usally go into a tractor, which can easily be moved as many times a day as needed (or left longer). so i dont see that as being unmanageable. we are planning to transition to a colony in the near future too, which i would also love to only have to service once a day.
so open questions:
how many times a day and how do you feed? any strong feelings on pros or cons of different schedules? any potential problems seen in such a transition, or tips for how to minimize any stress switching over?
background:
We've been feeding the meat rabbit herd twice a day forever. We feed mix of pellets and fresh forages in the am, much larger helping of fresh forage and pellets, plus a little bit of roots, fruits, or sugarcane in the evening. they also get sticks or twigs to chew on. forage is just placed on floor at front of hutch (ie not potty areas), and pellets go into crockery dishes. hutch floors are swept out before each feeding and few remnants composted. it works, which is why weve done it so long.
But im thinking about switching over to once a day, just in pm. It would be less work, is the main reason--more humane for us. when i first got started with rabs i was a lot fussier about things, and it was kind of a pet project (not as in pet rabbits, just as in hobby)--but now its just another chore (tho vital one) and one i would gladly simplify to save time and energy. And Ive noticed that they eat the most during the night (esp the first few hrs after sunset) anyway. So we would feed them the same things in the same amounts, just all at once in the afternoon. The biggest problem i can forsee is the nursing bunnies and growouts soiling their fodder with urine--tho the growouts have mangers, and once they get bigger they usally go into a tractor, which can easily be moved as many times a day as needed (or left longer). so i dont see that as being unmanageable. we are planning to transition to a colony in the near future too, which i would also love to only have to service once a day.
so open questions:
how many times a day and how do you feed? any strong feelings on pros or cons of different schedules? any potential problems seen in such a transition, or tips for how to minimize any stress switching over?