Rabbits wasting feed, dish scratchers

[TwoAcreDream]

Yesterday, when I was cleaning drop pans in the bunny room, I noticed
several pans with grain under the feeders. SIGH
I use the metal feeders that attach to the cage fronts.

My other project was putting together another 3 hole stacker with used
cages and my cheap method of connecting them together. So I got
to view the rabbits in action quite a bit. Three cages have rabbits
that are scratching their feed out a lot. Like they are digging.
So I got to thinking maybe I should put a small pan under the feed
dishes in those cages to catch any grain droppings. The small pan will
set inside the plastic drop pans. Then I can take the droppings out
to the chicken coop, so I won't have waste. I do have a hanging
line cage in the coop and now I know why the chickens were always
under those cages. That line cage is now my quarantine area if I
bring any new rabbits in. Hopefully not now, as I think I have what
I want to work with. So I can have a closed rabbitry like my
chickens are closed.

I gave the 3 cages with scratchers just plain pellets. That seemed to
stop the nonsense. So it looks because I am feeding a mix of stuff, they
don't like certain things, and will start their digging. In the good
weather, when I was using the outside hutches, I ran 2 feeders in each
cage. One was for plain pellets and one was a small dish for wheat.
They really liked the plain wheat. Again, the chickens were happy when
they got to go out in the afternoons, because they could dig under the
hutches.

So how do you contend with feed wasters ?

 

[luvabunny]

It has ALWAYS been my experience that mixing feed will invariably cause feed scratchers. Little idiots aren't smart enough to realize all the feed they are scratching out will leave them hungry later on.

My "cures" for feed scratchers are try one of these until something works:

Stop feeding mixed feed. If you must, put their normal pellets into the feeder, and the mix into a "treat" cup.

Cut their front toenails as short as you can get them without drawing blood.

Change the side of the feeder. I have cages that have feeders on the left and ones with feeders on the right. If a rabbit is digging out of a left side feeder, sometimes putting it into a cage with a right side feeder will stop it.

Raise the height of the feeder. I have actually had them so high that the rabbit had to stand on their hind legs to reach it. Seems once the habit is broken, they normally stop digging in their feeders.

If all else fails and you have a perpetual feed digger, all you can really do is regulate how much feed that rabbit gets daily, and try to minimize the amount of feed it can dig out. If the feed isn't peed on or overly dirty, I usually scoop up what I can and throw it back into the feeder...or to the chickens would be OK, but I don't have chickens.

 

[ladysown]

all the advice from luvabunny makes sense and works.

 

[Demamma]

I also have feed scratchers. I usually just scoop up the feed if still clean and refeed. Any waste goes to my chickens. I have been thinking about putting a wire across the feeder to make it a little harder to waste feed. I'm also going to quite mixing their boss into the feed as I think that is what their digging for.

 

[TwoAcreDream]

Thanks for more ideas

Well brats 1, 2, and 3 are my Californians Jrs. Looks like straight
pellets for them, and any treats will be in a separate dish, one kind at a time.
My cages have hay racks, so nobunny will go without something to munch on.

Brat 4 is a mixed mutt buck. I was going to keep him for breeding the other
mutts but now that I have better bucks, brat 4 will be on the next meat run.
He does not have the weight I want to see on a meat animal.

I'm going to try a aluminum pie plate under the feed dish, so it will sit
in the drop pan, under the floor wire. If the feed looks clean, then refeed
it to somebunny. If not, then chicken scratch.

I have some toenails to clip this week on a few of them. Grab me a old towel,
and wrap them up, and have at it, I guess

 

[ckcs]

I've had a few scratchers. One in particular would empty the entire contents of her food bin. I put a small box in the tray to catch the food. Eventually I cut her from unlimited pellets to just 1 or 2 feeding (smaller) a day. After a week or so she stopped scratching and I resumes unlimited pellets without any issues.