Bad Feed..........Dead Rabbits.

[Comet007]

So SAD!! I'm sorry for your loss and hope that you can get it figured out and also find a new feed source. Hopefully the rabbits won't have any trouble switching over!

 

[grumpy]

So SAD!! I'm sorry for your loss and hope that you can get it figured out and also find a new feed source. Hopefully the rabbits won't have any trouble switching over!

They took the change in a stride far better than I anticipated. Most of the
stock is in better condition considering all that's happened to them.

I have 5 out of 6 does kindled today. So, they're doing better than I'd hoped for.

Grumpy.

 

[Cottie]

I'm so sorry, grumpy.

We went through something similar last year. It's so very hard to watch them die.

Hopefully, the feed analysis will come up with something to put all the pieces together.

 

[Dood]

While feeding my hens their "medicated" layer mix I remembered that some rabbit feeds are "medicated" but with a totally DIFFERENT drug.

The coccidiostat used in medicated chicken feed is TOXIC to monogastrics like rabbits (and dogs, horses, pigs and waterfowl) and I thought that "maybe" someone added wrong medication to the batch not realizing the difference :shrug:

Of course this is a moot point if you don't feed medicated rabbit pellets - unless they sold you this type by accident :troll:

Just throwing ideas out there - I am conspiracy theorist at heart but my family has kept me in check - for the most part :mrgreen:

 

[DogCatMom]

While feeding my hens their "medicated" layer mix I remembered that some rabbit feeds are "medicated" but with a totally DIFFERENT drug.

The coccidiostat used in medicated chicken feed is TOXIC to monogastrics like rabbits (and dogs, horses, pigs and waterfowl) and I thought that "maybe" someone added wrong medication to the batch not realizing the difference :shrug:

Of course this is a moot point if you don't feed medicated rabbit pellets - unless they sold you this type by accident :troll:

Just throwing ideas out there - I am conspiracy theorist at heart but my family has kept me in check - for the most part :mrgreen:

Good possibility, about the "wrong medication." As to conspiracy theories, I heard something several years ago that helped me throw off most of my own "conspiracy" vibes--

==> "Don't attribute to malice [conspiracy] anything that can be attributed to stupidity. Stupidity is much more common. <==

 

[Dood]

:rotfl: unk:

 

[Comet007]

==> "Don't attribute to malice [conspiracy] anything that can be attributed to stupidity. Stupidity is much more common. <==

Oh, I have so experienced this in my life! Finding out that someone just wasn't as intelligent as I gave them credit for!

 

[grumpy]

Heard from the company "Rep" today. "Their" lab tested a sample taken
from a bag in the back of my van.

????Guess What???? Their report said. Gee.......I'm surely surprised.

I did tell him that regardless of the outcome, I was NOT going to start
feeding their feed again. Problems with fines and very flimsy bags
have been an ongoing issue. He understood and wished me luck.

I'll wait on the State's results, thank you. Even then....the problem may
never be identified. So many varied circumstances are nearly impossible to
reproduce. It could have been "employee-hi-jinx" with one or two bags
in a 200 bag/lot run.

The "truth" may never be discovered. The only SOLID piece of fact I know
is, when I removed the feed and put a different brand in front of the herd,
the deaths began reducing rapidly. Within several days, the survivors looked
and acted completely different.................. a good "different".


Grumpy.

 

[TwoAcreDream]

Grumpy, I am guessing you did not get a penny from the feed company ?
They denied it all, correct ?

I am guessing that Kent has several mills ?
Probably no way of knowing if more than one mill location, which batch
numbers came from which one.

 

[grumpy]

Grumpy, I am guessing you did not get a penny from the feed company ?
They denied it all, correct ?

I am guessing that Kent has several mills ?
Probably no way of knowing if more than one mill location, which batch
numbers came from which one.

Never got a penny........ didn't figure I would. They only tested to make
sure their ingredients were within the specifications.

"Of-course" all the of the state's tests were "inconclusive."
I wonder what their reactions would have been if I'd lost 50 head of cattle?
Instead of "just a bunch of rabbits".... :angry: :angry: :angry:

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

While I don't mean to drag a zombie thread out of the ground, I really just can't help it. I still wanted to tell you how helpful your sharing of all of this information has been to a beginner like me who is looking at all of these decisions critically in preparing for her new herd. I hope that's the last of the horrible feed issues you had.

I had two adopted greyhounds, and even when there was NOTHING WRONG WITH THEIR FOOD, their delicate stomachs made the last years of each of their lives a bit of a nightmare, because if greyhounds go off their food, they drop weight dangerously fast. I got VERY good at cooking turkey (NOT chicken - had to be turkey!) and rice for one with a GI disorder for every meal. Chicken and rice for the other. Both loved yogurt. They ate better than I did!

I plan to start my herd in early January, and have a lot of reading to do before then.

{{Off to dig around for grumpy's other posts about adventures in natural/non-commercial feed}}}

- Ant Farm

 

[Deer Heart]

While I don't mean to drag a zombie thread out of the ground, I really just can't help it. I still wanted to tell you how helpful your sharing of all of this information has been to a beginner like me who is looking at all of these decisions critically in preparing for her new herd. I hope that's the last of the horrible feed issues you had.

I had two adopted greyhounds, and even when there was NOTHING WRONG WITH THEIR FOOD, their delicate stomachs made the last years of each of their lives a bit of a nightmare, because if greyhounds go off their food, they drop weight dangerously fast. I got VERY good at cooking turkey (NOT chicken - had to be turkey!) and rice for one with a GI disorder for every meal. Chicken and rice for the other. Both loved yogurt. They ate better than I did!

I plan to start my herd in early January, and have a lot of reading to do before then.

{{Off to dig around for grumpy's other posts about adventures in natural/non-commercial feed}}}

- Ant Farm

You have good timing at least, this time of the year is most likely when you'll run into feed issues (moldy hay/feed pellets) I lost a lot of chickens over the years at this time due to the high humidity in the air molding the feed right in it's feeder (I have started pan feeding them until Sept., when rainy season slows down)

While that is not likely what killed Grumpy's buns, it is another thing to consider when feeding your animals. Pellets, including the rabbit variety, mold easily.

 

[Zass]

You have good timing at least, this time of the year is most likely when you'll run into feed issues (moldy hay/feed pellets) I lost a lot of chickens over the years at this time due to the high humidity in the air molding the feed right in it's feeder (I have started pan feeding them until Sept., when rainy season slows down)

While that is not likely what killed Grumpy's buns, it is another thing to consider when feeding your animals. Pellets, including the rabbit variety, mold easily.

All of my hay and animal feeds had to be moved inside the house this year, because the humidity in the air was causing mild problems in the rabbitry.

I can't even top up the j feeders because the pellets would show mold if it took 2-3 days for the rabbit to finish...and if I can SEE mold, I wonder how much I can't see is being eaten before that time. :shock: ...

 

[akane]

I'm never had a problem with it and we are supposed to have high humidity. Not even leaving open 50lb bags of horse feed all around the stable was a real problem. Occasionally the bottom would mold because of concrete sweat under the bag so we didn't feed the last 6" to the horses but just setting the bags up solves that. My rabbit hay bales are on the screened porch now in large cardboard boxes and I bring 2-3 slices down to the basement and 1-2 upstairs every few days.

 

[michaels4gardens]

Grain that has been in storage for a winter and entire summer [or longer] has a lot more potential for mold issues, the same goes for hay, these are the two main ingredients in rabbit pellets, often moldy products are included in the rabbit pellet, - pelletizing just hides this issue, --when you see pellets molding as soon as they are exposed to humidity, the problem was in the feed to begin with. All we can do is smell the feed, look it over good, pay close attention to manufacture dates, and pull feed at the first sign of rabbits "off feed" , with dirty butts , or looking a little "down" -- feeding pellets is sure convenient, but it is not without risks..

 

[Deer Heart]

You have good timing at least, this time of the year is most likely when you'll run into feed issues (moldy hay/feed pellets) I lost a lot of chickens over the years at this time due to the high humidity in the air molding the feed right in it's feeder (I have started pan feeding them until Sept., when rainy season slows down)

While that is not likely what killed Grumpy's buns, it is another thing to consider when feeding your animals. Pellets, including the rabbit variety, mold easily.

All of my hay and animal feeds had to be moved inside the house this year, because the humidity in the air was causing mild problems in the rabbitry.

I can't even top up the j feeders because the pellets would show mold if it took 2-3 days for the rabbit to finish...and if I can SEE mold, I wonder how much I can't see is being eaten before that time. :shock: ...

Honestly, I don't have as much of a problem with rabbit pellets but because the brand I use is manufactured about a 30 min drive away from my house. I buy it almost right off the truck from my feed store just up the road and it is so green and the stench of alfalfa could knock you off your feet! But not the case with the bukbuks or my goat pellets. The grain makes the feed mold even faster too, I believe. Not to say there isn't grain in bunny pellets; there's just not as much of it as there is in chicken or goat feed. If there's a lot of grain in your rabbit pellets, this is also a thing to watch out for as grains are fillers and tends to make animals fat. Might be good for grow-outs if you have meaties, not so good for your breeders (a fat bunny is a bunny that gets too lazy to produce).