difference in two diets

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I process some rabbits this morning and This is what I have noticed......the rabbits that are on full pellet diet.. there urine is a white milky stinky ........the rabbits that are on grain ... there urine is yellow and can see through it and barley any smell to it.. .. I think there is to much calcium and salt in the pellet diet

 

[MamaSheepdog]

My rabbits are all on pellets, but I still notice a variation in the urine. Some cloudy, some clear. Interesting that none of the grain fed rabbits had cloudy urine, though!

 

[akane]

Excess protein probably contributes. You see it in horses. The ones heavily fed on pellet feed and alfalfa hay drink more, pee more, have darker urine, and it stinks compared to low protein grain and grass fed.

 

[Zass]

What is the grain diet composed of?

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

barley, rolled oats, horse sweet feed .. ect.

__________ Wed Oct 15, 2014 3:40 pm __________

the grain feed rabbits .. get alfalfa hay ,, rabbits on pellets.. drink more water

 

[ottersatin]

It is a very good idea when feeding a pelleted diet,
to add to that diet a good amount of grass-hay at least three to four times per week.
The thought behind this: Is that the fibber provided by the pelleted feed is
ground too finely to be of much value. Therefore by adding grass-hay
you are providing the long fiber that will help to keep the hingut working properly.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I process more rabbits this morning.. they are 9 weeks old and on the same feed as the others that I butchered and some line.. I took pic to show the fat inside of the rabbit.. I am wondering ,, do they really need a high protein diet.. as this is the results.. These ones were on 17 percent straight pellets. First pic is a female and last pic ,, a male

 

[Zass]

My fryers were starting to look like that on 16% pellets, and grass hay, and no fat or oil listed in the ingredients.

I think it might actually be starch in the pellets causing the fat.
It's the reason why I'm so intensely interested in getting my bunnies off of pellets.
If my fryers look like that at 9 weeks....what must my does look like inside? :shock:

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

agree.. but the ones that I feed with grains ... they don't have this .. and I feed more than 2 percent fat and I will be adding oil to the feed when it gets colder out.

 

[Sagebrush]

Makes me wonder if you have corn in the pellets. Corn is mainly starch and would appear to make more fat on the rabbits.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

that is possible as I don't have the list of ingred <br /><br /> __________ Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:54 am __________ <br /><br /> I just called the company you makes this food and asked for the ingred... there is no corn in it

 

[Sagebrush]

In that case I have no further comment since I have no idea what could be causing it. I will just learn with you.

 

[Zass]

Makes me wonder if you have corn in the pellets. Corn is mainly starch and would appear to make more fat on the rabbits.

My pellets have corn. I felt it was safer to give them a feed with corn already in it, than have poor quality control allow a bunch of corn in a feed that didn't have it and shock my weanlings systems at 5 weeks old. :evil:

Did I mention that I hate loosing kits? Well, my feed stores carry manna pro, purina, and generic brand that has animal fat.
That's it, so I have to decide between those three if I want pellets in their diet.
My local TSC has an employee who raises E-lops and French Lops. She's had all sorts of trouble with the feed from there too. She had trouble with most of the types of manna pro. She was recently saying that the 18% manna pro feed was working for her, but....it was the first one I had trouble with. I think the mill our manna pro comes from is just...inconsistent. The feed store is even worse, putting returned bags back out on the shelves for unsuspecting customers to buy.

On the upside, getting them onto a non GMO diet will be easier with grain than trying to source organic or non GMO pellets.

I asked about your grain feed because I'm trying to see what is working out well for others while I slowly convert my rabbits to a more hay and grain based diet.

 

[ottersatin]

I am using a 16% pelleted rabbit feed,
I have used 18% in the past and have never had a problem with it.
I find that when using an 18% pellet the rabbits require a bit less feed
to maintain the same health/condition. Since a rabbit has only so large a stomach
they can only ingest so much food per feeding. Therefore i feel that an 18% pellet
allows for more feed intake resulting in a rabbit that can more easily maintain
proper body heat int the colder winter months.
As always, JMPO.
Ottersatin. ldtimer: