Do rabbits in colonies get overweight?

[MnCanary]

There is a lot of information about feeding rabbits a measured amount of food each day, so they don't get overweight. But rabbits in a colony can't be given measured food, they just eat from the common container. Do those rabbits get overweight? Or does the exercise that results from colony living take care of that?

ALSO: I'm feeding pellets + unlimited hay. Can that kind of feeding program protect a cage rabbit from gaining too much weight?

And by the way, I've found that my rabbits eat a lot more hay when it is loose in their cage, rather than in a hay rack. I haven't measured it, but my estimate is they eat twice the hay when it is loose. My hay racks were the kind that mount on the front of the cage and they pull the strands through.

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

All of my rabbits eat put of a container and none of y them are overweight (except for yoshi, but she doesn't eat more than the others

 

[MaggieJ]

I'll share my experience of this. I had rabbits in a colony for several years, but they were not getting pellets. On a natural diet of alfalfa/grass hay, small quantities of whole grain, and as much forage as the season permitted, they were not overweight. Hay and forage provided most of their diet and I doubt a rabbit could get badly overweight on that no matter how much they ate. They had a dish of grain, but I kept the quantities small. They all went for the hay or forage first anyway.

Towards the end of my rabbit keeping days, as my mobility issues interfered with the gathering of forage, their diet changed. My son was living here at the time and he was less interested in gathering greens and more inclined to feed a larger quantity of grain. Then they did indeed store a lot of internal fat.

When we finally processed the last of them, the does had huge quantities internal fat. The buck, Pudge, however, who had been a butterball as a single kit, was amazingly lean. I guess the exercise he got was enough to keep the fat off.

 

[northernnevadahollandlops]

I don't know about internal fat because I'm not harvesting my rabbits, but I have a few in a colony and I worry about this too. For what it's worth, here's what I do and my rabbits aren't over weight...
They have hay in hay feeders and loose in trays/beds etc (I also notice they eat a lot more when I put it on the ground or in random places. I think they like when it shows up fresh in random places). They get measured fresh greens in the morning on a few trays spread out to avoid too much competition, and measured pellets in a few bowls in the evening. I let them decide who eats how much. When there are babies it's harder, but I put their pellets closer to their nesting area, it doesn't keep the older ones out completely, but the grown ups don't seems to hang out by the nest areas, so that helps.

 

[a7736100]

Some can be underweight if they are bullied. If you see a rabbit not going at the feed you should check if it's getting enough to eat.