moonkitten
Well-known member
For those who don't remember, I had some strange behavior (not eating) and deaths in my rabbits back in May. The post describing the incident is here: http://rabbittalk.com/lucky-save-t944.html
About 3 weeks ago, the exact same thing began to happen again -- adult rabbits refusing to touch their pellets, but would eat hay and oats, juniors eating well, but bloating. After about 4 days, I checked the label on the bags and the new batch of feed that I purchased on July 23 was dated "April 29". That is the EXACT same batch that I was feeding in May during the initial problem. I returned the remaining 8 bags and went to a new supplier for feed. The adult rabbits began to eat again, 2 of the juniors recovered and all seems well.
So was the problem the feed? Seems too much of a coincidence to me to be otherwise, but one customer complaint does not do much, so I'll probably never know for sure. In any case, I had been having doubts about the consistency of this feed for several months. Some batches have multi coloured pellets, some have big clumps of powder, etc.
I would LOVE to switch to a non-pelleted diet, but storing nine months worth of hay is just not feasible at this location. I've only found one place to buy a few bales at a time and the quality of the hay there really sucks. The last 3 bales I bought were such garbage that I put them directly on the compost pile -- not even good enough for my chickens!
While talking over my feed woes with my new supplier (Grandview) we discussed the possiblity of getting a custom milled GMO-free/Identity Preserved Grain feed. As I'm sure most of you know, one of the ingredients in our corn-free rabbit pellets is GMO soybeans. This wouldn't be a true "organic" feed, but one milled at a separate location where no GMO feeds are stored/milled. I haven't got a price per bag yet, but it will be a couple of dollars over what I'm paying now and a couple of dollars less than the big name premium brands. Hopefully if the rabbits will EAT the feed, breed better, and have less dietary issues, it will be worth the extra cost. Not only that, but I do eat rabbit meat at least 2 meals a week, and I will feel even better about our steroid-free, antibiotic-free meat knowing that it is also GMO grain free.
If anyone in southern Ontario is also interested in a GMO-free rabbit pellet, let me know. I'll post more info when I have it.
About 3 weeks ago, the exact same thing began to happen again -- adult rabbits refusing to touch their pellets, but would eat hay and oats, juniors eating well, but bloating. After about 4 days, I checked the label on the bags and the new batch of feed that I purchased on July 23 was dated "April 29". That is the EXACT same batch that I was feeding in May during the initial problem. I returned the remaining 8 bags and went to a new supplier for feed. The adult rabbits began to eat again, 2 of the juniors recovered and all seems well.
So was the problem the feed? Seems too much of a coincidence to me to be otherwise, but one customer complaint does not do much, so I'll probably never know for sure. In any case, I had been having doubts about the consistency of this feed for several months. Some batches have multi coloured pellets, some have big clumps of powder, etc.
I would LOVE to switch to a non-pelleted diet, but storing nine months worth of hay is just not feasible at this location. I've only found one place to buy a few bales at a time and the quality of the hay there really sucks. The last 3 bales I bought were such garbage that I put them directly on the compost pile -- not even good enough for my chickens!
While talking over my feed woes with my new supplier (Grandview) we discussed the possiblity of getting a custom milled GMO-free/Identity Preserved Grain feed. As I'm sure most of you know, one of the ingredients in our corn-free rabbit pellets is GMO soybeans. This wouldn't be a true "organic" feed, but one milled at a separate location where no GMO feeds are stored/milled. I haven't got a price per bag yet, but it will be a couple of dollars over what I'm paying now and a couple of dollars less than the big name premium brands. Hopefully if the rabbits will EAT the feed, breed better, and have less dietary issues, it will be worth the extra cost. Not only that, but I do eat rabbit meat at least 2 meals a week, and I will feel even better about our steroid-free, antibiotic-free meat knowing that it is also GMO grain free.
If anyone in southern Ontario is also interested in a GMO-free rabbit pellet, let me know. I'll post more info when I have it.