Feed Storage Q

[Piper]

- I had to take recipes from this link trinity-oaks-grain-feed-mix-t6809.html and using the ratios for protein and the rest, fudge my own recipes. My current problem is food / hay storage.
- I have 10 rabbits and 4 guinea pigs. Two rabbits (are due around the first week of Oct) and 3 guinea pigs are due any day, now.
the figuring for (medium size) meat rabbits - is - '4 to 1' on pellets. 4 lbs of pellets to 1 lb of weight gain, with a rabbit at 4 pounds avg. at 8 weeks. [from this link post102666.html#p102666 ] '3mina' "So you'd be looking at 20lbs of feed per rabbit from birth to 5lbs as that includes the does feed until the litter is weaned."
- 200 lbs of feed for a litter of 10, or 100 pounds a week - per litter, plus hay (which I have not figured yet)
reality of life is hitting! Two months ago, I was buying a 25 lb bag of pellets, at Atwoods for $9+ and that would last a month. I read not to store feed in metal cans, that the cans can sweat and the feed can mold. Do most people use plastic trash cans? I have found (55gal) barrels for $15, that have locking bands on the lids - would those be good feed storage? I still have 3 does to breed, and am holding off, till I get the feed storage problem, worked out.
- How well would a square bale of hay fit in one of those 55 gal barrels? Any other recommendations for storing bags of feed and hay?

 

[nicnmike]

I keep my food in plastic garbage cans, but I also keep them in an enclosed area. If you're going to keep yours outside, there might be an issue of an animal chewing through the plastic to get to the feed. I think all you need to do for hay is keep it from getting wet, so under some kind of roof. I've been collecting my hay from roadside areas after they mow and storing it in large brown grocery bags in my garage.

 

[skysthelimit]

I use metal cans, I have used plastic before and mice can chew through the bottom of a plastic can, and plastic cans sweat as well. I never have more than 100lb of food and I go through that every two weeks. The hay is stored in an open plastic dog crate, on top of the stacker cages. The entire bale fits in a 36" crate bottom. You could break the bale apart into flakes and it should fit, it might fit in one whole piece.
I thought about making a small loft shelf in the barn, but I think the flies would probably leave droppings on the hay since they like to be at the highest point. The barn does have a loft, but it's so dusty up there, and I would have a time trying to keep the dogs from going up the stairs and peeing on it, no real way to put a door on it.

 

[SatinsRule]

I had a problem early on with trying to store feed in galvanized metal cans. They sweated and moulded some feed, and I wound up losing a couple of my first rabbits in the ordeal. Switched to a large, closable plastic garbage can and the problem went away. I can get 150 lbs in the can at a time, but normally only put 100 lbs. into it.

As for hay storage, I have found that 3 large rectangular rubbermaid storage bins is perfect for storing a bale of hay. It works well for keeping moisture off it.

The question which immediately comes to my mind: What in the world are you raising that you have to feed 100 lbs per week to a herd of 10 rabbits? Did I read that wrong? That works out to 14 lbs. per day per rabbit, and even with nursing does, that is an unbelievable amount of feed per day.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I store my feed in a galvanized can and I have never had any trouble with mold or other issues like that. The can is inside a shed, maybe that makes the difference? I take my bales of hay and separate them into flakes and lay them on top of my cages. They stay dry that way and it is easy to access to feed to all of them.

The question which immediately comes to my mind: What in the world are you raising that you have to feed 100 lbs per week to a herd of 10 rabbits? Did I read that wrong? That works out to 14 lbs. per day per rabbit, and even with nursing does, that is an unbelievable amount of feed per day.

Satins, she was figuring amount based on the total that the rabbits AND the litters soon to be born would eat until weaning...just an average I think.

 

[SatinsRule]

I store my feed in a galvanized can and I have never had any trouble with mold or other issues like that. The can is inside a shed, maybe that makes the difference? I take my bales of hay and separate them into flakes and lay them on top of my cages. They stay dry that way and it is easy to access to feed to all of them.

The question which immediately comes to my mind: What in the world are you raising that you have to feed 100 lbs per week to a herd of 10 rabbits? Did I read that wrong? That works out to 14 lbs. per day per rabbit, and even with nursing does, that is an unbelievable amount of feed per day.

Satins, she was figuring amount based on the total that the rabbits AND the litters soon to be born would eat until weaning...just an average I think.

200 lbs of feed for a litter of 10, or 100 pounds a week

Yeah, I left out the decimal. It works out to 1.4 lbs/day per rabbit (instead of the 14 lbs per day that I originally stated), but that is still an awful lot. I currently have 42 satins, and I would really struggle to feed that much in a day.

Even by free-feeding a litter that size, it works out to an incredible amount of feed above and beyond what just about any breeder would normally expect to feed.

 

[Dreamerz]

I store my feed & hay in 95 gallon plastic trash cans, you know the thick plastic ones with wheels on them. I can store 4 - 50# bags of feed in one & almost two bales of hay in another. I have done this for over 10 yrs with my poultry feed & hay bedding with no mold issues or critters getting in to it. So when I started keeping more then a few pet rabbits I automaticly started doing the same. For the food I need to carry to cages daily I have two smaller plastic cans with snap on lids that hold about 20# or 3 flakes of hay. It works for me.

 

[wsmoak]

To keep the mess contained with a bale of hay, consider a 'bale bag' like this: http://www.horse.com/item/tough-1-hay-b ... 336%20BLK/

I used to use mine for horse shows, at the moment it has an open bale of straw in it. (Hay, at least, mostly stays in flakes, but straw goes *everywhere*!)

-Wendy

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I had a problem early on with trying to store feed in galvanized metal cans. They sweated and moulded some feed

I wonder if the feed had gotten damp or had an unusually high moisture content?

I store my feed in galvanized cans. Plastic cans are less expensive, but since they are not made from food-grade plastic I wont store food in them. (Paranoid? aranoid: Moi?)

 

[Piper]

I have been getting a lot of ideas, and am watching what part of the country, each person is from - that has that idea.
- As far as the amount of feed, I believe they were using NZ commercial meat rabbits, which seem to run from 9 to 15 pounds.
I do not know how much his does weigh, but the breeder that I have gotten rabbits from, has 3 Californian does that 'look' bigger, than a 20 pound cat. I am starting with rabbits that are between 5 to 8 pounds, the 9 pound Californian that the breeder gave me at first, even though completely gentle, intimidated me.