Feeding alternative diet to Pellets?

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Cindy in SD said:
I don't know that it's a good (or bad) idea to feed rabbits apricot pits, but I believe the whole hoopla over apricot pits has more to do with laetril (sp?) possibly treating and/or curing cancer in humans than with cyanide in the pits harming rabbits or any other species.

Some poor mentally handicapped kid ended up in jail for five years b/c he was selling apricot pits that he believed were keeping his own cancer in remission. (This was in the 1970s if I remember correctly).

His mom started smuggling in apricot pits disguised as almonds when he sickened again, and he got better. Whatever anyone thinks of the story or the cure, he certainly believed in it and last I heard was still living and healthy.

Considering his persecution, I'm of the opinion his home remedy may well have worked (at least for him), but idk. At any rate, it's possible the whole cyanide in many fruit pits/seeds story may have been more of a scare tactic than anything else. But even pharma moguls have to make a living...
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Interesting.
 
Rabbit Warren Man said:
The wider variety of plants and grains you can feed your rabbits the better off you are in the future as the rabbits will develop a taste for the variety of plants. People who live where they can get kelp for feed is another awesome nutrient rich feed. In my area in Canada it is very expensive so I don’t bother with it.
Love this group and hearing how people are moving beyond the pellets!
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I would love to move beyond pellets. I only feed hay pellets. I wonder what's in them that makes them so tasty. My buns like pellets over the free choice hay.
 
Cindy in SD said:
I don't know that it's a good (or bad) idea to feed rabbits apricot pits, but I believe the whole hoopla over apricot pits has more to do with laetril (sp?) possibly treating and/or curing cancer in humans than with cyanide in the pits harming rabbits or any other species.

Some poor mentally handicapped kid ended up in jail for five years b/c he was selling apricot pits that he believed were keeping his own cancer in remission. (This was in the 1970s if I remember correctly).

His mom started smuggling in apricot pits disguised as almonds when he sickened again, and he got better. Whatever anyone thinks of the story or the cure, he certainly believed in it and last I heard was still living and healthy.

Considering his persecution, I'm of the opinion his home remedy may well have worked (at least for him), but idk. At any rate, it's possible the whole cyanide in many fruit pits/seeds story may have been more of a scare tactic than anything else. But even pharma moguls have to make a living...
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I feed branches as well and if the rabbits don't like certain ones they don't eat them. They are all healthy and happy as well.
 
LoveMyBarnyard said:
There is something I am still not clear about. People talk about the importance of hay in a rabbit's diet. Are they just generally referring to grasses or do they really mean  dried grasses? In the spring when we have plenty of green everything does it matter if we only offer fresh or is there a specific need for dried? As I write this, I'm thinking this is a ridiculous question and fresh can only be better, but I don't want to get this wrong and overwhelm the bunnies tummies....

Regardless of the answer,I guess there could be a convenience factor to consider as well. I am trying to imagine how much time I would have to spend twice a day going out to pick grass and other plants to feed the rabbits, rather than having a batch of dried stuff in the barn ready to feed...
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I raise my rabbits in tractors and they get nothing but plants and some tree barks in the form of branches and they are just fine. No hay in summer. They won't eat it anyway. I started giving them hay but they just wasted it.
 
Rabbit Warren Man said:
I have been feeding my free range rabbits sprouted field Pea and Wheat mix, along with free choice Timothy and Alfalfa hay, whole oats and some black sunflower oil seeds. I have small mineral and salt blocks by the water.
My rabbits are in beautiful condition.
Because my rabbits are together all the time the Doe’s determine the kit bearing cycle. I will have young ones coming out of the holes end of February.
I add diatomaceous earth food grade to the bedding and feed. I have dust bath boxes for them with diatomaceous earth soil ash and sand as well.
Feed a lot of fruit tree and other tree limbs.
Anyone else feed this way?
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I am so jealous! I want to have a free range space to house my rabbits. Do you have them just running loose without fencing? The best I can do right now is tractors, but they are 8 ft long.
 
Rabbit Warren Man said:
I feed a lot of leaves and branches as well. They love them. Nice to people diversifying their feed.
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We are just beginning to grow some fodder to replace rabbit feed. We started out with barley, cloves, fenugreek (for protein), and dandelion mixed, but I was going to trade the barley for wheat. Thanks for the tip about the protein content of field peas, I have no idea how much protein is In the fenugreek, so I was concerned about that. The only trees in my yard are plums and pecans, can we make tree hay with those? We have already started mixing local hay with Timothy because we went a whole month in Fall 2022 where Timothy was not available here unless you paid 4 X the regular price. I was planning to provide small fruit tree limbs to our rabbits anyway and we try to be sure they have plenty to chew on. We are in Mississippi and our most popular trees around here are pines and magnolias, are they okay for tree hay?
 
No stonefruit trees for rabbitfeed is what i read everywhere. apple/pear are ok, but mainly willow/hazel/mulberry. Willow is also high protein. No evergreens for treehay from what i see, mainly trees that are happy to be coppiced/pollarded and evergreens don't respond to that by growing new shoots and growing like a shrub.
 
tambayo said:
No stonefruit trees for rabbitfeed is what i read everywhere. apple/pear are ok, but mainly willow/hazel/mulberry. Willow is also high protein. No evergreens for treehay from what i see, mainly trees that are happy to be coppiced/pollarded and evergreens don't respond to that by growing new shoots and growing like a shrub.
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Rabbits can have willow branches + leaves. They're great for helping cure small things
 
tambayo said:
No stonefruit trees for rabbitfeed is what i read everywhere. apple/pear are ok, but mainly willow/hazel/mulberry. Willow is also high protein. No evergreens for treehay from what i see, mainly trees that are happy to be coppiced/pollarded and evergreens don't respond to that by growing new shoots and growing like a shrub.
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Well if you look into it more you will find the opposite is true. No stone fruit to be fed to rabbits? However the bark is fine. I feed mine apricot and plumb tree branches no problem. I also feed evergreen and the bunnies enjoy the needles. I don't make tree hay although I may try this year. I am speaking from my experience not from what what I read online.

Remember this is what I do, you do you ok.

See the list below

https://www.bunnymeadow.co.uk/blog/safe-branches-list-for-rabbits-and-guinea-pigs
 
Rabbit Warren Man said:
Well if you look into it more you will find the opposite is true. No stone fruit to be fed to rabbits? However the bark is fine. I feed mine apricot and plumb tree branches no problem. I also feed evergreen and the bunnies enjoy the needles. I don't make tree hay although I may try this year. I am speaking from my experience not from what what I read online.

Remember this is what I do, you do you ok.

See the list below

https://www.bunnymeadow.co.uk/blog/safe-branches-list-for-rabbits-and-guinea-pigs
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I'm brand new to raising meat rabbits, but have cherry and plum trees in addition to apple and pear. So I'm going to try all of them (slowly at first). In addition to hay, I'm also feeding wheat fodder and find they definitely prefer that over pellets, though I'm giving each a quarter cup of pellets daily so they can eat it if I have to travel. I'll have to try pea fodder as well for variety. Thanks for the background on what's worked for you. At $28 for a 50# sack of pellets, you almost have to do something different unless you want $6 a pound rabbit meat.
 
ScottR said:
I'm brand new to raising meat rabbits, but have cherry and plum trees in addition to apple and pear. So I'm going to try all of them (slowly at first). In addition to hay, I'm also feeding wheat fodder and find they definitely prefer that over pellets, though I'm giving each a quarter cup of pellets daily so they can eat it if I have to travel. I'll have to try pea fodder as well for variety. Thanks for the background on what's worked for you. At $28 for a 50# sack of pellets, you almost have to do something different unless you want $6 a pound rabbit meat.
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I feed field peas, what works for me is I have 4 pails , 2 pails have small holes in the bottom so the wheat and peas can't fall through. I place the pails with the holes in the bottom into the other pails. Then i put my amount of pea and wheat mix into the pail (I use a yogurt container full in each pail). Then I put water water in the bucket so it covers the mix don't be shy with the water. Then I leave it sit 24 hours changing the water once. All I do is pull the pail with the pea wheat mix and holes in the bottom out of the other pail and allow to drain. Then refill and let sit another 12 hours. Then I pull the pail out after the final 12 hours and let the water drain out, I cover the mix with a wet towel and let it germinate. You may want to set the pail on a catch basin. Then once a day for the next 2-3 days i add water but I leave the towel in place and give the mix a good rinse. I do move the mix around a bit or it will really mat. Aster the 2-3 days I feed it sprouted to the bunnies and they absolutely go crazy for it. Note; the wheat gets eaten last, with my bunnies' anyway.

Good to hear your going the natural way, you are off to a great start.
 
Rabbit Warren Man said:
I feed field peas, what works for me is I have 4 pails , 2 pails have small holes in the bottom so the wheat and peas can't fall through. I place the pails with the holes in the bottom into the other pails. Then i put my amount of pea and wheat mix into the pail (I use a yogurt container full in each pail). Then I put water water in the bucket so it covers the mix don't be shy with the water. Then I leave it sit 24 hours changing the water once. All I do is pull the pail with the pea wheat mix and holes in the bottom out of the other pail and allow to drain. Then refill and let sit another 12 hours. Then I pull the pail out after the final 12 hours and let the water drain out, I cover the mix with a wet towel and let it germinate. You may want to set the pail on a catch basin. Then once a day for the next 2-3 days i add water but I leave the towel in place and give the mix a good rinse. I do move the mix around a bit or it will really mat. Aster the 2-3 days I feed it sprouted to the bunnies and they absolutely go crazy for it. Note; the wheat gets eaten last, with my bunnies' anyway.

Good to hear your going the natural way, you are off to a great start.
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How many rabbits will that amount of germinated seed feed?
 
Rabbit Warren Man said:
I feed mine conifers and they love them.
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I have been trying to collect a list (a very long list at this point) of what people say is safe or not safe. It is amazing how often I see someone say they have been feeding their rabbits something that a bunch of websites will have listed as poisonous. I am inclined to favor the empirical data of someone who regularly gives their rabbits something than the general declarations out there. Anyway, conifers, all parts, are often cited on the absolutely no no no lists. Can you share which ones and what parts you give them to eat and or chew on?
 
LoveMyBarnyard said:
I have been trying to collect a list (a very long list at this point) of what people say is safe or not safe. It is amazing how often I see someone say they have been feeding their rabbits something that a bunch of websites will have listed as poisonous. I am inclined to favor the empirical data of someone who regularly gives their rabbits something than the general declarations out there. Anyway, conifers, all parts, are often cited on the absolutely no no no lists. Can you share which ones and what parts you give them to eat and or chew on?
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I give our rabbits and goats spruce boughs/branches and logs (mostly leftovers from making firewood). They love the bark especially, and spruce has a natural dewormer. I'd have to go back and look up what that chemical is.

Yeah, the internet is full of sites endlessly repeating what someone once told someone...
 
Rabbittracks said:
I raise my rabbits in tractors and they get nothing but plants and some tree barks in the form of branches and they are just fine. No hay in summer. They won't eat it anyway. I started giving them hay but they just wasted it.
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Thank you for your note! This is just what I figured!! All this talk of hay is to help us humans that can't provide fresh grass all the time. But that is it, there is no magic to hay vs. fresh grass. I am relieved to hear this.
 
Alaska Satin said:
I give our rabbits and goats spruce boughs/branches and logs (mostly leftovers from making firewood). They love the bark especially, and spruce has a natural dewormer. I'd have to go back and look up what that chemical is.

Yeah, the internet is full of sites endlessly repeating what someone once told someone...
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Exactly and many many trees help to keep bunnies from getting coccidia. Trees are the natural food of rabbits and have man beneficial properties for them. I fed white pine they love it. Here is a list of branches.
I find that a lot people say, I read or someone said? I go by my experience and what I feed with no issues. I free range my rabbits in a 3000 square foot pen.
https://www.bunnymeadow.co.uk/blog/safe-branches-list-for-rabbits-and-guinea-pigs
 

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