Food question

[sagewoman]

I am interested in finding out what feed you give your rabbits. I currently feed Pfau brand. I have Lionheads and NZs. I also give daily hay. I have read that some people only give hay, and others feed a combo hay/pellet. What are your opinions as to the best feed.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

:welcome: to RT, Sagewoman!

There are many options for feeding rabbits, and your herd will adapt to whatever you feed them.

I no longer feed pellets, but instead feed a mix of grains, weeds, and greens in season, and alfalfa hay. If you look in the Natural Feeding forum you will find many alternatives to pellets.

Feeding hay is probably the single most important item you can feed to keep your rabbits healthy.

My current grain mix is 4 parts each of oats and barley to 1 part each of beet pulp and BOSS.

BOSS= Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, which are sold to feed wild birds.

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

I am switching from mannaPro Pro feed to MannaPro Sho But will continue to feed hay. I am currently trying timothy hay cubes but they don't seem to care for it. Maybe because they are eating all the hay out of their nest boxes.

Oh and I have some on a oat, BOSS, Rabbit pellet mixture and alfalfa hay. I like the cheaper cost of this for the meat mutts. And they do great on it.

And Welcome to RT. Please share a bit about your rabbitry. And we enjoy Pics as well.

 

[ZRabbits]

Hi Sagewoman, have lion heads myself. Feed all my rabbits pellets and hay. My Lion head doe is on a alfalfa based pellet. Kept her on that since she was 6 weeks old because I wanted to breed. She had 4 little ones the beginning of the month. My Lion head buck is on a timothy based pellet, due to the fact that alfalfa will make him fat. Both get unlimited Timothy hay.

Both are doing well on this diet. But with anything, a gradual change of diet is the best way for any rabbit.

Look forward to hearing more about your rabbits. And definitely we like pics here at Rabbit Talk.

Karen

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

only give hay

you only just give hay if they are sick or something. ... Other than that you have to feed them something besides just hay

 

[SatinsRule]

I feed my rabbits a straight pellets diet and bermuda grass hay, but will soon switch back to the prairie grassland mix hay that had briefly become unavailable when I last ran out of it. Between the two, my rabbits seem to do rather well on it.

 

[Bad Habit]

I feed locally milled pellets - the breeder formula to all of them. Higher protein, I wasn't sure about the protein content in the regular feed. I get a mix of alfalfa and grass hay from a vendor at the market. Supplement with dandelions, carrot tops, occasional lettuce, and whatever else I can forage for them. Apple tree leaves are a favourite, they even like eating the little twigs and stems. I do give them treats, too. I cube and dry the ends of the bread(no one eats the crust), they also got to try prickly pear cactus fruit(that went over well). I have a baggie of unsalted pretzels that I give Lily occasionally(she's obsessed with them). Craisins, cherry raisins, and dried plantains are a favourite. BOSS obviously goes over well... Basically hay and pellets are their main foodstuffs, but they get lots of variety and tasty tidbits.

 

[tnelsonfla]

I use a 2:1 ratio on my pellet food, one type food is alfalfa based and the other is timothy based fed. I do give them hay every day. I was using a alfalfa/timothy hay and now switched to a timothy/orchard grass mixture.I may switch to another type of hay mixture. That being my only variable in there diet. I am set with my food and happy with the results. I do add a barley/safflower/flax seed/rolled oat/BOSS(Black Oil Sunflower Seed)mixture to there food on occasion. I do give them kale or parsley every couple of days and maybe a small slice of banana once a week. I raised strictly Havana's.

 

[Cindi Davis]

Im going to see if I can trim a friend's apple trees soon and store up for the winter LOL. Hope its ok