HELP!!! Feeding/Hay/Manure

[Seadog92]

I have 18 rabbits of all breeds for meat. I feed 1/3 cp pellets once a day and grass hay twice a day. I need to get rid of the hay-manure-urine waste below the cages. My 40 x 50' garden has a 8 inch layer and my compost bins are full. How do you folks dispose of the hay mix? Do you feed hay at all?

 

[Preitler]

I feed hay in winter, and fresh forage whenever available (plus a little pellets, veggies, fruit, trees...)

About half of it gets spread on the plot I mow for hay and forage after cutting, and I run it over with the lawn mower, for building up soil. I don't have a compost bin, but a 3x1,2m compost heap, now app. 80cm high.
This year I start to cover my vegetable plot too, didn't know about that gardening method before, so there wont be going much on the compost heap in the near future.

In winter I have just 7 rabbits, this summer they were 23.

 

[ladysown]

feed less hay? Reduce the amount of rabbits? Sell the excess rabbit waste or contact a gardening group to take it? Find a friendly farmer?

I feed very little hay. I wonder how your rabbits remain healthy if they are full meat breeds (9 + lbs) on 1/3 cup of pellets per day. That's what I feed my holland lops!

 

[Preitler]

well, you know, there are so many ways to raise rabbits. Pellets are nice to have, but not necessary, not at all. I guess that 70% of what I feed them gets wasted, offering too much to make them picky I guess, but whatever.
My grandfather raised rabbits that were way larger than my 10lbs mutts, and pellets weren't even on the horizon back then. he did feed barley and oats I guess.

 

[MaggieJ]

I have 18 rabbits of all breeds for meat. I feed 1/3 cp pellets once a day and grass hay twice a day. I need to get rid of the hay-manure-urine waste below the cages. My 40 x 50' garden has a 8 inch layer and my compost bins are full. How do you folks dispose of the hay mix? Do you feed hay at all?

You're not giving us much information about the rabbits to work with. What breeds do you have and what are their approximate weights? Surely you don't feed 1/3 of a cup regardless of size. Are the rabbits in individual cages or in a colony?

It sounds as though they are wasting a lot of hay, which often can be remedied by using a good hay feeder, one where the rabbits can pull the hay out a bit at a time. This could be the answer to the disposal problem, and it would also cut the cost of feeding hay since less would be wasted.

There are many designs available including some low cost DIY versions. If your rabbits are in individual cages, one that fits on the outside of the cage will save time when you are refilling them.

 

[Olbunny]

I open feed timothy hay year round. When it's not winter they are working. I process the manure by composting it then run it through a mulcher machine. Comes out looking like fine dark topsoil ready for the garden, yard or pot. Best plant food you can get.
My thoughts on the hay is that it absorbs the urine and the end product has more urine or nitrogen and has a woody fiber in it. The hay. And hay that drops through the pens gets spread around to where they poo n pee.

 

[HTAcres]

I open feed timothy hay year round. When it's not winter they are working. I process the manure by composting it then run it through a mulcher machine. Comes out looking like fine dark topsoil ready for the garden, yard or pot. Best plant food you can get.
My thoughts on the hay is that it absorbs the urine and the end product has more urine or nitrogen and has a woody fiber in it. The hay. And hay that drops through the pens gets spread around to where they poo n pee.

.....adds mulcher machine to list of Items Wanted.....

 

[Buckingham Rabbitry]

I open feed timothy hay year round. When it's not winter they are working. I process the manure by composting it then run it through a mulcher machine. Comes out looking like fine dark topsoil ready for the garden, yard or pot. Best plant food you can get.
My thoughts on the hay is that it absorbs the urine and the end product has more urine or nitrogen and has a woody fiber in it. The hay. And hay that drops through the pens gets spread around to where they poo n pee.

You said, "I process the manure by composting it then run it through a mulcher machine."

What make/model of a "mulcher machine" do you use? I have been researching shredders and cannot find inexpensive units that would process a wet mixture of hay, manure, and urine without clogging. I temporarily store the waste in buckets that becomes wet from rinsing out the collection trays.

 

[eco2pia]

I am going with MaggieJ's suggestions for wasting less hay, or ladysown's suggestion for feeding more pellets, and then compost waste in a pile before using, which should reduce bulk. To speed the process you can just toss it more often and add moisture if it gets dry (not likely in WA), but a pile breaks down much faster than spreading directly in the garden, with or without a shreader. It also reduces weed seeds from the hay.

I have a 4 hole rabbitry with pop-up grow out cages that are mostly used in the drier season. There are currently 3 adults and 5 six week old kits. I also have 7 chickens and a duck, who run under the rabbitry. I have a .2ac lot with a ~1500sf house. My yard is not big, but I mostly compost everything (leaves, chipped branches, even the meat scraps go to chickens) and use the compost everywhere in the yard. "Finished" dark compost in the front, fresh "mulch" hay in the chicken run and the garden out back--but I don't really have a lawn, all ground is production or paths. I go through a bale of hay in about 2-3 months, a bag of pellets about every 2 months, I feed both free choice, and as much in the way of forage as I have time to gather--which right now is less than I would like. My working rabbits eat like pigs, my open doe eats like a bird.

I feed very little hay. I wonder how your rabbits remain healthy if they are full meat breeds (9 + lbs) on 1/3 cup of pellets per day. That's what I feed my holland lops!

I have alfalfa/orchard grass hay here that is tested at 17% protein--identical to the pellets I buy. I am fairly sure I could feed 100% hay and a mineral block and have healthy growing rabbits. My rabbits are over 10lbs. I LIKE the pellets, for convenience of storage and dispensing, because I work 50hr weeks outside the home. But I don't think they are required, particularly if you have quality hay/forage.

 

[Olbunny]

We use a mulcher used for brush. They were on sale at HD for 550 bucks last week. 5 hp.
Process is mulching the manure pile.
Grinds chops everything to look like topsoil. I also feel that the hay keeps the compost from packing as much keeping the soil more aerated. Fluffs it up a bit