I am obviously overfeeding my rabbits

[dayna]

Dood THANK YOU! I am a visual person.

Is the hay pictured the high quality hay? How much low quality hay do you think they go through each day? It seems like my guys eat and eat and eat and eat the hay and pellets and are always hungry.

I feed the nutrena pellet 16%. The other option is wal mart rabbit pellets, Dells brand which I think is 17% or 18%, and Purina Rabbit chow pet or Purina rabbit chow show, both of which are 16%. These foods (except the wal mart food) cost about $21/50#'s.

I've tried doing alfalfa pellets as the main pellet and it runs $19/50#'s. All the prices change weekly as the price of gas changes (since foods are barged in).

As my hip gets worse I'm able to forage less so I want to make sure that their base diet is as good as I can get it for their health and after reading all this I am for sure over feeding them. When I butchered alice she had a lot of fat on her shoulders/back area. Making me think about how much food money am I putting down the drain.

 

[Dood]

The hay in the picture is the better quality hay since that's what I have in the house

The grass hay the outdoor buns get is a later cut, so not as green, has less nutrient value, and with more fibre and lignin - it is basically a boredom killer and to make then feel full without getting fat.

 

[joybellfarm]

I feed 4 oz to my lionheads holland lo and mini Rex rabbits. Does with litters I try to keep feeders full. And I try to give them a handful of hay 3 to 4 times a week. I found a baby soppy cup that has oz on the side and that's what I use to feed them with.