I am obviously overfeeding my rabbits

[dayna]

Who actually measures their food?

I realized when buying ANOTHER sac of rabbit feed that I would weigh and measure my feed and rabbits.

I'm giving them WAAAAYYYYY more pellets than the 1oz/pound amount. Like insanely so. Maybe that's why I'm having missed and small litters?

I see most folks have hay available all day. I can't buy timothy hay here easily so I do orchard grass and alfalfa hays with forage I gather.

So do you actually measure your foods? My rabbits all "feel" good.

 

[HHRR]

I *sort of* measure my buns food, unlike yours my herd need to GAIN weight! I didn't used to measure it then I kept reading that you should and one of my does didnt seem to be eating good, but I didn't know because I didn't know how much food she started out with! So I started out giving everyone 3/4 cup of feed and I figured I'd change it as necessary for everyone. (Although nobody ate it all >:/) You might want to start measuring it so they will lose some conditioning. Maybe even trying to give them some run time so they can work off that extra fat!

 

[LilacGal]

I do! But I have OCD, so I measure it out and then record it. Every rabbit has it's own feed/weight chart. I do this for pellets and vegetables. I don't do it with the loose forage and hay (yet) because I can't figure out if I want to track be weight or volume and then of course there is the bits that fall through the bottom...
In order to make this child compatible (because my son who is seven feeds them) I pre-measure it into baggies. Each rabbit has a labeled baggie which we reuse. But I only have 5 right now. Obviously not practical for a large scale rabbitry like Grumpy's.

 

[Dood]

I did (before switching to forage in summer of '13) and still do in the winter.

1 cup of my rabbit pellets weights 5 ounces and my bucks get 2/3 to 3/4 cup and my does 1 cup unless they are in the last stage of pregnancy or nursing when they are free fed for 4 weeks.

 

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

I measure mine... sort of. Each day, growouts get a medium-ish sized holiday tin of oat mix each day plus all the alfalfa/grass mix cubes they can eat. My lionhead is free fed as he self regulates, Stewart gets 1/3 cup of grains plus 1-2 cubes (he's on a diet), and everyone else gets roughly 3/4 cup of grains and a few cubes. If I see that someone is not finishing their food, then I'll adjust accordingly.

When I fed straight pellets, everyone got around 1/4 to 1 cup a day. I found that, for me, my buns got really fat very quickly on pellets. I'm convinced that one of my does and a buck simply need to think about food and they get fat.

 

[Zass]

I do NOTHING consistent, :lol: I just feed them whatever looks like the right amount for the rabbit, situation, weather and personal condition. + random extras and hay fed on whim.

Does with litters and rabblings are free fed, bucks and growout does are watched closely. Fat on carcasses is carefully monitored. Overall, my rabbits are fit.
Litters are too darn big, but I've only had one rabbit miss(twice) when I was trying to get a litter out a 3(and then 4) month old buck. :wink:
*shrugs*

 

[BunnyBounce]

Those that are measuring their feed. Is this just for the meat rabbits?
I've always let mine free feed ... should I consider switching?
I have one pregnant doe -- I'll let her free feed, but maybe I should start measuring for the other two?

 

[amandainohio24]

I measured our our current feed for our Lionheads at 3 oz= 1/2 cup. Now we do give unlimited pellets to our does with litters, our Thrianta for another month until he becomes a senior, and our Californian for another month when he becomes a senior. We also give unlimited hay (currently we can only get a hold of alfalfa/grass hay mix from our hay source, which I would prefer to change).

 

[Ramjet]

I measure my buns feed by volume at every feeding.

Does without a litter & bucks get a half cup of pellets morning and evening along with all the hay they can eat in between.

Nursing does and grow outs are free fed pellets & hay.

Does due within a week of delivery get an extra quarter ration twice per day pending they consume what was given in the previous feeding along with free fed hay.

Everyone is healthy , Seniors have all made weight which can be a problem with Rex and none of them seem to be overweight.
Haven't had any issues with conception tho the does don't want to cooperate with my breeding plans .... they lift when they want to , not when I want them to.

A lot of my success with these bunny's is probably due to the quality of stock I started with .... Have to give credit to OneAcreFarm as she brought in quality stock from all over the country.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

I just make sure its always full (one feeder for 4 rabbits). Maybe when I get to hutches, but for now, everyone should be able to get food whenever they want. So mine are free fed. Meat rabbits, too.

 

[JessiL]

I measure for the bucks and any does not heavily pregnant or nursing (my Champagne buck in particular can get fat off of even 1/2 cup of 17% pellets plus hay a day!). Does with litters, late pregnancy, and grow-out pens get full feeders. Everyone gets a nice chunk of alfalfa-grass mix hay, and frequently treats such as willow whips, apple or pear branches, or fresh alfalfa or chicory cut from our pasture during the summer. Often the fryers are fatter than I expect.

 

[dayna]

Could someone show me a photo with size reference on what they feed per day? I'd like to know if I'm overfeeding hay, treats, and stuff. Maybe a photo of the most you would feed a rabbit in your care. Like a nursing doe with the kits still in the nestbox.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

When i started i eyeballed feed amounts. I had dutch and was using producers pride (15% tsc feed) so it ended up they ate more because its not as good feed and plenty got wasted from feed diggers. And then plenty tossed out the window from coon attacks through the cages.

Now i am workin on buyin better feed and i measure and keep track of who eats how much.
Right now i have two bucks (florida white and silver fox) who are gettin one cup feed and the sf buck gets a small spoon calf manna.
Does get one cup feed (up if the doe is actin overly food nuts and a bit less if there is feed left in the bowl/feeder)<br /><br />__________ Sun Dec 29, 2013 2:19 am __________<br /><br />Oh and each doe gets one spoon calf manna over the feed. Does on a litter get free feed (ad lib as with nonlitter does) and get more calf manna as litter is eating it as well (ad lib for big/small litters etc).

 

[Ramjet]

Could someone show me a photo with size reference on what they feed per day? I'd like to know if I'm overfeeding hay, treats, and stuff. Maybe a photo of the most you would feed a rabbit in your care. Like a nursing doe with the kits still in the nestbox.

Don't have an image for you .... but maybe this will help.

I use an actual measuring cup with a capacity of 1/2 cup twice per day (1 cup total) for bucks and does without a litter.

Expecting does will get that full half cup + another 1/4 cup (eyeballed) twice per day. (1 & 1/2 cup total) in the final week leading up to delivery.


Hope that helped .... what works for me may not be ideal for you as there are many other factors to take into consideration - quality of feed (protein %) size of rabbit & climate.

 

[Peach]

I do measure...depending in the rabbit they get no less than 3/4 cup but no more than 1cup + about a tablespoon of multigrain Cheerios I will only free feed the does with litters, but even the juniors are not free fed. I noticed when I butchered free fed juniors, they had more fat,rather than ones measured and fed like a senior.

I like them to be hungry the next day because it just sucks when they are off schedule and they leave their feed to swell and go bad from the humidity in GA.

I have stop feeding hay for the most part unless I see a lot of cecals or tummy issues. I just had more issues when I did and now I rarely feed it and problems have ceased. For the most part, it is just for nesting material.

Just a matter of finding out what works for you

 

[Zass]

I do measure...depending in the rabbit they get no less than 3/4 cup but no more than 1cup + about a tablespoon of multigrain Cheerios I will only free feed the does with litters, but even the juniors are not free fed. I noticed when I butchered free fed juniors, they had more fat,rather than ones measured and fed like a senior.

I like them to be hungry the next day because it just sucks when they are off schedule and they leave their feed to swell and go bad from the humidity in GA.

I have stop feeding hay for the most part unless I see a lot of cecals or tummy issues. I just had more issues when I did and now I rarely feed it and problems have ceased. For the most part, it is just for nesting material.

Just a matter of finding out what works for you

Hey peach, I was wondering what issues you might have had feeding hay?

 

[TwoAcreDream]

I'd be hurting real bad if I could not feed hay.

 

[PSFAngoras]

With my angoras, I wouldn't be able to keep them alive it it weren't for hay! Before I knew what I was doing, I never fed hay, and my wool block rate was through the roof, since I started free feeding hay, I almost never see wool block.

 

[LilacGal]

What issues would you get from hay? Did you get a moldy bale? I don't suppose that regular coated breeds need it but they just seem to enjoy it so much.

 

[Dood]

Those that are measuring their feed. Is this just for the meat rabbits?
I've always let mine free feed ... should I consider switching?
I have one pregnant doe -- I'll let her free feed, but maybe I should start measuring for the other two?

my house bunnies are on an even stricter diet since they don't have to fight the cold, are not bred as often and get more treats from the kids. But I give them a better quality hay.

Here is a picture of a cup of food (5 oz) and my 'handful' of hay that usually lasts a day or more since I free feed them hay (a low quality horse or cow hay that is all grass) and offer a bit of higher quality forage hay a couple times a week and every day to the weaned kits.