rabbits wasting hay

[MuddyFarms]

I'm with you on the hay waste. Have you tried a hay rack hung on the cage? When I did that the hay waste went way down.
In to the cubes, I feed my adults like a 1/2 in piece twice a week for a change. Its alfalfa and Timothy cubes. My kits when in separate cage growing out I give them as much as they can eat. I do still supply my adult rabbit with a good coastal hay.
Weight gain, what % are you feeding? I feed 18% to pregnant does, lactating does, and grow out kits. Once I separate the kits & doe at 8 weeks and if not rebreed doe will go to a 16%. My bucks and non bred rabbits are all on 16% protein pellets. If some are over weight I cut their ration.
Keep in mind alfalfa is high in fat and could have the opposite effect you are looking for. Also , alfalfa is not recommended for adult rabbit. I just give it to them as a treat and to help keep teeth in shape.

@sabrinadionne , do you mind if I know what percentage of fat the two feeds you use are? And how you find that works for your herd? I am wondering because I have been using Purina Professional 18% protein for my herd. It has only 1.40% fat, which seems to be inadequate for my working does. They love Purina feed and hate any other brand. Purina's Complete 16% protein version has 1.50% fat. The show feed is 16% protein and 3.50% fat. It just seems a little mixed up to me! I have been supplementing the nursing does with BOSS and oats to try to help. Just curious how the protein vs fat seems to work for your herd. Thanks!

 

[sabrinadionne]

@sabrinadionne , do you mind if I know what percentage of fat the two feeds you use are? And how you find that works for your herd? I am wondering because I have been using Purina Professional 18% protein for my herd. It has only 1.40% fat, which seems to be inadequate for my working does. They love Purina feed and hate any other brand. Purina's Complete 16% protein version has 1.50% fat. The show feed is 16% protein and 3.50% fat. It just seems a little mixed up to me! I have been supplementing the nursing does with BOSS and oats to try to help. Just curious how the protein vs fat seems to work for your herd. Thanks!

Hello Muddy, don't mind answering at all.
I feed Petrus
The 18% is 2.5 fat
The 16 is 2.7

They all seem to be doing well. I did forget to mention that I add a 1/2 TBS daily to my idle does 2 weeks before breeding & pregnant, up until the kits start eating feed then I feed just the 18%.
When I process, they have the right amount of meat to fat.
Hope that helps.

P.s. what is BOSS ?

 

[Bunnytrailfarm]

Sounds like you have answered your own question good luck to you

Lol !!!

 

[Bunnytrailfarm]

@sabrinadionne , do you mind if I know what percentage of fat the two feeds you use are? And how you find that works for your herd? I am wondering because I have been using Purina Professional 18% protein for my herd. It has only 1.40% fat, which seems to be inadequate for my working does. They love Purina feed and hate any other brand. Purina's Complete 16% protein version has 1.50% fat. The show feed is 16% protein and 3.50% fat. It just seems a little mixed up to me! I have been supplementing the nursing does with BOSS and oats to try to help. Just curious how the protein vs fat seems to work for your herd. Thanks!

I like manna pro, but I have used purina as well. My rabbits wont eat much hay if I put about one to two handfuls in their cage. They simply will ignore hay in a rack. I give About one to two Tbs. of farm feed oats. The love it and kits never get poopy butt. I used to use hay cubes. If anyone knows where to get cubes cheaper than a pet store i welcome info. I also remember putting hay in paper lunch bags. I could try that again. Cool sound in the barn when rabbits tear up the bags to get the hay. Sounds like Christmas morning! Thanks again. Great suggestions. I appreciate the help.

 

[Bunnytrailfarm]

We make our own hay for the goats and rabbits, so we know what's in it and don't have to buy it. The hay feeders are kept full on all the cages. We don't feed pellets so instead of getting a concentrate they eat up quickly, our rabbits have a variety of weeds, grains, roots, twigs etc. to eat every day. I wonder if they are less bored although that is not why we decided to feed this way.

I have a longtime supplier, but if I had less wooded property I would grow my own for sure. When we had horses in Homerville horses colic was a huge problem. That’s when we stopped shopping around for price.

 

[sabrinadionne]

Hello Muddy, don't mind answering at all.
I feed Petrus
The 18% is 2.5 fat
The 16 is 2.7

They all seem to be doing well. I did forget to mention that I add a 1/2 TBS daily to my idle does 2 weeks before breeding & pregnant, up until the kits start eating feed then I feed just the 18%.
When I process, they have the right amount of meat to fat.
Hope that helps.

P.s. what is BOSS ?

I apologize... Calf manna is the addition. I at times do give oats and boss ( know what that is now lol) . They love the calf manna but I am very watchful to add just what looks to be needed.
Back to hay, it is extremely hard when I have kits to conserve hay, the cubes help but when they are with the doe, she will eat their bedding before she eats out of the rack. Paper bag idea is something I will try... I love the sound of Christmas. What about stuffing in a toilet paper tube ?

 

[MuddyFarms]

Hello Muddy, don't mind answering at all.
I feed Petrus
The 18% is 2.5 fat
The 16 is 2.7

They all seem to be doing well. I did forget to mention that I add a 1/2 TBS daily to my idle does 2 weeks before breeding & pregnant, up until the kits start eating feed then I feed just the 18%.
When I process, they have the right amount of meat to fat.
Hope that helps.

P.s. what is BOSS ?

I apologize... Calf manna is the addition. I at times do give oats and boss ( know what that is now lol) . They love the calf manna but I am very watchful to add just what looks to be needed.
Back to hay, it is extremely hard when I have kits to conserve hay, the cubes help but when they are with the doe, she will eat their bedding before she eats out of the rack. Paper bag idea is something I will try... I love the sound of Christmas. What about stuffing in a toilet paper tube ?

Thanks! Definitely helpful to see how other breeders manage the fat percentage. I will be thinking through how to make this all work for my does.

We have stuffed toilet paper tubes with hay for some of our adults, and they love tossing them around and tearing them up. It is an interesting toy for them, but I don't recall if it saved much hay once they tore it open. It seems like I just decided to give them their hay on a piece of wood and the toilet paper tube separately. But it could work.

I have used hay racks for hay that were outside the cage and ones that were inside the cage. I made the hay rack out of leftover cage wire by bending it in a half-circle and folding up the bottom wires to make a floor. It worked well with the really flexible long stem timothy I could get before, but not the tougher, lower quality hay I can get right now. That stuff is just a mess. The rabbits ate more hay when it was inside and they could reach all sides of the rack and eat out of the top of it. One particular buck would just tear it all out either way and waste it for fun! It sure is interesting trying to outsmart our rabbits!!

 

[MuddyFarms]

I like manna pro, but I have used purina as well. My rabbits wont eat much hay if I put about one to two handfuls in their cage. They simply will ignore hay in a rack. I give About one to two Tbs. of farm feed oats. The love it and kits never get poopy butt. I used to use hay cubes. If anyone knows where to get cubes cheaper than a pet store i welcome info. I also remember putting hay in paper lunch bags. I could try that again. Cool sound in the barn when rabbits tear up the bags to get the hay. Sounds like Christmas morning! Thanks again. Great suggestions. I appreciate the help.

Thanks for sharing! I purchase 40 pound bags of hay cubes that are used for horses and cattle from a feed store. They are a timothy/alfalfa blend from Standlee. Here I get the bag for around $16 or $17. The 40lb bag is the same amount of hay as a 40lb bale, but they waste much less, so they actually get to eat more of the hay with the cubes.

 

[robeyw]

Journey eats fresh grass with delight when it is available. At the end of the season, when there was more brown than green, she would eat every spec of green but she has not adapted well to hay. She eats the first 28% without hesitation then nibbles on the rest, leaving 42% for times of famine. Excluding a small amount of brown, I can't tell the good from the bad. I have been putting a shallow layer in a open faced box on the kitchen floor so she can sort through it better but I was wondering if there is some scent I can give the leftovers to make them attractive.

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Pinecones are loved by my rabbits

 

[robeyw]

I purchase 40 pound bags of hay cubes that are used for horses and cattle from a feed store. They are a timothy/alfalfa blend from Standlee.

According to the Standlee web site, the cubes are not recommended for rabbits. My guess is because they are afraid that a clump of bentonite (used as binder) could choke the rabbit. Standlee does have 1/4" Timothy extrusions (they call pellets) without binder and reconnended for rabbits but the ones I bought had a lot of yellow hay in it and my rabbit did not like them. Also, they are soft so not very good for rabbit teeth. I have used the Viking Farmer extrusions but they are much more expensive and usually out of stock.