What amounts to feed doe--with/without kits?

[Anemone]

Hi All,

I have two does. One eats EVERYTHING immediately that I put in front of her and is constantly "starving", and the other barely ever finishes her food. Right now they have kits that are about 4.5 weeks old. My question is, how much feed do you all recommend for a doe with kits who are greater than 3 weeks (i.e., are eating)? Is there some kind of formula? While we are at it, I'd love to hear amounts that people feed dry does and pregnant does, as well as right after they give birth. I am in a situation where one of my does makes me feel like I don't feed enough, and the other makes me feel like I feed too much. I also feel like it is unfair to the kits of my pig-doe, that she wolfs down whatever I put in front of her. What is the answer? I've made this an easy one to answer--just take the below and cut and paste it, putting your answers in. Thank you! :bunnyhop:

Dry doe:
Pregnant doe:
After birth:
Nursing + eating babies (per baby?):
Growing weaned kits:
Do you free feed hay?
Other food/supplements fed on a daily basis?

 

[Zass]

Dry doe: normal feed (depends on the rabbit, whatever it takes to keep them in good condition)

Pregnant doe: Normal feed until last week of pregnancy, then free fed
After birth: free fed
Nursing + eating babies (per baby?): free fed
Growing weaned kits: free fed

Do you free feed hay? yes
Other food/supplements fed on a daily basis? Black oil sunflower seeds to nursing does with big litters, pumpkin seeds as a treat


The doe who always seems hungry might just be a very heavy milker who will get you good growth rates if free fed, or hold her condition better for a more rapid breed back. My black new zealand doe would eat like a pig and I'd pretty much have to keep her pregnant or nursing to keep the weight off.

Hay helps prevent weaning enteritis in growouts.

 

[Rainey]

I don't know if my input will be helpful since we're feeding fodder, roots and hay--not pellets. We're not breeding for a few months this winter and didn't want the does to get overweight. The NZW we still have acts like she's starved whenever she sees us, but when we started feeling along those backbones hers was lost in fat. So we cut back on her feed, upped the fodder for the junior does who were still a bit spiky along the spine and kept feeding the growing out kits all they would eat. Everyone has hay all the time, and usually dried willow twigs from last summer so they have something to chew. It has been easy to monitor the weight and slight changes in feed has brought them all to what seem to us, newbies as we are, to be good weights. Without the hassle of getting them out and weighing them. (They don't mind at all being touched and enough to check condition but still do NOT like being picked up.

 

[Comet007]

Dry doe: generally 1 oz of pellets per pound of weight as a maximum - though ours usually eat less than that so we feed enough that there are still some pellets left at feed time from the previous nights feeding

Pregnant doe: I know that people say to increase the feed the last week of pregnancy, but all of our does (first and second generation) start eating everything in sight about 5-8 days after being bred, so we pretty much free feed them. Our second generation does are bigger than their dams, and one of them was getting 14 oz of pellets per day from a week after breeding until she kindled. She is NOT fat, but at 4 1/2 months old at her first breeding she was already bigger than her dam, and at almost 6 1/2 months old at her second breeding she was 11+ pounds. So far she's only lost one kit from her first two litters. Her younger sister who just had her first litter is following the same pattern, and had the best first litter (weight wise) that we've seen yet. They are both NZR's, and I don't think this is super common for that color of the breed.

After birth: Free feed for doe with kits

Nursing + eating babies (per baby?): This is the same as after birth!

Growing weaned kits: Kits are free fed until processed or until they are 4 months old (for those we hold back for breeding)

Do you free feed hay? Yes

Other food/supplements fed on a daily basis?
Our adults and any juniors being held for breeding get 1 T of echinacea per day, except once a week they get an herbal mix for respiratory/digestive health instead.

Starting 1 wk prior to due date until the kits start leaving the nest box, our does get 1 T per day of an herb mix to support healing and milk supply.

We give BOSS and raw pumpkin seeds as treats randomly, but at least 2 times a week probably

We give a mix of grains/seeds to the does for about 3 days after they kindle to give them extra support in recovery - it's an organic mix that I came up with from the ingredients list of Calf Manna.


-Important to note is that we feed so much to our pregnant does because so far with our line we have never had a rabbit that overeats and gets fat. We monitor their spines pretty much daily. Other people report having rabbits who do get overweight, so more precautions on over feeding are necessary.