What do you feed your rabbits????

[Wicked_Wabbits]

Hello, I was just wondering what you feed your rabbits. Looking at different feed. Someone said they feed horse feed to their rabbits anyone do that? And what kind of horse feed? thanks

 

[MaggieJ]

Hello Wicked_Wabbits. :hi:

I don't know anyone who gives horse feed to their rabbits. What would be the advantage?

People here feed their rabbits in several different ways. Some feed only rabbit pellets. Some feed pellets plus hay. Some feed pellets plus greens and/or grain. Some feed a pellet-less diet of hay, greens and grain. (See the Natural Feeding for Rabbits forum for details).

 

[Wicked_Wabbits]

I feed pellets but looking for a different type of pellet. I dont know. They never told me. But just wondering. I raise for show as of right now.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

well I, for one, do use a horse feed for my rabbits--as part of their overall diet! Currently, they are getting about 75% of their diet from fresh weeds, I keep a mixture of pellets and a Senior horse feed available to them, as well, Then there is the hay, and occasional veggies and fruits. I also let the rabbits out on my grassy patio area- so they can graze and stretch out their legs a bit better. I am using Seminole Wellness for Senior horses because it has some of the wonderfull stuff the really expensive rabbit feed has in it-- yucca, other herbs, also some visible grains- like oats. Iused to mix oats, barley, safflower, etc, but since I no longer have the room to keep all those bags of grains, I opted for the horse feed. I am also feeding "forage Feed' chopped, compressed hay comes in a regular bale sized bag-- a lot easier to keep the storage area clean, and I am practically guaranteed, no mold issues with it.

Now, it seems, today, either Rascal or Marsha ate my Pothos-- I should have left that patio door closed!!!

 

[SatinsRule]

Pen Pals 16%, plus an occasional half-cup serving of rolled oats or a carrot. Nursing does get a tablespoon of Calf Manna every day.

 

[Thumpersden]

This is what I do and what works for me:
Every Morning: 1/4 C ADM Pen Pals 16% and Timothy Hay
Every evening: TIMOTHY HAY
I Feed them the same time each day!


What we also add as a supplement to the morning feeding:
Flaxseed powder 1tbs
Wheat germ 1tbs
Brewers Yeast 1tbs
Black sunflower seeds 1/4 C
Calfmanna 1/4 C
Sweet mix 1/4 C
Rolled oats 1/2 C
We mix all these together and then give 1 tbs per rabbit/day




You probably already know this but I thought I would throw this in if you didn't. If you do decide to Change up the Feed you are currently using and to avoid the rabbits from getting sick because of changing feed brands I do this:
Days 1 and 2 feed only the old food. Then gradually add a small amount of the new food to the old food and mix together. This should take 5 days.

As for treats I give the Gerber Graduates Apple Strawberry puffs or Cherrios. They also like the oat and apple horse treats.

 

[akane]

We use horse pellets because the price is consistently low where as the straight grains go from $10/50lbs in the summer to $18/50lbs in late winter and early spring. We can't store enough grains for the rest of the year. The horse pellets we use are no corn, no soy, very low molasses with mostly barley, oats, and wheat which is what we were feeding the rabbits when we used whole grains. The horse pellets though are $13/50lbs year round with added vitamins and minerals so we don't have to worry about the times when we can't get them greens or fresh food. Rabbit pellets here are closer to $20 a bag and some brands are 40lb bags. Since we give unlimited organic clover hay we don't need the protein or fiber in rabbit pellets. The 10-12% protein and extra energy from the grains plus the added vitamins and minerals in the horse pellets make the perfect supplement to clover hay. We do also have horse mineral blocks (the softer ones not the mostly salt hard ones) in the colonies which get some use. We also add black oil sunflower seed to the mix which the rabbits really eat in the winter but often leave some behind in the summer. They love the horse pellets and we've raised out probably around 10 litters of meat rabbits on that now. They grow at the same speed they did on the straight grain mix with plenty of muscle and minimal fat.

 

[MaggieJ]

Horse pellets for rabbits are more popular than I realized! I guess it makes sense, since rabbits and horses have many digestive similarities. If you decide to try them, Wicked_Wabbit, I do recommend that you feed a good clover or alfalfa hay as well, as Akane and Terry W do.

 

[cedarrun]

If you were looking to hear more about a brand of pellets that people feed their show rabbits the answer would be whatever you have available. Some people swear by specific brands. The truth is that there are very limited differences in commercially produced rabbit feeds. You are better off sticking with whatever feed you can readily buy when you need it.

 

[SatinsRule]

Cedar, or even better yet, find a dealer who will get what you want to feed consistently and stick with that dealer, even if it means you have to go a little bit out of your way to do so.

 

[ottersatin]

Whatever you choose to feed your rabbit
stick with it. As long as it is a good quality pelleted rabbit feed
and your rabbits are eating it and prospering, your choice is right.
You will eventually find that you will be culling your rabbits to your feed.
The worse thing you can do is continually change feeds.
My feed store just recently dropped the 18% feed I was using.
So I have had to switch to a 16% ration it is now between Purina and Nutrena
I think I will stick with the Purina. I add a few grains, BOSS and grass-hay
to their regimen. They are doing fine so far. I am seriously thinking about slowing down
and possibly selling the whole shebang! But, I am still thinking about it.
If feed prices continue to go up I believe I will have no other choice.
I don't find rabbits to be in very much demand as a Pet or breeding stock.
I believe that that is because WHO wants another mouth to feed!?
What to do in these trying times is a puzzlement!
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[SatinsRule]

Otter, if a person has issues finding feeds that are continually fresh, changing feed until the breeder finds one that IS sonsistently fresh and feedable seems like an appropriate thing to do. Sure, no one wants to change from one feed to another to another on a continual basis, but at times and in certain regions it becomes necessary. I've been back in this thing for now 9 months and have just introduced my herd to their 4th different rabbit feed. Each time I've changed them from one feed to another (whether it was Manna Pro Show, Purina RC Show, or Purina RC Professional) it has always been because what I was getting with the previous feed was an inferior product.

I'm confident that what I have them on now is what I should have (and WOULD have) been feeding all along had I known how widely used and recommended it is by the breeders in most of the show rooms I put my rabbits into. I think I owe it to the rabbits I raise to give them what I feel is the very best feed available.

 

[akane]

We went through several brands of rabbit feed and grain mixes before using the horse pellets. Nothing could be consistently found here. The only thing carried here is country lane which is the crappiest animal feed I have ever seen and I'd rather not keep rabbits than attempt to keep them alive on that. First we bought pen pals when we bought some rabbits in another state because that's what they were eating but we couldn't find it at all when we got home. Then we found some nutrena 2 towns away but we couldn't get it regularly because it was an hour one way that we didn't always find time for. Then we started feeding kent but the small feedstore that had it didn't always have some in stock if I didn't beat a certain other rabbit owner who bought out every last bag every month. After that we started buying whole grains and mixing but those change a little monthly such as whether they have rolled or whole oats available, occasionally they fail to order a certain grain (we couldn't get oats for 2 months because they forgot to order), and like I said the price goes all over during the year. No one buys out the horse feed, they always keep it on hand unless a shipment gets delayed or lost, and the price doesn't budge even $1 from one season to another. I don't know what most rabbit owners do around here since availability and pricing is a bit insane sometimes. Well I do know the one person just buys whatever the small feed store in town will order for the month but what they do if they run out that month such as when I would get my hands on 2-4 bags before them I'm not sure.

 

[ottersatin]

Billy,
I do/did not say to stick with any feed that is not acceptable,
but rather to stick with a good quality pelleted rabbit feed.
In this case certainly meaning one that was acceptable to your rabbits
and serving the purpose it was meant to.
I certainly would not feed my rabbit a bag full of processed cardboard.
That is not what I meant to insinuate, but rather to [if at all possible]
stick with a feed that is working for you and your herd.
Obviously there will never be ONE feed that all of the members
of your herd will do exceptionally well on. This would be where
you would end up culling to your feed. Keeping those members of
the herd which function to the nth degree on that pelleted feed.
I certainly was not advocating the feeding of trash to your herd
and then culling any member who could not function/produce on it.
This is where the assessment of the owner/caregiver comes into play.
I apologize if I gave the wrong impression in a previous post.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

ottersatin-- I totally understand 'culling to the feed' It is an interesting concept, and for those of us who supply fresh food, probably something that needs to be considered very heavily.!!

 

[ReiLossefalme]

By "horse pellets" do you mean those large pellets an inch or so wide and several inches long? Can rabbits eat through those OK or do they have difficulties with them? I know I used to feed them to the goats and they cut way down on all the hay wastage, but I never thought about feeding them to rabbits.

Jenna

 

[MaggieJ]

What you are describing sounds more like the compressed alfalfa hay cubes, Jenna. My rabbits handle those just fine. They gnaw on them until little or nothing is left. I prefer to feed them loose hay, but we ran short of good alfalfa hay late in the winter so the alfalfa cubes filled a gap.