when to introduce pellets and hay

[boundarybunnyco]

my two litters are 20 days old, and 15 days old. I've seen a few of them trying hay, but none show any interest in pellets. the mother of the 10 flemish, fifteen day old kits, doesn't like them or feed them very well. the mother of the four, 20 day old californian/flemish cross kits, has been helping feed the flemish kits. so she is getting very thin. I give her pellets twice a day, free choice hay, and veggies daily. any advice would be much appreciated. oh, they are all in the house so I can supervise them.

 

[ladysown]

My kids start nibbling on Pellets by 3 weeks of age, often sooner. But hay they start nibbling on shortly after their eyes open. I tip or remove the nestbox at two weeks so that helps get them going. Can they reach the feeder? Sometimes putting a low edge bowl on the cage floor helps.

 

[akane]

I give her pellets twice a day, free choice hay, and veggies daily. any advice would be much appreciated.

Unless the doe is fat most people free feed pellets to nursing does and growing kits. Mine have feeders that hold at least 1 day worth and 2 days for the ones out at the horse stable that are only checked every other day. You can also feed oats or plain oatmeal and black oil sunflower seeds sold for birds to keep weight on a doe. Pretty much no food for herbivores has more calories than sunflower seeds and oats have one of the highest fat contents of all the grains.

If you've got hay in the nest box they'll eat some even before their eyes open. Usually by the time some of mine are leaving the box with eyes open there is half as much straw, hay, or fur in there. If I don't put any straw or hay in they'll actually eat all the fur at least in warm weather. I haven't paid attention to when they eat pellets because it never mattered. Mine are out and about as soon as they can and inhale our organic clover hay plus soft mineral blocks (not the hard trace mineral wheels and blocks) which they could actually grow on without rabbit milk if they had to. They just wouldn't do as well as with milk and/or pellets.

I have been forced to wean some at under 4 weeks or even slightly under 2 weeks and fed them pellets soaked in baby animal formula. I prefer to use goat kid formula but have foal, puppy, and kitten around that gets used when I can't find the package I want in the mess that is my animal supplements and food mixtures shelf. Sometimes you have to squish a little in their mouth at first but if they need it they will dive in it every time you offer after that.

Occasionally something does go wrong with milk supply or weaning and some kits seem skinny even when they aren't starving enough to make them feel they need any other energy source. They won't eat supplements or attempt pellets for awhile longer if that's the case and will survive fine but might be behind the ones getting fed better. I tried to supplement the milk of 2 kits recently who I put with a doe that had much older kits and for the first 4 days they would have nothing to do with me since while skinny to the point their ribs showed at times they weren't lacking in nutrition enough to want fake milk. The bigger 1 never did accept formula and while it's 1/4th the size of the others that were left with the original doe it has gotten enough off the doe I put it with to grow at it's own rate. It was a necessary risk. Someone or 2 probably would have died if I hadn't shrank that huge litter a little. Those 2 will likely just stay 2-4weeks behind their siblings in size and development but similar cases I've had all turned out normal as they reached maturity. Sometimes you really don't need to do anything even if they don't look the ideal weight. They recover and adjust on their own given a little time.

 

[MaggieJ]

I find that they eat hay first, then greens and kitchen oatmeal. Before long they are sampling the whole grain. I don't feed pellets anymore, but if I did I would make them available from the beginning, the same as the other foods. They will introduce themselves to them as they are ready. In my experience, there is less likely to be any problem with a food that is available from the time they come out of the nest than with a food that is withheld and introduced at a later time.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I agree that the doe needs to be on free feed, especially if she is also helping to feed another litter. Also add Calf Manna or BOSS to her feed to help her keep up condition and milk.

 

[boundarybunnyco]

I have had my does on free feed since the beginning. I fill their feeders a few times a day, because they both like to flip them and spill the pellets. I give them veggies and fresh hay every day also. And once in a while a little bit of banana. I just got some BOSS and have started feeding them a bit twice a day. The kits have hay in their box now. Today I put some oatmeal in with them, and several of the 23 day old kits were eating it. They have been eating hay and are starting to use the water bottle as well.And they eat the does' poop. I know that's normal. The younger kits aren't trying much yet, but I have seen them nibble at the hay. They seem to be growing really well, in spite of having to share mamas.

 

[Bramble Hedge]

I have to agree with everyone that free pellets to your nursing does & their kits, I remove the whole nest box once their eyes open and just leave a pile of fresh hay that I change daily, baby digestive systems need to develop slowly and I found hay to be safer than anything else at this early stage of gastric development. However several people on here have had very good results with Rolled Oats & some have mentioned human baby starter cereal, not sure what you call them over there we have a product called farax here. If your doe is loosing condition adding these things on a small tray may help her as well.

 

[hoodat]

I have had my does on free feed since the beginning. I fill their feeders a few times a day, because they both like to flip them and spill the pellets. I give them veggies and fresh hay every day also. And once in a while a little bit of banana. I just got some BOSS and have started feeding them a bit twice a day. The kits have hay in their box now. Today I put some oatmeal in with them, and several of the 23 day old kits were eating it. They have been eating hay and are starting to use the water bottle as well.And they eat the does' poop. I know that's normal. The younger kits aren't trying much yet, but I have seen them nibble at the hay. They seem to be growing really well, in spite of having to share mamas.

I've sometimes seen does exuding cecotropes in the vicinity of young. So long as the doe is healthy it's a good way to get the proper intestinal bacteria started in their digestive system.

 

[garden lady]

I have had my does on free feed since the beginning. I fill their feeders a few times a day, because they both like to flip them and spill the pellets. I give them veggies and fresh hay every day also. And once in a while a little bit of banana. I just got some BOSS and have started feeding them a bit twice a day. The kits have hay in their box now. Today I put some oatmeal in with them, and several of the 23 day old kits were eating it. They have been eating hay and are starting to use the water bottle as well.And they eat the does' poop. I know that's normal. The younger kits aren't trying much yet, but I have seen them nibble at the hay. They seem to be growing really well, in spite of having to share mamas.

I have been watching the kits and they are nibbling in hay eating Lulu poop. What happens if the cage was all wire and the poop of the doe dropped out? Is this important that they eat this? Are they eating only cecotropes or the other kind too? I was passing out alfalfa and they babies came out and were standing in the back by the door and I said, What are you little taters doing? They jumped up and ran to me to the door. :lol: Only thing, I am afraid to open the door when they are all there. The wire in the back now is not really tall enough to keep them back and I cannot make it taller because I have to get my arm in and out to clean.