why natural feeding?

[SterlingSatin]

i've been hearing a lot about natural feeding on this site, i know that you, Maggie J, are a strong advocate. why do you like it? is it cheaper? is it healthier? i spend quite a bit on pellets each year and if their was a cheaper way to do it i might be interested. Do you do it so you can say you have organically raised meat? Is the weight gain and growth rate the same or better for naturally fed rabbits?

 

[MaggieJ]

I've always believed that rabbits benefit from supplementing with such weeds as dandelions, plantain and so forth. Even when we had just one pet bunny, years and years ago, she had something fresh whenever possible.

When we got our first meat rabbits, they were in terrible condition. They had been housed in a communal pen that was not kept clean. They were next to being rescues and when Brian brought them home, I was not impressed. We had a bumper crop of weeds that year in the lawns and began feeding them increasing amounts of plantain, dandelions and clover. They began to look healthy and then to thrive. We were feeding pellets at the time, so the greens were just a supplement.

Pellets are expensive and the feed bills mounted up. I belonged to another rabbit forum at that time and began to ask questions. I had a nice alfalfa and red clover patch and asked if I could feed that to my rabbits. Oh, no, they get it in their pellets... Too much alfalfa is bad for them! Can I feed the rabbits grain? I asked. Oh, no, they get enough grain in the pellets, I was told. Frustrated, I asked why not just feed them the alfalfa, clover, weeds and grains? What was so magical about pellets anyway? What did people do before pellets were on the market? I contacted the company that manufactured the pellets and asked for an ingredients list. I was shocked to see that one ingredient was animal tallow. Animal tallow for a herbivore? That didn't seem right. (Not all pellets contain animal products, but we had a choice of two brands here and the other one the rabbits did not like.)

I did a lot more reading and devised a plan for feeding the rabbits without pellets. Hay - a mix of grass hay and alfalfa hay - became the mainstay of their diet. In summer they got huge amounts of weeds and other greens. In winter I found other ways to give them a certain amount of fresh food. All year long they had small amounts of grain. I took three months to complete the transistion from pellets to natural. During that time the rabbits had pellets but gradually lost interest in them. They much preferred the natural diet.

Let me say that it is a lot of work. I have a small backyard rabbitry and it takes me anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour to gather the greens for them. Rain or shine. Mostly I enjoy it, but some days not so much. So why continue?

I'm stubborn. I wanted to know how well it could work. I like the flavour of the naturally fed meat better. It is cheaper, but that was not the main motivation. I felt it was important to have the information available, in case we find ourselves in times even more difficult that the present ones. I like the idea of turning weeds into prime meat. I love how healthy my rabbits have been and how much they enjoy their food.

There are drawbacks. It is a lot of work and it is messy compared to pouring pellets into a J-feeder. The fryers grow more slowly and are not ready for slaughtering until about 14 weeks. You need enough land to have a good crop of weeds, preferably with some useful trees like willow, poplar, hard maple, sycamore and apple. It's not for everybody.

 

[SterlingSatin]

thank you i'm not sure if i have enough time and land to devote to feeding my rabbits without pellets, but i'm certainly interested in replacing some of their pellets with natural feed and hay in an effort to save food costs. and you made a good point, i'd like to be able to still keep my rabbits even if things got so bad that i couldn't buy pellets.

 

[MaggieJ]

Fortunately, it doesn't have to be either/or. Supplementing the rabbit's pellet diet with natural foods is very practical and beneficial and likely suits most people best. Remember to make changes slowly to give the rabbits' digestive systems time to adapt.

One aspect of the natural feeding that is never wasted is a better knowledge of plants and their nutritional and medicinal properties. Most of the invasive European weeds that form the backbone of natural feeding were brought here for a reason. They are the pot herbs and medicinals that European peasants used for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. We don't want to lose that knowledge. I feel I've just scratched the surface.

 

[Fid]

Here's what I have wondered for a while. Would it be possible to make you own pellets at home using greens and grains and hay with a pellet mill? I see them for sale every now and then and that is what gave me the idea. I don't know how labor intensive it would be, but theoretically you grow your own grain and hay and gather any thing else you would put in it. I tend to do things for myself if possible. I guess I don't really know what goes into making a pellet, though.

 

[MaggieJ]

You would need a lot of research, I think, to make a "complete" pellet. My objection to this is that you would lose the benefits of feeding whole fresh foods. Once you process, valuable nutrients and fibre can be lost. Given the amount of extra work, the cost of the equipment and the lack of flexibility in the proportions of ingredients fed, it is not something I would personally consider. By feeding the components whole and separate, I can adjust the ratios to suit the needs of particular rabbit.

 

[SterlingSatin]

maggie, kind of building on the idea of introducing greens early, when can i feed greens to my kits? i've heard some say that you can feed it to them as soon as they will eat it, usually around the time they come out of the nest box. i've heard others say that that you have to wait until they are 6 months old. obviously, a lot of it is in moderation, but when can i start introducing greens?

 

[Fid]

You would need a lot of research, I think, to make a "complete" pellet. My objection to this is that you would lose the benefits of feeding whole fresh foods. Once you process, valuable nutrients and fibre can be lost. Given the amount of extra work, the cost of the equipment and the lack of flexibility in the proportions of ingredients fed, it is not something I would personally consider. By feeding the components whole and separate, I can adjust the ratios to suit the needs of particular rabbit.

Kind of what I was thinking. There's a whole lot of nutrition lost when you process something for food. Then there's storage issues; What to do to make it stable for long term storage and avoid spoilage. It's an interesting idea, though, especially for the winter months. I noticed you are located in an area with similar winter weather to myself. What do you feed in the winter?

 

[MaggieJ]

maggie, kind of building on the idea of introducing greens early, when can i feed greens to my kits? i've heard some say that you can feed it to them as soon as they will eat it, usually around the time they come out of the nest box. i've heard others say that that you have to wait until they are 6 months old. obviously, a lot of it is in moderation, but when can i start introducing greens?

This used to worry me a lot. Then a wise person said to me: "Start as you intend to continue." I stopped worrying about the kits getting greens too early and have come to believe that the problems some people encounter with feeding greens to young rabbits is that the greens taste so good that they eat too much too fast when they are introduced to half-grown rabbits. If the greens are always there from the start, there is no reason to pig-out and suffer digestive problems.

So now I just feed the greens to the adults as usual. As the kits emerge from the nest, they begin nibbling at the adult food, but they really eat very little since they are still nursing. Their digestive systems adapt naturally, just as a wild rabbit baby's system would. I've never had a problem. In accordance with this, I use grass hay in the nests, so the kits' first nibbles are something healthy and safe.

I've never had a kit develop weaning enteritis either and I attribute this to the natural diet. When I first heard that commercial breeders expect to lose a certain percentage of kits to this problem, I was horrified. I had never even heard of it!<br /><br />__________ Thu Aug 25, 2011 2:10 pm __________<br /><br />

I noticed you are located in an area with similar winter weather to myself. What do you feed in the winter?

In winter I feed alfalfa hay (some grass content) as the mainstay of their diet. They also get a small amount of grain, usually whole wheat or barley, and as much fresh food as I can give them. In the dead of winter this might be only a treat portion, but they do look forward to it.

Some ideas for fresh foods in winter: carrots, beets, rutabaga, mangels (late winter), grain grass grown in tubs, apples, pumpkin, sprouted grain and seeds, sweet potato greens grown on a windowsill. I also dry as many summer greens as possible: chicory, dandelions, prickly lettuce, Queen Anne's lace (no seed heads), poplar and willow leaves, cattails, mallow and so forth. Most of the plants I feed in summer can be dried for winter use. I put them in big mesh onion bags and hang them up or tie them in bunches.

Last night's storm brought down a lot of poplar and weeping willow branches. These are particularly desirable for winter feed and you can be sure we will be drying all we can lay our hands on.

 

[Iggysbabysitter]

What about cabages?
I'm gathering apple branches, willow and poplar with as many leaves as I can find. The cat tails haven't been eaten with much gusto, I suppose I should have gathered them last month for winter storage (they are getting yellowed here). I was pleased to see several apple trees in a hidden orchard on the outskirts of the base, too bad I can't depend on those apples to last for more than a week (no spray, many blemishes). At least I'll have another supply for apple jelly and apple sauce

 

[SterlingSatin]

I've never had a kit develop weaning enteritis either and I attribute this to the natural diet.

i've never had a kit get enteritis either and i hope i never will. i have a 6 week old litter that i just started to introduce the teeniest tiniest amounts of carrot tops. just a tablespoon full for all four of them. do you think they'll do ok if i introduce it slowly, even though they haven't had any in their first 6 weeks?

 

[Iggysbabysitter]

It was MaggieJ's total lack of enteritis that moved me to natural feeding... no matter what I did, at 8 weeks the kits got sick for a week. Every bag change (from the same company) got me nervous about how many I would lose. And it was always my favorites that died. No gassy buns since switching over

 

[MaggieJ]

What about cabages?
I'm gathering apple branches, willow and poplar with as many leaves as I can find. The cat tails haven't been eaten with much gusto, I suppose I should have gathered them last month for winter storage (they are getting yellowed here). I was pleased to see several apple trees in a hidden orchard on the outskirts of the base, too bad I can't depend on those apples to last for more than a week (no spray, many blemishes). At least I'll have another supply for apple jelly and apple sauce

Yes, I feed cabbages in winter, in moderation. I used to be afraid of them causing bloat, but fed them often last year with no problems. They were one of the cheapest bought veggies and are very nutritious... and the rabbits did enjoy them.

If you want extra apples, you know where to find them. I wrecked my knee yesterday and can hardly hobble, but you're welcome to come out anytime and get some.

 

[Iggysbabysitter]

I grew a few this summer, but they failed to produce a large head... and then that family of squirels did their damage. So the remains are left to grow a while longer for bunny feed.
Sorry to hear about your knee, try to take it easy for a few days