I have started raising rabbits, and would like to know if there is a better or more cost efficient feed for rabbits than the pellets we get from the co-op. I would be interested in a grain mixture if you know of one. We keep hay and fresh water available at all times, and feed a few veggies and dandelion greens occasionally, in addition to the carefully measured pellets. I would especially like to be able to feed my rabbits the most natural, organic feed mixture possible. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

-- Cheryl McCoy (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), June 25, 2001

Answers

We just feed our rabbits sweet feed (no animal by-products) and dry grass hay. They really do just fine with this. On the older rabbits only, we give them some alfalfa, but never the little ones. We don't feed fresh greens, just baled hays. What state are you in? From another McCoy.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), June 25, 2001.

I used to raise a LOT of rabbits. I fed each one of them a couple of high-protein cattle cubes daily (24%, natural protein only- no urea), along with lots of weeds, and some alfalfa hay.

They did beautifully, with big, healthy litters.

But if you change their diet, you have to do so SLOWWWWLLLY! They can't take a sudden change very well.

-- Cathy <>< (trinityhealth@nativestar.net), June 25, 2001.

Since the rabbit has been on pellets, you should not suddenly change its diet. Gradually add other feeds. You might want to keep feeding SOME pellets, so that in winter time when you're feed choices are more limited you can feed more pellets plus whatever else you can still get without having to go through a full-blown diet change again.

Strictly grain would not be a good idea. However, you could feed certain kinds of corn (the kind used to make tortilla flour is digestible to rabbits, the kind used to make cornmeal, I have been told, is not. One sort is called dent corn and the other sort is flint corn and I can never remember which is which).

Free feed lots of good quality hay (good quality hay is blue-green, has lots of leaves in it, and smells - well, like HAY), preferably alfalfa. Fresh greens, but be careful - too much too soon can give your rabbit the runs. Fresh veggies. Some kinds of twigs to nibble on. Make sure they're of a kind that's safe for rabbits to eat, alder and willow spring to mind, oak is probably OK. Don't forget a salt/mineral block. Chopped sugar beets or other fodder beets can be fed. Turnips, parsnips. While rabbits are not really grain eaters, if you grow your own grains offer hay cut while the seeds are still in the early stages of development. Clover. Dandelion greens. Not too much of any fresh green at the same time. Even (untouched by lawn chemicals) the odd handful of grass now and again. Once in awhile a special treat like bits of apple. This is how we fed our rabbits when I was a kid.

Rabbits are understory browsers, so a strict grain diet wouldn't work for them, but a variety of the feeds mentioned above should do you, plus a small supplement of the pellets just in case you have to switch back to the all-pellet plan.

The important thing to remember when (slowly) weaning your rabbit off of pellets is VARIETY. A leaf of lettuce, some dandelion greens, a bit of clover, all the free-feed hay they want, some veggies. No one thing exclusively. There were rabbits long before there were pellets.

Here are some suggested feed rations (from J. D. Belanger's book, "Raising Small Livestock") for those who want to stop supporting Purina executives just to feed your rabbits

These rations are balanced for the needs of dry does, bucks, and growing young:

#1 Whole oats/wheat 15 lbs. Barley, milo, or other grain sorghum 15 lbs. Alfalfa, clover, lespedeza, or pea hay 69.5 lbs. Salt .5 lbs.

#2 Whole barley or oats 35 lbs. Alfalfa or clover hay 64.5 lbs. salt .5 lbs.

#3 Whole oats 45 lbs. soybean, peanut or linseed pellets, or peasize cake (38-43% protein) 15 lbs. Timothy, prairie or sudan hay 39.5 lbs. salt .5 lbs.

For pregnant of nursing does:

#1 Whole oats/wheat 15 lbs. Barley, milo, or other grain sorghum 15 lbs. Soybean or peanut meal pellets 20 Alfalfa, clover, lespedeza, or pea hay 49.5 lbs. Salt .5 lbs.

#2 Whole barley or oats 35 lbs. Soybean or peanut meal pellets or peasize cake (38-43% protein) 15 lbs. Alfalfa or clover hay 49.5 lbs. salt .5 lbs.

#3 Whole oats 45 lbs. Linseed pellets, or peasize cake (38-43% protein) 25 lbs. Timothy, prairie or sudan hay 29.5 lbs. salt .5 lbs.

A complete ration from which pellets could be made (if you had an extruder):

44% protein soybean meal 18 lbs. 28% protein linseed meal 4 lbs. 15% alfalfa meal 40 lbs. Wheat bran 15 lbs. Ground milo, barley or corn 18.5 lbs. Ground oats 4 lbs. Salt .5 lbs.

This could be moistened and fed to your rabbits.

Other potential fodders for rabbits include mangels, carrots, turnips, and other root crops; small (and I do mean small) amounts of greens (dandelion and other wild greens are far better than lettuce); potatoes, jerusalem artichokes; comfrey (which is fairly high in protein); sunflower seeds; apples and pears. Never feed any one of these fodders exclusively, a mixture of as many as possible is best.

Also twigs or fruit tree prunings are good for rabbits (remember, they are understory browsers in the wild). In addition to fruit trees, alder and willow are safe for rabbits. I know there are other tree species that are safe, but I can't remember for sure which ones. At any rate, even a rabbit fed exclusively on pellets (and hay) should have twigs and prunings to chew on in order to keep their teeth worn down.

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), June 25, 2001.

Regarding prunings - do not feed wilted stone fruit (plum, peach, apricot, etc.) leaves as they contain cyanide.

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), June 26, 2001.

In the Older Messages (by category), under the Rabbits category, read my thread on Raising Rabbits the Croatian Way. They seem to do fine feeding no commercial feeds.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), June 26, 2001.

If you do buy alfalfa, make sure it has not been sprayed for weevils. Other people have much better luck than I do feeding fresh greens, mine always die after a week, even if it's small quanities, so I just quit doing it.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), June 26, 2001.

We do not raise rabbits for meat but have two rescued bunnies. We get day old bread for the cows, pigs etc. and I feed each of them a hamburger bun, or something similar, every day. They love it, seem to thrive and I think it saves a bit on pellet comsumtion.

-- Darcy in NW WA (gatecity@att.net), June 26, 2001.

My rabbit's favorite treat is sweet corn husks, especially the tender inside husks, along with the silks.

-- Robin from Illinois (snorburg@cis.net), June 26, 2001.

You can often pick up vegetable trimmings and over-age vegetables from green-grocers - outer leaves of cabbage and cauliflower and lettuce, wilted silver-beet and spinach and carrots or other root- vegetables or zuccinis or squash or apples. Make sure any potatoes haven't turned green - may be worth boiling over-age potatoes anayway. Just say you've got rabbits and ask if they have anything they'd be prepared to let you pick-up on a regular basis. Some of them wouldn't give you the time of day, others will be pleased to let you have it rather than have it go to waste - particularly if you're a customer. Any excess can be useful for other stock, or even just for compost. You may also be able to get grass-clippings from lawn- mowing businesses - your decision as to whether that would be OK or not as grass hay after drying, but it ought to be useful as compost anyway, and go well with the rabbit manure. Shouldn't be a complete substitute, but could be a useful supplement, and a little variety in their diets won't hurt the rabbits.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), June 26, 2001.

Cheryl, even though this is contreversial rabbits do just fine on grass and weeds. Read Ken's post on feeding the Croatian Way! It may take you some time to convert them over, but bunnies having been eating this way for a long time. I think the buggest reason maybe people don't want to take the time to feed this way is it can be a little more work than opening a bag of pellets. I gave my neighbor 2 of our bunnies and he is converting them FROM GRASS TO PELLETS! I was laughing because he asked me if I had ever tried to feed them pellets. At first they were not interested! We feed mostly grass and weeds, their favorite weed being the one that looks like Marigolds, also tree leaves (make sure they are not poisonous ones), corn on the cob, or even leftover cobs from our dinner, bread, carrots, rarely lettuce.

We have bunnies in cages and running all over our property and they love the grass! We have an unopened bag of pellets never used if you know someone who would like to buy them!

-- Lynn (johnnypfc@yahoo.com), June 27, 2001.