Raising Rabbits naturally-kinda

[rebecca100]

Okay, for more than a month I have been getting off the comercial rabbit feed and adding more and more grasses, broad leaf plantains and danelions to their diet along with some cracked corn, whole oats, stale bread, and so on, and salt/mineral licks to the rabbits diet. They have been on a no-pellet food now for over two weeks. I have 6 does,2 bucks and a total of 22 babies from the ages of 7 weeks to 3 days. Since then I have noticed that deaths of baby rabbits have gone down to 0 so far and all the rabbits LOVE their feed. Several of the babies have been eating it since they started nibbling and seem to be growing good. Does anyone else here do that or have any suggestions on what I could do better or different? It seems like I should have less of an investment in their feed and end up with a healthier rabbit. I am not sure how the does will do with catching at a breeding, but from what I have read, they should do okay. I guess I will find out soon enough. The bucks libido sure hasn't decreased any! Any ideas or warnings from people who have done this before would be appreciated!

 

[Aidenbaby]

I'm not sure what to tell you. I'm extremely new to rabbit keeping. We've been giving her more and more hay and scraps and less pellets. She chose not to eat the pellets on her own as they are alway offered along with all the other goodies.

I've seen mixed reviews on weeds like bindweed. All I can say is that she has eaten it many times and doesn't seem any worse-for-wear. We too have been giving her every weed we've come across and in our yard they are many and widely varied. I think one of the more important things is to make sure there is always a good supply of dried grasses/hay for the fiber.

 

[buckeye lady]

www.rabbit.org

Although it's a website about rabbits as house pets, It has some good info about, health, nutrition and behavior.

http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/

This is the website of the company that produces superior feed products.

 

[FarmerDenise]

We feed our pet rabbit timothy hay to grind his teeth down. When we cannot get timothy hay we feed him oat hay. This was recommended by our vet.
Other than that we give him some alfalfa hay, not too much and hay we harvest from our field in late spring.
We feed him huge handfuls of weeds twice a day. We try for an assortment to make sure he gates a variety of nutrients. We also had the opportunity to watch what a wild rabbit eats in our yard and feed those greens to our rabbit. We do not give him much grain or "sweet" treats. But he does get treats most days. Treats are assorted grains and seeds, fruits, carrots, pumpkin and whatever else is available from the garden. He gets twigs from our fruit trees at all times and larger trimmings from the trees as well. He loves to eat the bark and it also helps keep his teeth worn down.
I occasionally buy rabbit pellets, but these are also more of a treat for him and he does not get them all the time.

He is a big and healthy rabbit and lives outside all year. We have brought him inside on extremely hot days (over 110 degrees outside), but usually he is fine with just a large bottle of ice.

 

[rebecca100]

I read something by Daniel ? Salatin which is in part why I changed and I have read several other places that pellets are unnecessary. I have had rabbits since i was 9, but was told that they could not live on anything but pellets, with just grass in small amounts as a treat and feeding weeds would kill them, so that is why this is such a big deal for me. I am finding out that a lot of what I have been told about raising animals is not true. Like-they do not have to have commercial feed to grow and reproduce. I have been giving them sprouted grains as treats for a while now and fermented corn in small amounts. I at least will know how to raise them if commercial feed ever becomes unavailable.

 

[Blue Skys]

I love this thread, I'm so excited. This is something that I've wondered since I got my rabbits last year. I have read a teeny bit about it, but honestly was kind of scared to go for it. Now I'm just going to dive in. How long would y'all recommend the transistion take? would two weeks be ok, or should I make it more like a month?

What kinds of grains do you sprout for them?

 

[rebecca100]

I mostly sprout oats because that is the easiest and cheapest to get around here. I would give them at least two weeks. That is how long I did mine and they were okay with it. So far mine are doing really well with no pellets. I have had 3 litters born since they quit recieving them with no problems. I was scared too. I waited for them to either constipate, scour, or bloat or the first two weeks. Nothing bad happened.

 

[tortoise]

As far as transitions, you don't want to overwhelm the rabbit with wet food. It could cause diarrhea (potentially fatal).

I'm working on getting away from pellets even more than I already have. I've been feeding oats, corn, and alfalfa. I feed everything edible out of the compost bin, from banana peels to potato peels.

I've been digging weeds out of the yard for them. It's surprising how FAST they go through the weeds! I have 4 rabbits 8 - 10 pounds. Two pregnant does, one is due any day, the other is due next week.

I'm trying to figure out how to collect and store enough for the winter - or at least part of it.

Rabbits love dry oak leaves and apple tree twigs.

 

[rebecca100]

Tortoise, wont a rabbit get oak leaf poisoning from eating oak leaves? I have been avoiding them just in case. I am trying to figure out the same thing. The good stuff is only available in the warmer months. I'd really have to look hard to find a weed in December!

 

[tortoise]

They are on the list of toxic plants. I didn't know that. I guess I never gave more than one or two and not every day.

Here is a list of toxic plants:

http://www.adoptarabbit.com/articles/toxic.html