... I raised buns for 4 years with No pellets whatsoever! .... I have a Lot of mulberry on that particular homestead so that was the bulk of their feed
..... cutting the branches into straight sections before lobbing them to the buns provides you with straight peeled sticks of woodstove fuel when the buns are done with them
.... I had these guys in a deep bedded community room with plenty of large waterers and hidey places.... they got tossed a handful of shell corn and BOSS as a treat every few days..... but they got whatever I scythed, pulled up, or collected as grass clippings with a bagging mower (dried in cheapo laundry baskets)
... Do be Very careful not to include any toxic material.... Soft Maple leaves quickly resulted in the loss of several buns
... I have found the best results to be: hand breeding, placing the does (tattooed for ID purposes) in the community room until 5 days prior to kindling, placing in individual hutches for kindling, rebreeding at 8 weeks, and returning everybody to the community room (after tattooing the youngsters which are then members of the 'Black Ear Club') to give maximum results for miminal time and effort.... separate the young 'Hooligans' when they are about 4 or 5 months old to prevent unmonitored breeding
.... I started with 'garage rabbits' .... after 2 years they were 8 to 10 lbs at 10 months of age and had thick beautiful pelts when dressed in December or January
... I have had All classes of livestock and poultry..... Buns are the Best species for a homestead - Bar None