Home Grown Rabbit Feed

Hi, as someone already mentioned wheatgrass it is very good since it comes up very fast.

And has alot of nutrients. Also can be grown in very little space & light even in winter indoors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatgrass#Nutritional_content

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Spirulina, microalgae, is also a very good choice - with even more benefits!

It does require some extra adjustment for example high temperature (over 20 celsius is good, 35 celsius is optimum) and artificial lights (in winter) but in summer, you can grow it outdoors in open ponds.

Here is couple studies of giving it to rabbit feed (just scroll them as they have also other animals):

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5ac2/d365e1068c685f4b5f7e9fb1277b85e56ec5.pdf

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0396.2012.01328.x/full


Here is a longer link of the spirulina and how to grow it, in case I got you interested!

https://permies.com/t/64306/Spirulina-cultivation-part-permaculture

Our NZ rabbits seem to like wheatgrass. Whats really funny is the blades of wheat grass that fall through the cages is getting devoured by our wild rabbits.

The cool thing is since we setup our mini-rabbitry the wild rabbits hang out with the NZ's and stay out of the garden.

Win. win

I live on the old family farm and have my breeders hanging inside my open chicken coop to make winter months easier for my chores but i built a rabbit tractor and put the litter into the tractor shortly after moving them from the mother and move them every morning before work and evening before dark sometimes ill move them when i get home or mid day on the weekends. They chew the grass and weeds right down to the dead grass and this help cut back on the feed i give them as well. The breeders stay in cages full time but the young i grow out in the tractor its 6x2x1 how ever the next one i will make is going to be taller for the fact the rabbits were crawling out the wire roof since i used a wider wire for part of the top that or a solid top for shade. I fill a small feeder 3/4 full a day for them they eat it and the grass and hay. I also just planted comfery along the house and while it is having a rough grow from the chickens and the cat getting into it, it grow great big leaves that you can harvest and is basically super food. I feed a leaf to my breeders now and again and plan to cut and dry the rest before the cold hits too hard for winter snacks. Dont forget garden scraps look into what they can eat, i just feed a large amount of fresh carrot tops to them even had some left over i dried in the sun for a day and stuffed in the hay rack for them the next.

My rabbits were on forage and grazing only for 8 months of the year.   They had a big variety of many of the things listed on this thread and kitchen/ garden scraps, plus grow outs were in grazing tractors.   Adults were in colony.   Pumpkin, squash,  tree clippings,  comfrey,  dandelion, grass,  on and on.    

I’m looking to grow hay for my rabbits and wondering if any of y’all now if vinegar works as a hay preservative and how it is applied if so

Never heard of using vinegar but traditionally, salt was added to hay to preserve it.

Hi Dan,

Welcome to Permies. You have found the best site on the net.

I have heard of vinegar to stop hay from sprouting

A book that talks about forage and pellets  Raising Rabbits by Ann Kanable.  Not only just se talk a bit about forage she also mentions that rabbits raised for generations on pellets may not do as well on forage as you hope but you can select offspring that do the best and within a few generations your rabbits will do better on forage then pellets.

I’ve raised them without any “bought” feed, just a mineral block which I make sure each of them have and fresh water daily.  I make sure they get something high in protein, especially for growing kits, or pregnant or nursing does.   Over winter is a little harder because I don’t have much fresh weeds for them, but they get hay free choice daily in their feedback and whatever greens I can find.  Clover in moderation, with other foods, or Greater ragweed, purslane, as a source of protein.  Not only do they survive on this, they thrive.  Secret is in getting a well balanced diet for them.  Look up forages and you’ll be surprised at the high protein items that are not alfalfa or clover.  Some are even higher than alfalfa.  Dry some for winter feed for them.  I give them greens from the garden too, the occasional carrot, they love radishes and their tops, collards, kale, but not too much, it can cause indigestion.  

You got me curious, so I took a peek aound.

...To speed up the process, savvy producers are now learning how to make "Vinegar Hay". It is accomplished using high-quality, unpasteurized, and whole-apple-derived Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV). The sooner it is sprayed on the cut forage, the better it works. Many hay producers simply drive up and down the windrow with an ATV and spray about 3 gallons per ton of hay right on the center of the window.

It starts working immediately with the living enzymes and microbes doing all the work. Sure, another name for vinegar is acetic acid, the natural chemical that preserves silage or forage, but that acid is only a small fraction of a living (unpasteurized) product, maximally only 6% of the total liquid. The next best method is to add the pure raw ACV to a tank on the front of the baler and roll it up right into the bale...
From here.

There is a lot more detail in the article. I remember reading on Permies that fermenting chicken feed can reduce he amount of feed the chickens eat. Would this be the same thing?

I'm not sure what to make of rabbit food list. Seems every list is different. So to cut out the excess noise my question is. Had anyone feed ___ to their rabbits and it died, or became extremely ill.

I also have read a lot of posts all over the web about rabbits accidentally eating ___. Their owners wig out, and ask the internet if they are in trouble. Sometimes the Internet predicts DOOM for the poor bunny. Only for the owners to say later the bunny was fine.

I'm under the impression that rabbits, like most animals, will generally avoid foods that harm it. As long they don't feel desperate enough to risk it for the biscuit, they'll self regulate.

I've thrown all sorts of stuff to the rabbits, so far no deaths or maiming. There's foods they won't touch, at all, though.

Dakota Miller wrote:I'm not sure what to make of rabbit food list. Seems every list is different. .....
I also have read a lot of posts all over the web about rabbits accidentally eating ___. Their owners wig out, and ask the internet if they are in trouble. Sometimes the Internet predicts DOOM for the poor bunny. Only for the owners to say later the bunny was fine. .
I've thrown all sorts of stuff to the rabbits, so far no deaths or maiming. There's foods they won't touch, at all, though.

I think it's sort of symbolic for what the internet has become in terms of knowing how to use all the info that's out there-- like business reviews on Google-- most are ridiculous and you should ignore them, but you can also get some general ideas that are helpful.

My experience is the same as yours with the rabbits-- they won't touch certain stuff, but I also have raised enough animals that I don't believe they'll innately know what to eat and not eat. I think the rabbits just have preferences, and I do see variations between rabbits and even over time with the same rabbit.
That said, I don't feed them trimmings from ornamental or house plants (no need really, and I can barely tell them apart), just stuff from my food garden; I don't give them large volumes of avocado, green onion, plum or passionfruit leaves, but they do get a few (the one rabbit has a passionfruit vine growing behind his hutch and he's constantly snacking on it).  I do give large volumes of other things I know are fine.

I have been feeding my rabbits a ration of pellets mixed with sunflower seed and a generous amount of forage and hay. However with winter coming on the forage is drying up. Do any of you guys have winter forage tricks or do you only feed hay all winter?

Clover & violets are a good start.

I feel like a real dang permaculturist because my rabbit is eating the sunchokes. The livestock is surviving on fodder I just so happen to grow for my family. It likes to have its own areacode but I'd grow some anyway!

Shawn Harper wrote:I have been feeding my rabbits a ration of pellets mixed with sunflower seed and a generous amount of forage and hay. However with winter coming on the forage is drying up. Do any of you guys have winter forage tricks or do you only feed hay all winter?

I used to feed my rabbits bamboo because it was green all winter and they liked it pretty good.  Otherwise it's just hay and make sure they have some grain to stay warm.  I used to think European hares (domesticated rabbits) were like cottontails and could live on just grass (not that that's even true) until i saw an anecdote from the 1600s saying they were feeding grain to their rabbits way back then

If it hasn't snowed on you yet, stinging nettle will put on growth pretty late in the year that I'll feed in small amounts.

I wonder if the invasive bush honeysuckle is any good as feed?  It keeps it's leaves into December and deer eat it.

My daughter (who is off at college) has a rabbit and now it is my responsibility to feed the rabbit.  He is not my pet, we established this long ago.  He is my grandpet.  I told my daughter that I will help her raise and care for her pet, but that was her responsibility.  She took to that responsibility like a champ!


But back to food.


I have found that my grandrabbit LOVES kale.  He loves kale more than anything else.  Therefore, my next garden will include a bunch of kale for my hungry grandrabbit.




Eric

I think I read somewhere that tagasaste (tree lucerne) can be a complete food for rabbits.