Just curious.. what do you feed your rabbits? :D

[Yield]

So I'm just curious.. I'm not asking for advice.. it's just outta plain curiousity XD

But yeah!

I feed my bunnies a handful of pellets every morning (they usually don't finish them until the next day) and unlimited hay..

At night I feed them an AWESOME salad (they're fed seperately cause Sabriel would eat it all XD)

This is their usual nightly salad:

Romaine lettuce

A brussel sprout

Parsley

Cilantro

A small piece of apple, strawberry, pinapple, or peach.

A small piece of carrot

Some pieces of bell peppers (all colours)

Endive

Escarole (we just ran out of this)

Celery



It's like, perfect, cause my buns are so NOT overweight and I know they get enough because they take their time eating the pellets and the veggies. Sometimes they are still munching onthe veggies in the morning. They have a lot of self control.x)


So yeah! What do you feed your buns? Also, do you feed them together, or seperately like I do?

 

[TCRabbitry]

My rabbits are free fed Kings brand Feed from California, then in a separate cup they get general livestock feed and a mix of YQ and Doe Builder, also from King Feed.

I also give them fresh water at all times. My rabbits don't get any veggies or anything... and depending on if the cage is a baby cage, some are fed together.... Most are fed separately.

 

[TinysMom]

Here is another recent thread which discussed this and gave links to other threads about it too since we get this question fairly often...

 

[Amy27]

My rabbits are fed Oxbow Organic Rabbit pellets about 1 ounce twice a week. They get unlimited timothy hay. Some is from a local farm and I order some from kleenmama's hayloft. I also have other hay on hand like orchard or meadow that I mix with the timothy hay. They get veggies twice a day which consists of red leaf, endive, and cilantro. They also get treats like craisins and bananas. They are both on meds right now so they are getting more treats then usual because I hide their meds in craisins so they each get about 6-8 craisins a day.

 

[kirbyultra]

My buns, unfortunately, don't get a lot of variety in their salads. Simply because they often turn their nose up at things anyway and I've sort of given up wasting money trying to get them to eat other things. They always get a couple romaine leaves coupled with a few sprigs of parsley. Typically they'll get a 3rd of whatever I decided to get. Lately it's been escarole. Sometimes if I find a good bunch of carrots with healthy looking tops they get the tops. They used to get a lot of kale but Penny can't eat any kale so I sort of stopped buying it even though the other two of my rabbits love crunchy kale. They will eat escarole, dill and swiss chard but only if it's the last thing on their plate and they're hungry! Picky, picky buns. Their salad size vary depending on what else I've fed them that day. The boys get a 9" plate and it's usually kind of full. Sometimes less, sometimes more. Penny, my sensitive tummy bun, will only get 1 leaf of a safe veggie for her.

Penny gets 1/2 cup of oxbow BBT a day, the boys get about 1/4 cup of BBT a day. They get tons of timothy and orchard grass hay.

Occasionally I'll treat them to a slice of banana (I mean, a really thin slice of banana). Sometimes some dried strawberry from a bag, or dried cranberry from a bag. If it's dried fruit in a bag, they'll only get 1, 2 tops if I've done something to upset them like, cut their nails lol. Of course, if carrots look good at the market they'll get a chunk of carrot. My buns don't get many treats at all. Sometimes I'll give them an extra sprig of parsley as a treat, and they hop for it!

Eta: i forgot! I also give them a bunny cookie if I made some for them. They're not junky as I know what's in them since I bake them myself n

 

[Yield]

Oh wow O: I spoil my rabbits a lot with different veggies! XD They're not picky at ALL! We're always buying them veggies and treats.

Helen, may I ask the recipe to your bunny cookies? They sound really awesome Or is there a thread you posted it in?

 

[jcottonl02]

My buns get 1/4cup of pellets in the morning, and then a salad at night- they love lottss of different veggies and have never had any problems. I must give at least 4 cups of veggies every day, which a little fruit perhaps.

The salad includes at least 3 different veggies and usually some herbs too which we grow in the garden; romaine lettuce, cabbage, pak choy, curly kale, basil, mint, dandelions and dandelion leaves, cucumber, peppers (green red and yellow), carrot, broccoli, sprouts etc. and they go absolutely crazy for it.

They also get unlimited timothy hay and fresh grass hay.

They also have at least 5 hours a day in the garden (in the run) munching as much grass as they please .

Occasionally they get craisins but they turn their nose up at these, but also get organic dried rabbit treats such as jeruselum artichoke and rose petals etc.

As treats I give them chunks of banana, apple, strawberries (their favourite), a few pinches of rolled oats every now and then.

I also got a lovely recipe off here for Bunny Cookies, which are made from pellets, rolled oats, banana etc.

I try and give as much variety as I can for my buns, including as many things as I can to make their diet more interesting; all different veggies, grass, herbs, wild plants (safe ones), baked cookies, treaties, fruit etc.

They certainly appreciate it by running round in circles practically with their tongues hanging out when they see their new salads or cookies coming hahaha

Jen

 

[mistyjr]

I feed my rabbits. 1/2 cup of rabbit chow 17%.. But my dutch's get less then 1/2 cup. And once in awhile they get Parsley. I would like to give them more then a while.

 

[kirbyultra]

Yield wrote:

Oh wow O: I spoil my rabbits a lot with different veggies! XD They're not picky at ALL! We're always buying them veggies and treats.

Helen, may I ask the recipe to your bunny cookies? They sound really awesome Or is there a thread you posted it in?

Yup, my cookies look sort of like Jen's, but I cut them to about 1 inch squares. Here's a link to the post I made in my blog about the cookies I made for Toby. Affectionately called Toby Cookies :hearts:
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_post.php?post_id=750205

 

[jcottonl02]

kirbyultra wrote:

Yield wrote:

Oh wow O: I spoil my rabbits a lot with different veggies! XD They're not picky at ALL! We're always buying them veggies and treats.

Helen, may I ask the recipe to your bunny cookies? They sound really awesome Or is there a thread you posted it in?

Yup, my cookies look sort of like Jen's, but I cut them to about 1 inch squares. Here's a link to the post I made in my blog about the cookies I made for Toby. Affectionately called Toby Cookies :hearts
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_post.php?post_id=750205

I think I may have actually got the recipe from u, if I remember rightly

THanks btw!!!

Jen

 

[Jaded]

Barn Yard Pellets

 

[snap]

Purina show formula, and if it's within three days of the last grocery trip they'll get lettuce, parsley/cilantro and carrots((with 8 rabbits it's hard to keep veggies in the house, and I'm sure if I gave them all veggies everyday the store would probably throw a party every time I came!)). Popcorn gets banana chunks sometimes since she's the only one who likes banana.

 

[Pipp]

snap wrote:

Purina show formula, and if it's within three days of the last grocery trip they'll get lettuce, parsley/cilantro and carrots((with 8 rabbits it's hard to keep veggies in the house, and I'm sure if I gave them all veggies everyday the store would probably throw a party every time I came!)). Popcorn gets banana chunks sometimes since she's the only one who likes banana.

Wow, the concept of a rabbit not liking banana! :shock:

And the main reason I feed my rabbits so much salad is because I started trolling the neighborhood finding a bunch of friendly grocers who give me all their compost before it goes in the bin.

Some just give me carrot tops and beet greens that they cut off for customers, others give me that stuff as well as broccoli and celery leaves, the outside leaves from cabbage, fennel tops, etc, while the whole foods market is great for whole heads of expired lettuce, kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.. The only thing I usually buy is the cilantro (and sometimes parsley) because it goes bad fast and it sells at this one store for three big bunches for $1.

One store in my area package up their near-dead peppers etc in big bags of for $1.


sas :eats:

 

[BrittanyandFruFru]

My rabbit Frufru absolutely loves dandelions. I find that this is an inexpensive way to fed my bunny, I just pick them from my yard (pesticide free).

 

[dixonsrabbitry1]

I feed mine 1/2-1 cup of purina fiber 3 a day. they also get farm grown grassy alfalfa. I don't feed veggies and greens because they are not nutritionally necessary and will only end up causing a lot of unwanted GI problems for the rabbits.

 

[Pipp]

dixonsrabbitry1 wrote:

I don't feed veggies and greens because they are not nutritionally necessary and will only end up causing a lot of unwanted GI problems for the rabbits.

In my opinion and experience, when breeders give the moms and kits at least some variety early in their lives, the kits will be far better equipped to leave that barn and adjust to whatever the new feeding protocol will be at their new homes.

The main culprit with GI issues is sudden diet changes and the odd intolerance issue, which would be alleviated if they had been fed tiny amounts of a variety of food from the get go.

And from what I understand, the kits also gain more immunity to illness because of their exposure to mild food born bacteria found in vegetation.

Breeders who stick to pellets and not much else may be dodging problems in their own barns, but once they leave, those rabbits may see more problems in the future than bunnies fed a variety. (just like they gain more immunity by staying with their siblings for eight weeks).

If I was going to buy from a breeder, I'd personally consider only those who did feed the kits more than just pellets. (And I'd never buy from a pet store because the separation age and feeding history is unknown).


sas :twocents:

 

[dixonsrabbitry1]

Pipp wrote:

In my opinion and experience, when breeders give the moms and kits at least some variety early in their lives, the kits will be far better equipped to leave that barn and adjust to whatever the new feeding protocol will be at their new homes.

The main culprit with GI issues is sudden diet changes and the odd intolerance issue, which would be alleviated if they had been fed tiny amounts of a variety of food from the get go.

And from what I understand, the kits also gain more immunity to illness because of their exposure to mild food born bacteria found in vegetation.

Breeders who stick to pellets and not much else may be dodging problems in their own barns, but once they leave, those rabbits may see more problems in the future than bunnies fed a variety. (just like they gain more immunity by staying with their siblings for eight weeks).

If I was going to buy from a breeder, I'd personally consider only those who did feed the kits more than just pellets. (And I'd never buy from a pet store because the separation age and feeding history is unknown).


sas :twocents:

Out of curiosity, where are you hearing that from? Because my experience, a lot with many other breeders is the exact opposite. Doesn't matter if mom has veggies, or treats, the babies still end up having issues. Their babies may be lucky enough to handle them, but a good many won't. Most don't feed more then just pellets because of the issues they cause.

 

[jcottonl02]

BrittanyandFruFru wrote:

My rabbit Frufru absolutely loves dandelions. I find that this is an inexpensive way to fed my bunny, I just pick them from my yard (pesticide free).

Little Rabbit Frufru- I don't like your attitude! Chasing all the fieldmice and bopping them on the head!! I'm going to give you one last chance before I turn you into a Gooooonniee!

I'm sorry. Just that name whizzed me right back to infant school. Lol is that where you got the name Frufru from or just a coincodence lol??

Jen:innocent

 

[golfdiva]

jcottonl02 wrote:

Little Rabbit Frufru- I don't like your attitude! Chasing all the fieldmice and bopping them on the head!! I'm going to give you one last chance before I turn you into a Gooooonniee!

Hare today, Goon tomorrow!?

Hershey gets mostly veggies and some pellets. In the winter I buy a variety of veggies, but in the summer I pick wild weeds for him. He LOVES these!

 

[woahlookitsme]

Bunnies are free fed Purina Show/Nutrition in a 50/50 mix. In the winter we top it off with calf manna. And they get a handfull of hay every other day.