Making Your Own Feed

[MiniLopMad]

Hi everyone!

I know of many people who make their own rabbit feed and I would like to try making my own for my bunnies. I am hoping that this will save money and keep me with food for longer than a week.

What would be good things to put into it?

I am going to add pellets and possibly Oaten chaff but Im not sure what else to add.

Does anyone make their own rabbits food and what is in it?

Thanks

 

[Watermelons]

Can you define what youre asking?
Pellets are the food you would feed.

 

[MiniLopMad]

I mean like a mixed feed The pellets here are usually low fibre and high in calcium and protein. I give my rabbits unlimited hay but I don't know where to buy bales so I'm going through two large bags a week. I would like to mix something with the pellets so that I can slightly lower the amount of hay I feed my rabbits. Sorry if I'm not making much sense.

 

[BrittsBunny]

I don't make my own feed and I give only a minimal amount of pellets to my dwarf bun. A bag of grain can last several months (I feed about 1tsp 2x/day). Your rabbits' diet should primarily be hay. You can buy bales of from a feed store in your area. If stored properly, bales can last for awhile. Just make sure it is a good quality hay.

 

[MiniLopMad]

I've been trying to find feed stores that sell more than Lucerne/ alfalfa hay bales. I feed unlimited pellets to my young rabbit and my nursing doe as the packaging says to. My buck gets a 1/4 cup in the afternoon and my new doe is still transitioning.
The closet I can find to good oaten hay for a lower price is oaten chaff so I was thinking of mixing it with the pellets and something else to make the bunnies like it. I would give the mix in the morning and to eat during the day with a handful or so of hay and then hay all night. I live in Australia and the good quality pellets here can be expensive and hard to find.

 

[BrittsBunny]

Oh wow I didn't realize you live so far away maybe another Aussie will be able to shed some light?

 

[Azerane]

How many rabbits do you have? Hay isn't as much of an issue cost-wise, but I know that if you have many rabbits pellets are. Oxbow pellets are usually found at vet clinics, as much as I dislike Vets4Pets, if you have one near you, they stock oxbow pellets at $20 a bag which is the cheapest I've found it (in SA). If you're after a cheaper brand, I've had people suggest VetaFarm Rabbit origins: http://vetafarm.com.au/product/rabbit-origins/

In regards to the hay issue, you can feed chaff, but really it's not great. You really want the course hay strands to help wear the teeth down, plus the chaff can get pretty dusty. I'm surprised you can't find oaten or meadow hay, they're pretty common and easy to get a hold of here.

 

[MiniLopMad]

I have 6 rabbits. I'll take a look at the Vetafarm pellets. I found stores selling Castlereagh pellets, but I don't think the ingredients are that good.

The hay I can find is in bags I've tried looking up horse feed stores, at people on gumtree, pertbarn and other pet places and I can't find any Oaten bales. I can find plenty of round bales, but I can't find the square ones that are close enough for me to pick up.