Carrots (both tops and root... I can get the tops from Huckleberries in large bags)
Clover/grass
Raspberry shoots
Apple branches
Willow
Poplar
Dried bean vines from last year
Sunflower sprouts (when I'm not eating them myself)
Wheat grass
Lemon Balm (it comes up so early like a champ!)
On top of all this is their grain ration. I made this recipe from many sources but the bulk of it came from my rabbit book Storey's Guide To Raising Rabbits. Here's the recipe I've settled on, it makes about 1+ month worth of feed, although that's changing now that I have a nursing momma and soon babies that will be eating this too.
17 c. Oats
8 c. Wheat
8 c. Barley
4 c. Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
4. c alfalfa pellets ( only nursing and expectant mothers get this stuff )
Everything is organic except for the sunflower seeds. But I don't fuss over that too much. Right now I have added an alfalfa pellet ( just alfalfa nothing else ) to the mixture to make sure that Big Momma is getting adequate protein. She is expending so much energy producing milk for 8 babies that I don't want her loosing a ton of weight and getting weak. The alfalfa pellet is the most processed thing these bunz eat. I'd say that's pretty good considering most bunz only see pellets and nothing else. In winter I add 1T. of molasses and 1T water (for dilution) to the above mixture of grains for extra minerals. If I don't have any nursing mothers, all the bunz get 1/3 c. twice a day of the grain mixture. Right now Big Momma gets all the grain she can eat.
They also get free choice hay which I get in the 50lb. bales. The hay comes in two types, alfalfa and alfalfa grass mix sometimes called orchard mix. I am not sure if the hay is organic since I had to purchase it from the feed store because I got the bunz in December. This year I will buy directly from the farmer and I'll ask those questions. Hay is harvested in the fall so that's when I will get it, should be cheaper too since it will be "in season."
Transferring the bunz to this diet was a long and slow process. They were all raised on pellets, so I purchased one bag and made the switch gradually. I had to use a bit extra in the molasses department in order to make the switch official (bunz have a sweet tooth), coercion works every time! Now they don't have any problem with the new feed. The gal I bought the bunz from insisted that I would kill them if they ate anything other than pellets. I just kept asking the question... "Then how did humans do it before pellets were invented?" Regardless, I did not kill the bunz since they've been going strong on this diet since mid January.
Another very important ingredient in the bunz diet is mineral salt. Which is used for minerals they don't get through the grains. I use the small red wheels that any pet store sells, but in the future I'll get a mineral salt lick (like for goats) and chunk it into smaller cubes then place in a small container for them. The mineral wheels I use now hang on the side of the cage but they are way to expensive and I'm all for cost saving endeavors.
I am sure that feeding this way is more expensive, I have yet to do a cost analysis because I haven't gone through a bag of each grain yet. I am just not sure how long one 45lb. bag of grain lasts. I will figure it out though and report back. Though with each bun only eating 2/3 c. of feed per day.... it's gonna be a while before I have any figures to report.
I love that you are working towards a more natural diet for your rabbits. We are trying to slowly do the same for our chickens and hope to someday feed them on a diet that is almost all foraged or grown by us. When I was a kid we used to feed our rabbits dandelions, flowers and leaves, and they just loved them. I always see the wild bunnies we have around here eating them too.
ReplyDeleteMr.H- I intend to get dandelions from my yard and my moms yard for them. I'd be leery about picking any in a park or other public place because they might be poisoned.
ReplyDeleteWe started working on a natural diet with our chickens (the red stars) but it was a sparrow magnet. We ended up feeding the wildlife organic and a rather splendid buffet. So until we get away from the sparrow populations that plague city's we're gonna stick with pellets to big for them to eat. I would love to grow more root veggies, and grind them up for feed like you do. We just need more room, and when we get out of the city we will have TONS!!
Thanks for posting this recipe. I intend to get rabbits and want to feed them naturally.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog.
Teresa Sitz- The rabbit talk site has all the natural feeding info. I learned a lot from just reading other peoples questions.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you like my blog, thank you.
I had to laugh that you were told you'd kill the rabbits if they didn't have pellets! That woman did NOT know who she was talking to.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of you and bunz since we moved in here. They're everywhere! Somehow the predators (winged and coyotes on the Island) are foraging elsewhere so the bun population is impressive. I couldn't help but think that if I wasn't a vegetarian, I'd have my personal bun meat supply in the backyard... :) They definitely spend a lot of time eating grass, scrounging for birdseed, and munching dandelions ever so sweetly.
MJ- I know that's what I kept thinking.... well wild bunnies do it all the time, why can't I?
ReplyDeleteYou guys must be tucked back in a bunny haven, look out for that garden (the bunz will be looking for it to be sure...)
Thanks so much for this info. Though I'm raw vegan (21 years now) and so would have a rabbit for other reasons rather than as food for me , would have loved to know this when I had my rabbit, Bunn-Bunn, who passed on in 2003 at the ripe old age of 13!! And I did that on those awful pellet things!
ReplyDeleteBut I never fed him any junk food whatsoever of any kind and he had all sorts of raw organic produce from my own pantry and only had hay/pellets from pet store. Not too much information to be had from 1990-2003 during his lifetime but I'm so glad to know there is this information here for when I get another rabbit. I hadn't wanted to get another one since I had to put down because of a tumour even though he'd been disease-free all his life till the end.
So thanks for this!