# Homemade Rabbit Ration?



## Tam319 (Jan 6, 2007)

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone out there makes their own rabbit feed from grains, seeds, etc? Would you care to share your recipe? We are feeding pellets right now at $18.50 per bag which is none too affordable! We are already under several inches of snow so would prefer a ration that doesn't require fresh greens...we do supply hay. In the summer we do supply lots of greens but for now we need something we can mix ourselves out of grain.
Many thanks!
Tam


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

I'd also like to hear this. I'd always made a grain mix for my goats and also order a custom mix from the feed mill for my poultry. I'd need something like a 17% or 18% grain mix for my buns, and could supplement with alfalfa pellets, and they also get free choice hay already. Anything less than 17% or 18% and I see skinny young that take forever to grow out (I tried 15% for a while, moved up to 17% with excellent results)

I suppose a multivitamin supplement would be needed if not mixed into a pellet ration? Could whole grains be offered or would they need to be cracked/rolled rations?

One problem - do buns pick through the grains and pick and choose what they'd like, or will they consume all that's put in front of them? I wouldn't want them picking out their favorites and leaving other parts that they need.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Tam, how many rabbits do you have? It's hard to provide winter greens for a large rabbitry, but there are lots of ways to continue to feed some fresh foods to rabbits if you only have a few.

In winter instead of hay/greens/grain, my rabbits get hay/grain/greens, but it is a rare day they don't get something fresh. Clean vegetable trimmings from the kitchen, grain grass grown in dishpans, sprouted grains and seeds, root crops, pumpkins... there are lots of ways to continue that fresh element in smaller quantities over the winter.

There are many different "recipes" for a home ration... This is a subject that has been discussed many times. If you use the search feature in the menu bar at the top and put in a variety of keywords, you will find them.

In winter, I feed alfalfa hay with grass hay now and again for variety, a good quality scratch consisting of barley, oats and a bit of cracked corn and whatever fresh foods we can manage. I also dry such things as raspberry canes with leaves, maple and willow branches with leaves and other plants. In winter, these count as "fresh" too.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Mygoat, rabbits can eat whole grains such as barley, oats and wheat and also such seeds as black sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds etc. Corn is better cracked and should not make up too high a percentage of the total grain ration. Mine do sometimes leave the cracked corn, but the chickens and geese are happy to wait outside the rabbitry and eat the leftovers. 

Edited to add: I should mention that young rabbits raised this way are very healthy, but do take a long time to grow out... about 16 weeks to butchering size. It's not for everyone.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

But if the protein content was 17%-18%, shouldn't they grow out at the same rate? What protein percentage do you feed? I know soybeans are a very high protein percentage, would those be eaten if offered?


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## Tam319 (Jan 6, 2007)

Thanks for the info...I have 30 buns at the moment. We raise for meat.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

I just did this and a 16-17 percent feed is possible.
What i did is did research on what a rabbit could eat and figured out what was in a rabbit pellet. After that i went to the feed store and priced grains of different types and prices.
My ration consites of (protienx parts..... protein total .......... my cost) 
supplement	25x1... 25 .......... $20 for 50 pounds
boss 15x 1... 15 .......... $16 for 50 pounds
rabbit pellets 16x1... 16.......... $13.50 for 50 pounds
cob 10x 5 ... 50 .......... $8 for 55 pounds
alfalfa hay	25 x 5 ... 125...... $7 for 70 pounds
oat hay/grass hay	10x2...20 .......... $5 for 50 pounds
pea pellets	11x1... 11.......... 14.50 for 80 pounds
beet pulp 9x1 ...9.......... 12.50 for 50 pounds
BOSS is black oil sun flower seeds, and the COB I used is corn oats and barley with Mollasses.
The supplement i use is called Golden Grow, but calf manna or Purina also has a similar one also. This supplies protein, minerals and vitamins.
I mix the COB, BOSS, rabbit pellets, and supplement in a bucket and feed 1/2 cup per adult, adding extra half cups when the doe kindles, when the kits start eating and more as they grow till each animal has his own half cup of feed. It seems like alot, but it only weighs 2 1/2 oz.
the hay is fed in hay feeders except the alfalfa I put itin bowls to catch the leaves better.
The pea hay pellets and beet pulp pellets are quite large and i only feed those to adults. about 1/3 cup is 2 oz.
I aim for 8 oz. of feed per adult per day which is what the cup of pellets weighed that they were getting. If you also feed greens they are low in protein and with their water content you'll probably need to feed 8 times as much as if you fed dry feed in comparison.
The rabbit pellets are left over from when I was feeding pellets so they are included till they are gone and i will reformulate my ration with out them.
My cost on this feed is about 17 cents per pound.
Hope this isn't too confusing


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Squashnut, how big of rabbits are you feeding? I thought that for a full size meat doe, they need 6-9 oz of feed per day, and free choice when nursing? 

Thanks for the list, that's just about exactly what I need.  Now, just gotta see if my mill carries any of those...


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

mygoat said:


> But if the protein content was 17%-18%, shouldn't they grow out at the same rate? What protein percentage do you feed? I know soybeans are a very high protein percentage, would those be eaten if offered?


I don't feed soy to my rabbits. I have health concerns about it for me at second hand. But certainly you can use soybeans to raise the protein level. They must be cooked, roasted is most palatable. 

I feed my rabbits pretty much the way rabbits were fed before commercial rations were available. It is economical, closer to the natural diet of wild European rabbits and the rabbits like it and are healthy and happy. It is far less expensive for me to raise a fryer to five pounds this way than on pellets. It just takes longer.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

My NZW are between 9-11 pounds each when they are adults.
So i try to feed 8 oz per animal. The pellets I fed were about 7 oz. per cup. Then i always had something extra for them. grain hay or greens depending on the time of the year.
They get half cup of the grain mix- 2 1/2 oz the rest is hay , greens or pea/beet pellets. The day they kindle I add a little more till they get a full cup of grain and the appropriate amount of green feed to go with it. when the kits start eating I add a little more till they hit 1 1/2 cups. And so on till each rabbit gets a 1/2 cup of grain ect. This does give the doe alot of feed, because the kits cann't eat that much and she cleans it up. During this increase of feed I do wean the kits as soon as I have a cage open up.
I got a little carried away when I was shopping for this, I am sure you could do this with fewer ingredients. But I wanted to make their diet more interesting. i am hoping to change ,add and subtract ingredients according to cost and palability.


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## lorian (Sep 4, 2005)

Great question and answers. I was just thinking about this today while cleaning cages.
50 lbs. here runs about 9.00. My math brain isn't working right now so I'm wondering if there is a big savings in doing it myself. 
I definitely think they would be healthier.
I pick grass/weeds everyday for them and give hay as well


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## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

good alfalfa hay is probably the one most important ingredient to a home ration. If you have good quality alfalfa hay frown locally, it is a real plus. Our local alfalfa is b grade, the good stuff comes in from the west where it is irrigated and has few pests or diseases, and is cured in low humidity. We can get that here, but it is quite expensive. 

From what I can determine, at least in my area, it is hard to save money by feeding grain and alfalfa mixture instead of pellets, and a lot more work. I have to pay $12.50/50 lbs of (quality) pellets. I have figured what it would take to use grain and (A quality) alfalfa, and I can not come out ahead. Of course, some wish to use "natural" feeds for organic reasons. The pellets I use are simply alfalfa and grains ground and made into pellets. They have vitamins and minerals added but no "preservatives" etc. 

As Maggie has stated, soybeans have a chemical in them that inhibits the uptake of certain nutrients. This chemical is destroyed by heat. When they press the oil out of soybean meal, that heats up the meal to an adequate amount. Whole beans can be roasted in the oven for a half an hour (I think it is 250F, but I no longer remeber) If you live in an area (Canada, Colorado, and the Dakotas) where they grow field peas, you can purchase peas for about the same price as soybeans, and they do not have to be cooked. They are approximately equivalent to soubeans in protein, but have much less fat.

There are some concerns with many of the grains. Ther has been some mention of the hulls of corn, peas, and soybeans causing gut impaction. As far as the corn is concerned, it can be cracked, but there is some danger of mold in cracked corn if it is not used in a reasonable time after being cracked (the mold is white, it is not noticable). Still, there are many people using all kinds of mixtures successfully. Maggie has a good ration, but I find that I can not support the "greens" for the number of rabbits I have in the winter.
If you have a lot of mullberry or willow or apple on your place, it is a real plus.

Wheat or barley (one or the other will be common in your area) are both good basic grains, and rabbits like them. "Hard" wheat has a bit more protein than "soft" wheat. Black oil sunflower seed (BOSS) is high in protein and fat, but on a per pound basis is very expensive. If you happen to be a farmer and grow alfalfa and several of these grains, then, of course, it would work out very economically.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Certainly if you do not have a source of good alfalfa hay at a reasonable price, feeding hay/grain/greens is not going to work out cheaper than pellets. We get ours from the farmer down the road for about $3 a bale. Even scratch grain is not cheap here anymore. It's up to about $15 a bag... used to be around $10.

We feed our eight chickens and three geese as well as our rabbits from the same bag of scratch. Normally a bag lasts about a month from May to November when the birds are on pasture or free-ranging. We use more in winter. 

This year I plan to set up sprouting buckets and buy whole grain, likely wheat, to sprout for all the critters. It's a good way of boosting the nutrition in grain and preserving the "fresh" element in their diet. I did this on a small scale last winter and the sprouted grain was popular with all.

Edited to add:
Information about germinated grains as feed:
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Sprouting.html
http://www.parrotchronicles.com/septoct2002/germinate.htm


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## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

Heh, Maggie I wish I could get alfalfa at your prices. local alfalfa which often is not that good runs $4-5 a bale... the good stuff brought in, runs at least 7 dollars, if one can find it in small bales. It is not often easy to find either in lots of a few bales, most of it is sold 300-400 bales at a time.


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

Hey Loriann, where in PA are you getting rabbit pellets for that cheap? I am spending 15.99 per bag of 17% pellets. Mine also get free fed hay (I throw flakes on their floor except where they potty as Flemmy's don't handle wire flooring at all), and always have at least one fresh thing to eat. Right now it's pumpkins which they are not in love with, but will eat a little bit.


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## Crash2510 (Dec 22, 2008)

I feed a 16% kalmbach feed that my rabbits really like and I have no problems with grow out. I am a dealer of their feed so I may be biased but I sell a 50 lb bag for $10.50 with no significant increases in sight. 

A more natural diet for me would be almost impossible as I have 100 or more rabbits at any given time, but I do feed some hay.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

laughaha said:


> (Mine)... always have at least one fresh thing to eat. Right now it's pumpkins which they are not in love with, but will eat a little bit.


Try cooking the chunks of pumpkin slightly. I just cut them up leaving the pulp and seeds intact, put the chunks on a plate and nuke for a few minutes. Serve just warm. Mine love it this way, but are not crazy about it raw. (Yes, it's spoiling... but whatever works!  )


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

I had thought about doing this, but I was worried that it would negate the worming properties of pumpkins and squashes. What do you think?

Yeah, not new to spoiling them, mine get frozen watermelon and squash in the summers lol


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

laughaha said:


> I had thought about doing this, but I was worried that it would negate the worming properties of pumpkins and squashes. What do you think?
> 
> Yeah, not new to spoiling them, mine get frozen watermelon and squash in the summers lol


It's the seeds that have the worming properties. I suppose you could separate them out and feed separately. I do save some seeds before cooking - the ones that can be easily removed.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

I found my rabbits wouldn't eat squash of any kind and would only eat the seeds after they were dryed. least favorite was summer squash.
I think after trying it I would still go with the home made diet, as i have had 2 times now where the pellets caused health problems in my herd.
And I can save 8 to 10 cents a pound on the feed and still supply enough nutrients to grow them out as fast or faster than with pellets. I think part of the problem with pellets is they grind the hay down to a powder and that leaves not enough course fiber for the rabbit gut to work. This showed up in my rabbits with hair chewing. Then if you add low protein grass hay to the diet to add fiber you throw the protein balance off. Even feeding greens with pellets lowers the over all protein, slowing fryer growth.
So I figure that mixing my own i can recalculate the feed as I need it.
I read some where if you give more protein than needed, it will cause an amonia build up in your rabbitry, from the rabbit urine. The same goes for any proteins that are fed that are unusable by the rabbit.
As far as soy beans go the same element in them, is in all beans, so if you have a problem with them , you would also have to cut out all beans from your diet.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

i just figured out my ration replacing thhe supplement with an extra portion of alfalfa hay and it's down to 12 cents a pound.
You get the same protien, but no vitamin supplement.


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## just_sawing (Jan 15, 2006)

Why would hydroponic grass be OK for rabbits? It has 29% Protein and high nutrients.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbsT1sLBCgA&feature=related[/ame]


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

I do some thing like that inside of a salad spinner.


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## General Brown (Jan 10, 2008)

Unfortunatley, I dont have time to pick greens and search for a grain mix.
I rely on the trust of scientists that went to school for years to develope the ultimate ratio that they have conveniently put in a pellet form.

If one would consider their time to mix all the ingredients, the picking of fresh greens, etc.. I am sure the cost would be way more than our friends in Canada pay. I currently pay $16.10 for 100 lbs.. And that is with animal fat, which in my belief adds tremendous growth, excellent heath, and very low maintenance. I feed my non milking does and bucks 1 tuna can full once daily, and they are very well kept. Once a doe kindles, she is put on full feed until the kits are weaned.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

Yes i am sure that some one did go to school to learn how to make the perfect rabbit ration, But that doesn't mean we are getting it. Around here the feed mills are messing with the formula. Using cheaper and different feeds each time they make a batch. Instead of specific ingredients the label now has words like forage products and grain by-products. This allows them to change the recipe as they wish. And with out warning. 

My ration, that I am making includes garden waste from weeding my beds, but is also formulated to use all purchased items.
My plan is to buy ahead so if I have to change the formula I can do it over days.
Here it is $27 for 100 pounds for pellets.


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## pafish6 (Sep 18, 2009)

Blue Seal 17% protien is running here in Central PA for $12.50 / 50# I think.
that's from our local feed store, not sure what TSC is lately.


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

On a good note, my buns are LOVING giant patty pan squash!! Got a giant bagful from a friend and gave some to the buns and they inhaled it! Gonna have to grow some next year.


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