feeding

[dunroven]

How much do you all feed your rabbits? I noticed that mine were getting lethargic, a little, and hubby suggested I cut back on the feed; plus, they were leaving quite a bit in some of the cages, not all, but some. Anyway, I read that they should eat somewhere between 1/2 cup to 1 cup daily. This is for New Zealands and Californians. So, I went and bought a plastic see through 1 cup measuring cup, 84 cents, and now I put 1 cup in each cage per rabbit. I have done this for about 3 days now and the rabbits do seem a lot perkier and they are definitely ready when I get there with that feed bucket, and some of them are a lot friendlier! My Flemish Giants I am giving 1-1/2 cups to. What do you all think about these amounts and how do you do?

[Tucker]

Originally Posted by dunroven

How much do you all feed your rabbits? I noticed that mine were getting lethargic, a little, and hubby suggested I cut back on the feed; plus, they were leaving quite a bit in some of the cages, not all, but some. Anyway, I read that they should eat somewhere between 1/2 cup to 1 cup daily. This is for New Zealands and Californians. So, I went and bought a plastic see through 1 cup measuring cup, 84 cents, and now I put 1 cup in each cage per rabbit. I have done this for about 3 days now and the rabbits do seem a lot perkier and they are definitely ready when I get there with that feed bucket, and some of them are a lot friendlier! My Flemish Giants I am giving 1-1/2 cups to. What do you all think about these amounts and how do you do?

Hi Dun ,, You need to weigh that food ,, different pellets weigh different ,, I've been told that rabbits 'need' about 1 oz of feed per pound of body weight ,,

when I first got into rabbits I 'read' to use an empty tuna fish can ,, 1 can a day ,, when I finally got a scale and weighed my feed I was surprised to see that I had been feeding them 5 1/2 oz of feed and they are still doing well on that ration ,,, I also keep hay available 24 / 7

fescue only for bucks ,, a handfull of alfalfa is a treat for the buck ,, I don't want him getting fat and loseing interest in mating ,, does get fescue when not nurseing ,, but when they give birth till weaning I keep alfalfa in the does hay rack ,,

In my opinion each single rabbit should clean its feed up every day ,, if they are leaving some ,, you're feeding too much - cut back ,, if they are 'starving' when you add feed - up their ration a bit ,,

I 'occasionally' will skip a day of pellets since mine always have hay available ,, I feel that this dosen't hurt because they are firm 'fleshed' and I know I probably give too many 'treats' ....

I try to feed the same time every day and I expect the feeders to be empty a few (2-3) hours before that time ,,,


Tammy
NC

[JayinCT]

I feed 1/2 to 3/4 cup to each rabbit daily. They don't totally clean everything up, but they come close. Also depends a lot on the weather and how they eat because of it. If I notice one with a lot of feed left, I keep a close eye on it to see if it's not eating because of sickness. Most of the time it's a one day thing. Sometimes I even clean out what it has left, put in fresh and it goes right back to eating as always.

Jay

[Ann Mary]

The tuna fish can is a great measurement at my place! I use it for the the mini-lop sized up to the NZ sized so they don't get so fat the won't breed correctly. They get grass hay or something too. The Fr. Lop-sized get 2 cans a day. The can makes it easy!

[dunroven]

Thanks everyone. I guess I was overfeeding my rabbits and maybe that's why the breeding hasn't been so great. I have blamed it on the heat, but my rabbits are SO much more active now! I couldn't believe how much they are playing now. I don't feed hay, but just Honor pellets. By the way, anyone who read my post on the jelly poop, I lost both rabbits, but I did manage to keep 1 alive for nearly a full week. I think I was on the right track with feeding it the crushed pellets in water with an eyedropper, just maybe not feeding it quite enough. I feel though that this was a good thing, cause now, if I see this happening again, I can hopefully nip it in the bud immediately.

Thanks for the help on that issue as well.