[Guest]

Just new to this site and relieved to see no criticism about raising meat rabbits. Since I also raise chickens and bronze turkeys, I often have a lot of clean cracked eggs which I cook up to feed our dog and cats. Can rabbits eat the cooked eggs for a source of protein or will this send them to an early grave?!
Any advice is greatly welomed here! Also does anyone have a homemade recipe for rabbit feed? The costs of buying pelleted feed in Canada is $340-420 per ton ($510-630 US per ton). Thanks...Andrea

 

[Guest]

I goofed on my feed price in Canada for US dollars. The above should be Can$340-420/ton and US$266-280/ton. Looks better down there! Andrea

 

[Thumper/inOkla.]

I haven't tried feeding eggs, buy they eat powdered milk, they might get allergies to eggs, it wouldn't suprise me if rabbits liked eggs. I thought about trying it out on an extra buck.

 

[JayinCT]

I don't even cook my cracked eggs before feeding them to my dogs. Just crack them in the bowl on the way by, and they eat them right up. Feed up there isn't a lot more than down here. I pay $223 US per ton. I suppose you could supplement easier than to could totally replace the feed if your on a small scale. I used to get free out dated bread from the bakery, lay it out and let it get hard, then feed it as a suppliment. You need to let it get hard though, or they will stomp it into the cage bottom, then it will harden, and you will need a jack hammer to get it loose. Good luck

 

[JayinCT]

I don't even cook my cracked eggs before feeding them to my dogs. Just crack them in the bowl on the way by, and they eat them right up. Feed up there isn't a lot more than down here. I pay $223 US per ton. I suppose you could supplement easier than to could totally replace the feed if your on a small scale. I used to get free out dated bread from the bakery, lay it out and let it get hard, then feed it as a supplement. You need to let it get hard though, or they will stomp it into the cage bottom, then it will harden, and you will need a jack hammer to get it loose. Good luck

 

[dnurse]

Hi. Don't know about the egg part, but here's a recipe I had found in Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennet (a tan breeder). The recipe originated from Oren Reynolds, a former president of ARBA. 6 quarts oats, 1 quart wheat, 1 quart sunflower seed, 1 quart barley, 1 quart kaffir corn, 1 quart terramycin crumbles. He mixes the oats, wheat, sunflower seed, barley & korn. Once a week he adds terramycin. He used this as a supplement to the pellets by adding 1 part of this mixture to 3 parts pellets. Apparently, he is in his 90's and used this for over 70 years raising rabbits. Don't know if it will save money or not for you. Something to keep in mind maybe. I don't know if anyone out there has any comments on the grains above. I use old fashioned oats once a week and the sflower seeds once a week, but I only have 11 rabbits and not the volume others have. Good luck, Donna

 

[bittybleat]

Thanks for posting that recipe. I'd like to find more recipes also - would like to know if I can feed my rabbits on what I grow myself :?: Since my pelleted food is very expensive right now.

 

[jpatti]

I'm interested in the egg question too... does anyone know if rabbits can eat eggs?

Far as I can tell, chickens can eat nearly anything - it costs next to nothing to feed them.

But I have no experience with rabits as of yet. I know they are herbivores and therefore am unsure if they can safely eat eggs or if their bodies just don't "do" animal-based protein,

 

[Mark in N.C. Florida]

The thing to remember is would a rabbit eat an egg in the wild? I don't belive so. I have added powdered milk to rations for does & kits. All rabbits have had milk as youngsters.

I don't feed any bread, I guess you could use the argument that the bread was made from grain that the rabbit may have eaten in the wild. If you are rasing rabbits for a profit I think you are better off feeding a commercial Rabbit Ration.

I do add a handful of Alfalfa Hay to small mangers built into the top of the cages. This is used more for an activity enrichment than it is a feed supplement. In order for the rabbits to get hay from the manger they must get on their hind feet and pull the hay down thru the wire manger.

 

[jpatti]

The thing to remember is would a rabbit eat an egg in the wild? I don't belive so. I have added powdered milk to rations for does & kits. All rabbits have had milk as youngsters.

I don't feed any bread, I guess you could use the argument that the bread was made from grain that the rabbit may have eaten in the wild. If you are rasing rabbits for a profit I think you are better off feeding a commercial Rabbit Ration.

We're just planning on backyard production for our own use, same as with chickens.

I have bought oyster shell for the chickens and occasionally buy a sack of wheat and another of oats at the local mill. But 99% of their diet is either kitchen scraps or weeds and grass from the yard.

I'd like to do the same for rabbits. For us, raising them *cheaply* is the whole point, as it's just for us.

I have a large round bale of mixed hay (alfalfa-rich) being delivered and had figured it as the mainstay of their diet thorough winter (we figure to start in fall). This was "free" (hubby bartered some work with the farmer - who has already delivered 100 square bales of straw).

I'm just less sure about what "supplements" to give as I figure a rounded diet is best for animals in general. I expect to supplement with extra produce, but eggs would be convenient too given we have the chickens if they're OK.

And yeah, I'd assumed milk was OK for any mammal, but we don't raise dairy yet here.

I was wondering whether they eat eggs in the wild. I don't suppose they have access to most eggs, but might sometimes. Anyone know?.

 

[bittybleat]

rabbits do eat bugs, so yes they would use, if you *want* to call it animal protein

 

[jpatti]

I didn't know they ate bugs. Guess they're more omnivores than I thought.

 

[Thumper/inOkla.]

well, they have been known to eat their babies....that would be animal protein. I haven't heard of the doe dieing from the ingestion of kits, only from being culled for it.