Rabbit Wasting Hay

Circle-M-Farm

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What type of hay feeder are you using?
I use these hay feeders from Bass and they cut hay waste back a lot for me.
Type of hay will sometimes make a difference, I always used a mixed hay that consisted of Alfalfa, Timothy and a little Mammoth Red Clover and was the same hay mix that I feed to my dairy feeders, dairy goats and sheep. Depending on where you live you may pay a arm and a leg for straight Alfalfa hay, dairy farms tend to horde and buy it up. They tend to like it for there milking herds.

If you only have a rabbit or 2 you can get bags of alfalfa at most pet stores and Walmart.
Just feed Timothy one time and the Alfalfa the next.
Just watch your rabbit on the Alfalfa hay, some rabbits tend to get overly fat on it.
 

Ray

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I find that our bunny waist less Tim hay if o put it in a bowl and only feel it up all most full I use a cereal bowl if the hay stick above or over the lip of the bowl she wheel waste more from pulling on the hay but she does better if she has to put her head in the bowl but this does make it where I have to keep a close eye on her feed the whole day I do give her pillits ( how ever it's spelled) but only one small scoop a day other wise she will get to fat and not be able to clean her bottom
 

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bobm

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I find that our bunny waist less Tim hay if o put it in a bowl and only feel it up all most full I use a cereal bowl if the hay stick above or over the lip of the bowl she wheel waste more from pulling on the hay but she does better if she has to put her head in the bowl but this does make it where I have to keep a close eye on her feed the whole day I do give her pillits ( how ever it's spelled) but only one small scoop a day other wise she will get to fat and not be able to clean her bottom
Ray, What one thinks as a rabbit is cleaning it's bottom, in reality the rabbit is taking it's poo as it is being expelled and eating it for it's intestinal bacteria. Baby rabbits eat their mother's poo when still in their nest just before they are ready to eat solid food to establish their own gut flora.
 
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Ray

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Makes sense but I don't want her to get so fat that she can't I have seen others over feed there rabbits to the point that there bottom had big nasty clumps on them and the poor things had to be shaved so they could use the bathroom and looking at them being that fat you could tell they were not happy
 

ducks4you

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Chickens are more wasteful, since they love to scratch in their feed bowl and throw it everywhere and then not clean it all up. I had fat and pieces from pork steaks last night that I gave to my birds, and they were squabbling over them this morning.
Check to see that you cage is clean if your rabbit has poo stuck to his bottom. That is the usual reason for this because rabbits groom themselves, just like cats do.
 
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