Free Ranging and experimental feeding regimes

[TheSheepGirl]

A simple chicken tractor with chicken wire or another similar wire bottom to prevent digging works very well for some around here. There is a completely enclosed portion with a door to keep the rabbits warm and dry. The wire rests on the ground to allow the grass to come through.

chinnbunny, the snow does not effect rabbits very much. They are cold weather animals by nature and can handle very cold temps without much of a problem. Even kindling and raising babies they are fine as long as they pull enough hair and stay dry. There is a ferrel rabbit population near my house and they live in the snow and cold weather full time without trouble. They are all domestics that went ferrel.

 

[chinbunny1]

I came acros this. this type of tractor system is worth looking into.

http://www.raising-rabbits.com/rabbit-run.html

 

[hoodat]

I came acros this. this type of tractor system is worth looking into.

http://www.raising-rabbits.com/rabbit-run.html

I've done something like that but I make it in panels ( sides and a bottom and top panel) and then tie them together to make the pen. The advantage to that is that the run can easily be taken down and the panels stacked against a fence or wall when not in use. It works OK but it's a lot of trouble to keep up with and as someone already stated you cannot keep as close an eye on your buns as you can in cages. I also used chicken wire except on the bottom panel to cut down the costs and make them lighter.

 

[chinbunny1]

I came acros this. this type of tractor system is worth looking into.

http://www.raising-rabbits.com/rabbit-run.html

I've done something like that but I make it in panels ( sides and a bottom and top panel) and then tie them together to make the pen. The advantage to that is that the run can easily be taken down and the panels stacked against a fence or wall when not in use. It works OK but it's a lot of trouble to keep up with and as someone already stated you cannot keep as close an eye on your buns as you can in cages. I also used chicken wire except on the bottom panel to cut down the costs and make them lighter.

So do I, except the dog caes. Mine are all open bottomed. i don't leave mine in them 24/7 cause they will dig out, or something will attack them.

 

[dottysfarm]

If the economy fails any further, they want to be able to produce feed for the rabbits and in turn themselves without needing to find a pellet supplier.

Right now I have only one rabbit and she is a pet. I am considering raising meat rabbits and have researched some of this... but I just wanted to tell you my current experience. My rabbit eats what the chickens eat. She gets grains and some corn and hay. I plan to raise alfalfa and clover for her. I have an amazing book that you might want to suggest to your friends. I also have the urge to be as self sustainable as possible and this book tells you pretty much everything. It is called "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery. The book is just HUGE and is very reasonably priced for its size.

Just fyi, I am "kinda" anti-cage... and I am also very into the idea of free-range... I am also really into self sustainability and the environment... I really like the ideas of farmers like Joel Salatin. Just so you know where my biast is coming from. I do not hold anything against people for how they raise their animals as long as the animals themselves are happy and killed humanely

Hope this helps

 

[hoodat]

In much of Europe, and especially France, they hit a happy medium. Rabbits are normally caged but largely fed on gathered greens. You will see them alongside the roads with hand sickles cutting the grass. It's a rare road in France that needs the shoulders mowed by the highway maintainance. Families have stretches of road that are "theirs" and are very protective against "trespassers".
Of course free food is wonderful but it's hard to keep track of their diet. The quality of the wild greens varies with the time of year and weather. People that have done so for generations are experts in grasses and weeds and their nutrition values.
OTOH even the highest quality rabbit pellets contain small pesticide residues and they all contain GMO ingredients so natural greens gets away from that. The only way around that is organic rabbit pellets and they are prohibitively expensive.

 

[MsPony]

Oxbow's regular line IS organic, they do everything organically and non-GMO. But the organic laws are hard and because the farms around them aren't organic, they can't be labeled as such.

My rabbits eat mainly hay, they "free range" in my house so I set up "hay stations" that consist of timothy, oat, meadow grass, botanical and alfalfa for the baby. They get pellets twice a day, as the baby eats everything right away. Otherwise my adult doe grazes over a couple days on *maybe* a cup total of pellets. My rabbits aren't fat at all, because I don't feed them green matter or high amounts of grain. If you want a fat rabbit, feed them greens and grain (which you will also get hairball and impaction deaths.)