Has anyone ever tried feeding rabbits grains such as wheat, corn or oats as thier main source of food.

I feed mine fresh corn, husks and all and they love it but you can not store fresh corn for long. I can grow my own wheat and corn to feed them along with the hay if posible to save money.

-- Robert Paul (rabbits_ca@yahoo.com), September 15, 2000

Answers

We bought a young buck this year from the Amish. The guy fed his rabbits pellets but mixed in corn in the winter and oats in the summer. He said the corn was harder to digest and helped keep them warmer and that oats helped keep them cooler. I've never heard this before but all his stock looked really healthy and he must have had about 200 rabbits.

-- sallyp (sally@cvalley.net), September 15, 2000.

In his book, Raising Rabbits The Modern Way, Bob Bennett includes a number of feed supplements for rabbits, include corn, wheat and oats. He gives this formula used by a past presient of the American Rabbit Breeders Assn.:

Mix six quarts of oats, one quart of wheat, one quart of sunflower seed, one quart of barley (whole if available, otherwise crimped) and one quart of kaffir corn when it is available. Add a quart of Terramycin crumbles to the feed once a week. Feed one part of this mixture to three parts of pellets daily. He fed the mix in the morning and pellets in the evening since some rabbits can be very picky about what they eat if given too many choices.

(Note: I do not know of a kaffir corn. I think he might have been referring to Kafir grain, which is from Sorghum.)

Rabbit pellets have been developed to fit the specific needs of rabbits. They probably include alfalfa hay for high quality roughage; special sources of protein, including some of animal origin; phosphorous, calcium, essential trace minerals and source of necessary vitamins.

I would think any corn fed should be cracked to increase digestability.

On growing your own, unless you are a large-scale, commercial grower, I doubt it would be economical when ingredients are readily available at any feed store or mill.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 15, 2000.