Sunday, May 10, 2009

To Hay or to Not? That's the question

From a Blanc de Hotot Breeder
So much is written today about breeding, raising and how to keep your rabbit healthy. I figured I would throw in my two cents worth of opinion.
Now who am I and why should you listen to or value my advice or what I have to say?
I'm just a guy who got into rabbits because of his Daughters. That is pretty everyday and mundane, huh? My oldest Daughter wanted a rabbit and I got her a Dutch rabbit. It perished not long after we got it. That is pretty common too. My younger Daughter wanted a rabbit (now this is like 7 years later) and you can imagine what I thought. But then we started looking online at breeds and reading about rabbits and my thoughts changed.

The Blanc de Hotot caught our eyes. No pun intended. Well, maybe just a little pun. Anyway, it was a rare and endangered breed, which appealed to us and it is also a really cool looking rabbit. They have black eye bands and a luxurious fur with an interesting history. It is the only breed of rabbit developed by a woman. It comes from France. It just barely made it through World War II. Cool stuff we thought. So we searched, and I mean we searched and searched. At the time there were probably fewer than 10 Blanc de Hotot breeders in the U.S. We ended up with a buck and a doe. We acquired another doe a few months later.

You can see our rabbits on our Crystal Creek Rabbitry website. So that's enough about me.
I thought I would make my first post about what I was thinking about today. And it was a topic of discussion among a few breeders today too. That topic was:
HAY: do you need to feed it or not?

Some actually admitted they fed it out of guilt because they thought you had to. Some will never have hay in the barn because it is too messy. Some feed occasionally, maybe once to 3 times a week. Some keep hay available 24/7. Now remember we are talking about people with maybe 50 to 500 rabbits that have been raising rabbits for 10 to 50 years.

Everything you read (well most everything) on breeding and raising rabbits says "Rabbits must have hay available all the time. Their teeth grow all the time and they MUST have hay to chew on to wear their teeth down properly".


Well, if you have ever actually raised rabbits you know that is crap. Just not true. Bad teeth (malocclusion) in rabbits is an inherited genetic trait. And a rabbit with malocclusion is a terrible thing to see and should never be used in a breeding program as they can pass the trait to their offspring.
If a rabbit has good teeth, they wear their teeth down just perfect on their daily food ration.
So back to HAY. I haven't fed hay as a regular ration for over a year now and my rabbits are doing great. Now there are time when I DO feed hay and feel it is necessary.

  • In the Nest Box. Kits will start nibbling on hay or straw before their eyes are open. I think anything to get the bacteria going in their guts is a good thing. I use hay and straw in the nest. Either one or both on top of a bed of pine shavings.
  • At Weaning. Weaning enteritis is when many deaths will occur. This is at the 4-8 week age when many kits begin eating mostly solid food. The transition off the dam's milk to solid food is a dangerous time. I'll feed hay maybe twice a week.
  • During Transport. When rabbits are on the road, to a show, to a buyer, you have to move or whatever. It can be a stressful time. Stress is BAD on a rabbits digestion and disease resistance. We take empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls and stuff them with hay. Stuff them REALLY TIGHT so the hay doesn't come out at all. Put these in the carrier on a trip or at a show and it'll keep most buns busy most of the day. Some will of course shred theirs and eat the hay in a much shorter time.
  • Watery Rabbit Poop. A rabbit pellet is firm and dry. Now all rabbits will have a slightly runny poo once and a while, no biggie unless it goes on for a whole day or two. Truly watery, bubbly or explosive diarrhea is another matter and is life threatening. A water and hay diet is your first action. Remove all other food and go with hay and water.

Now the type of hay most often fed to rabbits is a grass mix (timothy/orchard) or a grass/alfalfa mix. Straight alfalfa is usually not fed due to the fact it has more protein and energy available. Commercial pellets are Alfalfa based, so the pellets PLUS a straight Alfalfa hay is too rich and will upset the rabbits gut bacteria (later post) and can cause enteritis or stasis and can result in death. Some will take this to the extreme and tell you "Rabbits can't have alfalfa, it will KILL them". Well, the main diet breeders used was Alfalfa and grains before pellets were developed. And remember the MAIN ingredient in pellets is Alfalfa.

It's all about balance.