I asked this question in misc.rural already, but want to run it by a few more people. Can meat/fur rabbits survive if they are being fed a diet that is mostly lawn clippings? I am upset that I waste so much time and lawn grass due to all this mandatory lawn trimming, and am thinking about having rabbits between months of May/October, or some such, and feed them lawn trimmings. will it work?
I already own two chickens and they are doing great, even in -5F weather, in an unheated shed.
i
I can't believe anyone feeds rabbits, the bane of gardens. I feed mine steel pellets delivered via slingshot.
Well, you can feed them fresh grass clippings, as long as it's not contaminated with pesticide/herbicides. But rabbits need a varied diet. Alfalfa, weeds, vegetables, carrots, apples, potato peels, grain, a bit of salt: Mix those in with the grass and the rabbits should be ok.
You can always compost the clippings or use them for mulch, too...
Have you asked the chickens about that?
I hope you've got plenty of straw and bedding materials in there they can burrow into to retain body heat. Lots of food and unfrozen water, too.
FW
My sister's pet rabbit never ate much grass, but it liked dandelion leaves. So if you have weedy grass... Rabbits will eat seemingly anything including sofa, base board and electrical cords. (Hers had the run of the house. Luckily they can be trained to use a box like a cat.) They go apesh*t over African violet leaves and raisins. They'll eat the crumbs from your cereal boxes (not to mention the box itself). There are some things that you shouldn't give them including potatoes if I remember correctly.
--Art
I lived next door to rabbit-for-food owners for a coupla years. My understanding from people who raise other livestock is that grass is not varied enough for much of any animal, all by itself. I'd compost the grass, use it to grow other things, feed the other things to the rabbits. My neighbors fed the rabbits all of their edible vegetable kitchen clippings.
What makes you think they are doing great? Try this experiment: Put on layers of clothing to replicate what you think the chickens are protected with. Go outside in sub-freezing weather. Sit in an unheated shed. Come back in the Spring and tell us that you did great and I will believe that the chickens are ok. Ok?
Fito
Rabbits can't live on grass clippings alone and should not be fed any that have been chemically treated with pesticides or fertilizers. Get a mulching lawn mower - you have to mow the lawn anyway and at least with a mulching mower you are returnig the clippings back to the lawn where they act as a natural fertilizer. Less waste, better for your lawn and no nutritionaly deprived bunnies to worry about.
Or you could get a goat.
pam - gardengal
I am not a chicken...
What makes me think that they are doing great is the fact that they look nice and make 2 eggs per day. They have non-frozen water at all times because I bought a "heated pet bowl" at walmart fr them, and I insert my waterer into the bowl. It was on sale for $5, I cannot believe it.
They also have plenty of bedding, which is just leaves from my trees that I collected in the fall. Non-frozen food, as well (not rock hard frozen, I would say).
i
Hmmm,
Fito, I live in Minnesota.
Now, there are birds who live here throughout the year, including the deepest part of winter. One of those, for instance, is a thing called a pheasant. Another is the wild turkey. Yet another is a thing called the prairie chicken. All, like a chicken, are primarily ground dwellers.
Now, I do go outside in the winter here, quite regularly, and do get around. In fact this morning, as is my usual habit, I was up and about at 4 am and out taking a little jog by 4:15. Just enough to shake the kinks out and loosen up my somewhat aging joints, and get the blood flowing. At age 55 I'm finding that when I don't limber up, shake things out and loose, this aging bod feels like crap and has difficulty waking up and coming alive.
Anyway, nice morning. Calm, peaceful, a refreshing minus 8 degrees fahrenheit if I'm to believe my outdoor thermometer. Very peaceful jog, especially as I live in the country (rural).
Wanna know something? I know my area, in which I live. Know it well. Know where some local wild turkey live. And pheasant. Etc.
Strange as it may seem, evidently none of them seemed to think it was all that cold. I'm speculating of course.
But I sure didn't see any vapors rising from the furnaces of the wild turkeys or pheasant.
And I'm a right friendly neighbor, and they know that as I don't take pot shots at them or chase em or anything. And they could easily see exhaust vapors rising from the exhaust pipe of my furnace. So I'm presuming it's not a matter of them having run out of fuel oil or propane in their turkey and pheasant houses. Otherwise one might expect they'd come knocking on this neighbor's door, saying "Burrrrrr .... might we come in and warm up neighbor?"
I'm being tongue in cheek, of course.
You're comment is ridiculous, so I was responding in kind.
That fellow's chickens, if he's provided them wind breaks, adequate roof so that they can stay dry, acceptable bedding materials, and decent food. Are just fine. Provided he assures they have or can get liquid water. A wild bird has the option of searching for water. A caged one does not.
In fact his chickens probably are quite happy to feel relatively safe from fox, coyote, wolf, bobcat, or cougar, etc.
I take that back, as they've almost certainly never been wild, they've likely never had to learn to fear such wild and natural predators.
And as he provides them plentiful food, if he does, for a critter, they're probably fat, happy, and sassy. Figuring they have a pretty easy life. As compared to their cousins. Most of whom will die very early in their lives, never seeing maturity at all.
You should think before posting material which might cause others to wonder if yah know a damned thing about the animals you say you care so much about.
Bob
Before reading any other posts about how I may be wrong, please accept my apologies for my sarcastic response. It just SEEMS too cold for them. I dont have chickens so what do I know.
Fito
I wont begin to make legitimate argument on a subject a know little about. Now that I look back at my response I did sound like someone from PETA. Either way, thanks for your response. It was enlightening. Do I still believe the chickens are better off unheated? Nah. Are they being hurt? I wouldnt think not. I guess my view arises from the picture of what -5 degree feels like. We dont too much of it here in NYC but when we do, Brrr!
Fito
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My neighbor too, plus some hay, and the rabbits are fat and healthy. They are a large family who eat their veggies, so they produce about a gallon of scraps per day. Some of the stuff is obvious, like carrot tops, but the rabbits eat bread and apple, potato and banana peels too. They will happily eat discarded groceries, like half rotten apples or past -its-prime lettuce. Anything except orange peels or other weird stuff, like pineapple tops. They do love dandelions and clover from the yard, but do not care much for clippings, though I think they will eat them if they are the only green they get. If one is to serve them scraps and pesticide-free, very fresh grass clippings (cut grass goes bad in a day) perhaps a little high energy dry food (like oats) will make their diet balanced. Rabbits really are the cheapest meat to raise. Too bad the racoons like them as well.
Will a goat survive on lawn clippings?
these kinds of chickens are very cold resistant. I could not believe it myself at first. the important thing is not to have drafts.
i
these kinds of chickens are very cold resistant. I could not believe it myself at first. the important thing is not to have drafts.
i
I provide them plenty of food. When it's warm, it is my leftovers, which I boil for them into a srt of a soup. When it's cold,m it is dry chicken feed.
I also have a heated pet bowl where I insert the waterer.
They live in a wind protecting shed.
i
thanks for the info.
iif you put on a feather/down jacket, like chickens have, you could also survive -5f.
I have a 2.5 kid and we take him for 40min-1 hr walks in -5f.
i
Yes, certainly it will work. Raise a litter of large rabbits and raise them on grass clippings. Slaughter most of them in fall for food. Keep your core breeding animals to raise a couple more litters next year.
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