There are many things a rabbit can eat. Most of them low to no cost. My favorite words. You can gather most grass, apple and other veggies from your garden for your rabbit, but any sudden changes in diet should be avoided and you should take care to feed your rabbits a balanced diet of what ever it is you are feeding.

Here on the farm we follow a few guidelines when feeding any animal. First off is to ensure that the animal and in turn by eating the animal that we are getting healthy, wholesome meat without chemical, or hormonal additives. Secondly is to feed a cost efficient and healthy diet. And in that train of thought, not feeding the animal past it's optimal butchering stage.

Obviously rabbit pellets are available from most feed stores and it's always good to feed them those if you can get them without any hormones or chemical additives. We are fortunate here and our feed store specializes in 'whole' feeds.

Even commercial pellets that claim they are a complete diet for the rabbits can be supplemented and balanced in the rabbits favor and in your financial favor with treats and offerings from the garden..

Good food doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. Grass, straw, and horse or feed quality hay, apple slices, cucumbers, the greens from most any root crop such as radishes, beets or carrots, clover from the yard, broccoli, cabbage, celery, lettuce, basil, chicory, dandelions, dill, and parsley just to name a few.

You can give an unlimited amount of hay. In the wild rabbits eat mainly grass. So as long as your feeding pesticide free grass, its a good diet for your rabbit.

Make SURE that the grass you are feeding hasn't been treated with pesticides or herbicides prior to feeding. They are toxic even in small quantities for your rabbits

No garden?. Even if you don't have a backyard, some greens can be grown in pots and raised right along with your rabbits. Loose leaf lettuce grows quickly and well in pots. Carrot tops grow well in pots as do parsley and even small quantities of hay.

Treats, like strawberries, blackberries, and raisins can fed sparingly. We occasionally supply our rabbits with oats or sweet feed.

Rolled oats can fed occasionally as well in limited amounts.

The goal is NOT to have a fat rabbits. FAT rabbits do not breed. They get lazy about mating.

In theory you should let your rabbit consume as much food as it wants in about a 20 minute period. We keep pellets and water available to the rabbits at all time, and we feed twice a day here. Real food in the late evenings, treats/fresh hay in the early morning when we do first rounds.

Most of the protein a rabbit gets comes from it's predominate food source which should be hay or pellets. The other things are like candy to a baby and are irresistible.

We have no feed bill to speak of when it comes to the rabbits. I keep a supply of pellets on hand, and use them as a last resort. Keep in mind that if you feed pellets that they lose nutritional value upon storing as do most feeds.

During the garden and fruiting seasons we dry veggies from the garden and grow our timothy hay which we cut by hand and store for the rabbits for wintering. Hay should be cut into 3 inch or about 4 centimeter sections so the rabbits can handle it better.

Water is a must. Rabbits won't eat without water. A fresh water supply should always be in the cage with your rabbit regardless. We use bowls only because they are cheap. We picked them up at yard sales, took some straight from old sets of dishes and they are not the best answer. But they are cheap. And the kids go out and refill them frequently.

A better answer for someone NOT planning on attending to the rabbits as frequently as we do would be better off buying pop bottle founts or investing in a large 32 ounce rabbit bottle that hangs on the cage.

You can monitor your rabbits growth by use of a set of digital or kitchen scales. Optimal butchering size is supposedly 4 lbs, give or take. There is no science to 'the right time'. Depending on the breed of rabbit, you don't want to wait past the point to where it no longer serves a purpose to feed the rabbit.

My breeders are a different story. I will feed them till they are no longer productive, and if their production drops, they too join the food chain and are replaced with a younger or different line.

There is a list of foods that are poisonous to rabbits, our next article will cover those.
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