What to Feed Rabbits: Pellets, Hay and Rations for Breeders

A production rabbit is fed a complete pelleted ration carrying 12–18% crude protein and at least 14–15% crude fibre, alongside long-stem hay and drinking water that is never restricted. Daily amounts run from roughly 120 g (4 oz) of pellets for a resting adult, through 110–130 g (4–4.6 oz) per head for growing fryers, up to 350–380 g (12–13 oz) for a doe and the litter she is nursing.

Everything below is written for people running a rabbitry, where feed is the largest single cost and the ration has to deliver growth rate, milk yield and conception on a schedule.

Pet guidance from welfare bodies reflects a different goal, and it is not wrong. The RSPCA describes roughly 85% hay and grass, 10% leafy greens and 5% pellets, and the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund caps commercial food at 15 g per kilogram of bodyweight. Those ratios keep a sedentary animal lean for a long life. A doe raising eight kits cannot meet her energy demand on that split, which is why production rations put pellets at the centre and use hay as the fibre supplement.

Four figures decide whether a ration works: crude protein, crude fibre, crude fat and digestible energy. Get those into band and the amino acid and mineral picture usually follows from the ingredient mix. Get fibre wrong and nothing else will save the grow-out.

FAO's reference composition for intensively reared rabbits sets crude protein at 13% for resting adults, 16% for growing rabbits and pregnant does, and 18% in lactation. The MSD Veterinary Manual gives a comparable ladder: 12% at maintenance, 15% in gestation, 16% for growth, 17% in lactation, with digestible protein three to four points lower in each case.

Fat sits at about 3% across all classes, which is what cereal and oilseed meal deliver without deliberate fat addition. Energy is the lever separating the classes, and voluntary intake tracks it: an energy-dense pellet is eaten in smaller amounts, a dilute one in larger amounts, up to the limit of gut fill.

• Crude protein — 13% resting adult, 16% growing rabbit and pregnant doe, 18% lactating doe (FAO)
• Crude fibre — 14% for growers, 12% for lactating does, with at least 10% of the ration as indigestible crude fibre (FAO)
• Crude fat — approximately 3% across all classes (FAO)
• Digestible energy — 2 200 kcal/kg maintenance, 2 500 kcal/kg growth, 2 600 kcal/kg lactation (FAO)
• Voluntary intake — a 4 kg (8.8 lb) adult eats 140–150 g (5–5.3 oz) of dry matter a day; a doe in lactation can exceed 100 g of dry matter per kilogram of liveweight (FAO)

Fibre is not filler. It sets the rate at which digesta moves through the tract and feeds the caecal population that produces the soft pellets a rabbit reingests. The MSD Veterinary Manual puts the working figure near 15% crude fibre to keep intestinal motility up, and states that low-fibre diets raise the incidence of intestinal problems such as enterotoxemia. FAO requires at least 10% of the ration as indigestible crude fibre in every class.

The measure on the bag is coarser than the measure that matters. Reviewing the fibre literature for growing rabbits, Gidenne recommends a minimum of 18% lignocellulose as acid detergent fibre, more than 5% lignin, and a digestible-fibre-to-ADF ratio below 1.3. Crude fibre and ADF are different analyses, and ADF is the tighter constraint, so 15–16% crude fibre on a tag is a floor rather than a comfortable margin. Two pellets with identical crude fibre can behave very differently depending on where that fibre came from.

What happens below the line is documented. In an experimental model of epizootic rabbit enteropathy, a diet at 9.49% crude fibre, 13.27% ADF and 21% NDF triggered disease where 13.59% crude fibre, 17.98% ADF and 30% NDF did not; post-weaning morbidity can reach 100% and mortality 30–80% without medication. Clostridium spiroforme enterotoxemia hits hardest between four and eight weeks and is seen less often where high-fibre diets are fed. Indigestible fibre also appears to bind bacterial toxins and carry them out in the hard faeces.

One ration fed to every hutch is the commonest setup in small and medium rabbitries, and it is always a compromise.

The sharpest conflict is between lactation and weaning. A doe in peak milk needs the highest energy and protein density on the farm and tolerates the lowest fibre, 12% in the FAO table. Her kits eat that same feed from about three weeks old, and they are the animals most vulnerable to enteric disease at four to eight weeks. If you run one ration, formulate it for the kits: a doe recovers on the next cycle, a dead litter does not.

Two-ration systems feed a lactation pellet in the nest hutches and a higher-fibre maintenance pellet to bucks, dry does and replacement stock. The cost is a second bin and the discipline to keep the bags apart. The benefit is that bucks and dry does stop eating an energy-dense pellet they do not need, which is where over-conditioning starts.

• Resting adult and buck — 13% crude protein, about 2 200 kcal/kg, roughly 120 g (4 oz) a day; fibre can and should run at the high end
• Pregnant doe — 16% crude protein, intake climbing through the last third of gestation, still below lactation demand
• Doe in lactation with litter — 18% crude protein, 12% crude fibre, about 2 600 kcal/kg; the highest-demand animal on the farm
• Growing fryer, 4–11 weeks — 16% crude protein, 14% crude fibre, about 2 500 kcal/kg; the class where a fibre shortfall shows up as mortality
• Replacement doe in rearing — deliberately restricted rather than free-choice, to avoid over-conditioning before first mating

Washington State University Extension's guide to feed tags lists what a label must carry: brand and product name, a statement of intended purpose naming the species and animal class, the guaranteed analysis, ingredients, feeding directions, warnings, manufacturer and net weight. If a rabbit feed tag does not name rabbits and a production class, you are guessing.

The most misread part is the guaranteed analysis, because the guarantees run in two directions. Crude protein and crude fat are minimums: the feed holds at least that much. Crude fibre and acid detergent fibre are maximums: no more than that. A bag guaranteeing 16% crude fibre is not promising 16% fibre, only that fibre will not exceed it. For an animal whose main disease risk is a fibre shortfall, the guarantee points the wrong way.

Ingredients run in descending order by weight, and the wording shows how stable the formula is. Collective terms such as grain products or roughage products signal an open formula: the nutrient guarantee holds while individual feedstuffs are swapped as prices move, so two bags with the same tag can be visibly different. Closed formulas keep ingredients fixed. Energy is not a required guarantee, so the kcal/kg figures above never appear on the bag.

• Crude protein — stated as a minimum, %
• Crude fat — stated as a minimum, %
• Crude fibre — stated as a maximum, %
• Acid detergent fibre — stated as a maximum, %
• Calcium, phosphorus, salt and sodium — both a minimum and a maximum
• Ingredients — descending order by weight; collective terms indicate an open, price-driven formula
• Feeding directions and warnings — including withdrawal times where the feed is medicated

Pellets are ground before extrusion, and ground fibre does not do the same mechanical job as long fibre. That is the argument for free-choice hay even in a pellet system: timothy hay supplies around 30–35% fibre, well above anything a complete pellet carries, and free-choice hay or straw is listed among the measures that reduce enterotoxemia in young stock. Straw is cheaper and covers the chewing and fibre function while contributing almost nothing nutritionally.

One production exception is worth naming. Penn State Extension advises against feeding hay to Angora rabbits because the dust contaminates the wool and lowers its grade; in an Angora barn the long-fibre requirement has to be met inside the pellet.

Green forage is the cheapest source of variety but needs a short list of what goes in and what stays out. New greens go in gradually and in small amounts: the RSPCA's wording is that sudden dietary change upsets a rabbit's digestive system, and a production animal is no different in that respect.

• Generally suitable — broccoli, spring greens, parsley, dandelion, carrot tops, apple, hazel and raspberry leaves; vary them and keep single-plant portions small
• Treat as sugar, not forage — carrot roots and fruit, no more than once or twice a week
• Keep away — buttercup, foxglove, ragwort, hemlock, deadly and woody nightshade, potato and tomato plants, rhubarb leaves, yew, privet, ivy, holly, hellebore, comfrey, poppy
• All bulb plants are off the list — daffodil, tulip, bluebell, crocus, hyacinth, snowdrop
• Treat every house plant as toxic and keep it out of reach
• Never lawnmower clippings; hand-cut grass is a different thing

Water decides how much feed gets eaten, which makes a watering fault a production problem before it is a welfare one. The MSD Veterinary Manual puts normal intake at approximately 120 mL per kilogram of bodyweight per day. FAO reports that during lactation this climbs to 200–250 g per kilogram of liveweight a day, and Penn State Extension's rule of thumb is that a doe and her litter need about 3.8 L (1 gallon) a day in warm weather.

Restrict the water and dry matter intake falls in proportion. FAO is explicit that where the only feed is dry, under 14% moisture, and no drinking water is provided, dry matter intake falls to nil within twenty-four hours. A nipple drinker blocked by limescale or a frozen line is a full feed stoppage, not a partial one.

Temperature moves intake the other way, by enough to plan around: FAO records 182 g of pelleted feed a day at 5°C against 123 g at 30°C, with meal frequency falling from 37 meals a day at 10°C to 27 at 30°C. Rabbits take most feed and water in the dark, so both need to be continuously available rather than offered on a morning round.

These are starting points, not prescriptions. Breed size, ambient temperature, pellet energy density and free-choice hay all move them, and the sources disagree by a useful margin: FAO's figures come from intensive systems on complete pellets, Penn State Extension's from heavier commercial breeds. Where they differ, start low, weigh a week of refusals, and adjust.

Doing that arithmetic for one hutch is easy. Doing it across thirty does, their litters and a rolling grow-out population, then turning it into a monthly feed order and a cost per weaned kit, is where most rabbitries stop measuring and start guessing. RabbitBreeder's free feed calculator at /feed-calculator converts these per-animal rates into a ration and a cost per animal, using the same FAO reference bands quoted here.

One habit beats any table: weigh, do not scoop. A scoop calibrated on one brand will not deliver the same mass of a denser pellet from another mill.

• Buck or dry doe, 3.5–4.5 kg (7.7–9.9 lb) — FAO gives 120 g (4 oz) a day as maintenance for a 4 kg rabbit; Penn State Extension suggests 170–225 g (6–8 oz) for commercial breeds. Start low if hay is free-choice
• Doe in gestation, 4–5 kg (8.8–11 lb) — a 16% protein ration, intake rising through the last third; FAO's voluntary intake for a 4 kg adult is 140–150 g (5–5.3 oz) of dry matter a day
• Doe nursing a litter — 350–380 g (12–13 oz) a day for doe and litter combined, or simply full feed; intake can exceed 100 g of dry matter per kg of liveweight
• Fryers, 4–11 weeks — 110–130 g (4–4.6 oz) per animal per day on a 16% protein, 14% fibre ration
• Replacement doe in rearing — 80–85% of free-choice intake, back to full feed 7–8 days before first mating at 17–18 weeks
• Water — about 120 mL per kg of bodyweight a day, 200–250 mL per kg in lactation; a doe and litter may need 3.8 L (1 gallon) a day in warm weather

Changing feed overnight is the first. The caecal microbial population takes days to adjust, and the RSPCA advises introducing new foods gradually and in small amounts because sudden change upsets the digestive system. The enteropathy work above shows why: dropping crude fibre from 13.59% to 9.49% shifted the microbial community across the whole tract. Blend old and new pellet over several days, and never let a mill change coincide with weaning.

Overfeeding replacement does is the second, and it is routinely mistaken for bad genetics. Szendrő and colleagues report that overfeeding young females before first mating leads to fattiness, and that restricting intake to 80–85% of free-choice consumption, then lifting the restriction seven to eight days before first mating at seventeen to eighteen weeks, improved conception in several trials. A doe over-conditioned at first service is the classic repeat-miss.

Mouldy feed is the third, under-appreciated because the damage is chronic rather than dramatic. Surveying rabbit and chinchilla feeds, Greco and colleagues found mould counts up to 4.7 × 10⁵ CFU/g with 14% of samples above the hygienic quality limit, and detected aflatoxins, fumonisins and zearalenone in 100% of samples, ochratoxin A and T-2 toxin in 98% and deoxynivalenol in 95%, with more than one toxin present in every sample. Rabbits are among the species most sensitive to these compounds; reported effects are reduced intake, delayed growth and reproductive damage. Buy in quantities you will use within weeks, store dry and off the floor, and discard anything caked or musty.

Grass clippings are the fourth and the most avoidable. The Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund is unambiguous that lawn clippings should never be fed because they ferment very quickly and can be extremely harmful, and the RSPCA gives the same warning. Hand-cut grass is genuinely useful forage; the problem is the mower, where heat and crushing start fermentation in the collection bag long before the grass reaches the hutch.

None of these four is visible in a single week. Feed batch, the date of a ration change and the litters that followed only become an explanation after a bad month, which is the argument for logging them against each litter in RabbitBreeder as they happen.