Does this sound balanced nutritionally?

[BarredBuff]

Chicken/Duck Diet
Cracked Corn and Sunflower Seeds
Free Choice oyster shell
Wheat and Oat Sprouts
Free Range (I have lots of range for them now, grass is still fairly green and under the heavy leave mulch grubs, etc. are there)
**This is not all they get but does it sound balanced?
Rabbit Diet
Custom Rabbit Mash
**Cornmeal
**Sunflower Meal
**Ground Pellets
Hay
Wheat and Oat Sprouts
Apple Branches

 

[Wannabefree]

It sounds balanced to me so long as the hens are getting free choice oyster shell just in case there isn't enough calcium. Looks like you've included fat and protein though. It'd help to know how much of each thing you are mixing.

 

[BarredBuff]

It sounds balanced to me so long as the hens are getting free choice oyster shell just in case there isn't enough calcium. Looks like you've included fat and protein though. It'd help to know how much of each thing you are mixing.

I forgot to add oyster shell to the list....its on there now.

 

[BarredBuff]

I forgot to add that the chickens always eat the scraps from the previous days.....

 

[Wannabefree]

sounds like whatever they don't get from you, they'll get from range, to balance out their nutrition. Good job!

 

[BarredBuff]

sounds like whatever they don't get from you, they'll get from range, to balance out their nutrition. Good job!

They get flock raiser for now but after that I may convert their feather fannies to all of this. Thanks Wannabefree!

 

[MsPony]

Are the rabbits getting as much hay as possible? Is it timothy or grass? They should be getting a SMALL amount of the mash each day. Rabbits (lagomorphs) are miniature horses digestively, only worse because they get hairballs that are hard to pass and food gets stuck around it.

 

[BarredBuff]

Are the rabbits getting as much hay as possible? Is it timothy or grass? They should be getting a SMALL amount of the mash each day. Rabbits (lagomorphs) are miniature horses digestively, only worse because they get hairballs that are hard to pass and food gets stuck around it.

I need to do better on the foilage, the hay is grass and timothy. When my sprouts come in better they will get tons of foilage..........

 

[MsPony]

They will need tons of dry matter too. I get a 7lb bag for a 4lb rabbit for like 4.99 or top quality Oxbow hay that lasts me almost two months. My local feed store sells by the flake, I'd see if your does too. Its also important to keep their stomach acids moving, as they are intended to eat all the time (grazers) and therefor their stomach acid never stomach production. In horses, this is where you get ulcers.

The twigs and branches are good, it will help wear down their teeth like the hay will.

 

[FarmerDenise]

As far as the chickens go, as long as they get to go out and forage all day, they barely need anything else. My grandmother just made sure they had some high quality forage available to them and she fed them grains in the evening in order to get them to come home to roost. She didn't have oystershell available to her and used dandelion greens for its calcium and other vitamins and minerals. She also gave her chickens wood ashes to use as they pleased, mostly for insect control though.

As far as the rabbit goes, I would like to add that timothy hay is high in silica and therefore is great for keeping the rabbits teeth worn down. At least that is what our vet told us. It is also good to always give your rabbit wood sticks. We give apple and grape most of the time. Some people say peach, plum and cherry is toxic, but I have been giving my rabbit peach and plum wood for years, before I knew that it might be toxic. You may want to do your own research on what wood is ok for the rabbit to eat.