Please help!! - Customized feed

[KsKingBee]

Someone posted long ago that their peas did not like rabbit food, but i never tried it, i got plenty of green stuff here for mine

For those of us who don't live in the semi-tropics and would like to add some greens to the feed, soak the alfalfa pellets in water for a few hours so they can fluff up and add some of your regular feed to it, add some more water and stir. Your birds might be hesitant at first as it looks like they have already ate it and crapped it out, but once they taste it they will really like it.

My standard feeding starts out with two parts alfalfa pellets, one part of rolled oats, one part cat food, add water. When it is time to feed I add four parts gamebird feed, more water and stir with a paint paddle. On alternating days I will add mackerel, bananas, or chopped fresh veggies and fruits.

 

[Trefoil]

Not trying to hijack the thread but has anyone ever used rabbit food as a supplement as it has compressed alfalfa in it?

I have and still do sometimes. Unmedicated, of course

No soyabean or kelp or berries Trefoil. Fruits are banana, guava, melon, watermelon, apples, oranges, mango, plums, apricots, peaches, cocnuts etc. We have spinach

I've never tried coconut, but I didn't get any of my bumper crop of peaches last year because the peas' idea of ripeness was a week before mine. They jumped up and picked them if there weren't any on the ground. Not sure about the citrus but the other fruits they would love. Alfalfa is best fed from the bale or right out of the field if you can get it.

 

[KsKingBee]

For anyone who does not know, alfalfa 'chops' is merely baled alfalfa chopped and pulverized then compressed into a bag. The process makes even the stems edible and less waste than a bale.

My vet did recommend hanging flakes of baled alfalfa in the pen to give the birds something to do other than walk around pecking at dung and each other. Her thoughts are that alfalfa gives the birds vitamins and minerals that they miss out on during the winter.

 

[mandyok]

Where do you buy the alfalfa chops at?

 

[KsKingBee]

Where do you buy the alfalfa chops at?

Our best price is at the Co-op or feedstore, I have bought some on sale at Orschlens, and I've seen it at TSC, and Atwoods. Pretty common and 17% protein too.

 

[mandyok]

Thanks I will look for it.

 

[Garden Peas]

For anyone who does not know, alfalfa 'chops' is merely baled alfalfa chopped and pulverized then compressed into a bag. The process makes even the stems edible and less waste than a bale.

My vet did recommend hanging flakes of baled alfalfa in the pen to give the birds something to do other than walk around pecking at dung and each other. Her thoughts are that alfalfa gives the birds vitamins and minerals that they miss out on during the winter.

I'm with you up to here, and I like alfalfa pellets as a product. But I once, and one time only, bought a bag of alfalfa cubes (sounds a bit like your chops) to supplement an older horse, cuz the store was out of alfalfa pellets that I had previously been feeding. I took one look at the stuff that came out of the bag and gave it to a neighbor to feed to goats or range calves or something... I wouldn't have fed it to a horse on a bet. The cube thingies were gross looking. Then I went back to soaking alfalfa pellets for the old horse.

But I dunno exactly what your "chops" are... maybe it's something less disgusting?

 

[KsKingBee]

I'm with you up to here, and I like alfalfa pellets as a product. But I once, and one time only, bought a bag of alfalfa cubes (sounds a bit like your chops) to supplement an older horse, cuz the store was out of alfalfa pellets that I had previously been feeding. I took one look at the stuff that came out of the bag and gave it to a neighbor to feed to goats or range calves or something... I wouldn't have fed it to a horse on a bet. The cube thingies were gross looking. Then I went back to soaking alfalfa pellets for the old horse.

But I dunno exactly what your "chops" are... maybe it's something less disgusting?

@Garden Peas , I can't explain what it is any better than I did, sorry. It is chopped and pulverized in a loose form and bagged like you would get wood chips. It comes packed real tight like wood chips but crumbles away easily like wood chips. The stems are usually two inches or shorter and the leaves are pretty much busted down to almost dust but not quite.

One manufacturer had added molasses, the bag I am on now does not have it. The bag listed the Protein at 17%, the fats at 3.5% (? could have been 1.5%), and crude fiber at 33%.

 

[margaret8]

For anyone who does not know, alfalfa 'chops' is merely baled alfalfa chopped and pulverized then compressed into a bag.  The process makes even the stems edible and less waste than a bale.

My vet did recommend hanging flakes of baled alfalfa in the pen to give the birds something to do other than walk around pecking at dung and each other.  Her thoughts are that alfalfa gives the birds vitamins and minerals that they miss out on during the winter.

I give my birds alfalfa hay, their 18% protein laying pellets and 28% crumbies. I hope this is all they need. Oh I also planted some rye in their pen. It's about 4" high.

 

[KsKingBee]

I give my birds alfalfa hay, their 18% protein laying pellets and 28% crumbies. I hope this is all they need. Oh I also planted some rye in their pen. It's about 4" high.

Margaret, I am sure you are giving them all they need. The big guys like Legg only feed 20% mini pellets, nothing else. It's the hobbyists like us that worry and go to extremes.