Rabbit alfalfa pellets for chickens? good or bad.

[Nemo]

We've been using the cubes. A few times a week, we put a couple handfuls in a bowl and soak them in water. When they've plumped up, we dump them in the treats bowls. The chooks don't go crazy over them, but they do get eaten in a day or two.

 

[chicken_dude]

Poultry mash and pellets are mostly alfalfa. Grain is the second ingredient. Rabbit pellets are okay when fed to chickens. However they dont have enough calories for chickens in the long run.

 

[Akane]

Rabbit pellets have more calories than scratch. Personally I think scratch is a worthless treat. There are so much better things.

The salt and other ingredients is why I was thinking of getting straight alfalfa. It shouldn't be salty unless the hay was salted to cure faster. Commonly done in wet climates for cheap hay but not very healthy for the animals. If the hay tastes salty I wouldn't use it.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Dont use rabbit pellets, as they can have other additives in them. I use Pure Alfalfa Pellets, Producers Pride brand at tractor supply.

 

[Akane]

They should just have grains, vitamins, and minerals added besides the alfalfa. They used to put mild antibiotics and such in rabbit pellets but I haven't seen anything like that lately. Just check the ingredients. While they aren't nutritionally balanced for chickens it's not like your feeding them as the whole diet. They should be better balanced with more nutrition than scratch or corn.

 

[colby318]

I toss out a scoop of rabbit pellets every couple of days. I didn't even think to look at the salt content. They've been eating it all winter with no ill effects...OOPS!

I feed grower/finisher and cracked corn in separate feeders.

Colby in KY

 

[allisojo]

I thought I read on here somewhere that alfalfa (from the field or dried) can cause problems with an impacted crop. Don't know if that's true or not. If not, I think I might get a bale myself.

 

[katrinag]

I feed mine rabbit pellets also as a treat, they love it to death.

 

[BeardedChick]

The Merck Manual says:

Chickens can tolerate up to 0.25% salt in drinking water but are susceptible to sodium ion toxicosis when water intake is restricted. Wet mash containing 2% salt caused poisoning in ducklings. High salt content in wet mash is more likely to cause poisoning than in dry feed, probably because birds eat more wet mash.

I have alfalfa pellets for mine, but they are the unsalted type. The big horse cubes are usually unsalted, and can be soaked and fed.​

 

[Akane]

I thought I read on here somewhere that alfalfa (from the field or dried) can cause problems with an impacted crop.

Very rarely but it seems it's possible for hay to cause problems. A lot less likely than loosing a chicken to predators. However we're talking about chopped up alfalfa and the leftover leaves used in other things not baled hay. You can get the little leaves loose, cubed, or in pellets and they grind it up to use in things like rabbit and guinea pig pellets.​