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Poultry pellets and rabbits (advice needed please)

Plio77

Young Bun
Hi all:wave:

I am seeking some advice and feel i will get the best of that here with the question i have.

I have just returned home from an animal park that opened up near me just over a year ago. I am very concerned as there are rabbits being kept there and they are living with many different types of poultry and exotic birds. They did originally have their own runs with shelters, quite spacious but they dug into each others runs and well, bred like rabbits! The result there was there were lots of baby rabbits and also the vet confirmed cocccidiosis (excuse spelling) so some rabbits were lost and the rest were treated and the rest neutered (this information i gained from talking to one of the staff). Now the rabbits are living in similar type runs but its also where the poultry and birds are kept as their original runs are being left to make sure its clear of disease i was told?
So when i went today i saw rabbits and birds together , probably nothing to worry about? Again im not sure. My concern is more however their diet. The birds have their pelleted food and flakes of corn mixed in. The rabbits had (again confirmed by the staff member because i knew by looking at the food it was nothing ive seen before) PONY PELLETS and NO HAY whatsoever :cry:. I am sad because just literally accross the way the cattle were munching the most beatutiful smelling hay. The staff member said the head keeper advised the pony pellets/cubes for the rabbits and was visibly shocked to learn how important hay is to rabbits and said she would remedy this. I waited a couple of hours and returned , again no hay so i grabbed a huge amount from the bottom of the cattles manger and threw it in and the rabbits were delighted, actually the birds were clucking around it too. So apart from vegetables which didnt look fresh, the rabbits had these pony pellets things but nearly all of them seemed to be eating the bird pellets. I am almost sure there is copper or something very bad for rabbits in poultry pellets so am wondering what anyone else knows about this diet and the long term effects for the buns i saw today. Thet didnt look like energetic or nourished rabbits at all and she told me also that they are still losing the 'odd one' but i wonder if mabye there are more than this.

Sorry for not probabaly explaining this too well but if anyone can give me advise i would be very grateful. I did try to speak to the head keeper but he was too busy and sent back a message the pony pellets are fine for rabbits.
Thank you for reading and i appreciate so much any advice, wisdom or help from anyone.
Liz x
 
I do believe that rabbits can catch the red mite off poultry and it is very hard to treat! I have seen a picture of a rabbit with this condiition annd it was horrifying. Also young rabbits would possibly pick up allergens from the poultry which their underdeveloped immune system wont be able to cope with. This is very bad practice., with no respect for the poor rabbits.
 
I have heard this about red mite too, as I am in prep stages of getting chickens as pets and have been doing research... I would never put them in with the rabbits because of this and of course that the bunnies would inevitably eat chicken feed and vice versa. Plus the poultry, what ever they may be, would probably peck at the bunnies and the bunnies might bite them too. Its not really a very natural situation I would say. I hope after what you have told them that they will get some more hay in there for those buns :( xx Hopefully someone else can add more info about the diet...
 
I have heard this about red mite too, as I am in prep stages of getting chickens as pets and have been doing research... I would never put them in with the rabbits because of this and of course that the bunnies would inevitably eat chicken feed and vice versa. Plus the poultry, what ever they may be, would probably peck at the bunnies and the bunnies might bite them too. Its not really a very natural situation I would say. I hope after what you have told them that they will get some more hay in there for those buns :( xx Hopefully someone else can add more info about the diet...

When we got our chooks they had chicken lice and red mite, I managed to get it under control really quickly and *touches wood* they have never had it since (but I regularly treat with frontline and the coup with Indorex spray so dont get a problem). I would hate to think of bunnies getting red mite and how it would make them feel:shock:
 
Thank you all for your replies:) I hadnt even thought of the mite, now theres more to worry me. I do agree it is very bad practice and there isnt any respect for the rabbits involved. I am going to phone them tomorrow and tell them my concerns and i will re visit the place at the weekend when im off work again and try and get somewhere with regards to the rabbit's welfare. I am trying to find out exactly the brand of poultry feed they use so i can get the exact ingredients and progress from there also.

Thanks again and i will update as i find out more:wave:
 
Rspca?

Maybe it's worth a call to the RSPCA as well...I know they are sometimes slow at coming out but they may listen to them more especially if they know they may get fined or closed down.
 
I do know people who have kept rabbits and chickens together before, and the vet okayed this. They had a very large area, were checked for any problems regually and were fine together. However the diet worries me a LOT. The fact that the keeper didn't know rabbits eat hay is very worrying. I would kick up a stink about the diet... they're called pony nuts for a reason!
 
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