Blue Seal Rabbit Pellet Compairison Part 2

I decided to write a comparison between the various types of Blue Seal rabbit pellet last month when we picked up our first bag of their new extruded 17% Show Hutch Deluxe feed. (Read that post here) To get straight to the point, and not beat around the bush: I decided to stop using it. Sorry, no geek charts this month.

All the rabbits like the feed and readily eat it. That is a good thing. However, I will list the reasons that I have stopped using it for each of the rabbits we currently have below. Some will be more obvious than other and there is other information added, not pertaining to the feed.

Giant Chinchilla: We did have 4 senior Giant Chinchilla rabbits at the start of using this feed. In addition we had 10 kits. The company website recommends the additional feeding of hay for fiber so hay was given free choice.
~ We lost Lily at the beginning of September, we supposed to old age. She never went off feed or water and seemed to eat the hay. During her last few minutes, she seemed to be in a great deal of pain (from all of the screaming that she was doing) and was biting at her side. She expired before we had time to make a decision of what we should do. We will miss her.
~ Rosebud did very well on the feed. She was back in condition, after kindling a large litter, very quickly. Her fur quality was improved and we are very happy with her.
~ Her kits started to eat the new feed and hay and their stool became soft to the point that I stopped giving it to them and switched them back to the 18% exclusively. I did try it with them for a few weeks but didn't like the direction that things were going. Since Rosebud is still with her kits she doesn't get the 17% either.
~ Apple is our other very old doe and she seemed to be doing fine with the feed and hay. I haven't seen any improvement in her condition or fur. We have also started putting her outside in a run for fresh air. That seems to be improving her attitude. She seems sad in her hutch. She is the same age as Lily and we don't really expect her to make it through the winter. If she does, she will be getting a new outside hutch with a run.
~ Cowboy was lost for an unknown reason. He is awaiting an autopsy to find the cause of death. He seemed to be doing ok with the feed and hay and then one day just stopped eating. The next day we brought him in the house to see if he would eat some treats and he expired within the hour.

Mini Rex: We picked up two Mini Rex recently for my son. Both rabbits were accustomed to hay and eat it eagerly. They seemed to be fine on the 17% feed but it was suggested that they would benefit from a lower protein feed. They have been switched to 16% and are doing fine.

Thrianta: We have acquired a pair of Thrianta for my daughter. The buck was in a molt and seems to be stuck, mid molt now that he is in our barn. He eats the feed and the hay well. It was recommended by other breeders to raise his protein and add oils to get him through his molt. The doe is doing very well and has been bred. When she kindles she will be switched to the 18%. My daughter reports that when the Thrianta have both 16% and 17% mixed, they pick out the 16% and don't touch the 17%.

Crème D'argent: At the end of August my younger daughter was gifted a beautiful junior buck from a rabbitry that uses the 17% feed, without hay, so we continued in this way. The buck had very soft stool. After a few days we offered him hay, without any change. After a week we started changing his feed to 18% with good result. After several weeks and conversations with the original breeder, she suggested that we exchange the buck for another. So now we are awaiting her next litter.

At this time we have less than half a bag of the extruded 17% Show Hutch Deluxe left. I have purchased more 16% and 18% but will not be getting any more of the 17% at this time. The rest of the bag will most likely be given away or frozen in case I want to try it again in the future.

My decision about this feed is that it is not a good grower feed or maintenance feed. Whether or not it is a good feed for intermediate or senior show stock, I can not say at this time.

Have you tried this feed? I'd love to hear what you think of it. Feel free to comment.

Accepting The Challenge

.... Or Why I'm Going To Show An Entire Litter Of Giant Chinchilla Rabbits At Our Upcoming Shows

As a way to research and look for stock in other breeds I have joined a lot of rabbit breeder pages on Facebook. In one of these groups I was attacked for petting out (selling as pets) those rabbits that I didn't want for exhibition at shows. I was accused of selling rabbits with DQs (disqualifications). No matter what I said, these people would not listen or comprehend that there was nothing wrong with the rabbits that I was selling. They insisted that I was horrible for Not eating the rabbits that I didn't want.


Do keep in mind that Giant Chinchilla rabbits are a rare breed and one of the ways that we are trying to help bring this breed back into popularity is to give then to 4-H kids, sell at shows to other exhibitors and sell them as pets while encouraging those new bunny owners to bring their new purchase to a show for exhibition themselves. We have had some success at this. There have been times that I have sold a rabbit (or a few) and the new owner showed up with it (them) at a show... and placed better than us. I actually really enjoy when that happens.


So, how does that turn into a challenge to show an entire litter of rabbits? Easy. I was being told that no one keeps all of the rabbits kits (babies) that they have because most of them have issues that would disqualify them. In fact, I was told, you are lucky to get one kit in a litter that is showable. For some breeds that may be so but not in my barn.


Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that my rabbits are so much more superior than everyone else's, (I do think they are very special though) I just want to prove that it Is possible to have an entire litter with No DQs.


Here's the story on the litter that I'm showing. They started as a litter of 11. One was lost at a few days old... and of course it was the biggest... what a sad loss. Then at a few weeks old we lost another one to a broken back. We were hoping to be able to save it but it didn't work out. This one too was a very nice size with the best fur. So, we now have 9 kits that are going on two months old. Because there were so many in the litter they are averaging about 3 oz. under weight with one being a definite runt. Their first show will be 3 days after they turn junior and I am sure they will not all make weight. All that do make weight will be shown at that time. As they make junior weight they will be entered in the next available show.


I have no doubt that they will all place at their upcoming shows and that there will, in fact, be no disqualified rabbits from this group. I'm actually very excited!

Growing Giant Chinchilla Kits

Our babies are really growing like weeds now. They are hopping all over their hutch, eating pellets and grass hay and drinking from their mother's water bottle. At 3 1/2 weeks old they are quite the cute group of hoppers.

Lily Of The Valley

Lily is one of our very first Giant Chinchilla Rabbits. She was purchased more than 6 years ago. She is now officially in retirements and is really acting like an old lady. She just sits around, no interest in running off to explore. She doesn't even need to be penned. We had her out today and she was so pretty, I had to grab a camera.

Blue Seal Rabbit Pellet Comparison Part 1

We are trying out some new feed. We generally feed our bunnies Blue Seal 16% for winter maintenance and 18% for nursing does and growing kits. Other than that it generally changes because I haven't found anything that I really love. At the county fair show, earlier this month, I was looking at some gorgeous Creme D'argents Rabbits and asked what feed was used to get that amazing fur quality and texture. Blue Seal's Show Hutch Deluxe was the answer and was followed by a long list of reasons that the owner loved this feed. So, I decided to pick some up to see how we liked it. 

I don't know about you but the first thing that I notice is the size difference in those bags. Both are 50 lbs. The one on the left is Blue Seal 18% and the one on the right is Blue Seal 17% Show. I figured that the Show Hutch Deluxe must be less dense and I was right. I weighed out a cup of each and the 18% is 5.5 oz. per cup. The 17% is 3 oz. per cup. What that means exactly in feeding my bunnies .... well, as of yet, I'm not sure. 

So far I am only feeding it to my nursing doe and kits. Their fur seems to be benefiting from the extra vitamins that are added. This particular doe had been eating 4 cups of 18% feed per day or 22 oz. I'm not giving her a hard time about it because she is back in condition and has 10 kits to feed. I'm actually very proud of her. We give treats of rolled oats, grass clippings and garden scraps but our main feed is pellets. With the new feed (17% Show) she and her kits are eating about 6 cups of feed per day, about 18 oz. Does this work out to be savings? Only time will tell.

As far as a monetary savings, that is yet to be determined. The 18% cost about $15 per 50 lb. bag and the 17% costs almost $18 per 50 lb. bag. Here's the math geek breakdown: 

% Protein Feed & $ Cost/50 lb	Oz. Per Cup	Cups Per Bag        & $ Cost/Cup	Monthly $ Cost Per Rabbit @ 11 or 12 oz/day
17% @ $18	3 oz.	266 cups/ $0.07	$8.40
18% @ $15	5.5 oz.	145 cups/ $0.11	$6.60
16% @ $12	5.5 oz.	145 cups/ $0.09	$5.40

This chart is a fast representation for my own records. The price for each 50 lb. bag of feed was rounded up. The scale I used was not a digital and the cup weight measure is not exact. Oz per bag was calculated at 800 (50 lb bag X 16 oz per lb = 800 oz). I always round costs up and profits down to cover any minor errors. I used 30 days to calculate monthly feed costs. I chose to use the 11 or 12 oz per day ration because that's how much most of my Giant Chins eat.

OK, so it would cost me $8.40 in feed each month to sustain one senior Giant Chinchilla Rabbit on Blue Seal's 17% Show Hutch Deluxe. Do I consider that a good thing or a bad thing? I'm really not sure yet. Of course the chart really doesn't do me any real good because it is only comparing cost per serving. I really need to also compare growth rate in my kits, fur condition, health and I'm sure there are other considerations not coming to me at the moment. I'm sure I could think up a long list of things.

I'll be back monthly (I hope) with updates and more geek charts.

Look What's In Our Bunny Barn

We had a little photo shoot for our 15 day old Giant Chinchilla rabbit kits. What do you think?

We set them out on our decorated table and they all promptly fell asleep.... just like babies. 

DIY Pet Bedding

We are trying something new. We generally keep our buns on straw in the winter but inevitably the straw comes with mites. YUK!!! We don't like that and neither do our buns. The pet store has some great options. There's shredded coconut bedding, shredded corn cob bedding and paper pulp bedding. The only problem with any of these is that I would have to get a few dozen bags each week to keep up with our litter box needs. So I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to get affordable bedding without the bugs.

Here's what I've come up with:   Make My Own Recycled Paper Pulp Pet Bedding

How To:
1. Get Paper - My aunt saves tones of newspapers for me anyway to line my solid floor cages with, so I have a nice stockpile to start with. Then there's the daily junk mail that can be added if need be.

2. Shred Paper - 4 kids plus the neighborhood kids make short work of this. The little ones like to see how small they can get their pieces.

3. Make Pulp - For this you need a bowl or in my case a few buckets. Put in the shredded paper, some water and vinegar or bleach to make things all white, smelling good and bug free. If you're using a bowl, a kitchen mixer is a good choice for beating up the paper to pulp. I use a beater on the end of my drill, works great.

4. Dry The Pulp - Squeeze out as much water from your pulp as you can and lay it on a screen to dry. An old screen in the bath tub works fine if it's raining outside or an extra windy day. Fluff it occasionally.

Voila! You have pet bedding that cost you nothing but time.