Questions about grass

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stina3246

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So we just built a HUGE coop with an outdoor run for our sweet 3 chickens and would like to allow Lawnie our bunny out (during the day only) with them BUT....

I'm afraid she'll get sick eating the grass. I know she'd LOVE it being out in the sunshine and we've reinforced the bottom so she can't get out and covered the top so a hawk or eagle can't get in BUT she has ONLY ever eaten timothy hay and pellets. I tried ONCE to give her 1 single stem of alfalfa and she had the runs for days! That was when she was a baby but she's an adult now. Can I try putting her out to start for a few min. or 1/2 hour and build up?

ALSO...are there safe treats I can give her, carrots, lettuce, rasins etc. She really needs to get some variety.
 
Grass is a rabbit's natural food, so she really should be fine with it. Just make sure to introduce it slowly, like you said, so first only 5 minutes on the grass, then slowly increase to 10 minutes, then slowly increase to half an hour, etc. etc.

Introduce any veggie slowly, and one at a time, to see which ones (if any) give her the runs.

http://www.adoptarabbit.com/articles/packet/abcvegi.html

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/info-sheets/safefoods.htm

Variety is great- the HRS recommends 2-3cups of a variety of 3 different vegetables every day per 6lb of bunny. Mine get a lot more than that, with 1/4cup of pellets.

Be wary of giving too much spring grass too quickly, as it has been known to cause bloat, but mine have never had a problem with it. Just during the beginning of spring, limit the grass your bun can eat until she is used to it again.

Only give dark lettuce's- iceberg is like 99% water and could give ur bun the runs, and has basically no nutritional value.

:)

ETS- i have no idea about chickens and rabbits together but I am sure someone can help with that aspect.

Jen
 
Like Jen said, grass is fine if she is introduced to it slowly.

However, I would not let her out with the chickens. She shouldn't be eating the grass that they have pooped on and you wouldn't want the chickens to hurt her. Make sure she has her own run.
 
elrohwen wrote:
However, I would not let her out with the chickens. She shouldn't be eating the grass that they have pooped on and you wouldn't want the chickens to hurt her. Make sure she has her own run.
Click to expand...

Thanks Laura- I was wondering about the chicken poop on the grass, and the interactions, but wasn't totally sure.:thanks:


Jen
 
jcottonl02 wrote:
Chickens often carry Salmonella bacteria, which can cause serious gastrointestinal disorders in rabbits. It is best to keep the bunnies where they will not come into contact with chicken feces.

Diana Krempels Ph.D

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/rabbits-chickens.htm

Jen
Click to expand...
Hmmm....well, they already hang out together in the house. The chicks have been too young to let out yet. They are just NOW old enough to go out. They don't bug her, she makes a game of running through them so they scatter and run. I think she's already taught them whose boss. (And she's a BIG bun.)
 
Lol haha aw bless. Well, now I reckon the chicks don't really mind, but what happens when their hormones kick in, and they develop those strong, sharp claws etc? If she plays with them when they are older, but accidentally ticks them off, then a beak in the eye in a flash, and a half blind bunny you have.

It's up to you if you want to continue to risk it (the salmonella risk)- I personally wouldn't at all, especially if you are confining the chickens and rabbit together, so she is forced to walk through their faeces (chicken's aren't exactly the cleanest animals lol when they go to the toilet). I don't know enough about the chance of salmonella being passed to the rabbit from the faeces, but I know myself I wouldn't risk it, like I wouldn't risk eating a slice of raw chicken (which some people do- in a restaurant in London).

Jen
 
I think there would be a great risk of salmonella if they were housed together. The rabbit will be eating a lot of grass and the chickens will be pooping all over it. When it rains, the chicken feces, and the bacteria in them, will spread to the rest of the grass so it'll be impossible for the bunny to avoid.

I wouldn't let them interact once you put the chicks outside.
 
They may be fine with the interaction, but won't be with the salmonella, unless they are super bunnies lol :p. I wish I had a matching emoticon.

But again, I honeslty don't know how easy it is to transmit. I would imagine very easy, but that's just speculation.

Jen
 
jcottonl02 wrote:
They may be fine with the interaction, but won't be with the salmonella, unless they are super bunnies lol :p. I wish I had a matching emoticon.

But again, I honeslty don't know how easy it is to transmit. I would imagine very easy, but that's just speculation.

Jen
Click to expand...
I'm not doubting or aguing with you but wouldn't it be just as easy for myself to get salmonella from the chickens? Or are rabbits super sensative to it? I handle these birds every day. They are my pets so I snuggle with them, hold them, of course they poop on me however I don't EAT it somaybe thats the probem?
 
I assume after you have handled them (accidentally smooshed ur hand in poop- inevitable I'm sure :p) you wash your hands thoroughly?

I think the transmission of salmonella is via faecal-oral passing, or consuming salmonella-infected meats which haven't been cooked to kill the bacteria.

Salmonella lives in the intestine, I believe. I assume some animals are sort of....'immune' to it, because they have been exposed to many strains of the bacteria before, and 'evolved' to cope with it, like foxes, however we are susceptible to it, and I believe rabbits are even MORE suscesptible to it due to their very sentitive GI tracts, and the huge fact that they do not consume animals or live around poultry etc. so have not really come into contact with it enough.

I think the main point is, the chicken poops on the ground. The rabbit eats from the ground. So it's likely the rabbit will consume some sort of chicken faecal matter if the rabbit eats off the grass where the chicken lives.
Also, the rabbit puts it's paw in the faeces (inevitable), and doesn't wash it's paws like we would, but rather licks it's paws to wash it's face.


Not all chickens carry the salmonella bacteria. Farms that find it in their chickens will recall and cull any of the chickens carrying it, I think.

Again, I am no expert, but I just would not risk it. I'm sure most of the chicken I eat, if not all, don't contain salmonella, but I am still vigilent in washing my hands and surfaces that eggs and raw chicken have been near.

Jen
 
Okay, well, after a little research, I believe that MANY animals carry the Salmonella bacteria, even domestic cats, dogs, rabbits, reptiles (but in small numbers), but don't exhibit any signs of it, and it doesn't affect them, because, to affect the animal, the bacteria needs to be many in number.

A large number of Salmonella organisms need to be eaten because many are killed by acid in the stomach. Infected animals can shed the organisms in faeces or orally even if they do not show any signs of illness.

http://www.provet.co.uk/petfacts/healthtips/salmonellosis.htm

So I guess if rabbits are around chicken faeces constantly, and eat from the same floor as it, and, as they don't have much resistance to it, they are more susceptible to it, because the numbers of the bacteria may be enough to actually affect the rabbit.

I honestly wish I knew more about this.

But I don't even feed my dogs or cats raw chicken for fear of salmonella, because it's just so easy to protect them from it, and I definately wouldn't take the risk, even if the risk was small.

Jen


 
Well, once we have the money to build another enclosure I guess I can do one for just Lawnie. I just think she'd REALLY love being out. She gets out in the house but it's not the same. That and she's a poop factory. I don't really mind the poops so much but she pees everywhere and THAT is a problem. She has a litter box and she's GREAT about using it when in the cage but being out to her mean anything is fair game!
 
Rabbits can also contract coccidiosis from the chickens as well. I personally wouldn't risk it.

Why not build two seperate runs right next to one another? That way the rabbit is safe from the feces of the chickens, (so you also will have to watch where you move the pen, so as not to put it in chicken feces) but the rabbit can still see the chickens/interact without being put in harms way. ;)

Emily
 
BlueSkyAcresRabbitry wrote:
Rabbits can also contract coccidiosis from the chickens as well. I personally wouldn't risk it.

Why not build two seperate runs right next to one another? That way the rabbit is safe from the feces of the chickens, (so you also will have to watch where you move the pen, so as not to put it in chicken feces) but the rabbit is safe from contacting harmfull illneses. ;)

Emily
Click to expand...
I spent more then expected on THIS run, I'll have to wait until I recover from that. I am on a very limited budget and a second run wasn't in the budget. It'll have to wait.
 
stina3246 wrote:
BlueSkyAcresRabbitry wrote:
Rabbits can also contract coccidiosis from the chickens as well. I personally wouldn't risk it.

Why not build two seperate runs right next to one another? That way the rabbit is safe from the feces of the chickens, (so you also will have to watch where you move the pen, so as not to put it in chicken feces) but the rabbit is safe from contacting harmfull illneses. ;)

Emily
Click to expand...
I spent more then expected on THIS run, I'll have to wait until I recover from that. I am on a very limited budget and a second run wasn't in the budget. It'll have to wait.
Click to expand...

There are ways to build runs for fairly cheap. I have a run made out of PVC piping and chicken wire (which isn't too sturdy for rabbits, but would be fine for chickens) and it cost about $40, although if you bought supplies just to make on (whereas I purchased supplies for about 2) then you could spend even less. ;)

Emily
 
BlueSkyAcresRabbitry wrote:
stina3246 wrote:
BlueSkyAcresRabbitry wrote:
Rabbits can also contract coccidiosis from the chickens as well. I personally wouldn't risk it.

Why not build two seperate runs right next to one another? That way the rabbit is safe from the feces of the chickens, (so you also will have to watch where you move the pen, so as not to put it in chicken feces) but the rabbit is safe from contacting harmfull illneses. ;)

Emily
Click to expand...
I spent more then expected on THIS run, I'll have to wait until I recover from that. I am on a very limited budget and a second run wasn't in the budget. It'll have to wait.
Click to expand...

There are ways to build runs for fairly cheap. I have a run made out of PVC piping and chicken wire (which isn't too sturdy for rabbits, but would be fine for chickens) and it cost about $40, although if you bought supplies just to make on (whereas I purchased supplies for about 2) then you could spend even less. ;)

Emily
Click to expand...
The chickens run is done already. They need to go out more then she does. They have outgrown their brooder and are over crowded. Lawnie doesn't HAVE to go out. Yes it only cost about $50 to build the coop for the chickens(We actually already had the coop, we needed to enclose the runbut another $50. or even $30 is NOT in the budget right now. That may sound cheap but I also have horses and $30 is about 2-3 bales of hay.ALSO, hers would only be for when we are home. She's an indoor bunny and will stay that way. I just wanted her to have a "play yard"
 
They'll live together fine, if they're BOTH used to it. But i would cordon off the chicken at first.
 
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