Feeding your meat rabbits is definitely the most expensive part of raising them but you’ll still get more bang for your buck than you would if you were raising other animals for meat. What you put into your rabbit will be directly reflected in what you get out. Quality, not quantity, is the key.

Rabbits are vegetarians but a large portion of the meat rabbit’s diet needs to be proteins and amino acids. However you try to combine them, there’s no way that a meat rabbit could ever get the protein needed to produce it’s fullest capacity and be in top health by getting these amino acids from salads alone.

If you’re not focusing on the goal of high production, rabbits can easily survive on grains, vegetables, lawn clippings, or garden and table scraps. Give them the tops of carrots, salad hearts that aren’t used in the salad itself, pumpkins and more. Subscribe to the Meat Rabbit News mailing list on the side of this page to get a whole list of fruits, vegetables, herbs, tree cuttings, leaves and flowers which are safe to feed rabbits for free.

During the Great Depression and in some third world countries, people still raise rabbits on a diet of scraps and grains alone.  The rabbits continue to produce and grow just fine, but their litters are smaller and grow more slowly. Not optimal if you’re raising meat rabbits. The rabbits may also lack protein, salt and other nutrients that they normally consume from feed pellets. Using a good store-bought feed pellet just simplifies your feeding routine and keeps you from spending a lot of time mixing together your own feed. An over- or underweight doe is more susceptible to disease and may have trouble breeding and kindling.

Active, growing and producing meat rabbits need about 1100 calories a day. A doe and her litter will usually eat 100–120 lb. of feed during an 8-week period. A variety of hay and straw must also be encouraged all day long (i.e. replenish available hay a few times a day) so that your rabbits get all the fiber and roughage needed. Be sure to also include plenty of twigs for them to gnaw on which keep teeth filed down. Rabbits can be fed twigs from apple, pear, fir, hazel, hawthorn, maple, spruce and willow trees or from blackberry and raspberry patches.

If your rabbit is leaving a lot of food behind from one feeding to the next, cut back on feed. On the other hand, if your meat rabbit seems to be hungry all the time, give it more food. Just remember that overfeeding can lead to poorly producing meat rabbits, especially does. Does start to build up fat which leads to breeding complications and makes it more difficult for them to give birth. If your meat rabbit suddenly loses its appetite or has no interest in food, it could be a sign of health problems.

The easiest way to tell if you are giving your rabbit the right amount of food is to stroke its backbone regularly. If the ridge of the backbone is present but feels rounded, your meat rabbit is receiving the right amount of food. If the ridges of the backbone feel pointed and sharp, start giving your rabbit more food. If you can’t feel the backbone, decrease your rabbit’s intake. A quick weekly check while you are inspecting feet and other parts is recommended.

Generally, pregnant does, lactating does with litters and growing fryers (1-3 months old) can be fed as much as they will eat (until they start leaving food behind). Replacement meat rabbits being brought into the breeding cycle and bucks you are currently using for breeding should be fed about 6-8 ounces of pellets a day. Dry does and bucks which are no longer reproducing have lighter needs of about 4-6 ounces a day.

Some things that you might often think to feed your meat rabbits are lettuce, cabbage, spinach and other leafy greens. While rabbits can eat these foods, they should only be feed in small portions at a time. Otherwise your rabbits will get diarrhea and you don’t want to be scrubbing cages all day. Other foods you should be careful with are Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, corn, groundsel, kale, molasses, mustard greens, tallow and turnips.

Meat rabbits can also eat a large variety of flowers, but crocus, daffodils, irises, poppies and tulips are a few that are not edible. In fact, any flower that comes from a bulb should be kept away from rabbits. So if you occasionally let your meat rabbits out to roam in the yard to much some fresh grass, be certain that they don’t get a hold of any of these flowers.

Never feed meat rabbits chocolate, rhubarb, beans, potato sprouts or the leaves from a tomato, peach or plum tree. Any sort of evergreen tree should not be fed to your rabbits, whether it’s just the leaves or twigs to gnaw on. And keep ivy away from them as well.

In addition to all these plants and flowers which cannot be fed to meat rabbits, there is also a considerable list of twigs that need to be avoided to keep your meat rabbit healthy. Starting with fruit tree twigs, never feed branches from an apricot, cherry, peach or plum tree. As previously mentioned, you should also never feed your rabbit any sort of evergreen branches. Other twigs to avoid feeding your meat rabbits are azalea, beech, clematis, elder, holly, ivy, mistletoe, oak, oleander, rhododendron, rosewood and wisteria.

This is just a small sampling of common plants, vegetables and foods that you might think about feeding to your rabbits. For a complete list of foods that could kill your meat rabbits, join our mailing list. You’ll also get a list of safe foods too. They’re both in an easy to read chart that you can print out and put beside your meat rabbit cages so you never have to question what is ok again.

Feed meat rabbits a high quality rabbit feed pellet  along with fresh timothy or alfalfa hay and other supplements. High quality does not always mean high priced but the pellets should contain at least 16% fiber to stimulate gut function and prevent diarrhea and hairballs. The major ingredient in rabbit feed should be legumous hay and is usually alfalfa.

To keep rabbit teeth worn down, supply your rabbit with twigs and branches for them to chew on. You might choose twigs from apple, fir, hazel, hawthorn, maple, pear, spruce or willow trees. You can also feed meat rabbits cuttings from blackberry and raspberry patches, including the leaves and fruit.

Don’t give your rabbits lots of cabbage and lettuce at once because it may disrupt the balance of good bacteria in the rabbit’s stomach, causing diarrhea. Corn, cauliflower and turnips should also be fed in moderation.

Meat rabbits can also be fed lots of different fruits and vegetables. Things which are good to feed them are: apples, bananas, blackberries, broccoli, carrots, celery, cucumbers, endive, kohlrabi, melons, pears, plantains, pok choi, parsnips, pumpkins, radish greens, raspberries, strawberries, Swiss chard, tomatoes, watercress and even watermelon.

Or try a a variety of different herbs like basil, borage, chamomile, caraway, celeriac, chervil, coriander, dill, horseradish, lavender, marjoram, parsley, peppermint, sage and savory.

This is only a small sampling of what meat rabbits eat. To learn more, sign up for our newsletter. You’ll get a complete list of common plants, vegetables, herbs, fruits, twigs, flowers and more which are safe to feed your meat rabbits absolutely free. A complete list of unsafe foods is also included.