Animals are a joy to raise, these adorable creatures have their own personalities and can add much needed excitement and friendship into someone’s life. If you own both chickens and rabbits you’ll know that these two animals can live on the same property.

That being said, they cannot live together, if raised on the same property chickens and rabbits need to be raised separately. But can these animals eat the food of the other? This article explores the topic of ‘do chickens eat rabbit pellets?’

Chickens can eat rabbit pellets but only if there is nothing else for the bird to eat. Chickens eating rabbit pellets long-term can cause the bird to develop malnutrition. Also, rabbit pellets are too high in salt and too low in protein for chickens 

Do chickens eat rabbit pellets? 

Chickens and rabbits have different nutritional needs. A good diet for chickens includes grains, fruits and vegetables. A good rabbit diet includes fresh vegetables, high-quality hay, and rabbit pellets.

Rabbit pellets are specially designed to be able to meet the nutritional needs of rabbits, not of chickens.

If you serve your chicken’s rabbit pellets the bird may suffer from nutritional deficiencies. 

Nutritional needs of rabbits vs chickens:

Salt:

One reason why rabbit pellets are not recommended for chickens is that rabbit pellets have a high salt content.

A good rabbit feed will usually contain around 0.5-0.75% salt. Salt plays a part in maintaining the rabbit’s muscles, nerves, and fluid regulation.

Chickens usually eat feed mixes that contain 0,15% salt. Chickens do not need to consume as much salt as rabbits do, in fact, too much salt in the bird’s body can be toxic and can even cause death.

Protein:

Rabbit pellets also have lower percentages of protein than chicken feed, rabbit pellets meant for young rabbits usually contain 18-20% protein. Older rabbits usually eat pellets that contain 10% or less protein.

The starter feeds given to young chickens under 6 weeks old usually contain 20-23% protein. The feed of older chickens, who are over 6 weeks old, usually contain 16% protein. Low levels of protein in a chickens diet results in reduced egg size and abnormal growth 

Calcium:

Rabbits and chickens also need different levels of calcium to maintain good health, chickens need more calcium. Rabbit pellets usually contain 1% calcium. Chickens, on the other hand, need 4% calcium in order to produce good strong eggshells 

All is not lost:

This is not to say that rabbit food will kill a chicken, rather rabbit food should not be given to chickens as their sole food source.

If need be, and there is no other food source available, chickens can survive on rabbit food but this is not advisable 

Feeding rabbits and chicken together:

Also, if you’re raising chickens and rabbits together, and are not only feeding your chickens rabbit food, but are raising both in one space, this can spell disaster.

Chickens can, and usually do, defecate in rabbit food. This can make your rabbits sick. 

Can baby chicks eat rabbit pellets?

Baby chickens cannot eat rabbit pellets either.

Baby chickens do not eat a lot of food in a day. For the first 8 weeks, baby chickens will eat 1-2 ounces of feed a day. This feed needs to be very nutrient-rich and well-tailored to the baby chickens nutritional needs.

Rabbit pellets will not be able to deliver all the nutrients that baby chickens need, in fact, they can cause the baby to suffer from malnourishment. 

What feed should chickens be given?

The best feed for chickens will be a chicken feed designed to deliver all the nutrients that the bird needs.

This does not mean that you have to fork out a fortune on cutting-edge feed promising extraordinary results. A premium laying mash or pellet would be best.

Add other foods such as fruits, vegetables, and mealworms to the bird’s diet to add some variety 

Conclusion

In conclusion, chickens can technically eat rabbit pellets but these should only be given if there is nothing else for the bird to eat.

Rabbit pellets are too high in salt and too low in protein for chickens. High levels of salt can cause death in your bird and low levels of salt can negatively affect egg production and bird development. 

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in:  Do chickens eat raw red potatoes? , Do chickens eat tortilla chips?, Do chickens eat tortillas?, Do chickens eat radish greens?