Chooks and Bunny's

samanthahobbs · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 8:18 am

Is it okay to house Bunny's and chooks together?
I have 2 hens that have an approx 100 sq meter yard. My bunny has been here for only a few days and is interested in my dog, cats and chickens. He got into the chicken yard and they were all hanging out quite happily the other day. And today, same thing. It is very cute!! I have read that Bunny's can bond with other species. The chooks don't seem stressed over the bunny. The bunny is laying in the dirt and rolling around and having a wonderful time. The chooks are going about their usual activities.

Any info, advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Sam

wickedwings · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 11:24 am

I love eating chicken and rabbit together uhm, I mean, sounds like you have your own petting zoo, lovely! If they're getting along together then I don't see why not.

Chicka-Dee · **Joined:** Tue Jan 17, 2012 11:12 am **Posts:** 1194

wickedwings wrote:

I love eating chicken and rabbit together uhm, I mean, sounds like you have your own petting zoo, lovely! If they're getting along together then I don't see why not.

God your funny WW,

I have to say the same though Sam.

If they all get long well, then what is the harm.

Cheers
Chicka-Dee

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Would the chooks eat the bunny's food?
And the bunny the chook's food?
Or are their foods the same?
Do bunny's have any dieases that they can transmit to chooks?
And do chooks have any diseases that they can transmit to bunnys?

Sorry for asking all these questions, but I like to ask questions and learn new things!
Thank you, kindly

wickedwings · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 10:04 pm

A vet might correct me but I think diseases tend to be fairly species specific. That is your chicken is unlikely to get swine flu, transmogrify it to bird flu and transmit it to you as pigs might fly flu.

The bigger problem might be if they were consuming too much of each others food and not receiving sufficient or correct nutrition. Just keep an eye on it and maybe seperate their food sources but let them roam together during the day.

The even bigger problem is when you keep a duck and a rabbit together, they end up eyeballing each other and having the following exchange, "It's duck season!" "It's wabbit season!" "Duck season!" "Wabbit!" Meanwhile a bald guy wearing tweed can't decide which of them to shoot. :roll:

samanthahobbs · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 10:06 pm

I have been wondering the same thing Petite Poulet. I did read on line somewhere chook pellets are dangerous to Bunny's so I am obviously concerned about that because I found my bunny having a nibble from the hopper.
Having said that, I have also read that Bunny's don't instinctively know what is poisonous to them or not good to eat, so what they do is taste test a little of any new foods presented to them. They will wait a few hours to determine how they are feeling. If feeling sick they will not go back to that food again and what they ate wasn't enough to harm them and it passes through their system. Their droppings will also serve as a warning to other Bunny's to avoid that food (something to do with the smell). After the first taste test if they are feeling ok after a couple of hours and beyond they will go back for another taste test perhaps several more hours later. If they are feeling ok again they generally consider that food safe.
I have been observing my bunny somewhat obsessively (I am fascinated with animal behaviour) and before I read this I watched this behaviour occurring but didn't realise what was going on. I was thinking he must only be having a nibble of new foods I was presenting to him because he wasn't interested in them. I would then see that food either devoured or not during the next 24hrs. I watched him nibble my eggplant plant leaves and go away. I thought "phew my eggplants are safe" only to discover they were not!! He devoured them. He had a nibble at the capsicum leaves one day when I was watching him. He has not been back since; they are all in tact!!

I have been mainly feeding bunny greens and he access to my grass, but when I give him some of the rabbit mix from fodder store which includes rabbit pellets which are mostly Lucerne (I think) the chooks go mad for it. I have actually posted elsewhere about concerns i have regarding feeding my chickens. I posed the question if I should replace layer pellets with rabbit pellets because I read somewhere about someone who feeds their chickens with rabbit pellets and grain. Generally chooks and rabbits can eat similar fruit and veg scraps.

Rabbits get ear mites, but I think they are different to mites chooks suffer from. The following link looks really interesting regarding mites and ticks. I Havnt yet read it thoroughly.

http://www.pested.msu.edu/Resources/bul ... 1chap3.pdf

I have been doing a lot of reading and I cannot find anything yet about transmissible diseases between chooks and rabbits, but of anyone has any info to share please do so.

thanks Sam

samanthahobbs · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 10:25 pm

I just googled to get info about rabbit pellet ingredients to compare to layer pellets;

http://www.lauckemills.com.au/rabbit1.html

http://www.lauckemills.com.au/poultry-layer6.html

http://www.lauckemills.com.au/poultry-layer8.html

I have to look into more thoroughly, but it is obvious that chook food has meat added which is not good for Bunny. The home lay and rabbit food has similar protein, fat, fibre content. This has opened a can of worms for me!!!

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

It is always very fascinating to observe animal behaviour. It was very interesting about the food and the smell of the bunny's poop.

Both buunys and chickens are susceptible to different mosquito virus, so I don't know whether they can cross infect each other.

Bunny's can get myxomatosis from mosquitoes,
http://www.myxomatosis.com.au/
http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Safeguardi ... tosis.aspx
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/mosqu ... 19jgl.html

Mosquitoes also bite chickens and infect them with viruses.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/health-warnin ... 1pe1k.html
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3399769.htm
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/2011/20110223_00.html

There is vegetarian chook feed available.
http://www.coprice.com.au/news/285-new- ... ge-pellets

Can you get your bunny another bunny to play with, then he won't feel so lonely and hang out with the chooks.

samanthahobbs · **Posted:** Thu May 31, 2012 9:02 am

Hi PP,

I have only had my bunny a week now. He is a rescue. He has had two homes prior to mine that I know of. It's a long story actually!!

I am not sure whether he has mixed with other rabbits in the past and whether he will accept another one. Rabbits can sometimes be difficult to find a companion for. But that is another story!!!

I have emailed coprice about the Lucky Layer free range chook pellets you posted the link for. I would like to try that if I can get it here I Adelaide. When I did a stockist search on the coprice website it came back as zero in Adelaide!! I have asked them too if I could feed to the rabbit as well because it doesn't have meat or meat by products in it. My bunny mainly eats grass and greens anyway, but good to have a treat that he loves to help with training.

Sam

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Do you have a Petstock near you? That's where I've seen it stocked in.

Here is Petstock's link to Adelaide stores.
http://www.petstock.com.au/store-finder?q=adelaide

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