Rabbits and Salt

BuschBound · Post by **BuschBound** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:20 pm

Was out at the club today and looked at out salt blocks today after reading these post you guys have made. I have never really paid too much attention to the blocks before until after reading this thread. I did see where one of our blocks is placed between two cedar trees and guess what? the cedar trees are chewed on all around the base.. Also I can see where they have been hitting the blocks heavy. Years ago my grand father use to give his bitches salt before she was having pups and he said he did this to prevent them from eating the pups.. I'm not saying this is true or anything but it's funny how most animals use salt in thier diet... My question is this for those who raise rabbits. Will a rabbit cull thier own litter or does nature take its corse? Sounds stupid but does anyone have anything to add to this?

Bart Caudill · Post by **Bart Caudill** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:44 pm

I have heard that rabbits can abort their young, by absorbing them back into their body, if they don't have enough nutrients to survive themselves. The reason for this is, if the mommy dies, the whole litter dies anyway. If the mommy lives, she can breed again.

The above is hearsay, and I don't know it to be true.
Has anyone else heard or read this?

That is why I use the salt and mineral bricks. (The brown ones) I figured the minerals would help during breeding season also. It seems to be working great now for the past 3 years.

Huntin54 · Post by **Huntin54** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 4:10 pm

This is alot of good info i can get the white and the brown salt blocks at tractor supply for $3-$4 a piece and there 50# the smaller 4 pound ones are $8-$12. Im going to start putting the mineral/salt blocks out this year just to give it a try.

SUNRISE10 · Post by **SUNRISE10** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 7:14 pm

I use the salt pellets that you use in water softner easer to get in thick briers.
Ron

beagler282 · Post by **beagler282** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 8:13 pm

You can also use sulfur salt blocks.They are yellow.These are good to use because the sulfur helps keep the rabbits from getting diseases.If you use rabbit feed in running pens you don't have to put salt out because it has all the ingrediants they need.If you don't have feeders out you can put the salt out to help them get what they need.I have a good friend that is in his 70's and has been using the sulfur salt blocks and plants food plots in his 14 acre running pen.He raises swamp bucks and I'm here to tell you that these are the biggest rabbits I have ever seen.He has been doing this for 30 years and I pay close attention to what he tells me to use in mine.
Best of luck!!!
Ray Lucas

rc · Post by rc » Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:54 pm

this seeding mixture i have used and it comes from mckean county brace beagle club.they really know how to farm rabbits. 2 lbs. per acre of white dutch clover-3 lbs. per acre of alsike clover-3 lbs per acre of ladino clover-3lbs. per acre of alfalfa-and 6 lbs. per acre of kentucky bluegrass for food plots or strips is the best for rabbits.be sure to innoculate your seed .you can get nitrogen innoculation at most garden or feed stores.they also say to have the soil tested for the best amount of lime and fertilizer for best results.i have used this personally and rabbits love it and the deer love it also rob cooper mossy rock kennels

miner49er · Post by **miner49er** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:32 am

Anyone else have any suggestions on food plots?

Huntin54 · Post by **Huntin54** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 7:47 pm

Sorghum, Clover, Soybeans, Raspberries, Honeysuckle, Korean Lespedezia. That is some of the best foods to plant for them. The most important thing is cover.

Whatever ya plant don't plant Fescue it lowers the reproduction rates in the rabbits. And messes up there digestive system.

fatdaddy · Post by **fatdaddy** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 10:44 am

Here in Virginia, DGIF recomends a mix of 1 pound ladino clover and 2 pounds orchard grass per 1000 sq. feet if you want to help the rabitat. I tried it last spring and the results were great. There's more rabbit sign in this food plot that any other I planted. I'll try the salt thing in a couple of weeks after gun season is over.

Shooting Match · Post by **Shooting Match** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 9:27 pm

Busch Bound

I think that nature take's its own corse. I have rasie rabbits the last five years. I have found little one on the wire and have taken rubber gloves
and place it in the nest. The very next day came in to the barn to watch the the doe removing the same little rabbit back out of her nest. I did the same thing and place the little rabbit back into the nest to find it the
next morrning out dead on the wire stomped by the doe. I think is just nature because the doe is one of my very best breeder and top producer.

nehelt · Post by **nehelt** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:29 pm

I put Bio-Logic (some broad leaf kind, I forget the exact name) out 2 years ago for deer. The rabbits ate it up more than the deer I think. Just about every day I rode out on my 4-wheeler to check the patches there were always 1-2 rabbits in it.