It's Forage Friday!

[RWAF]

We all know that a rabbit's diet should be around 85% fibre, 5% pellets (not museli) and 10% greens, but perhaps not many of us are brave enough to try to find natural and free sources of food for our rabbits. Grass and dandelions are the obvious things that we would go for, and they are an excellent addition to the diet, but over the next few weeks we are going to look at other goodies that we might find for our bunnies to enjoy. Starting with Plantain

For more information on this, and photos too, please see our blog http://rabbitwelfare.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/forage-friday.html

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

plantain,,both lance leaf and broad are favorites of/by/for/ my brood-in the facility,,--however it should be noted that,,.-NOT all weeds are acceptable for a rabbits diet,-there are definate poisonious ones,,--and recognition of all that is-picked/cut-must be sorted and washed off before being offered,,-the more ones knows of this process makes the task more enjoyable---beware of the poopy bum--this means too many greens,,--sincerely james waller :biggrin2::hugsquish:

 

[RWAF]

Agreed, only ever feed a plant if you are 100% certain of what it is.

A healthy diet should consist of 80% hay (of mixed grass types to give nutritional balance) or grass, 15% greens (which can include some of the wild plants we'll be exploring over coming weeks) and 5% pellets, rather than a muesli type mix, so as to avoid selective feeding.

Any new foods should always be introduced gradually to avoid digestive upset. Wild rabbits would regulate this instinctively, I bling small amounts of new plants to test them and only eating larger quantities as they got used to the plant.

 

[LakeCondo]

In the last month I've identified nearly all of the weeds in my yard & then checked if rabbits should eat them or not.

PLANTAIN is now Honey's favorite food. I'm thinking of potting some, so I don't have to pick it before mowing. Of course she's getting some DANDELION & especially likes the flowers. If & when I find CHICKERY, PURSLANE, or HACKWEED, she'll be trying them, too. I include a little WILD CARROT/QUEEN ANNE'S LACE, but it contains so much calcium I'm leary of too much.

There is one plant I think people should watch out for, as I thought it was a wild form of parsley before I looked it up. This is HEMLOCK. People might also think young shoots are wild carrot. I don't know how much or little it would take to be harmful, but be careful.

 

[RWAF]

It's sensible to avoid the group of plants that resemble hemlock, if you can't identify it every time. While cow parsley *in moderation* is fine, it very closely resembles hemlock, and on that basis, mistakes can very easily be made. Hemlock *usually* has a convex side to the stems, and *usually* has purple spots on that convex side. It is indeed deadly. If in any doubt at all, don't feed the plant.

Cow Parsley

Hemlock

(Editing to give a better picture)

 

[RWAF]

I don't know of Hackweed. Is that an American plant? I know hawkweed, which is this

Sometimes it is more yellow in flower

or in between

 

[LakeCondo]

Hieracium pratense's common name IS hawkweed. I must have mistyped it on my original list. I've seen it only in yellow, though, so it's interesting to see in orange.

I definitely have hemlock [with purple spots] at the edge of my property going into the next property, which is empty & foreclosed on. It never gets to the flowering stage in MY yard.

 

[RWAF]

It's Forage Friday again, and since we're having such lovely warm weather after all that rain, everything's growing like....weeds! This week we want to tell you about clover.

Clover is a member of the pea family and the whole of the plant is safe to be fed to rabbits. It is a good source of protein and very nourishing, and is believed to be a good tonic and useful for feeding during a moult. Rabbits love it, and it's often in hay; clover hay is thought of as one of the richest types of 'albuminoids' .

There's plenty around just now, so now's the time to plan for winter when none of this scrummy, nutritious foraging will be around. Take small bunches and tie them together with string then hang them upside down somewhere that has a good air-flow and isn't damp. They won't take long to dry out, and when they're nice and crispy, you can store them in paper (not plastic) bags to keep them fresh. You can also try this (carefully!) with nettles, which rabbits will not eat when fresh, but love when dried out.

If you would like to read up on more wild plants and green foods, why not try this book? It's only £7.45 (including postage) from the RWAF shop.

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/catalog/product_info.phpproducts_id=207

If you can't find any wild forage, try Galen's Garden:

http://www.galensgarden.co.uk/

They stock a wonderful array of seeds for all the wild plants you might need.

 

[LakeCondo]

When I clicked on your site, what I got was "the page cannot be found"

Because there are wild rabbits around my yard & I naturally want to avoid any spreading of parasites via foraged food, will drying the food out kill off any parasites?

 

[RWAF]

Yes, sorry. I'm not sure how that went wrong. It should have been.
http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=38&products_id=207

I think it would take more than drying to kill parasites so you'd be better off getting seeds and growing the plants in troughs indoors

 

[LakeCondo]

I was afraid of that, though many people think that washing will remove parasite larva & I'd say drying would do more good. Any idea of how to find out the temperature needed to kill internal parasite larva? Then I'd consider oven drying.

 

[RWAF]

I think you'd need to ask a parasitologist,and it may well vary from one parasite to another. Your vet might be able to find out for you?

 

[ZRabbits]

Thanks so much for posting this information and links. As I've started my bunny garden, making sure my bunnies have fresh veggies, your thread has really started to make me think of wild flowers that would be tasty for my bunnies. We have nice clover in their run already so they do get that, along with fresh tasty grass. But I do want to see if they like other things. Like to give my bunnies a variety of different things.

Thanks again for this excellent idea.

K

 

[RWAF]

That's great. I'm not altogether certain of seed suppliers in the US, but try these
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/
http://www.botanicalinterests.com/store/shop.php
http://www.seedsavers.org/Content.aspx?src=aboutus.htm
http://www.seedsofchange.com/default.asp
http://www.territorialseed.com/
http://www.wildgardenseed.com/index.php

 

[ZRabbits]

RWAF wrote:

That's great. I'm not altogether certain of seed suppliers in the US, but try these
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/
http://www.botanicalinterests.com/store/shop.php
http://www.seedsavers.org/Content.aspx?src=aboutus.htm
http://www.seedsofchange.com/default.asp
http://www.territorialseed.com/
http://www.wildgardenseed.com/index.php

Thanks so much for your help. Will look into this.

K

 

[RWAF]

You're most welcome. I hope your bunny feeding garden is a huge success. I'm certain there'll be some very binky bunnies sampling.