# Gardening for Rabbit food



## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the foraging post. Kept me busy in odd moments for several days! I'm moving to a new place and it will take me a while to get familiar with the weeds....it is mostly forest....and my hubby has a tendency to spray poison on anything that isn't st. augustine grass....sigh. So I may be better off putting the rabbit fodder into my (planned) enormous garden. We've been together for 20 years and have fought this particular war before. He knows if he sprays ANYTHING in my garden again that I'll use him for compost! Anyhow...of of hubby rant and back to rabbits. I know that some 'weeds' can be cultivated, like dandelions. Could we start a new list for things that can be cultivated? Also, what kinds of sprouts are good for them? Here's my start.

Alfalfa
Basil
Beets
Blackberry leaves
Cantaloupe 
Carrots and tops
Catnip (need a confirmation on this one please)
Cilantro
Collards
Comfrey (love this plant!)
Corn and stalks
jerusalem artichokes
Melon
Mint
Morning Glory(leaves only)
Mustard Greens (one source says feed very sparingly)
Oats
Okra (pods)
Parsley
Parsnip
Potatoes (cooked)
Radish
Raspberry leaves
Squash
Sunflower seeds
Sweet Potato vines and tubers (very sweet, don't feed a lot in the summer)
Turnip
Wheat




I'll be adding to this list via editing as I go through other posts. I'm not adding trees since this is a thread for things grown in a garden. I'm also trying to verify plants before I add them to the list.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

Mustard greens, 
Beets, 
Collards, 
Turnips,
Corn stalks and ears
Raspberrys,
Mint,
Mellons (water and cantalope)
Peas and Beans
Lambs quarter,
Apple trees, 
Elm
Mullberry,
Maple


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## arachyd (Feb 1, 2009)

Don't forget your trees. Maple trees, willow, mulberry and sweet gum are almost everywhere and my rabbits like both. You'll probably find lots of sources of greens once you get settled in and go exploring.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

arachyd said:


> Don't forget your trees. Maple trees, willow, mulberry and sweet gum are almost everywhere and my rabbits like both. You'll probably find lots of sources of greens once you get settled in and go exploring.


A great reminder! I kind of classify trees as 'forage' type feed rather than something that can be cultivated. I'm wanting a list of things that can be grown in the garden, herb or flower bed. Which reminds me.....any edible flowers?


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

Sunflower leafs and flowers, as well as the seed, 
Roses flowers and leafs/stems
Clover,


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Pumpkin
Buckhorn/plantain
Catnip is fine, my rabbits love it
Morning glory, I question this one. Does anyone have any experience with it?
Lemon balm, a favorite!


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

bamboo,
River Cane
Cattails


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## Old Swampgirl (Sep 28, 2008)

Lespedeza--a type of legume hay. Spelling may vary. It was grown yrs. ago in S. W. LA to feed cattle. And don't forget about Kale.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

you might want to just use the current sticky: http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=194063 about "safe plant list"


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

For bamboo shoots we have to boil them for about an hour before eating them to get rid of the oxalic acidic crystals or whatever it is in there which we shouldn't eat. Similar to taro leaves, if that helps any. Would rabbits be affected by this? Would older bamboo be safe for them to eat and just not the shoots? There is one variety of bamboo whose shoots can be eaten fresh but I don't have that type yet.

Rabbits adore ti leaves, if you have a source for those. The rabbits here get fed a few pellets and mostly ti leaves and young guinea grass. I also feed them the occasional pidgeon pea branches and so far they seem to be doing okay on those. They also seem to be able to nibble on Spanish Moss with no ill effects.

Hmm, they'd probably do fine on coconut leaves, too. Sometimes I split a coconut for them and they nibble the meat out of the husk but they don't chew on the shell or the husk (coconuts from the tree have about two inches of fiber around the hard nutshell).


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

never fed them the shoots, just the full size cane with leafs, they eat the leafs and leave the cane,


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## brody (Feb 19, 2009)

strawberry 
rosemary
lavender
thyme
dandilion
clover


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

The only things your rabbits cann't eat from the garden are tomato , potato, and pepper plants. They can have the tomato if ripe and potatoes, if cooked first.
Mine won't eat very much squash. or the squash plants. But i have had a few that will eat the dryed seeds.
My favorites where they will eat the whole plant are the root crops. Beets, carrots, turnips and parsnips.
My bush beans mold near the root so they don't get those.
you have to be careful with the brocolli, cabbage and cauliflower plants, as they do cause gas. But fed in tiny amounts they are ok. 
Any greens are good too.
The love all parts of the corn plant, and I have a small patch of jeruselum artichokes for them also.
They ate the marigold plants when I remember to grow them. And They ate garlic greens this spring.


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## Safado (Jun 15, 2009)

Danaus29 said:


> Morning glory, I question this one. Does anyone have any experience with it?


I have picked this and fed it to my rabbits. The did seem to go for it first out of a handful of greens. My sheep love it. I would NOT recommend anyone purposefully cultivate it though. It is too hard to get rid of once established, and doesn't seem like you would get as much as others. 

I think Alfalfa is the choice I would go with if it does well in your area. it is a major part of most commercial feeds.

Edit: Bind weed or morning glory, while prolific, doesn't seem to grow as fast and as steady as other plants, so what I mean by as much as others is I think you would get more greenery from other plants per sq foot of garden space.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Bindweed is not the same as morning glory, although they are related. Some types are okay for feed; others are questionable. The seeds are likely toxic. There was a discussion about this fairly recently over on RabbitTalk.

http://rabbittalk.com/morning-glory-squash-and-tomatoe-plants-t1185.html


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

My garden is covered with bind weed and my rabbits eat it with no problems. This is our forth year of feeding it.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Oh, sorry... I wasn't too clear in my post. Bindweed is okay... it is some of the morning glories that *may *be a problem. Apparently there are thousands of different morning glories and identification is difficult. But even with a little research, we were unable to find out much. It may just be the seeds that are toxic. I get very frustrated with the *toxic to rabbits* lists because they do not usually use botanical names and they often condemn a plant when it is only one part of it that is toxic. I suggest caution... and introduce morning glory slowly if you decide to proceed.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

because a rabbit is not a ruminant, fresh alfalfa would not cause foamy bloat would it?


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

fresh alfalfa is fine, it wont hurt a rabbit at all


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

I wonder about something, and this has been the biggest problem/hindrance in putting forth alot of effort for natural food. The Mess.

you stuff a handfull of whatever in to the cage, they eat some, stomp on some, pee on some, so half is wasted, then at feeding time, you have to pull out the leftover yucky stuff, sometimes pick it out of the cage bottoms, it takes twice as long, then you spend half a day messing with it, plus how to store all this food over winter, and even over summer? pick everyday?

I remember some years ago, when I was trying the colony thing, we had around 15 head, and we picked weeds for them everyday. they ate more than a 5 gallon bucket, we got sick of it real fast, and that was colony style, so it was simply dumped into a pile on the ground. with 50+ cages now, yikes!


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Lonelyfarmgirl, if I had 50+ cages, I can assure you I would not be natural feeding the rabbits, except to give greens as treats. It *is* a lot of work! This style of feeding is more suited to the small backyard rabbitry. 

As far as mess goes, if the rabbits are leaving greens routinely, you may be feeding too much or feeding some greens that they do not find palatable. I find the occasional bit of something left but not very much. They do not poop or pee on the greens... They all use a potty corner at the back of the cage. Mine are in 30 x 36 inch cages, so they have plenty of room. 

They do waste hay, but that is my fault for not installing proper hay racks. I'm planning on switching to a colony pen and so haven't bothered. It all goes into the garden anyway so it is not really wasted... and hay is not expensive here.

I have five adult rabbits and yes, I pick about a five gallon bucket for them every day from May to October. It doesn't take that long, but there are some days when I don't feel like doing it. But I usually enjoy it once I am out there. It takes me to parts of the property I would otherwise not visit very often and there is always something interesting to see. And I have learned so much about plants!

In winter, the focus of their diet switches from greens to alfalfa hay. This happens naturally with the season, as the supply of greens dwindle. I do dry some things for them and I do feed some fresh foods in winter: grain grasses grown in plastic dishpans, pumpkin, carrots, beets, cabbage (in small quantities) etc. etc. They also get a small amount of whole grain (oats, barley, wheat) year round.

In France, there are commercial rabbitries raising rabbits on natural foods, but they seem to feed only alfalfa or alfalfa hay and grain. Here's a link to the Google translation of their site. The translation leaves a lot to be desired, but you'll get the general idea. Something like this may be feasible for you.

http://translate.google.ca/translat...refox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=bUg


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I wouldn't feed strictly greens for 50 rabbits either. Right now we have 17 and there just isn't enough time to give them full feed natural greens. Most of the time they get some greens but not like I would prefer. When we had 7 their diet was nearly all greens and grass.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

This is another reason why I started a thread on natural feed that can be cultivated. Time is a factor in most people's lives. I'm hoping to do this with all of my animals. I'm hoping for at least 50% homegrown feeding. 

I'm wondering....will rabbits eat dried vegetables? Say if you were to slice root vegetables and dry them during the summer surplus, would they eat the dried veggies in the winter? I like to dry things if I can since it reduces the amount of storage room and I'm basically pretty lazy when it comes to canning stuff.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

yes they will eat dried stuff, you can dry carrot and squash chips, mix them in with the pellets or grain to make them go farther, if you feed pellets mix in grain to help strech them farther as well, someone on here makes their own hay from their lawn clippings too, that would be a great way of makeing a quick easy food aditive with no cost,


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

I have 20 cages and I pile the tops of them with assorted greens veggies and hay. i don't have any problem with them consuming what ever I put there each day. Once in awhile i have to pick up some thing and toss it out, but not really all that often.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

they just reach through the top to eat the stuff? what about the young ones? I dont think they would be able to reach. 
In my situation, though, it wouldn't be possible, as I have very few tops without something on them.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

There are (were...12 are gone now) 15 rabbits in one of my coloies, and they LOVED getting an armload of greens...grasses, weeds, apple and mulberry branches. They'd eat them right down over the day.

the guys in the cages all clean up the handfulls that they get. They also all use one corner as a litterbox(some actually have litter boxes in the cage)

Until those 12 went off to a new home I had 30 adult rabbits here. I was giving everyone fresh greens every other day. Hay on the alternate day. 

The best and easiest thing, in my opinion, to raise in a garden for rabbits are *mulberry and apple trees*. Mature apple trees are best, since you can harvest the branches that want to go UP every year. A single tree will give you a LOT of small branches and leaves and not harm the tree.

Mulberry grows like the proverbial weed. good lord. Mulberry is HUGELY nutritious and they'll eat the leaves and bark, and then gnaw on the branch. The more you cut the branches, the more it puts out. Rather like willow. Oh...That's another one. *WILLOW*. If you are in any kind of moist area, or have a place you can keep rather moist, willow is your friend  

Another thing I've found works well is *Basil,* and *lemon balm*. Thyme works well, too, but isn't as forgiving. 

My rabbits (and the wild ones at the farm) like *millet*. I gather the stuff that grows under the bird feeders (when they drop some millet, it grows fast). At the farm, I see cottontail trace under the feeders and find the leaves partially eaten quite often. 

*Carrot and beet tops*. Carrot tops seem to be a REAL treat..beets...some of the rabbits like them. Some don't. 

Maggie got me started on raising *sweet potato vines* for them. holy moly. Works really well. And it's kinda pretty  (sweet potato is NOT the same stuff as our normal potato)

A word about dried veggies: they're HIGH in sugars. Great for a treat, but very fattening. 

*Lonelyfarmgirl*: could you rig a wire "net" over the cage? One section, just a piece of chicken wire or 2x4 stuff would work, I think. Kind of like a horse's hay rack. Or just a slightly dished/bowl shaped chunk. The little ones would be underneath snarfing up the stuff that drops down. (rather like little chicks grab up the stuff that the hens drop from the feeder)


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## rabbitpatch (Jan 14, 2008)

question about not feeding pepper plants....
Are the plants themselves toxic? I have fed peppers (mostly bell and some banana) to my rabbits before and they LOVE them. I had one rabbit that liked hot peppers especially. Crazy thing.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Pepper plants (like eggplant plants and tomato plants) are members of the nightshade family. The plant itself is toxic and should not be fed to rabbits, but the ripe fruits are safe. So you can feed peppers and tomatoes, just not the plants they came from. I'm not certain about eggplant, but assume the same rule applies.


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