Topic: Growing food for rabbits

[Silverleaf]

Anyone else do this?

I love foraging wild plants for my two pet Netherland Dwarfs, and I try to get as wide a variety as I can for them. They love it and I feel it's better for them and more interesting than "human" vegetables. I dry enough for winter was well.

My garden's not terribly neat so I can find a lot of different safe plants/weeds there. I was even happy to find ground elder growing in the shade of the fence! There's dandelion, vetch, sticky weed, plantain, wild rose, bramble, daisies, loads of grasses, thistles, and dead nettles.

I'm planning to put in a few trees to cut twigs from - I already have lots of hawthorn and beech and some apples and pears, but I'd like hazel and willow too.

And I've added a new 4' x 4' bed to grow some plants just for them. Planning to sow cocksfoot, timothy, barley, oats, rye and wheat for fresh grass/hay, a "rabbit mix" of different plants, mallow, rocket, cornflowers, calendula, dandelion, calendula, nasturtiums, and sunflowers (for leaves, not seeds). Maybe even a few pea shoots, and some red or white clover.

They'll also get carrot/parsnip tops and the occasional bit of kale, plus lots of herbs.

Spoiled bunnies? Probably! But they are very healthy so it obviously suits them. 

[pumkinlover]

Yes me! Lots of long grass from the allotments too to keep the teeth worn down. The silica in grass is still best for keeping the teeth healthy.
Young beech only from what I understand, hazel is better so I go for that instead.

[ancellsfarmer]

Have you a rough area for Heracleum sphondylium, Common Hogweed. Makes a bulky addition to your rabbits diet. Its the choice of the wild variety. Some sources suggest it can be tasty to humans too. Handle with gloves if sensitive.

[Silverleaf]

Yes me! Lots of long grass from the allotments too to keep the teeth worn down. The silica in grass is still best for keeping the teeth healthy.
Young beech only from what I understand, hazel is better so I go for that instead.

Luckily Meeple and Nemesis both love all kinds of hay so that helps a lot with their teeth I think. A nice lady on a rabbit forum once sent me a sample of orchard hay (which is cocksfoot), and she says that it had a really positive impact on the number of dentals her Nethy had to have. Even at £80 for a bale imported from America, she saved on vet bills (and even more importantly, less stress for the rabbit). £80 a bale's a bit spendy for me though when I can make my own cocksfoot hay! Not that I can dry it fast enough to supply my two enthusiastic little guys, but I can definitely supplement their farm hay.

Not that they've had any dental problems yet, they are only 9 months old, but no sense in taking any risks especially with a breed that's prone to dental problems anyway...

I have a pretty big beech hedge so I should be able to cut and dry loads of it while it's nice and young.

[Silverleaf]

Have you a rough area for Heracleum sphondylium, Common Hogweed. Makes a bulky addition to your rabbits diet. Its the choice of the wild variety. Some sources suggest it can be tasty to humans too. Handle with gloves if sensitive.

I've heard it's good for rabbits but I'm not familiar enough with it to positively identify it when out foraging. Perhaps I should try to source some seeds? My orchard's pretty wild, it would be fine in there as long as it doesn't mind soggy clay! Thanks for the suggestion. :)

[Silverleaf]

Just remembered I also have raspberry, loganberry, gooseberry and currants to pick leaves from too. :)

[Hector]

Another vote for common hogweed....my Father had a huge pet rabbit and he foraged that for it.