Wild Onions?

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hoping4better

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I am planning on getting some meat rabbits later this year and "pasturing" them. Pretty much I want to plant a bunch of rabbit friendly plants/grass (timothy, alfalfa, clover, carrots, turnips, etc) in long strips and rotate them through these 'garden' pastures with them in wire enclosures with a wooden box at one end for them to rest, sleep and seek shelter in. The problem though is that ALL of the available land is COVERED in green onions during the spring and fall. I'm talking veritable green carpet. So, will this be a problem?

Any tips and opinions are exceptionally welcome! :D
 
Onion and garlic are toxic to most animals. It destroys red blood cells causing hemolytic anemia if enough is ingested over time. This article was aimed towards bird owners but actually talks from what is known about mammals since it has not been studied in birds http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/onions.html .
 
I would think the wild onions would make your plan impractical unless you can get rid of them. Perhaps raised beds the width of the rabbit pens might work, but in my experience it is far easier and safer to gather the plants and take them to the rabbits. It is easier to secure the rabbits from escapes and predators in a stationary location and it really does not take any longer to gather the greens than to move the rabbit pens.

Have you seen our Safe Plants list yet? There are many, many safe weeds, tree leaves and other plants that rabbits thrive on without feeding them vegetables that you could be eating yourself. From April to November I take out a bucket and fill it with dandelions, timothy grass, alfalfa, wild chicory, clover, sow thistles, prickly lettuce, willow and poplar leaves... and so on. I also offer hay, but when they can get the greens, the rabbits eat very little else. Of course, it is important to phase the new diet in slowly to prevent digestive upsets.
 
Two ways I have done it was on a harness (yes they work) and a lead or just put them in a wide wire cage and put it where you want them to eat.

First way is 'hawk bait' and for small rabbits even some larger medium breeds, that is true, literally.
second way works, is more work and still doesn't do anything about roaming dogs and other predators.

I actually like the idea of an enclosed rabbit run, let them get their exercise and nibble, I'm planning to put on next to the rabbitry, so I just throw the weeds in. because the rabbitry is next to garden,

On a side note, rabbits also really like strawberrys and raspberries, but I've lost the store hybrid (better taste and larger berries I think) and got 'bird scattered' wild briers, but the rabbits think it's all delicious, Oh and the dandy lions, now if I could only train one of my buns to dig them out and eat them I would be in heaven.
 
Oh man, I see you're from Tennessee. That's where I grew up, I know what you're talking about with the green onions! I wonder if letting the land go unmowed for a season or two might allow other forage to smother out the onions? Seems like they only show up in frequently mowed lawns, for the most part. It would be unsightly, but if you're serious about pasturing rabbits, it might be worth it. Ultimately, you may have to find a treatment and put some time into letting the ground rest and getting it safe for bunnies again, but no way, no how would I turn rabbits loose on a field of green onions and expect them to do ok.

http://www.pet-rabbit.netfirms.com/home.htm

This link has some great details on how to get a fairly rabbit proof pasture set-up. Of course, these rabbits are Flemish Giants which, in my experience, are the least inclined to dig, but it has lots of good advice about how to make it work. If you have predator problems, however, you will have to make adjustments.
 
Actually they make a wonderful dish with eggs, they have a slightly garlic flavor
 
Jack":2tqamh9d said:
Actually they make a wonderful dish with eggs, they have a slightly garlic flavor
Click to expand...

LOL, but there's a limit to how many one might need! These things get out of control. Like, Kudzu invasive. (However, Kudzu is an excellent forage, whereas wild onions are not so much. For bunnies, anyway.)
 
Now that you've indicated that the onion is bad for them for sure (thank you!), if offered to them will they avoid it? It's not like I'm going to feed them alfalfa/onion pellets right?

How do wild rabbits know to leave them alone? Given plenty of choice would they be ok? Not trying to be argumentative, just curious.

Thanks for the tips on the list. I had seen it, but not thoroughly. I have considered a fixed rabbit run, but I hesitate to put too many animals on too small of a space. At least with the rotation the ground will get a chance to rest and probably avoid parasite (or so I've read).
 
No, and the one that think it taste good die
leaving those that don't
 
One bite or so of wild onion is not going to make a bunny keel over and die. You could experiment by including a bit in a bunch of mixed weeds and see if they avoid it. My feeling is that they likely would not eat it if they had plenty of better-tasting things. But there are never any guarantees. Rabbits... they'll make liars out of you every time!
 
Wild onions, at least in Tennessee is really wild garlic. Still, I would think one would be as toxic at the other. I do not think the rabbits would try to eat the plants if there was much else to feed them. Most of us older people remember how bad milk used to taste in the early spring because the Holsteins would eat the garlic and the flavor would get in the milk (Yuch!)

If you are raising meat rabbits, I would keep a couple of them out when you process, and let them loose in the pen. I think you will see that they will not eat the wild garlic if there is other good plants available. If they do, and they eat so many that it is toxic, then at least you didn't loose any breeders. Of course, if you take any cage raised rabbit and let them eat too many fresh greens with out breaking them in to it gradually, you stand a chance of getting sick rabbits. So whatever you do keep the times in the pasture quite short and let them build up to total pasturing gradually, especially in the spring when the forage is so green and succulent.
 
Wild bunnies cover a much bigger territory and probably only sample the onions. It takes a certain level over a certain period of time to make an animal sick and more so to kill them. However there are good odds you will lose at least one rabbit because it decides they taste extra yummy and you'll probably see a huge decline in fertility with pregnancy issues and unthrifty kits. You'll be raising a bunch of anemic rabbits probably ranging from very mild to deadly depending on their tastes and I'm not sure you could really overcome the issues well enough to breed towards the healthier ones. It would be a lot less work and money to get rid of the onions or "nuke" the yard and start over with buried 2x6 or 2x10 around the perimeter and weed barrier extending a few feet out around the pen (can be mowed over if staked down right) to prevent their spread rather than replacing stock and trying to get healthy kits. Some black plastic staked down will kill anything given enough time. Although that time is usually a year or 2. I battle creeping charlie here so I've had to take these measures with my garden to keep the good stuff from getting crowded out.
 
Thank you ALL for your input! It looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer than I originally wanted to. I did read that with more organic material and less acidity the wild onion population will drop. So, if I densely cover crop in Spring and Fall for a year and free range my chickens there, I may be able to use the soil in a year or two.
 

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