Apple and Rose : Natural Feeding for Rabbits

I apologize if this is in the wrong section but I just had a few questions. I want to give my girls some nice treats from our yard trimmings and I know apple tree twigs can make nice chews for them. I was just wondering if the leaves and apples can be given to them as well? We have an apple tree in our yard which is untreated.

Now I also heard something about roses? What all can they have from that? We also have untreated rose bushes and if I can use it for the bunnies as a fun treat I would like that. Would anything I give them from the roses need to be detorned?

My buns get apple branches, leaves included. When we have to trim the trees, we will give them a short thick branch piece to chew on as well. Apple slices (minus seeds) are treats.

As far as roses, canes, leaves and flowers. I don't remove thorns...the buns eat them.

Ah ok, is there any other rabbit safe plants I can grow in my yard? We have this small section where I would like to grow some stuff that would be safe for the girls if they were to get back in there and decide to forage. It would also be nice to have some natural treats for them.

Oh, sure, there's a lot of stuff you can grow for rabbits, like parsley, field salad (Valerianella locusta) etc., or wild stuff like hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), depending on your region/climate. Bunny gardens are quite common, I think.

I planted Topinambur (jerusalem artichocke) around my hutches for shade (they get well over 4m tall), they love the greens (have to protect the plants until they reach 60-70 cm), and in winter they get the roots (keeps the stuff from spreading or getting too crowded)

Also planted chives for my rabbits, they like it now and then and it is a precaution against cocci and stuff.

My vegetable garden (about 6x8m) was a dandelion bunny wonderland when I bought the house, my fluffballs reduced that to a ground ivy wasteland in less than 3 years, only the chives (fenced) and lovage (about 2,5m tall now) survived, I would fence off anything that you want to use as treat.

You might also want to check out this thread safe-plants-for-rabbits-list-t55.html . It lists lots of safe plants for rabbits. It's possible you have some "weeds" that rabbits love.

alforddm wrote:You might also want to check out this thread safe-plants-for-rabbits-list-t55.html . It lists lots of safe plants for rabbits. It's possible you have some "weeds" that rabbits love.

I just found that thread this morning! Didn't give it a thorough look through though and will have to do so now! The only plentiful weed we have is dandelions, my pregnant doe goes gaga over them! Actually correction, we also have creeping Charlie in the back area of our yard. Been trying to get rid of it as I am concerned about the buns eating it.

No worry, they don't eat creeping Charlie, and a little doesn't hurt them. Actually, they eat everything else, and that stuff is all that's left in my vegetable garden that was a dandelion bunny wonderland 3 years ago, overgrowing everything. If you find a good method to get rid of it please tell.

Preitler wrote:No worry, they don't eat creeping Charlie, and a little doesn't hurt them. Actually, they eat everything else, and that stuff is all that's left in my vegetable garden that was a dandelion bunny wonderland 3 years ago, overgrowing everything. If you find a good method to get rid of it please tell.

My grandfather mentioned something about saltwater when referring to the weeds in our driveway. I can't remember the exact reason behind the method but supposedly it works.

https://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/0 ... r-rabbits/

Also a friend shared this link with me, anyone have opinions on it?

The Rise & Shine rabbit herbal page seems a pretty good resource! We feed our bunnies a lot of forage and herbs and they stay pretty healthy as a result. About a quarter to half their diet is forage.

There's a lot of tropical stuff you can add to your list of rabbit safe foods:
bananas, leaves & trunk
ti leaves
mulberry (especially good, up to 40% of their diet can be mulberry with no loss in weight gain or litter size according to one of the folks who wrote the Rabbit Production manual)
citrus leaves and they'll eat the fruits, too, even grapefruit although the fruits should be more treat sized than dinner sized
watermelon rinds (I get the fruit)
all sorts of grasses, especially elephant grass and Guinea grass
pigeon peas, branches and leaves
hapu'u fern

If your bunnies aren't used to a lot of forage, though, they may not want to eat it and it should be started out as small amounts.