What are you raising for bunnies this year?

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C

cereshill

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Dec 26, 2009
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Location
Western Wash.
We are planning the following:
willow (15-20 starts)
mangels (1 lb of seeds)
BOSS (several 10lb bags)

have blackberry and raspberry already... and volunteer oats from wasted grain feeding (mixed with manure and spread around)

other Greens?
 
I mostly gather wild greens for the buns: dandelion, plantain, chicory, blackberry, raspberry and strawberry leaves, willow, apple leaves and twigs, red and white clover, the sow thistles, prickly lettuce. There's lots more too... see the Safe Plants List for the others and for botanical names.

I grow some pumpkins and will share surplus garden produce with the buns. I have a few comfrey plants and would like to increase them. I have an alfalfa patch... not big eonough for making hay but great for fresh greens. I would like to grow more herbs for the rabbits... lemon balm is a reliable, vigorous perennial here and the rabbits like it. We already have a mint patch well established. I like things I can plant in an unused area and let them be invasive, rather than things that take up space in the cultivated gardens.
 
I'm putting in more basil plants specifically for the rabbits. Also parsley. both of those will go into containers that can go inside in the fall for wintering. My other "plant for bunnies" is going to be a huge patch of sunflowers. good for the chickens, too, but I think these will mainly be for the buns.

We have an abundance of plantain in the field, as well as dandelions, so that's taken care of naturally. The hay field will FINALLY be put to use this year as greens for the bunnies. I plan on mowing it (cyclebar mower)every week to keep it low and growing. The chickens will LOVE that, and the greens I rake up will go into the bunny pens.

Blackcaps (black raspberries) everywhere here, as well as wild roses. I plan on gathering leaves from those all year as well as apple leaves.
 
Yes, I will definitely grow some sunflowers for the rabbits. They love the greens and if any of them manage to mature, they will enjoy the seedheads too. As will the chickens. I tend not to think of them as a garden or field plant because they tend to pop randomly around here. But this year I will actually plant some, down near the rabbitry where they will be handy.

Lemon balm is a flavourful green plant, cH, with a long history of use as a health-giving herb. It is a member of the mint family, a prolific self-seeder and a hardy (to Zone 5) perennial. Doesn't need to go into a garden though, if your garden space is limited.

Mint is a nice herb to have handy, but not all rabbits like it. It should not be fed to pregnant or lactating does and some people caution against its use for very young rabbits. I planted it for my own use in a wet part of our south field and it has grown to a huge patch, so I give it to the rabbits as a variety green and dry some for winter use. It is supposed to repel rats and mice so could be useful planted around the rabbitry.

Parley and basil are both excellent herbs for rabbits... safe, full of vitamins and the buns think they are candy!
 
Queen Anne's Lace is practically the same plant as garden carrots and can be gathered. The garden carrot is just a much more refined version. you can feed all parts of QAL except the seeds.
 
my rabbits get (from the garden)
sage, parsley, tyme, rosemary, strawberry leaves and fruit, raspberry leaves and fruit, blackberry leaves and fruit, carrot tops, sunchokes,

I collect the wild things Maggie suggests - plantain, leaves of maple and willow mostly, a little dandilion QAL, clover ...
I know I'm forgetting things - will edit adn add as I think of them
 
I've never actually fed rosemary, nor have I researched it. Since it is not hardy here in Ontario, my rosemary plant is a houseplant and just keeps my kitchen supplied.

Brody might know, since she mentioned rosemary in her above post.
 
rosemary is quite strong - not all bunnies like it but I find it piques (is that the word I want?) interest in food for some rabbits - a little amount seems to go a long way - franklin and niobe both really go for it in a mixed offering
 
I only have one rabbit so far (hopefully another one in May) so I won't need to plant a lot of stuff,
but here's the list of stuff I'd like to plant.

Sunflowers,
pumpkins maybe,
icicle radishes,
basil,
carrots,

we have plenty of apple & pear cuttings, you can dry them can't you?

I have lots more stuff to list and lots more questions but I have to go now. :|
All the natural feeding is very interesting.
 
You can dry apple and pear cuttings, also willow, sugar or silver maple, sycamore, mulberry....

While you only have a small bunny population at the moment, Farm Girl, you may want to establish some permanent plantings of such things as alfalfa, comfrey, lemon balm etc. so that next year, when you have more bunnies (and you will!) the plants are already established.
 
Once he realizes that I am giving him dandelion leaves, Thumper will attack my hand when I reach in with another!!! :lol:
 
I did grab some of the apple leaves last year (we have a wild apple orchard on the farm) and dried them. The rabbits LOVE getting them. It's like eating potato chips. crunchcrunchcrunch

I actually added romaine to my garden seeds this year. I'm not big on putting lettuces in the garden, but I've started eating a lot of romaine, and the rabbits love it, so...at the recent (Wednesday) trip to the Nursery to buy my seeds...I saw romaine and said "the rabbits will like that!" and in it went to my basket :oops:

So...now we have a specific type of cherry tomato for the chickens, and romaine for the rabbits. :roll:
 

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