wondering about wild roots for rabbits

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Rainey

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Our first fall litter had their 8 week weighing this week and were our best so far. Looking at my records I see that last year the fall litters also did well. (The slowest growers were the ones born mid-summer so this year we bred for litters March through May and then took a break and bred again for litters born at the end of August and start of September) Because we feed our meat mutts without using pellets, the feed changes considerably through the seasons. The main difference for fall is that they get root crops--turnips, potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. I tried growing sugar beets this year to feed late winter through spring but they didn't sprout. And the Jerusalem artichokes that we were trying to get rid of (unsuccessfully) before we got rabbits have dwindled since we cut the tops too persistently for green feed so I haven't had roots to feed.
So my question is what wild roots I could feed in the spring. I was thinking of daylily (hemerocallis) which grow wild along field and road edges and of cattail (typha) which are proliferating in ponds and ditches. I know both are supposed to be edible for people but haven't ever tried them. We have fed the young shoots and leaves of both to the rabbits--the cattails were preferred but perhaps that was because they only got quite small amounts of them. Does anyone here have experience with feeding the roots of either?
 
I've never fed either cattail roots or day lily roots to rabbits, but as far as I know, they are not toxic to rabbits. My understanding is that all parts of both species are edible. How palatable they are is harder to judge.

Roots of some weeds can be fed along with the tops: Queen Anne's lace and dandelion come readily to mind. BUT, if it is going to diminish the greens later on, it would definitely not be worth it.

In my experience, root crops--being richer--are better used for fall and winter feeding than in spring in any case.

Just a word about potatoes: they need to be cooked. My rabbits much preferred them baked to boiled, but either is okay.
 
My fall/winter litters are also better than others, potatoes and carrots do wonders :) How do you feed turnip? Just pluck it out, wash it and give to the rabbits? Leaves on or off?
 
Nika":8ketsxyz said:
My fall/winter litters are also better than others, potatoes and carrots do wonders :) How do you feed turnip? Just pluck it out, wash it and give to the rabbits? Leaves on or off?

This year we had lots of greens for the rabbits but before we had upped production for them we picked off some of the leaves as the turnips were growing and fed them, then pulled and fed the root when it had sized up and fed the top too if it still looked god and green. The turnips were ready to feed earlier than the potatoes and carrots. And yes, as Maggie said, potatoes must be cooked before feeding but the rest are fed raw. It has seemed to me that whatever the season, the kits have grown out better when fed some roots along with hay, green forage, willow, and grain (wheat and oats)
 

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