Feeding rabbits without pellets- is it possible? (your input wanted)

[judymac]

would any type of evergreen work?

I've heard of people using pine and spruce, the only one I know I would avoid is yew (Taxus sp.) as it is toxic. Toxicity of Yew Wood and Roots

 

[dlynn]

By daisies do you mean wild? Also- when you are feeding them evergreen branches, it appears that you are using white pine. Is that on purpose, or would any type of evergreen work?

Most types are ok. We also give swamp spruce, black spruce, balsam.. never yew or cedar (toxic) We feed it more in the winter when everything else is under snow. Summer there's lots from the gardens. Been discovering those are good for us too. White pine makes a delicious, citrus tasting tea high in vitamin c

 

[Rabbits By DK]

Most types are ok. We also give swamp spruce, black spruce, balsam.. never yew or cedar (toxic) We feed it more in the winter when everything else is under snow. Summer there's lots from the gardens. Been discovering those are good for us too. White pine makes a delicious, citrus tasting tea high in vitamin c

Yes, white pine is very good for you. People used to use it to prevent scurvy when there was no fruit available. It's also really good (for humans) when you put cinnamon with it in the tea!

 

[Scooter1A]

Like mint, sage can reduce milk production. My mother-in-law made special stuffing for me without sage for years, not realizing that I only needed to skip the sage while nursing.

I've found that the local rodents don't care for spilled rabbit pellets, so feeding just pellets didn't seem to grow the mice/rat population any, we switched to pellets when we raised rabbits in town. But the pests love the spilled whole grains, so you'll need to be more vigilant if you're feeding whole wheat, oats, barley, sunflower seeds, flax seed, etc. Also, any spilled grain in the manure will happily sprout in the garden. Fine if you want to harvest more grain, not so good when the grains swamp out the veggies you planted. I'm still happy we use whole grains and fresh feed, but be aware there are some issues to deal with as well.

Hello. I sprouted some oats in the house. The greens are now about 7 inches. Before I do it, is it OK to cut those greens and feed them to my rabbits? I can't imagine why it wouldn't be. Just checking.

 

[dlynn]

Hello. I sprouted some oats in the house. The greens are now about 7 inches. Before I do it, is it OK to cut those greens and feed them to my rabbits? I can't imagine why it wouldn't be. Just checking.

You can feed the whole thing roots and all if it's just water sprouts. If it's in dirt cut and come again will work

 

[Scooter1A]

You can feed the whole thing roots and all if it's just water sprouts. If it's in dirt cut and come again will work

Awesome, thanks.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Be careful with pine. Ponderosa pine is said to be an abortificient. Back when I was doing guinea pigs there was someone who was feeding pine regularly partly because they have vit c, which guinea pigs need. They had a ton of health problems going on and stuff and the only thing anyone could figure out was the pine.

Doing searches online is not particularly definitive last I looked. But well enough that I'd only feed very small amounts and would be very hesitant to feed it to bred does.

 

[Scooter1A]

I have a gorgeous pine tree that sheds many needles and cones. I don't give rabbits any of them because I have no idea what type of pine it is. It came from South Carolina.

 

[Rabbit Warren Man]

Most types are ok. We also give swamp spruce, black spruce, balsam.. never yew or cedar (toxic) We feed it more in the winter when everything else is under snow. Summer there's lots from the gardens. Been discovering those are good for us too. White pine makes a delicious, citrus tasting tea high in vitamin c

I feed conifers too, they love the bark as well. Interesting about the Tea do you have a recipe for preparing?