how many greens??

[MaggieJ]

I googled growing sweet potatoes and there is tons of information. Here's one link:
http://www.canadiangardening.com/garden ... ato/a/1264

As for parasites, you started a topic about this recently. Maybe adding to it would give you the answers you want. I don't have dogs here and none come on our property. In our climate, parasites are not a huge problem, so I am not particularly knowledgeable about cross-species contamination.

parasite-prevention-t814.html<br /><br />__________ Sun Jun 20, 2010 12:24 pm __________<br /><br />Regarding the plants you mentioned, I am not familiar with most of them and I suggest you use google to research them. Put in the botanical name plus the words toxicity rabbits and go from there.

One sounded familiar and I checked it. Ligustrum is privet... very toxic to rabbits.

 

[mytdogs]

One sounded familiar and I checked it. Ligustrum is privet... very toxic to rabbits.

Okay so when I googled this (using the same terms) all I found was TCM usage. I never saw where it is very toxic to rabbits. This is why I am so scared to feed something from my yard.

 

[MaggieJ]

I have no idea what you mean by TCM usage.

When I googled ligustrum vulgare toxicity rabbits I got this:

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&q=ligustrum ... 167247d605

When I googled ligustrum toxicity rabbits I got this:

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&q=ligustrum ... 167247d605

Here is one link that cites privet as toxic to rabbits.
http://www.goldmountainherbfarm.com/Rabbits.html

There are plenty of others there.

You just going to have to spend some time learning how to do these things and how to identify plants if you want to feed yard plants. It's not difficult... just takes practice.

 

[mytdogs]

I have no idea what you mean by TCM usage.

TCM= Traditional Chinese Medicine

 

[Brody]

I stick to what I know - just this morning I was looking at a week and theorizing that it might be ok for the bunnies - but I'm not sure and I'm not great at looking stuff up so I passed

my challenge is figuring out amounts ...i'll post seperately but right now that's driving me bananas

 

[MaggieJ]

Once the buns are well accustomed to plenty of greens, I just give them as much as they will eat. When I find leftovers in the cage the next morning, I know they have been fed more than enough and cut back a bit.

 

[avdpas77]

When I start to feed my rabbits a lot of greens, some of them will show up with some sticky poop in the wire. I do not know if this is night feces they're not eating, or simply "sticky" poop due to the greens. It affects some more that the others. I have found, that as long as the feces does not smell abnormally bad, that is a normal reaction to eating lots of greens. I usually cut back if I find excessive amounts. If you have feces that "smells" a lot more than what you are used to in a rabbit, stop feeding the greens immediately and let the rabbit get re acclimated to pellets and/or hay. "Stinky" poop in a rabbit indicates some kind of gut upset.

 

[MaggieJ]

Never had a problem with this, AVD... I guess my rabbits are totally accustomed to a high-greens diet.

 

[Brody]

Maggie - that's good to know - the young guys sure eat a LOT

that's pretty much what I have been doing (my guys get pellets every 3rd day through the summer as I can't take them right off pellets year round practically speaking)

as some of you know I had spent two months transitioning to home grown fare - either dried or fresh

now the bunnies get two buckets one am and one pm (mainly clover, plantain, strawberry leaves, queen anne's lace, alfalfa, herbs, berry leaves, a little jersualum articchoke) split between them all and supplemented with willow and apple branches with leaves - and one bucket on pellet days

 

[MaggieJ]

You have a great mix there, Brody. Having plantain and berry leaves in the mix is good insurance against "sticky" poop.

Do you have shepherd's purse, Brody? Shall I save you some seed? If it is planted in July, you may even get a crop in September. Along with plantain and the berry leaves, it would be good to have on hand dried, especially for Franklin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsella_bursa-pastoris

 

[avdpas77]

Never had a problem with this, AVD... I guess my rabbits are totally accustomed to a high-greens diet.

I think it only happens to people like me who have a variable amount of time to collect greens. While my rabbits get greens almost every day, the amounts and types vary greatly. If I were raising show or other more expensive rabbits, I would be a lot more careful about keeping an even regime, but I am trying to raise "cast iron" rabbits that are able to tolerate and thrive on a wide variety of diets, so an intolerance in their ability would be a culling factor.

 

[Brody]

Never noticed Shepherds purse maggie but will look out now - didn't know plantain til we crossed paths either - I will have a look see and if I don't have any yet I'd love a bit of seed - thanks
the mints are doing well in the meadow