? re not changing feed and seasonal forage

[Rainey]

We haven't yet had a digestion problem with just weaned kits, but I keep reading that it's important not to change their feed at that point. So how does that work when fresh forage is a major part of the diet and what is in the buckets keeps changing through the season. Mostly the changes are gradual--a bit more of some things as others are diminishing.
Right now I'd like to start adding some roots as there isn't as lots of the weeds are going to seed and we still have lots of growing out kits (ages 6 to 9 weeks with another litter due early next week) Is it a problem to give them roots which they haven't had before and the does haven't been getting roots since late winter/early spring?

 

[MaggieJ]

If you phase them in slowly, I doubt you'll have a problem. It's not that different from late October/early November when the fresh forage really diminishes.

Weeds going to seed can still be fed in most cases, especially if they have been mowed so they produce new growth. There are a few like curly dock, redroot pigweed and lamb's quarters that are better fed only in the spring, but all the plantain, dandelion, chicory, prickly lettuce, sow thistle and Queen Anne's lace, willow, apple twigs, poplar, cattails and so forth can be fed up until frost at least. Please note that the seed heads of Queen Anne's lace must be removed because of their strong medicinal properties, but the foliage is fine.

Latin names are available in the Safe Plants sticky if you need them.

 

[LPH_NY]

I'm knocking on wood... but I haven't lost a single bun to food issues. I feed what is available and whenever I can get it. I make sure to give my kits as much diversity of forage as I can gather while they are still very young (even though it is more time consuming)... and as they grow, they get treated just like the adults. I feel that as long as they've had a diverse diet from the start, they can handle the gradual seasonal shift... especially if you always include all-season stuff like the dandelions and clovers.

 

[Rainey]

If you phase them in slowly, I doubt you'll have a problem. It's not that different from late October/early November when the fresh forage really diminishes.

Weeds going to seed can still be fed in most cases, especially if they have been mowed so they produce new growth. There are a few like curly dock, redroot pigweed and lamb's quarters that are better fed only in the spring, but all the plantain, dandelion, chicory, prickly lettuce, sow thistle and Queen Anne's lace, willow, apple twigs, poplar, cattails and so forth can be fed up until frost at least. Please note that the seed heads of Queen Anne's lace must be removed because of their strong medicinal properties, but the foliage is fine.

Latin names are available in the Safe Plants sticky if you need them.

Thanks, Maggie. I wasn't sure about the plantain once it has that spiky seedhead on it. And they just don't seem to go for the chicory once it gets tall and sort of stemmy or the willow once the leaves look bug-chewed. Or maybe I just think they aren't eating as much because the forage doesn't look as appealing to me--but maybe they just eat less when it's warmer. :? I think part of the problem is that we have so much wild or waste or whatever you want to call it space that none of it gets really cut off thoroughly. We take the best bits from various spots and then the other stuff gets tall and hides the favorites. I'm thinking about how we could manage some area more intentionally for rabbit forage. But it is hard to think about much mid-summer because there is too much that just needs to be done now and anyway the humidity makes my brain feel mushy.

But we already know so much more than we did a year ago and we're getting to 5 pounds at 12 weeks which isn't bad with no pellets nor alfalfa. Thanks to you and RT.

 

[MaggieJ]

If you're getting 5 pounds at 12 weeks without pellets or alfalfa hay, that is splendid! :goodjob: Mine typically took 14-16 weeks, but that may have been partly my breeding stock.

Rabbits do eat less when it is very hot, but if the greens are not as palatable as in spring, that can also be a factor in diminished appetite.

What I like to do is take pruning shears along when I forage and cut plants like chicory, sow thistle, prickly lettuce and Queen Anne's lace (the ones that get tall and stringy as the season progresses) right down to the ground. That way, when they grow again, the leaves are young and appetizing.

I have nothing to offer on the condition of the willow leaves -- ours do not seem to be troubled by pests much and it a reliable feed right until the leaves drop in fall.

Don't forget poplar or cottonwood if you have any. Leafy twigs often come down on a windy day and the rabbits like them.

 

[Rainey]

We have cottonwood and poplar and a shrub willow that doesn't get tall so the branches are out of reach and doesn't get as bug-eaten. But the buns don't like it as well either. (The good part about the black willow that gets bug-eaten is that they make for good bird watching since the birds are in the trees eating the bugs ) Next year I hope the mulberries we planted will be big enough to start cutting some from them--they leafed out later than the willows and I hope they'll last longer.
We do cut the good weeds off short when we feed them, but if we don't cut everything off, the weeds that aren't good for rabbits--knapweed and horse nettle and such--get so tall that it's hard to find the new growth on the plants we cut.
As for our grow-out rates, they're good enough for us for now, not always 5 pounds at 12 weeks but close. The litter of 12 is going to take longer and last year the ones born in October took longer. I hope we can get them better as we learn more and as we breed the best rabbits from litters that were fed this way.

 

[MaggieJ]

I think you're doing great!

If you can't mow large sections to keep the "bad weeds" down, try mowing a few pathways. It makes access so much easier and by foraging in the pathways as the plants grow back and selected plants just off the path (most are tall enough to be visible) you'll soon fill your bucket.

We have white or crack willow (not sure which) but most of the forage comes from an enornous weeping willow. Weeping willow is very palatable to rabbits and is fast growing.

 

[Rainey]

There are parts we mowed with the sickle bar that are coming back nicely--grass, clover and crown vetch mostly. It's the weeds that grow in the disturbed ground that I tend to lose as the season progresses--still find a few but not as many or not in as good condition. Seems odd to be thinking about growing a higher concentration of weeds and have them last over a longer season

We have Salix sericea, purpurea, and fragilis. That last is what we had identified as black willow until our botanist friend corrected us And there is a large weeping willow but all its branches are very high or out over the pond. I took whips from it in the spring and stuck them in the ground in more accessible places, even cut the grass away from them for a bit but lost track of it at some point. Don't know if any of them will have survived

I hope to do better next year when we don't have a big building project going so we're not all so stretched. We're doing "well enough" with the rabbits and it will get easier when we have a better space for them and time to organize the things we grow for them better.

 

[MaggieJ]

I agree -- it takes time and really you are getting great result already. As you say, next year will be easier.