zucchini?

[ohiogoatgirl]

i have two zucchini that are going to go bad and i dont have the gumption to make zucchini bread... can i slice them up and feed em to the buns? also can i leave the seeds in them or cut them out?
thanks

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I tried giving zucchini to my rabbits last year and they didn't want it. Do you have chickens? They'll eat it, especially if you steam it first.

 

[MaggieJ]

My rabbits won't eat it either. It's fine to try them on it, it won't hurt them, but they likely won't eat it. My geese and chickens will eat it. I just slice it in half lengthwise so they can get at it. The seedier the better from their point of view.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

well i have chopped them up into smallish cubes and taken out the seeds. will have to give em all a cube or two and see what they think.

 

[a7736100]

My rabbits won't eat anything in the squash family. Haven't tried pumpkin on them. They get picky when there's plenty of vegetables. They'll eat the green parts of bok choy but not the white stems. They are not too fond of broccoli, swiss chard, usually don't like mustard greens but will eat leek.

 

[akane]

Mine loved halloween pumpkins last fall. The colony ate 2 every few days for weeks. I haven't tried squash or cucumbers though so I don't know about zuchini. At minimum it's not harmful.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

well one doe ate three cubes about fast as i put em in there. course she has always been the pig of them all. the others have sorta nibbled. will see later tonight if any didnt touch it or what...

 

[Stormy]

My rabbits don't care for zucchini either which I think is just WEIRD afterall it tastes better than weeds to me! I think they have eaten pumpkin/kobocha squash but those are higher in sugars. They often will leave the stems of kale preferring the leafy bits.
Note of caution: I have read NOT to feed rabbits brassicas - or in very small quantities - ie broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi... because their digestion can't handle something in it -makes gas I believe. Probably just as it does for humans. Its actually advised for humans to only eat cultured brassicas, (cultured means broken down a bit like sauerkraut) but if that isn't possible, at least cooked not raw. Maybe safer for the bunnies if cooked also. I have not tried feeding them cultured. I have given them bits of cabbage and broccoli but only a couple pieces at a time, at long intervals.

 

[hoodat]

I don't hesitate to feed brassica leaves of any kind to my bunrabs but if I come by a rabbit that has never had any I feed them only a small taste per day till the gut flora develops. After that they can eat quite a bit with no harm.
Brassicas can also cause gas in humans but with ethnic groups like the Germans and Polish who eat a lot of them it doesn't because the body learns to handle it. The same goes for dry beans among the Mexicans. They don't get gas from them so long as they eat them often. (Let me add that you should NEVER feed dry beans to rabbits.) Uncooked dry beans contain toxins that are destroyed by cooking.