What Can You Feed a Baby Wild Rabbit

Domestic rabbits are descended from European wild rabbits and should accept no problem with a not-pelleted diet that includes a variety of feedstuff. Older rabbit books are useful sources of this information. Let's confront information technology, pellets simply came on the marketplace afterward World War II.

If you are feeding pellets, I propose you lot contact the feed company and ask for an ingredients list. Not just a nutritional breakup, merely a listing of the actual items used. You may be in for a surprise. I was! Some years ago I asked for this list from 1 of the big-proper name feed companies that fabricated it. I was shocked to find brute tallow amongst the ingredients, also listed was animal flour and animate being fats. Rabbits are herbivores that swallow generally green nutrient, grain and roots. Now what does a herbivore want with animal tallow, creature flour, and animal fat! I looked into information technology more and found that GMO grown grains and soy were also used in rabbits pellets. And so now in nigh brands of rabbit pellets they include the GMO grown soy manufacturing plant waste products every bit the main feed ingredient.

And then I began to learn about feeding my rabbits a more than natural blazon nutrient plan. By experimenting and watching the rabbits I take learned a lot, not all skilful! The rabbits are the best teachers and they teach you a lot. During the growing season, nature makes my rabbit food!

I am not knocking all pellets, some pellets are better than others and if you cull to apply them just exist informed. Only at that place are alternatives if you are willing to larn. Virtually rabbits if given a choice prefer the hay and greens and volition eat far fewer pellets. I accept washed this test myself and the feeder was always full of pellets when they had the option of a natural feed source over pellets. Where fryers are concerned, you volition need to suit your expectations slightly. Rabbits fed mainly on natural foods will abound a bit more slowly than those fed only pellets and may accept a couple of weeks longer to attain butchering weight. Just your overall cost per pound will exist less and the fryers should have more than meat and less fat. I recollect the reason they abound more slowly is related to protein levels, which are college in pellets than in a nutrition of hay, greens and grain.

I should emphasize that I would never advocated this method of feeding in large rabbitries or for bear witness rabbits or the commercial production of meat. Information technology is a system best suited to the small homestead rabbitry, where the chief goal is to provide skillful, salubrious meat for i's own tabular array. Please, remember to exist careful starting off. Natural feeding is great for the rabbits and nifty for the pocketbook, but yous must have responsibility for doing the necessary homework to keep your rabbits safety. Delight recollect that while I am happy to share my observations on this topic and while I have had first-class results with supplementing commerical pellets with the green feeds listed on my webpage, I am still experimenting. Become slowly with your rabbits and be watchfull for problems. Get a expert volume on weeds if yous are not knowledgeable enough to identify them without help. When in doubt, DON'T

Most of us started homesteading considering we wanted to have command of what goes into the meat and other food that we eat. While information technology's a whole lot more work, I think the but existent way that nosotros can practice that is to completely ditch commercial mixtures and brand or grow our own animal food from scratch. I truly recollect that feeding a variety of different foods is what is going to work in the long run, non some commercially prepared mixture based on some scientific guidelines which may or may not be authentic for the animals we are raising.

Natural feeding saves money but is more than labour intensive. I like to salve coin, just I think my real motivation is the wellness, happiness and well-being of the rabbits. I am convinced information technology is very best for the health of the rabbits. Some of the results are the absenteeism of digestive issues (No gut stasis or weaning enteritis! and the wonderful flavour of the "grass fed" meat). I accept never had a rabbit that really loved pellets! Rabbits lead boring enough lives as it is, (unless they alive in a colony setting more on this subject in a future post!). Why deny them the pleasures of fresh, varied, natural foods!

I now feed a combination of natural and pellets. If the source of natural food is good and fresh, information technology will brand up for short comings in the pellets. I would just feed a natural diet if i had less rabbits and more fourth dimension. I would like to stress that this method of feeding, was the only mode to feed rabbits earlier pelleted foods were invented, it is frowned upon in today'southward world and considered controversial by many. I take been getting very good results with information technology, but I am still e'er learning buy the best of teachers, the rabbits themselves! I have nothing but my own experience and some erstwhile books to base of operations this on. If you wish to apply this method you lot must expect to be vigilant and adaptable while you are learning what works with y'all and your rabbits.

I know that lots of people are going to choose to supplement with natural foods rather than feed them exclusively. There is cipher wrong with this, I do this myself. I feel information technology gives the rabbits the all-time of both worlds. I likewise think each breeder has to discover what works all-time for themselves and their rabbits. Remember the sustainability of a natural food programme may be the merely mode to feed your rabbits one twenty-four hour period. And then by only supplementing now, you will larn what works, how to grow, how to harvest, how to dry and store (for winter utilise) all the while getting your rabbits gut flora adapted to this "new" diet.

Rabbits digestive systems are perfectly capable of digesting the greens, but they must develop the proper flora in their GI tract and that does not happen overnight. Make your transition to greens gradually, working the amounts up from a few leaves to equally much as you lot can find for them. In the wild, rabbits eat greens from the time their eyes open and suffer no ill effects. The greens are always fresh since they are growing when the rabbits consume them and because there is always more than at that place is no trend to overeat. I usually transition new rabbits over a catamenia of two months. Near rabbits, given the choice, prefer the hay and greens and will consume far fewer pellets. Grass hay can be added immediately with no problems and should exist offered at all times. Information technology is really practiced for their digestion and will assist preclude weaning enteritis in fryers.

What I endeavour to practice is piece of work with the cycle of the seasons. Then in the spring I would feed fresh small greens (dandelions, plantain, grasses, sprouted branches etc.). All what is growing in the leap and what is available in season. In the winter The wild rabbits don't become as much "fresh food" they depend heavily on weed and grass seeds, standing grass "hay", roots when they can get them, tree bawl and buds. (In your climate the seasons are going to exist different and you will learn to work with them. Your tough time may be in a season of drought while mine is the winter)

Foods during warmer months include a variety of sedges, grasses and other herbaceous plants. Of import species include panic grass, plantain, dandelion, crabgrass, ragweed, croton, clover and lespedeza. Agricultural crops eaten during the summer include clover, alfalfa, soybeans, peanuts (the dark-green constitute) and garden vegetables.

Winter foods include honeysuckle, lespedeza, blackberry, greenbrier, a diverseness of grasses and dried vegetation. Bark, twigs and buds from sumac, black scarlet, willow, holly and dogwood as well are eaten. Agronomical crops consumed during the winter include rye, wheat, alfalfa, clover, corn, peanuts and ryegrass. Wild rabbits accept been known to damage fruit orchards by eating the bark of fruit trees. Buds of seedlings in pine plantations likewise may be eaten during the winter.

Consider a day in the life of a wild rabbit. they would spend lxx% of their time above ground searching out and foraging for food while keeping an heart out for predators. As a ground feeder, a rabbits diet would be mainly fabricated up of grasses, hay, herbs and bawl – all high fibre foods! Rabbits tin not climb trees to go fruit, and they would not actually go around digging up carrots either. The rabbits territory would be around 2+ acres, pregnant they would get a lot of practice every day searching out food beyond that area. The rabbit's whole existence has evolved around this high fibre diet.

Rabbits from different areas swallow different diets they ate what was available in and around their surroundings. Marsh rabbits would feed on leaves and bulbs of marsh plants including cattails, rushes, and grasses. They can also feed on other aquatic or marsh plants such as centella, greenbrier vine, marsh pennywort, h2o hyacinth, wild potato, and amaryllis. Marsh rabbits brand more than year-round utilise of woody vegetation than other species of rabbits. The swamp rabbit eats reeds, plants, and grasses native to its marshy habitat. The Castor Rabbit feeds mainly on grasses and forbs, especially greenish clover, though it volition also take berries and scan from bushes. The desert rabbit mainly eats grass, but volition eat many other plants, even cacti. Information technology rarely needs to potable, getting its water mostly from the plants it eats or from dew. So take reward of what type of expanse you live in and feed your rabbits accordingly.

When the rabbits are in cages and dependent on people, the chances of bug increase. Most rabbits, volition become used to eating greens over a period of a few weeks, they will non overeat or have issues digesting the greens. If you go slowly, feed some of the regulators (plantain, raspberry, strawberry and blackberry leaves) along with the other greens. (think salad bar) Always articulate out any uneaten greens and you should non have any problems. However, information technology is good to continue in mind that rabbits, similar people, can have private sensitivities and tastes.

Even people in urban areas tin grow rabbit food! Grow in containers, on balconies, in windowsills and you will be surprised how much you tin grow. Come across if there is a customs garden in your area, and if there isn't 1, maybe yous could start ane! Local schools would be thrilled if you lot started a project for kids to start a garden and grow their own food. Y'all could comprise a herb and weed bed to concenter beneficial insects and feed your rabbits!

I've never heard of a rabbit over-eating on grass hay. Hay ( like timothy/clover ) is the foundation of the rabbits diet. Grass hay is very good for rabbits for GI tract health. It is not so high in protein so if y'all are feeding pellets, this is the best hay to utilise. Hay is used every bit fiber and keeps things moving fast thru the GI tract. I would be more than conscientious with alfalfa hay however as information technology is much richer. When I am feeding alfalfa hay in winter, they get a limited corporeality of alfalfa hay and as much grass hay as they desire. I know a lot of people say not to feed fresh alfalfa or alfalfa hay considering information technology is "as well rich" but if you are non feeding pellets or have cutting way dorsum on the pellets, alfalfa becomes a valuable food source. After all, it is a major ingredient in many brands of pellets, and then why exist agape to employ it. Feeding alfalfa and clover is probably the most controversial aspect of feeding rabbits naturally. Legumes are high in protein and calcium. Because there is already a lot of alfalfa in the pellets, when feeding a combination it is possible for the rabbits to become too much protein and calcium. Backlog calcium tin can outcome in "bladder sludge" every bit the unused calcium is excreted. Drying alfalfa and clover is supposed to help, I suggest, however, keeping the corporeality of these two excellent greens downwardly or not at all if y'all are also feeding pellets!

The rabbits certainly go more hay and less light-green feed in the winter. In the winter I abound wheat and other grain grasses (under lights in the house), I pot up some chard, make sprouts and also feed a lot of stale greens for them (that was harvested during the jump and summer months). Merely equally wild rabbits adjust their diet equally wintertime comes and swallow a lot more dried grass and tree bawl and buds and less grass and weeds, and so do my rabbits. If you lot take a lot of rabbits it really is going to be hard to grow plenty. You may also be able to harvest some of your homegrown wheat or barley as hay, merely as information technology forms the seed heads and store for wintertime feed.

The departure between grass and hay is Grass is ordinarily cut greenish and growing- So it is low in fiber and high in protein. Hay- (especially legume hay) is often cut quite mature to maximize production and the mature grass is college in fiber. Legumes like alfalfa are besides stemmy. Just hay volition be lower in vitamins compared to fresh grass. Timothy hay is groovy for GI health and for nibbling pleasure but it does not have very much poly peptide compared to alfalfa or clover hay. You may detect you demand to continue feeding some pellets to supply plenty protein unless yous can find some alfalfa or clover hay. A mix of alfalfa with timothy is great. If you lot are not feeding pellets, however, the rabbits have to get their protein somewhere else and this is where alfalfa or clover hay comes in. You don't really want to double up on the protein, then it is not so practiced for pellet-fed rabbits. Rabbits can live on good hay lone, fed gratuitous-choice. I don't recommend it, but it provides a baseline for planning. In winter, some grain is a good idea. I found that the does needed it when they are lactating. The dried greens are corking for the rabbits they provide variety and interest and lots of nutrients. I think if you dry the same quantity that you feed fresh that seems as good a fashion of estimating as any. Don't forget that yous can too feed windowsill greens to the rabbits this will be another nutrient source if you lot start to run depression in late winter. Grain grass is the easiest and very fast-growing you tin cutting it several times before it starts to get straggly.

Vegetables should exist introduced i at a fourth dimension if your rabbit is young. Monitor their droppings to brand sure that they tin tolerate what they are eating. If you observe whatever changes, discontinue feeding that vegetable. Make sure your rabbits vegetables are always fresh. If it smells "off" or if you would not swallow it yourself, throw it out. Greens and veggies could cause a problem if fed in massive quantities-the rabbit is a squealer by nature-if the uneaten greens are allowed to wilt and spoil-if fed in too swell a quantity when the rabbits are not accepted to it. Organic vegetables are ideal for rabbits since they are so sensitive to pesticides and chemicals used on commercial produce. Whatever y'all choose, exist certain to launder it thoroughly and pick information technology over for bugs.

A great variety of vegetables exists and most tin be found in your local grocery store.(Only call back we are going for sustainability then grow it or hunt for information technology). Nighttime, leafy greens should be fed at least once a 24-hour interval. Carrot tops, watercress, radish leaves, collard greens, beet and turnip tops, romaine lettuce, cerise and green leafage lettuce, endive, chard, and dandelions are some of the most popular (avoid dandelions or other safety feeds picked from roadsides or unfamiliar yards you do not desire to give your rabbits a fertilizer or pesticide cocktail). Other vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, tomatoes (without stems! stems and leaves of the tomato plant are toxic to rabbits), saccharide peas and fennel. Rabbits peculiarly similar fragrant and tasty herbs like parsley, cilantro, basil, dill, arugula and mint. You can dry out nearly of the greens mentioned. Yes, they wilt merely then they dry similar hay would. Once thoroughly dry out they will go along through the next winter. This really helps for winter feeding.

Daily vegetables are a vital source of nutrition for your rabbits. Amounts fed volition vary past the rabbit'southward size, weight and preference. Some people feed vegetables both in the morning and evening, others alternate meals of pellets and vegetables. Some people mix a multifariousness of veggies together like a salad (i do this), some feed one vegetable at a time.

Mangel beets should be stored before feeding, the old books say never the tops of the mangels for rabbits and never before Christmas. Feed mangels in moderation. Mangel beets, carbohydrate beets and garden beets are all useful for feeding rabbits and are a great nutrient that stores skillful for wintertime feed.

Plantain and blackberries. Both great every bit nutrient for rabbits, both good fresh or dried and both an excellent remedy for diarrhea. Plantain is one of the very safest greens for rabbits and even young kits tin eat it. I've dried raspberry leaves on the cane and it works well, but i remember information technology might be better just to cut off the leaflets. The thorns on the blackberries are truly vicious.

I highly recommend scarlet clover in a rabbit greens garden. Yous tin can go an awful lot of greens off a small patch and in flavour it recovers from a cut in no time.

Sunflowers you can plant equally thickly every bit you please and then pull the extra seedlings for an early on jump light-green. Go out some a little longer and use them as "cut and come up once again" greens. Let the best ones mature for seeds. And they exercise provide shade in one case matured keeping the rabbits cool as well every bit feeding them you can remove leaves to feed during the summer I've never dried sunflower plants, simply my rabbits love them fresh. No reason they couldn't be stale. Y'all probably lose a scrap of diet drying them, just they are still splendid. An blusterous place in light shade might piece of work better
and also dry and save the seeds.

Grape vines, even wild grapes, are another good feed plus shade plant

Many plants comprise a naturally occurring chemicals called an alkaloids, which are balmy toxins that protect found in the wild. The one most talked about with rabbits is oxalic acid and it is completely harmless to animals or humans when consumed in small-scale amounts. The amount of oxalic acid within each plant can vary significantly due to several factors including the limerick of the soil the plant grew in, the time of year and the historic period of the establish. About of the fresh vegetables we feed rabbits have a depression to zero level of oxalic acid, but a few, most notably parsley, mustard greens and spinach, lambsquarter,comfrey have relatively loftier levels. (Note that kale, which is oftentimes implicated as a loftier oxalate food is actually very low in oxalates when young). The toxicity of oxalic acid comes with feeding large quantities of foods high in this chemic and can cause harm to the kidneys over time. These foods are nutritious and should not need be excluded from the diet if you feed them proplery.These vegetables should be fed moderately as they are loftier in vitamin A (that a rabbits needs!) I recommend feeding a minimum of at least 3 types of leafy greens a day (and but 1 of them should be from the group listed above) Don't feed the same greens all the time from week to calendar week if possible, mix it up. For example if you feed parsley this calendar week, then leave it out of the nutrition for next week and use something else. Rotating the greens will likewise give your rabbits ameliorate all effectually nutrition!

Never feed rabbits iceberg lettuce, rhubarb, raw beans, apple seeds, peach pits, potatoes or corn. These items can cause affliction and even death. As well, never feed anything that you are uncertain about. About rabbits love fruit, but information technology must be offered in small amounts due to the loftier sugar content. Peaches, nectarines, papaya, pineapple, apple, grapes (and raisins), pear, banana, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, apricots and strawberries are some of the virtually pop fruits. A one-inch slice of banana, or two blackberries, is plenty for a treat. Be certain to remove any pits or seeds every bit they may be poisonous(Check out the February 2012 post SAFE Nutrient LIST FOR RABBITS and POISONOUS PLANTS TO RABBITS)

Now that your rabbits are accustomed to greens, they can have a lot. Mine barely bother with their hay or grain when they have lots of greens and they do just fine. Baby rabbits that take access to greens from the outset, when they first pop out of the nest box and begin tasting solid foods, should have no problems with greens. As well if the mother was fed greens while nursing, it seems to have gotten the kits to arrange early. They sort of "grow into them" every bit their taste for solid foods increases, just as with baby wild rabbits.

A holder or manger is best to feed your natural feeds to your rabbits, but sometimes I only stack it in a clean forepart corner of the cage. They don't mess it upwardly if you feed them only as much equally they can eat before the adjacent feeding.

You tin besides dry weeds and other plants in time of plenty for employ in the winter. I did non get equally much of that done concluding year equally I should have and promise to do a lot ameliorate this year. I dry out on racks and combine in tubs with grass hay I practice non worry if the dryed herbs and greens are combined uniformly. I basically mix them and store in sometime grain bags or pillow cases ( Use the newspaper grain numberless as they can breathe). I and so have a modest bin that I fill and keep in the barn with the feed (this gets used up fairly apace). The seeds manifestly want to settle to the bottom, and so I give information technology (the bin) a shake to go along them mixed upward. I brand a Botanical blended hay for the winter rabbit "wistfulness" by mixing some of the regulators (plantain, raspberry, strawberry and blackberry leaves) with some dried fragrant herbs they love this stuff! You can dry out things similar rose canes, raspberry canes and weeping willow whips in bunches with the leaves on for winter use.

Greens can only be air-dried for winter, but in a clammy climate yous must ensure that they don't go moldy. Mold appears on hay or greens as a white powdery coating that will become into the air when disturbed. Non proficient for either you lot or the rabbits! Skilful air circulation during drying and storage in containers that breathe are proficient. Use large onion numberless or pillow cases you can also just packet larger branches and hang to dry out. Those blackberry canes with the leaves on should dry well, equally will willow whips with the leaves fastened. Smaller plants and wonderful weeds like dandelion, chicory, sow thistle, mallow etc.(run into the Safety Food LIST FOR RABBITS for botanical names merely be shure you lot are harvesting the right plant).They can exist dried on screens or in onion bags.

Attempt to discover a spot in breezy shaded expanse that would be ideal. NEVER store hay in closed plastic numberless. Fresh hay even so holds moisture that may mold if kept in plastic. Plastic garbage cans with lids are adequate for storage providing the tin is non left in high heat or direct sunlight. Menu board boxes or woven nylon feed sacks let the hay to breathe rather than sweat. Hay in bales will stay fresh for a year or more than but loose fill bags volition go stale very apace

Certain trees can be used equally fodder for rabbits and dried for winter apply as well: willow and poplar are 2 that are excellent and easy to observe. Their leaves are quite high in protein and the rabbits will consume the bark from minor twigs and branches equally well. Here ia a list of trees that I know are safe. These include: Alder, Birch, poplar, willow, sugar maple, argent maple, apple, pear, mulberry, sycamore, ash, hackberry, rose, and gooseberry are all good for rabbits. My rabbits love the tree branches! Especially when they are budding out. Whatsoever native safe listed tree branches are proficient for your rabbits, The rabbits volition chew all the buds off, then peel the tender bark, and then throw the stick around in their cage. And so establish a weeping willow, They grow very fast and provide a lot of provender for the rabbits tin can also be used as shade for rabbits too as a food source willow is high in poly peptide, and very palatable to rabbits.

How much to feed that is the toughest question? Yous will need to experiment. Give them what y'all recollect is about right. If there are leftovers, cutting back a piddling. If it is all gone, increase it a trivial until yous know how much they volition use. There volition still exist some waste, but not most as much every bit if you simply feed it gratis pick. Rabbits are funny what you have to requite them NOW is far more than attractive than the same detail that is already in their hay rack or dish. If you visit them twice a day, feed them twice, but only half as much. They volition savor information technology more and waste less.

There are a number of dangerous/toxic food lists out there for rabbits, (besides check our weblog for POISONOUS PLANTS TO RABBITS) which i should be enlightened of when foraging for rabbits exist shure to know what you are feeding rabbits! Oak leaves and pino needles in detail are tasty for the rabbits but non good for them Pine needles considering they can crusade tearing and internal lacerations if the rabbits don't chew them fully and oak leaves, like apple tree seeds, tin can cause cyanide poisoning.

The useful wild plants for rabbits include immature copse, leaves and shoots. Clovers and vetches are legumes (but watch out some of their seeds are poisonous). The useful wild plants are: coltsfoot, comfrey, chickweed, moo-cow parsley, docks, sorret (sour dock), dandelion, fat hen, groundsel, heather, Plantain, Shepherds Bag, sow thistle, watercress, bind weed, celandine, wild iris, fool's parsley, henbane, and lettuce.

This is but a quick listing of what to grow or find for your rabbits natural nutrient source-

Arugala, Basil, Beets, Borage, Brambles(raspberry,blackberry), Calendula, Carrot(feed the greens,the root every bit a care for as it is high in saccharide content), Cattails–Cattails shoots provide essential vitamins such every bit beta carotene, niacin, thiamine, potassium, phosphorus and vitamin C. also has sodium which is expert for rabbits on a natural food base diet,
Chicory, Cilantro, Dandelion, Fennel, Fenugreek, Filaree, Mint, Mustard (wild and domestic), Parsley, Plantain (ane of my favorite feed for rabbits),
Queen Ann's lace-(Daucus carota) is pretty much the same as garden carrots (Daucus carota sativa), merely in its wild form. The foliage and roots are safe for rabbits, only mature flowers and seeds may certainly cause problems and may even be toxic.(I accept learned the hard way with the flowers and seeds and have killed a few rabbits).The seed of Queen Anne'southward lace has been used by humans for centuries as a birth command method. Not what you want for rabbits! If y'all cutting your Queen Anne's lace plants to the ground frequently, they volition reply by giving a constant ingather of lacy greens. Allow some mature for adjacent year's crop. Queen Anne's lace is a biennial,
Radish- Ane of the things I grow regularly for the rabbits is icicle radishes.The greens to the icicles get huge (unlike red,round radishes),and the rabbits love them. I pull up 3 radishes a day and throw the whole institute to the rabbits.They abound so quickly and tin can be planted in small spaces anywhere,
Red and dark-green leafage lettuce, Rose, Spinach, Shepherd'south pocketbook, Strawberries, Sunflowers-The rabbits LOVED them.leaves and seeds. I will be planting more sunflowers adjacent year. The other benifit is that the mature plants provided shade and it helped shade the edifice where the rabbits are housed,
White clover, Yarrow, and lots more!

Practice not forget flowers- dandelion, clover blossoms, marigolds all are well liked past rabbits, mustard, basil, borage, burnet, calendula (pot marigold), camomile, clover, coriander (cilantro), dandelion, dill, daisy, fennel, hyssop, jasmine, wild pansy, lavender, rose, rosemary, sage, sunflower, thyme, plantain. Rabbits are built to swallow grass, and only supplement their nutrition in the wild with leaves, vegetables, bawl, flowers, etc., when available or they are particularly hungry. Flowers are very loftier in sugars and should only be given as the occasional care for. And some may be poisonous, so if in doubtfulness,don't

Winter FEED IDEAS-
Dried plants saved from summertime provide diversity and actress nutrients. However, rabbits crave fresh, dark-green foods in winter. Rather and so feed them expensive fresh foods from the store on a regular basis, try some of these ideas.

Grow GRAIN GRASS: Fresh foods are prissy for the rabbits and I buy some dollar store rectangular dishpans, put well-nigh two inches of soil in them and plant grain: wheat, rye, oats. I don't bother with drainage holes. It'southward the same idea as growing "cat grass" only on a larger calibration. When the grass is about four inches long you tin can commencement harvesting it and you will become several harvests from one tub before it gets discouraged. Then just offset over. Yous will desire more than ane on the go then in that location is always some grass set up to cut.

SUNFLOWER SPROUTS: Some other dishpan, this ane planted with sunflower seeds. Start cutting them once they have true leaves or let them abound on for a bit. Replant equally needed.

POT Up WEEDS: A dishpan of transplanted weeds – especially dandelion and plantain – will give your rabbits tasty nibbles all winter. Endeavor to find small plants every bit they are easier to transplant. Sprinkle on some of those dandelion seeds too, merely they wil accept much longer to establish themselves.

FORCE TWIGS: Twigs cut from safe trees tin exist fed to the rabbits all winter long, They relish the bark and buds and it is good for their teeth. It should also be possible, however, to bring some twigs inside and put them in a jar with a couple inches of h2o. Information technology volition take a bit of fourth dimension, but they will break dormancy and begin to leaf out. When gear up to serve, remove the part that was sitting in water.It could have mould,or bad bacteria on information technology.

Sweet Potato VINE: In spite of their proper name, sugariness potatoes are not from the same family as regular potatoes. Sweet potatoes have edible vines and leaves. You can start them by pushing in toothpicks so that only the base is in water. They will shortly sprout and send upwardly lots of edible greens.(I retrieve doing this in school equally a youngster)

WASTE FEED- Trimmings from the kitchen meals

I take fed my rabbits lot'southward of natural feed sources for over my 30+ years of raising rabbits and take learned a lot! I am always looking for new ideas to feed rabbits without an outside food source, Then any input or new ideas are welcome! I am planting more and trying new ideas all the fourth dimension. I am now putting together some package of seeds and will offer them as a Ascension And Smoothen Rabbit Garden These volition be ready this January for jump planting I am also making up packets of forage seed for rabbits so you can grow your own rabbit hay. Writing up posts for GROWING A RABBIT GARDEN and GROWING HAY FOR RABBITS to be gear up with the seeds!

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Source: https://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/09/09/naturally-feeding-rabbits/

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