My garden is organic, no pesticides or chemical fertilizers, so keeping that in mind, has anyone had any experience feeding trimmings from annuals and perennials grown in the landscape garden? I would love to feed my cosmos, snapdragons, zinnias, lobelia, johny jump ups, hollyhocks, etc. to the animals. What about basil, dill, cilantro, thyme, oregano, lovage, tarragon, and other herbs? I've fed hollyhocks to the goats with no ill effects, but haven't tried giving it to the horses or buns.

What about bean plants and pea vines? Artichoke stems and dried heads? Other vegetable plants once their fruits have been harvested?

On the wild side, native forage that we have here would be oak, sagebrush, buckwheat, yucca (has anyone given the yucca flower stalks as chew toys?), filaree, spotted spurge, and fiddle-neck.

We compost everything anyway, but I like to use our livestock as a pre-digest cycle to speed up the process! Since we have so many classes of livestock, I would be grateful for any input regarding what you have safely fed to your animals.

Thanks, and happy foraging!

--A

You will need to be very careful before feeding these things to rabbits. Some are no doubt safe, but many others may not be. They need to be checked by botanical (Latin) name, one by one. Some herbs, safe as food, may contain unwanted medicinal properties. Sage, mint and lavender may cause pregnant does to abort or nursing does to lose their milk. So please be very careful. I'll try to help you sort through these, but I am not familiar with many of the plants since they do not grow this far north.

Thanks Maggie!

I know that certain herbs have medicinal side effects- but was unaware of sage and lavender causing abortion.

I was out picking tomatoes until about 10:30 last night- it was 37 degrees and had to get it done to save the harvest. I've got green to ripe- probably about 50lbs total! I know tomato plants and others in the nightshade family are poisonous (although escapee goats have munched them with no ill effects, and the chickens will sometimes eat the leaves as well), but can the buns eat tomatoes? I also have a bunch of zukes and summer squash- is that safe or only winter squash? Some of them are huge and at the least I'd like to scoop out the seeds for them. Also, since Halloween just passed I am thinking I might get a good price on leftover pumpkins, and am thinking of storing some of those for winter feed.

I'd like to recommend an excellent book to everybody- "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery has been an invaluable resource for me. It covers everything you need to know regarding animals and plants, from primitive non powered methods to modern methods. She has a list of foods found to be safe for rabbits, as well as ones to avoid. She lists filaree as safe, which is great because it is a high protein forage and horses and cattle love it and put on the pounds. I'd be happy to post the list, but don't want to be liable for copyright infringement... any idea of the law regarding that?

Annette

P.S. I have seen parrot toys with dried yucca flower stalks- I am very hopeful that they are safe for the buns because I would love to make and sell rabbit toys as a way to support my rabbithabit!

You really need to avoid feeding the leaves and stems of tomato, potato or eggplant. One of our members lost a rabbit that got into the potato plants by accident.

Ripe tomatoes are safe, as are zucchini and summer squashes. Pumpkins are good... all parts are safe and the seeds act as a natural wormer and are very nutritious.

If the book is still under copyright (and it likely is) then it is protected. Brief quotes from a book are usually not a problem, but a whole list... I think you would need permission. But you can certainly use what to learn from it, expressed in your own words, to help others. As in "According to Carla Emery in her book The Encyclopedia of Country Living, such and such is safe for rabbits."

Has anyone fed figs, fig leaves, or branches to their rabbits? I just pruned the fig tree behind my bunnybarn because it was invading my limited space, and the leaves look positively delicious... the grape vines are looking pretty tasty too. I assume grape is safe, since the leaves are used in some dishes for human consumption.

Searched fig toxicity and found this interesting info...

Food Uses

Some people peel the skin back from the stem end to expose the flesh for eating out of-hand. The more fastidious eater holds the fruit by the stem end, cuts the fruit into quarters from the apex, spreads the sections apart and lifts the flesh from the skin with a knife blade, discarding the stem and skin. Commercially, figs are peeled by immersion for 1 minute in boiling lye water or a boiling solution of sodium bicarbonate. In warm, humid climates, figs are generally eaten fresh and raw without peeling, and they are often served with cream and sugar. Peeled or unpeeled, the fruits may be merely stewed or cooked in various ways, as in pies, puddings, cakes, bread or other bakery products, or added to ice cream mix. Home owners preserve the whole fruits in sugar sirup or prepare them as jam, marmalade, or paste. Fig paste (with added wheat and corn flour, whey, sirup, oils and other ingredients) forms the filling for the well known bakery product, "Fig Newton". The fruits are sometimes candied whole commercially. In Europe; western Asia, northern Africa and California, commercial canning and drying of figs are industries of great importance.

Some drying is done in Poona, India, and there is currently interest in solar-drying in Guatemala. Usually, the fruits are allowed to fully ripen and partially dehydrate on the tree, then are exposed to sulphur fumes for about a half hour, placed out in the sun and turned daily to achieve uniform drying, and pressed flat during the 5- to 7-day process. 'Black Mission' and 'Kadota' figs are suitable for freezing whole in sirup, or sliced and layered with sugar.

Dried cull figs have been roasted and ground as a coffee substitute. In Mediterranean countries, low-grade figs are converted into alcohol. An alcoholic extract of dried figs has been used as a flavoring for liqueurs and tobacco.

Toxicity

The latex of the unripe fruits and of any part of the tree may be severely irritating to the skin if not removed promptly. It is an occupational hazard not only to fig harvesters and packers but also to workers in food industries, and to those who employ the latex to treat skin diseases.

Other Uses

Seed oil: Dried seeds contain 30% of a fixed oil containing the fatty acids: oleic, 18.99%; linoleic, 33.72%; linolenic, 32.95%; palmitic, 5.23%; stearic, 2.1 8%; arachidic, 1.05%. It is an edible oil and can be used as a lubricant.

Leaves: Fig leaves are used for fodder in India. They are plucked after the fruit harvest. Analyses show: moisture, 67.6%; protein, 4.3%; fat, 1.7%; crude fiber, 4.7%; ash, 5.3%; N-free extract, 16.4%; pentosans, 3.6%; carotene on a dry weight basis, 0.002%. Also present are bergaptene, stigmasterol, sitosterol, and tyrosine.

In southern France, there is some use of fig leaves as a source of perfume material called "fig-leaf absolute"—a dark-green to brownish-green, semi-solid mass or thick liquid of herbaceous-woody-mossy odor, employed in creating woodland scents.

Latex: The latex contains caoutchouc (2.4%), resin, albumin, cerin, sugar and malic acid, rennin, proteolytic enzymes, diastase, esterase, lipase, catalase, and peroxidase. It is collected at its peak of activity in early morning, dried and powdered for use in coagulating milk to make cheese and junket. From it can be isolated the protein-digesting enzyme ficin which is used for tenderizing meat, rendering fat, and clarifying beverages.

In tropical America, the latex is often used for washing dishes, pots and pans. It was an ingredient in some of the early commercial detergents for household use but was abandoned after many reports of irritated or inflamed hands in housewives.

Medicinal Uses: The latex is widely applied on warts, skin ulcers and sores, and taken as a purgative and vermifuge, but with considerable risk. In Latin America, figs are much employed as folk remedies. A decoction of the fruits is gargled to relieve sore throat; figs boiled in milk are repeatedly packed against swollen gums; the fruits are much used as poultices on tumors and other abnormal growths. The leaf decoction is taken as a remedy for diabetes and calcifications in the kidneys and liver. Fresh and dried figs have long been appreciated for their laxative action.

Food Value Per 100 g of Edible Portion*

Fresh Dried
Calories 80 274
Moisture 77.5-86.8g 23.0g
Protein 1.2-1.3g 4.3g
Fat 0.14-0.30g 1.3g
Carbohydrates 17.1-20.3g 69.1g
Fiber 1.2-2.2 g 5.6 g
Ash 0.48 0.85 g 2.3 g
Calcium 35-78.2 mg 126 mg
Phosphorus 22-32.9 mg 77 mg
Iron 0.6-4.09 mg 3.0 mg
Sodium 2.0 mg 34 mg
Potassium 194 mg 640 mg
Carotene 0.013-0.195 mg —
as Vitamin A 20-270 I.U. 80 I.U.
Thiamine 0.034-0.06 mg 0.10 mg
Riboflavin 0.053-0.079 mg 0.10 mg
Niacin 0.32-0.412 mg 0.7 mg
Ascorbic Acid 12.2-17.6 mg 0 mg
Citric Acid 0.10-0.44 mg

Note: There are small amounts of malic, boric and oxalic acids.

You really need the botanical name of the kind of fig you have to do a proper search, but the latex sounds as though it would rule the leaves and twigs out as bunny food.

Grape vines and leaves are safe but I find the rabbits will only eat the young, tender ones. Once they lose that bronze sheen they turn up their twitchy little noses and say EWWWWWW.

Thanks Maggie- I was thinking much the same re: latex. I should know better than to use the common name, and not only because you mentioned that before! <sheepish grin> Latin, Latin, LATIN!

I found a yummy looking weed while I was scavengeing around today, But i'm not sure what it is! Does anyone know what it is, and if it's safe for bunnys?

The whole plant


The flower


Thanks in advance

Bumping this up for answer to fig branch question!

The leaf and flower shape look like chicory but the yellow color throws me off. Chicory flowers are normally blue.

Hmmmmm. I have feed some of the very small leaves spareingly without ill effects. There is a TON of it around the yard, and it would be a nice addition to the greens. Maybe I will search Chicory realtives and see what happens.

well i just now managed to read over this whole topic. haha. kinda disappointed to read about the QAL/hemlock/wild parsnip confusion... there are TONS AND TONS here but i'm not sure i trust myself to make sure they are wild carrot or wild parsnip and not hemlock and risk my buns. and i dont even have buns yet...
so... making a list of things to grow to feed em, and a list of things to harvest from the farm/roadsides. checking QAL off my list though.

I checked my growing photo collection of safe, wild greens for rabbits (based on a book printed in the UK) and believe the plant is nipplewort. My rabbits devour it. Would post my photos here, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. The FAQ section is no help in that regard. Would be grateful for an explanation.

Jojuan, there is a tutorial on how to attach photographs etc.

attachment-tutorial-t5.html

__________ Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:21 am __________



Queen Anne's Lace is easy to identify. It is exactly the same plant as domestic carrot but still in its original, wild form. The foliage has that distinctive carroty smell. If it doesn't smell like carrot, don't feed it.

I think Nipplewort is a miss, the leaves are different, but the flowers are similiar. Darn it! Anymore guesses?