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hawthorn ok or not?

poppymoon

Wise Old Thumper
Currently stuck in a hedge pruning for my mom. Buns can eat hawthorn? If so do I dethorn the branches or just pick leaves off?
 
Sorry, that's not one I know about - I only research the ones we have in our garden! Hope someone can help you - have you looked in the Diet section to see if anyone's asked about it before?
 
I think it's safe for horses so probably okay for bunnies. I'm not 100% though.
 
100% sure it's safe for bunnies, & good for them.
Always remove any buds, flowers or fruits however immature, before giving it. [Those parts have chemicals in which slow the heart rate]
I take the clumps of leaves off the thorney branch. (Buns have poor near vision eyesight.)

Young leaves were used a a salad veg by humans in a cheeze sandwich, before lettuce became popular.
 
Thats great Judy, thank you. Hope the buns like them then as there's a plentiful supply. No doubt esme will try them but not sure about Eric. Mind you, he actually ate a dandelion leaf I picked for him yesterday!
My dad told me about eating the leaves with bread and cheese. May try it myself! Also, an elderly gent in the village is always chewing one of the sticks as he walks about. I love old oddities like that.
 
Thats great Judy, thank you. Hope the buns like them then as there's a plentiful supply. No doubt esme will try them but not sure about Eric. Mind you, he actually ate a dandelion leaf I picked for him yesterday!
My dad told me about eating the leaves with bread and cheese. May try it myself! Also, an elderly gent in the village is always chewing one of the sticks as he walks about. I love old oddities like that.

Nice to know somebun loves me :lol::lol::lol::lol:
 
'Bread and cheese' my parents used to call it, usually before reciting the yellowhammer's song of 'a little bit of bread and no chee-ese' :oops:
 
:lol:
well, i'm happy to say that both buns scoffed their few hawthorn leaves instantly - without the bread or cheese tho:D in fact, eric ate those and left his cabbage:shock:

i'm not feeling too great at the mo so i haven't been shopping - bunny tea tonight will be dandelion leaves, hawthorne and bramble. i've noticed a hedgerow full of nettles over the road too.......

i didn't mean that you were tho old oddity judy, sorry!:oops: but eric, esme and i love you anyway:love:
 
:lol:
well, i'm happy to say that both buns scoffed their few hawthorn leaves instantly - without the bread or cheese tho:D in fact, eric ate those and left his cabbage:shock:

i'm not feeling too great at the mo so i haven't been shopping - bunny tea tonight will be dandelion leaves, hawthorne and bramble. i've noticed a hedgerow full of nettles over the road too.......

i didn't mean that you were tho old oddity judy, sorry!:oops: but eric, esme and i love you anyway:love:

I know you didn't mean it that way Wendy, I couldn't resist a bit of a giggle at my own expense. I'm one of the very few people in this area with any natural colour left to their hair. So I stand out a bit differently than expected.
 
I know you didn't mean it that way Wendy, I couldn't resist a bit of a giggle at my own expense. I'm one of the very few people in this area with any natural colour left to their hair. So I stand out a bit differently than expected.

:shock: i'm so jealous! i'm even more hermit like lately as i'm now as grey as a badger and haven't felt up to attending to my roots:oops:
 
I'm so sorry you are poorly again, & hope you get back on form soon.

Please let us know how you get on with Eric & Esme & their "natural wildie diet". There is one very major issue with it. Most of the food sources dry up at the end of Sept/Oct. So it's a case of drying extra in mid summer, & weaning them back to our greens in time. Someone with a winter veg garden or allotment is a good standby for coarse leaves.

Every good wish for a stasis free summer. :wave:

ETA Another very old oddity re nettles. Before we had plenty of cotton from India, country folk used to gather mature nettle stems, steep them, & spun the linen like fiber from the stems to make smocks etc.
 
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....hawthorn can be eaten by us human beings...so it'll be great for the bunnies I would have thought. It is currently the primary diet of my stick insects.
 
I'm so sorry you are poorly again, & hope you get back on form soon.

Please let us know how you get on with Eric & Esme & their "natural wildie diet". There is one very major issue with it. Most of the food sources dry up at the end of Sept/Oct. So it's a case of drying extra in mid summer, & weaning them back to our greens in time. Someone with a winter veg garden or allotment is a good standby for coarse leaves.

Every good wish for a stasis free summer. :wave:

ETA Another very old oddity re nettles. Before we had plenty of cotton from India, country folk used to gather mature nettle stems, steep them, & spun the linen like fiber from the stems to make smocks etc.

thanks judy:)

i doubt they'll have the wildie diet all the time - its whether i feel up to going to a shop for food for us humans or off picking goodies for the buns.

i'm currently teaching myself to sew - maybe i should move onto nettle spinning:lol:
 
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