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Forage amounts

Y

yamazumi

Warren Scout
Do people tend to allow their rabbits as much forage as they want? When I used to forage at Uni they'd get a big handful a day, but they've recently moved back with me and I've been collecting a couple of bags worth and putting it in various places in their shed/run. They aren't gorging on it, I picked some Wednesday morning and there should still be enough to last them til Sunday (hopefully anyway, because that's the next chance I'll get to go). But they seem to be eating all their hawthorn and then being slower with the other things I pick (brambles, apple, willow, rose, sticky weed).

They're also getting herbs, both from the supermarket when they're reduced, and mint and rosemary out the garden. Trying to grow some basil and parsley iin the greenhouse also.

I've noticed a lot of plantain and clover though now too, and obviously there are dandelions everywhere, but I forage in the places I take my dog a walk... and I know plenty of other dogs go there too. Would it be enough to give it a rinse?
 
I pick dandelion, clover, plantain and blackberry leaves all from where dog walkers go. I just wash it really well.

I'm also interested to know how much forage to let them have. I also feed rose, sticky weed, hawthorn and willow. Would love to get my hands on some apple but don't have any.
 
Hector has a limitless supply but that is because he's a poor hay eater. :)


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I just sprinkle some forage ontop of their hay because otherwise bella would eat me out of forage alot :lol:

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In the summer mine live nearly entirely off forage! I take a plastic bag with me when I walk the dog and stuff it full of different grasses, brambles, dandelions, Hawthorn and anything else I can find then wash it all under the hose and chuck it in the run.The munch on it on and off all day and usually only eat hay at night. I always start off giving them little bits at a time in the spring as they barely get anything apart from hay in the winter so I build it up gradually once it all starts growing again but they are getting a big pile every day now.

It saves me a fortune though and they are very healthy with it. I get through about 4x as much hay in the winter than I do in the summer.
 
I think as long as you increase the forage gradually in spring, then they can have lots, but I think lots of different forage, rather than a lot of one particular kind, is best. Variety is the key.
 
yamazumi said:
Do people tend to allow their rabbits as much forage as they want? When I used to forage at Uni they'd get a big handful a day, but they've recently moved back with me and I've been collecting a couple of bags worth and putting it in various places in their shed/run. They aren't gorging on it, I picked some Wednesday morning and there should still be enough to last them til Sunday (hopefully anyway, because that's the next chance I'll get to go). But they seem to be eating all their hawthorn and then being slower with the other things I pick (brambles, apple, willow, rose, sticky weed).

They're also getting herbs, both from the supermarket when they're reduced, and mint and rosemary out the garden. Trying to grow some basil and parsley iin the greenhouse also.

I've noticed a lot of plantain and clover though now too, and obviously there are dandelions everywhere, but I forage in the places I take my dog a walk... and I know plenty of other dogs go there too. Would it be enough to give it a rinse?
Click to expand...

I always supply forage as part of my bunnies' veg quota, not on top of, as I always want them to eat as much hay as possible.
I never pick it other than in my own garden though, because of pollution, fumes and dog pee :lol:
 
Mine get about half a washing up bowls worth whenever I forage which isn't every day but in spring, summer is almost every day. In winter they get a couple of handfuls about once a week of dried stuff.

As long as they are still eating plenty of hay then I wouldn't worry about feeding too much, providing there is variety and introduced slowly.
 
Just out if interest why is hay more important in a rabbits diet than grass and other plants? I have always assumed ( perhaps wrongly!) that hay was a substitute for grass as in the wild rabbits wouldn't eat hay but mostly fresh grass and a variety of other plants.
 
I think it's partly pragmatic, because it's not easy to pick good quality grass over winter, so if the rabbit has got out of the habit of eating lots of hay, they might not want to do so again in winter when large quantities of grass are harder to come by (it tends to stop growing when it's cold and sometimes is covered in snow for weeks!), potentially leading to dental/gut issues.

Grass is also far richer than hay, so some bunnies will develop bloat or even obesity if fed vast quantities of grass in place of hay. Our wild bunny friends tend to be much more active and unrestricted so that's less likely to be a problem for them. Also, bunnies are native to the Iberian peninsula which is very hot and where most of the grass and wild plants are more likely to be yellow and hay-like than lush and green! Their guts are best adapted for vast quantities of very poor quality diet rather than rich, nutritious foods.

Personally I feed forage as the veg/greens portion of the diet, so they get a small handful of pellets in the morning and a large handful of forage in the evening, with hay all the time and to munch inbetween.
 
Thank you Santa that makes sense. Fortunately my rabbits are not fussy and are happy to go back to hay as the forage dwindles away. I always think of it as if they are like wild rabbits in this country where they will get much better quality grass in the summer and in the winter they eat hay which would be like wild ones eating poorer quality grass. I see why you mean about rabbits not actually being native to the uk though so even what wild ones here are eating isn't entirely the diet they have evolved to eat.

Mine seem fine they way they are being fed just now, when my doe got spayed last year the vet even came out while I was picking her up especially to mention to me that he doesn't often see rabbits in such good condition ( he was particularly surprised to find that she had a lot of muscle inside as apparently he never sees that in pet rabbits, presumably because most of them Spend so much time sitting in hutches!). I will certainly bear this in mind though for the future if I ever start seeing any signs that their diet isn't suiting them anymore :)
 
I've seen this mentioned a few times recently. The climate in northern Spain is actually fairly similar to Britain (lush and green). Also, rabbits have been here for a nearly two thousand years which is plenty of time to adapt. Evolution can occur over tens of thousands of years or just in a couple of generations, depending on the environmental pressures and the genetic variety in the original population.

But regardless, I completely agree that wild rabbits are much more active than pet rabbits (and have fewer treats, and eat a much wider variety of plants and things like bark and tree shoots, etc) so can cope with a richer diet of grass.

My rabbits have pretty much unlimited forage and grass in the summertime i.e.whatever they want to eat in the garden that they can reach, and whatever they convince me to pick for them. If I can't let them out in the garden I tend to give them at least a bowlfull of forage, but sometimes much more. But they don't have pellets, and they are very active. They're also very good hay eaters. I also try to make sure they have a variety rather than just any one thing (and include the stems not just leaves). They'll generally stop eating if I give them too much of something (except Pippin who's an eating machine, but he's a little underweight and recovering from an operation so as long as he poops normally I let him have a bit more).

Also I think it's important not to switch to lots of grass suddenly.
 
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