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Would you spend your hard earned cash on FRESH bunny forage?

Cuthbert&Dillon said:
I would be interested but not sticks for my two. For me at the moment it would be for giving my bunnies the variety as tbh I dont have time to forage. If my life changes in a little while I will go and collect myself but at the moment this would be a super way when bunnies cant go in the garden and forage for themselves.

I would have to trust that it had been foraged away from traffic and dog walking trails but also I would like to add items that I am not confident collecting.
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Dogs are pests when it comes to foraging but its where all these hills become useful as lots of steep unaccessible beckside verges for little plants / weeds

Your life sounds very hectic but if you can escape for a few hours during daylight hours one day we could have a foraging session - I'd love that
 
I'd noticed that theres a lot of flowers in dried mixes but didn't know they had that effect. I do like adding flowers (not an option for me at this time of year) but in tiny proportions

Thanks Loobers
 
As self-pickers, we don't keep fresh except bramble, which Matt stores in buckets of water, but then our bunnies eat the lot, massive stems and all. Ditto some other twigs, although we've found that willow will last at least 6w from 'chop' without being in water and even grow in the meantime XD

Postage: it'd have to be in relatively sturdy boxes, kept damp-ish so when it inevitably takes 2-3 days (especially at the moment) to reach someone it's not ruined. Everything keeps better in (loosely-packaged) plastic IMO but that brings its own problems. I.e. I put my plastic-less cabbages from Sainsbury's in plastic bags from previous bagged cabbages and they last at least 4wks in the same nick as they came out the shop.

What would the postage cost? Would it be prohibitive to do DPD24? Would it change for different sizes? I'm thinking minimum letterbox boxes.

I like the idea of getting a massive haul for drying: I wouldn't personally take this option now with my current situation but I would be interested should I need an overwintering supply :D
 
loobers25 said:
I think there is also a market for seasonal dry forage. Most of the forage on the popular sites are Chamomile, rose, lavender, marigold etc but it’s all very rich and not ideal for everybun. Syrups cecos go wild when she has lots of floral forage and I can’t imagine she’s the only bun.

Hawthorn, hogweed crispies, all the stuff you and Omi get but I have not learnt would be really cool.

Fresh definitely would be an awesome idea too
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This makes sense as there will be more nutrition in the buds/flowers. It's why I believe that my bunnies take these first. I think they might also have a tastier taste :)
 
keletkezes said:
As self-pickers, we don't keep fresh except bramble, which Matt stores in buckets of water, but then our bunnies eat the lot, massive stems and all. Ditto some other twigs, although we've found that willow will last at least 6w from 'chop' without being in water and even grow in the meantime XD

Postage: it'd have to be in relatively sturdy boxes, kept damp-ish so when it inevitably takes 2-3 days (especially at the moment) to reach someone it's not ruined. Everything keeps better in (loosely-packaged) plastic IMO but that brings its own problems. I.e. I put my plastic-less cabbages from Sainsbury's in plastic bags from previous bagged cabbages and they last at least 4wks in the same nick as they came out the shop.

What would the postage cost? Would it be prohibitive to do DPD24? Would it change for different sizes? I'm thinking minimum letterbox boxes.

I like the idea of getting a massive haul for drying: I wouldn't personally take this option now with my current situation but I would be interested should I need an overwintering supply :D
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Thanking you. I was thinking about how to keep it fresher without using plastic as I was watching Gregg buttery base on tele a while back, looking at issue of wrapped veg & how much water is lost, esp from salady things. I have a huge roll of waxed brown paper I bought in error, reckon I might be able to use that.

Postage would be £4 for under a kilo £6 for up to 2k (slight round up of RM prices ). DPD I haven't looked in to yet but I like them as a customer. Letterbox boxes would be good at keeping post down but you can't get much in them I wouldn't have thought

I've sent fresh forage to quite a few RU members over the years & sometimes its failed the 1st class thing. Everybun has always said its ok but I guess they would whether it was or wasn't
 
Omi said:
This makes sense as there will be more nutrition in the buds/flowers. It's why I believe that my bunnies take these first. I think they might also have a tastier taste :)
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Do you think the abundance of new shoots this time of year could upset their digestive health because they would be more nutritious I'm assuming? Mousey seems to benefit from lots of forage with no negative effects
 
joey&boo said:
Do you think the abundance of new shoots this time of year could upset their digestive health because they would be more nutritious I'm assuming? Mousey seems to benefit from lots of forage with no negative effects
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I think it's something that would be very difficult to determine rationally. As with lots of forage issues with bunnies I personally think that it's dependent a lot on the bunny's normal diet and how sensitive the bunny's tummy is. Fortunately I have never had a bunny have a digestive problem with forage. The only issue I've ever had is poorly Tethra in his final few weeks had trouble with digesting carrot end treats (and this might have been that he wasn't used to such things). I have never for instance needed to be super careful about new Spring grass or new forage plants. It could be though that buds/flowers having more nutrition than leaves could affect some bunnies.

As with lots of things rabbity, it's good to know your bunny. Well done Loobers for recognising this with Syrupy :love:
 
It's strange but I've never introduced fresh forage little by little like I do with veg. I wonder if it's more gentle on their digestion than veg because it's close to what they eat more of in the wild.
I use a shopper trolly and my forage stays fresh in there for 2-3 days.
I often think I could be rich if I sold just half of the forage I pick and dry :lol:
 
joey&boo said:
Dogs are pests when it comes to foraging but its where all these hills become useful as lots of steep unaccessible beckside verges for little plants / weeds

Your life sounds very hectic but if you can escape for a few hours during daylight hours one day we could have a foraging session - I'd love that
Click to expand...

That would be amazing but you would have to go slow with your foraging as I am a total beginner.
 
Cuthbert&Dillon said:
That would be amazing but you would have to go slow with your foraging as I am a total beginner.
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woo hoo. Its a really good way to "escape"... me thinks so anyway. Let me know any nice day or evening you're up for it (it can be anything from 30 minutes to 3 hours - your call)
 
joey&boo said:
woo hoo. Its a really good way to "escape"... me thinks so anyway. Let me know any nice day or evening you're up for it (it can be anything from 30 minutes to 3 hours - your call)
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I agree it’s like treasure hunting but better. When you find a great big willow tree it’s never ending free food. A wild orchid is my jackpot
 
loobers25 said:
I agree it’s like treasure hunting but better. When you find a great big willow tree it’s never ending free food. A wild orchid is my jackpot
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I've never heard of wild orchids before. Unfortunately for me most weeping willow trees in the area (& I use the word loosely) kind of belong to people.
I got told off at Bobs grandads funeral as I couldn't keep my eyes of the amazing willow in the cemetry :lol::oops:
 
Guess how many grams?

Dy9d0hNl.jpg
 
80g

The biggest of the cardboard boxes (smaller shoe box size) I have holds 350g when rammed

loose:
3kXS1aOl.jpg


& boxed

EUjioasl.jpg


No wonder Mouse challenged my assertion she was troughing a kilo a day, its be 5 x the size of her :lol:
 
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