Scrappy's Little Helper
Mama Doe
Lol yes. I might lie in wait for them and jump out of a hedge when they start up with the clippers. Although knowing my luck I'll probably choose the bit with the stinging nettles :roll: :lol:
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my foraging diary
- Thread starter willow and squiggles
- Start date
I found some knapweed as well todayThere wasn't a huge amount so I only took a little bit. I can remember where it was so hopefully a bit more will grow there soon.
Annoyingly they've been doing "maintenance" round my usual foraging haunt and a lot of the hedgerows, weeds and plants have been cut right back. Thank you very much Hackney Council :evil:
We have asked our council not to cut back the hedgerows outside and either side of our house for a few hundred metres. They arrive with a clipboard and plan of where they can cut and where they can't.
willow and squiggles
Mama Doe
thats a good thing to know, my area is meadow/woodland type places and they go down the paths on them big ride on lawnmowers and like all the sides down aswell, its a shame.
I have seen some evidence to suggest this is the case, where plants have self-seeded and strayed into my rabbits' run. However, I would NEVER rely on it as there are also numerous accounts of where rabbits have helped themselves to plants, especially indoor plants, with very sad results.
If I would you I would spend some time identifying just what Bonnie is eating. I would not let my rabbits free roam in this garden as I know there are several plants which are toxic to them.
Please identify it. Rabbits in my experience don't usually eat ferns.
Well yes it's certainly a fern
I'm not an expert on ferns though and so I don't know which one that is. As I said I'd never heard of rabbits eating ferns, but looking online it appears that some are OK, but others are not.
I think I would still be nervous of a rabbit eating that fern, without either doing a lot more research or having someone on here definitively stating that it was OK.
I'm not an expert on ferns though and so I don't know which one that is. As I said I'd never heard of rabbits eating ferns, but looking online it appears that some are OK, but others are not.
I think I would still be nervous of a rabbit eating that fern, without either doing a lot more research or having someone on here definitively stating that it was OK.
This is the fern in my garden, she hasn't eaten much of it, my other half said she was nibbling on a leaf of it yesterday, she doesn't seem to bother with any other plants or ferns though, just this one.
Does anyone know what this fern is, my nan said its just a common fern, but I would have thought it would be a specific fern type.....although Bonnie hasn't touched it since the other day, she seems to be getting used to the hay, pellets and grass that she has every day. I cut fresh grass for her every morning, and stuff it into a loo roll tube, she seems to quite like that. So I may try her on some nettles and other plants soon, i'll have to post some pics for you helpful lot to identify some plants that grow close to my house.
At the moment, she is getting a good 12 hours or more in the garden, as my other half is at home on Maternity Leave, we let her have free run of the garden, and she goes back in the hutch when we go to bed, so she tends to have free reign from around 6am-10pm at night.
Hey,
Hope you all don't mind, but these are all plants I have photographed in one of the local fields by my house, just wondered if anyone can help me identify them and if they are OK for Bonnie to eat, as she seems to be eating her hay and grass now, so wanted to try her on other things.
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5
Image 6 - this is more like 2 plants mixed together I think, but one of them is that really sticky plant that always seems to cling to your clothes when you walk past, I don't know what it's called but I'm sure someone has said before this is OK for bunnies
Image 6.1 - This is the sticky plant I was referring to
Image 7 - This is the flowers on the top of the plant
Image 7.1
Image 7.2
Sorry, need to learn my foraging, could do with a local forager really lol
Hope you all don't mind, but these are all plants I have photographed in one of the local fields by my house, just wondered if anyone can help me identify them and if they are OK for Bonnie to eat, as she seems to be eating her hay and grass now, so wanted to try her on other things.
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5
Image 6 - this is more like 2 plants mixed together I think, but one of them is that really sticky plant that always seems to cling to your clothes when you walk past, I don't know what it's called but I'm sure someone has said before this is OK for bunnies
Image 6.1 - This is the sticky plant I was referring to
Image 7 - This is the flowers on the top of the plant
Image 7.1
Image 7.2
Sorry, need to learn my foraging, could do with a local forager really lol
joey&boo
Wise Old Thumper
I'd scrap ideas of feeding fern. There are so many wild plants that are easy to identify, safe & nutritious so its not an ideal starting point. I find it easiest to learn about a plant online (often inspired by photos on this thread), find it, pick a sample to bring back home & if I'm not 100% I'll pop a photo on here. Has she tried weeping willow yet?
Cross posted with you James - will look at your photos now but I saw rabbit friendly weeds for sure
Cross posted with you James - will look at your photos now but I saw rabbit friendly weeds for sure
Thanks
. She hasn't tried weeping willow yet, as i'm not sure I have one by my house, my other half's Dad has one in his garden, so she is going to ask him to bring plenty up next time he comes to visit , I will dry it out then and keep getting him to bring it with him.I wasn't going to intentionally feed her the fern, its just a potted fern that she seems to like to have a nibble on when she's running around the garden, it's the only pot she has bothered with so far lol.
Thanks
, so all those can I just cut the plant and feed straight to her, or do I need to leave them to dry like nettles?Well done, I agree with these.
I) I think is Himalayan Balsam (extremely pretty, but also extremely invasive and so bad for river banks) - probably not rabbit safe.
3) Is one of the common grasses - Meadow Grass I think, but am not confident of my grasses. Will be rabbit safe and will be enjoyed, particularly the seedheads.
6) It looks like the other plant there is the flowers from a Dock - not to be fed to rabbits.
7) I think is Common Hogweed - if it is, it is rabbit safe.
joey&boo
Wise Old Thumper
Thanks
They are all fine fresh or dried - I don't think you need to dry nettles either. Does Bonnie eat them? When I tried mine on nettles they all snubbed them
She didn't eat them, but when I first had her, she had been fed on rabbit muesli mix, so she didn't seem to want to eat anything lol, but she does eat Hay and Grass now. She doesn't eat much during the day though in all fairness, she isn't constantly munching all day long, but the Hay and Grass in her hutch is disappearing lol, so she must be munching when she's back in the hutch of an evening
joey&boo
Wise Old Thumper
I still cringe as my bunnies approach various thorns & spikes but they manage the challenge well each & every time. Its fun watching how they embark on the task. Its fine to feed them it, prickly bits & all. Joey loves milk thistle
