Throughout our homesteading journey we have always sought ways to do things outside of the current system. Typically, the current system for homesteaders when they have to feed their critters is to run to the local feed store and buy some sort of pre-made, commercial feed in a bag. When we started this journey back in 2007 our thought process was .....what if there was no store to go to. Well, then that was definitely something to think about. It was really a guiding force into which livestock we planned to have. If there were no store to buy feed from, which animals could we feed and house. Definitely rabbits. In order to do that we had to learn not only what weeds rabbits could safely eat and what weeds were easily available to us in the southeastern United States. We also had to learn to identify safe weeds. The list truly is vast. There are so many safe weeds for rabbits to eat that you could easily pick a variety for every meal in just minutes a day. In fact, we do just that. We buy feed for our rabbits because our grow out rabbits grow quicker with the addition of a commercial feed. We also feel like our does benefit from the extra calories to keep their condition during breeding season. The grow out bunnies get commercial feed daily, while the breeding does get feed every other day alternated with a large bucket of weeds. In the winter they get a small amount of feed daily with a good helping of quality hay. Here is a small list of some of my favorite spring weeds for our rabbits.
Chickweed
Purple Dead Nettle/ Henbit
Clover
creeping charlie
Happy Foraging!
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