Online guide to plants edible to animals

[Wifezilla]

Grape leaves are a good one. My ducks nibble their side of the vine all the time. Seeing them jump for tender shoots is pretty hilarious

Grape vines also provide excellent summer shade and predator cover. I have 2 vines growing on the side of the duck run. One gave me over 50 lbs of red seedless grapes the other year. We trimmed it heavily so only got a few grapes this season, but now we have a ton of new growth and should have a great grape harvest next year.

I know raspberry and strawberry leaves are mildly toxic when wilted (for people at least). They are fine fresh, fine dried, but release a toxin during the drying process. Is this the same for goats??

Dandelions are great for animals AND PEOPLE. Lots of minerals. My ducks go for these in Spring. They get bitter as the season progresses though. If I pick them later in the year I mix them with other veggies and they don't seem to mind.

If you are in doubt about a particular plant, post a photo here.

 

[BarredBuff]

Does anyone know if crabapple wood is poisonous to rabbits?

 

[savingdogs]

Well the mountain ash....but photos right now would just show people some dry looking branches! lol Maybe I can find one from one of my summer photos.

I know apple branches are fine for rabbits and dandelions. I was going to start with giving my rabbits dandelions because it is one of the few weeds I can identify.

In my former gardening "life" in the city, anything not sprouting in the right place was "bad" and I'm still new to this country livin' thangy!

 

[Wifezilla]

Does anyone know if crabapple wood is poisonous to rabbits?

I doubt it, but there are a lot of varieties of crab apple. Can you eat the apples from that tree?

 

[savingdogs]

http://www.allearssac.org/poison.html#anchor159322

Here is a website listing poisonous plants for rabbits, BB.

 

[patandchickens]

I think I have identified about 10 or 20 plants WZ, but I'm not sure. How can I be more positive?

Partly by paying attention to them over the next year or whatever and doublechecking that they continue to look like what you think they are (flowers, seeds, etc)

Also you could post some (good!) pics here and I'm sure people would be happy to help. There are people on the forum from your area who probably have good personal knowledge of some of them, and there are others (like me) who have enough general botanical background to be able to cross-check the usually-important features.

Also also, insofar as you care about WEEDS per se, state extension services etc often have weed identification manuals available (often online, these days) for farmers. They are usually very good on giving clear illustrations and clear statements of identifying/distinguishing traits. Even if you can't find one for your state, any weed guide for your region should be of reasonable use. Try google.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[BarredBuff]

http://www.allearssac.org/poison.html#anchor159322

Here is a website listing poisonous plants for rabbits, BB.

Thanks SD!

 

[Denim Deb]

I have several books that can help you ID plants. I just need to check for the names of them.

 

[BarredBuff]

SD, I saw on that list the "corn plant" was poisonous. Is that corn? If so, can they have corn fodder?

 

[FarmerDenise]

I try to feed my critters what I can scavenge as much as possible also.
I have posted on TEG to get help with identifying plants. It was very helpful.

I think you started a good thread here, savingdogs.

Dandelions are definitely good to eat for critters and people. I don't know of any grasses that are bad for rabbits, as long as you don't feed just the one grass.
There is a wild amaranth that grows abundantly and the rabbit loves it. We noticed a wild rabbit eating it, and after that I fed it to our rabbit. The mustard that grows wild is another good source of greens for the rabbit. I think you might have that growing in your area as well.

Leaves from any pitted fruit can be toxic in the wilting stage. They produce cyanide. They are fine fresh and dry. That would be plums, cherries, peaches etc.
On the other hand, our neighbor has goats and they roam freely on his property eating whatever they want. He also has lots of plum trees. I am sure his goats eat the leaves...
Mine keep getting into the peach leaves, supposedly they have a high sugar content when they turn color and the goats really like them. It is just one more reason we cannot allow the girls free range on our lot.
The above goes for the rabbit too.

We pull weeds for our rabbit, goats and chickens at various times of the year. We check to make sure that there are no toxic plants that we know of. We have been doing our best to remove toxic plants from the backyard.

I have also found that there is a lot less information on edible native plants for the west coast. Most of the easily available information is usually directed to the northern and eastern states. But since I moved here many years ago, I have learned a lot and keep learning more.

Hopefully I'll be able to help someone out, but I still feel that I don't know that much.