Winter Squash & Pumpkins

Winter squash and pumpkins are a great source of high energy carbohydrates to help keep weight on your rabbits through the winter. In a cool dry place, they store well into Spring when other feeds start to grow

The first part of last October I put a bunch of spaghetti squash and pumpkins on shelves in my basement. We ended up only eating a few ourselves. It's almost June and these winter squash are in great condition. I just throw a few in the oven whole and cook them until they are soft. Some of my rabbits snub them but others love cooked squash and pumpkin. I've given fresh squash and they eat a bit but my rabbits definitely prefer cooked. As always don't just feed one thing for a meal, give variety. 

Winter squash still good in May

To help all your rabbits develop a taste for squash, give it to them when they are still with their mother. At four weeks my does are already weaning their babies and they are ravenous. That's a good time to give variety so you have rabbits that enjoy a great variety of forage.

Some claim giving cooked squash or pumpkin and seeds are a good rabbit wormer or at least prevents infestations. I've never seen worms in my rabbits so I can't verify that from experience.

After Halloween pumpkins are cheap. I plant them in my garden between rows of corn to save space. The corn stalks themselves get fed either when I thin the corn or after I harvest the ears.

I've noticed rabbits are a lot like people. Most only want to eat what they ate growing up. We've been doing foster care for a few years now and some of the pickiest eaters I've seen were teenage refugees from totalitarian dictatorships who grew up often not having enough food to eat. You would think if someone were hungry they'd learn to eat anything, not true. I'm convinced many have died throughout history because they snubbed food that was strange that would have helped keep them alive. 

Part of the reason I raise rabbits is to accustom my family to eating a large variety of food. It's a skill that must be learned, it doesn't come naturally unless started when the child first starts eating solid food. I've seen older children raised in homes where from weening they were only given processed junk food. When they were given real food cooked from scratch with fresh ingredients, they have a difficult time eating it. They get a gag reflex that makes it physically difficult to swallow. This condition can take years to overcome.

Mallow - Malva parviflora

When I was a boy my friends and I would often pick the immature fruit off the cheeseweed and eat them raw. We'd collect hand fulls of them, peel off the outer covering and pop them into our mouth. The flavor was a bit sweet like carrot but no after taste.  Some cultures make a green sauce out of the mallow leaves and they can be boiled like spinach. I'll have to do more experimenting.

Mallow grows in soil that has been disturbed. It has a deep tap root and in our area over winters and is one of the first greens that emerge in the spring. If you pull them from the top, the branches typically break off and it keeps coming back. That's fine if you want a steady supply of greens for your rabbits but I use a grub hoe to dig deep and get the root. Rabbits can eat all parts of the plant. Most of my rabbits will eat at least some mallow but some of them obviously like it better than others. I never only feed mallow, as always, give variety.

I've read that mallow is poisonous for some livestock such as sheep and horses but sounds like it depends on the nitrogen levels. I've never had any problem feeding mallow to rabbits but if I feed more than they can eat, it gets left in the cage. I just throw any left over in the compost.

You can dry the entire plant and store it for winter hay. Fresh or dry be sure to mix with several other plants. When feeding without pellets, I always offer at least five different plants at one time to my rabbits. Keeps them healthy and happy.

Malva parviflora

Has large tap root