leaves…fresh or dry?

[Megabunny]

OK. I would swear one of the first things I read when I joined this forum last year was that some people had rabbits they thought got stasis from willow branches and I couldn’t figure out why people were practically standing in line to get those willow wreaths through the BB store. Then Sarita commented on my comment recently, saying she’d never heard of that, and now I cannot find a THING anywhere about it!!!!!!!!! 

Sooooo…. summer is coming and I’m looking forward to the apple trees blooming again. And now I can pick weeping willow as well, which I’ve already read you can feed fresh. But I’ve been hearing a lot about drying apple leaves (unless I’m dreaming that, too!). Is there something wrong with giving them fresh? I’ll want to dry tons of them toward the end of the summer, but for the summer months I usually pilfer from trees in the neighborhood when noone’s looking. There are a lot of random old trees around. Occassionally I ask people, but you know, that whole crazy bunny lady thing. I think I’ve earned myself a name at the local farmer’s market, as I went last year and was buying carrots w/ tops and mentioned I had to get extra good tops because I feed them to my rabbits and he said, “Oh, you’re the one…” his voice trailed off.

Yeah, so, anyway… anything wrong w/ fresh apple leaves? Thanks!

[LongEaredLions]

Nope! I have apple trees and I give them both fresh and dried. Bunnies love them, just wash them really well first

[Megabunny]

Oh OK I’ve been lax about washing them since they aren’t sitting on the ground, but I’ll do better this summer, I promise! Thanks LEL

[Deleted User]

Once again – I have NO idea! Don’t you just love how I add to (most) forums without actually having a clue about the subject? HA HA HA HA!
So this is how I see it….. isn’t fresh best? I always give Henry his ‘fresh’ banana and mulberry leaves, but then again I’m lucky, they are available to me all year round, as we don’t endure your freezing temperatures here in Oz. And I spose I better add, I’m a bit (lot) lazy! The thought of drying leaves for Henry to snack on – he’s got no chance! LOL! As I always like to finish with when I really don’t know….. I’m sure someone who does know will be along soon to give you the correct info (and shame me – AGAIN!), ha ha ha ha ha….. Cheers MB.

Edit to ADD – There you go, LEL beat me LOL! And she knows!!!!!

[Megabunny]

Well, I thought I saw something about drying the leaves instead. But then I think I just dream some of this stuff up. I’m really losing my mind!! I never thought they would want those leaves dry, but when I gave them some leaves that were 1/2 brown and yucky in the fall they LOVED them, so I decided I would have to grab a bunch and dry them for winter, though they will probably last about a week.

[LongEaredLions]

If you lay them out in the sun for a few hours, they get all nice and crunchy and dry but keep most of their nutrients and green color.

[Deleted User]

And can’t you freeze them?????

[Megabunny]

I’ll do whatever’s easiest cuz I want to get a lot. I don’t want to think about how much I’m paying each week for greens for these 4 ,and Gus counts as 2, so that’s 5

[Deleted User]

YEP! I try not to whinge about Henry’s veggie bill anymore……

[jerseygirl]

Mine liked apple leaves much more when they were dried. They seemed to be more aromatic then too. But yes, fresh is fine too.
If you’re worried about willow, just offer it in small amounts first.
Most mine do well with willow but I limit it a but with TimTim. Only because I’ve noticed he’s acted a bit ratty after willow.
I pick mine but sadly most the trees here have some sort of rust disease or mold. It’s orange spots on the back of the leaf.
I did find a non weeping tree though and it seems to be fine. So I do all my raids from that one tree.

[Diamond]

I remember hearing that apple leaves could cause cyanide poisoning (not as dangerous as the seeds but still a bit of a risk)

[Megabunny]

Haven’t heard that one but that doesn’t mean anything 🙂

[Diamond]

I can’t even remember where I heard it so maybe its nothing after all. I’m just paranoid.

[Megabunny]

Well, I thought I heard bad things about willow and noone else has, so maybe I’m paranoid too ha ha

[Bam]

Diamond, it’s not apple that can give cyanide-poisoning, it’s plum- and cherry leaves and twigs. They’re not related to apple and pear. The apple-seeds could be a risk though but the bunny would have to eat rather many to be poisoned, one or two wouldn’t do it.

I know I’ve read here that you could cure plum- and cherry twigs for three months and then feed them, but I’ve never done that.

I give fresh apple-leaves in the summer, dried in the winter. They do like the leaves given in winter more though, but I’ve attributed that to a general scarseness of top-quality nutritious greens during winter (store-bought, green-house-grown veggies are not quite as good as the stuff you can get in the summer. In the type of Nordic climate we’ve here, at least.)

[Author]

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