Which crops do rabbits eat ??

I got a plot late last year, so 2014 will be my first growing year, so I am obviously keen to do the best I can.

I seems many of the plot-holders have piles of wood framed chicken mesh, which they'll be putting around certain crops, as there are rabbits everywhere.

They use roofing laths (maybe 38 x 25 timber) and fine mesh

I suppose in an ideal world I would fence off my entire plot, but that's going to cost a fair amount, so I'll just do what the majority do and fence off certain areas.

So, what vegetables do rabbits like ?

And any they don't bother with, so I can leave these areas unfenced

thank you for any input

 

They eat virtually everything, and what they don't eat they'll burrow into (digging up some stuff and burying others), scratch up (especially seed beds), or nibble the bark from.

A quick list:

Will Eat
Chard, spinach, lettuces, salad leaf - they love them all.
Carrots - eat the leaves.
French Beans - they love them, leaves, beans and stems eaten down to the ground.
Runner Beans - they bite through the stems
Leeks, Onions and Garlic - they love the leaves
Rhubarb - they'll munch the buds in Spring
Strawberries - they'll eat all the leaves
Parsley - they'll eat that
Land Cress - eat that
Tomatoes - nibble the odd fruits, but I wouldn't bother fencing them
Cucumbers, Courgettes & Marrows - they occasionally bite chunks out them, but might not bothering about unless you're growing for a giant marrow competition as one bite will ruin the young marrow.
Lavender, Dahlias and Gladioli - yes, they'll even eat them

And probably a lot more, but I now fence everywhere so I can rotate crops.

Wont Eat
Raspberry canes (dunno about thornless varieties)
Potatoes - you risk the odd dozy rabbit that decides to make it's home in your potato patch, but I wouldn't bother fencing them.


P.S. Got many Wood Pigeons & Muntjacs?

 

I would love to have that problem, I would eat rabbit all the time. Our rabbits, and there are a couple on my property, are American forest rabbits - do not live in colonies and warrens - and do no harm sticking to the forest stuff and some grass on my lawn. They are virtual pets, and so pretty, as are the squirrels living on my property and I do not bother them.

Why don't you catch some and make a rabbit pie?

 

Furry demonsRabbits eat pretty much everything, and what they don't eat they will often destroy just for the fun of it. Loads of times I've gone up to my land the day after planting something, just to find the plant torn to shreds but not actually eaten.

It would be easier to list things they usually leave alone. Here is the list as I know it:

• Potatoes

 

They dig up seed spuds and also e they want to live (burrow) amongst potato crops (as in post #2). Whilst I was away for a couple of days sea fishing, I got a call from Mrs Scrungee about a rabbit digging our spuds up to make itself a new home, so I suggested she push a few bricks in the hole and put a big paving slab on top and I'd sort it out on my return the following day. Dog really enjoyed some fresh rabbit shortly after my return.

 

Unlucky @Scrungee, I've heard of them doing that, but lucky for me, that's never happened to mine.

 

My rabbits eat my potato leaves no prob. Can no longer grow in my garden
:(

 

Thank you for all the replies ... I better buy a fair amount of mesh.

Luckily I found a good supplier, with free delivery too ...http://www.hillsofdevon.co.uk/netting.html

Maybe a pet rabbit, with limited choices might go for potatoes, but judging by other replies, for a wild rabbit it shouldn't (???) be one of their favourites.

 

Years ago my sister had a pet rabbit. It was allowed to roam her room on some occasions. She went to put her hi fi on one time and it didn't work. It had been plugged in and switched on at the wall, but electricity tends not to pass very well through mains cables that have been chewed right through. How the rabbit didn't go up in smoke is beyond me. It just further supports my belief that they are in fact just the earthly incarnation of demons.

 

Oh, nearly forgot. If you go with the mesh option, be sure to bury the bottom of the mesh, and preferably curl it flat for a few inches, facing out over. Otherwise the rabbits will simply tunnel under it. The point of curling the mesh outwards at the bottom before burying it is that rabbits are pretty stupid. They will arrive at the mesh, tunnel under as close to it as they can get, then hit the curled outward bit under ground, and sometimes, only sometimes mind, give up and go and raid someone else's stuff instead.

 

My dad says - ive not tried it as I don't have a rabbit problem - soak some string in creosote and tie it to canes 6 inchs above the floor and make a fence round the bed - rabbits don't like the smell and wont come near it

 

Are your rabbits not very good to eat?

 

Prepared correctly, they are delicious. Slowly stewed with baby onions, red wine and herbs is the best way.

 

Colne, rabbits gradually disappeared as a general food many years ago when Myxomatosis was rampant amongst them. I can't remember the last time I saw any for sale in a butchers shop.

 

No, I remember the myxomatosis and the butcher shops were still hung with rabbits - I think it was EU regulations which stopped the processing outside of licensed abattoirs and processing facilities. It killed the home production of animal based foods for sale. I suppose years later, now, small producers who really, really, want to sell home made cheese at farmers markets can.....but in spite of the EU madness that has pillaged so much of UK heritage.

There was an old woman we always bought free range eggs from in London during the mad 'straight banana' years and she gave it all up because of a catch 22. She was not a licensed grader. Eggs could not be sold unless graded by a licensed grader. (by size/weight)