Blackberry leaves?

[MandFpiggies]

I read on here somewhere that someone who was trying to reduce the calcium in their pigs diet and was giving them blackberry leaves. I was wondering if a) this was just regular bramble leaves from hedge rows and such? and b) if this was an ok thing to have in just any piggies diet? As I do worry about giving them too many dandelion leaves.
I would also like to ask if there is any other hedge row plants that would make tasty piggie snacks while I'm out looking for the blackberry leaves?

 

[MandFpiggies]

Anyone?

 

[Hermes]

Blackberry leaves are okay for any pig to eat, if you're getting them from hedgerows it's best to avoid anywhere along roads and on a level where a dog may have peed, give them a rinse off to be on the safe side. There are lots of things they can eat from hedgerows, stickyweed, rose leaves, hawthorn, hazel, vetch... The list goes on.

I think this thread has some more listed... http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42

 

[Cavy_Lady]

I feed these and my piggies love them. Myself and my 4 year old go forraging to guinea pig safe plants for them to eat. I am thinking about starting to dry some out to use as hay sprinkles in the winter. x

 

[Lil-Ninnibig]

My ditto loves woodlands products. He loves the dandelion feast and the blackberry salad lol its just basically dried leaves and fruits but he loves them and it is fibre for him and makes a change from just hay all the time..

 

[MandFpiggies]

Thank for the replies everyone p

Blackberry leaves are okay for any pig to eat, if you're getting them from hedgerows it's best to avoid anywhere along roads and on a level where a dog may have peed, give them a rinse off to be on the safe side. There are lots of things they can eat from hedgerows, stickyweed, rose leaves, hawthorn, hazel, vetch... The list goes on.

I think this thread has some more listed... http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42

Looks like I'm going to need to brush up on recognizing a lot more plants from the hedge rows, I'm really lucky as right next to my house is a very long and seldom used lane, so I don't have to worry about dogs or traffic, it's where I get most of the grass for my piggies, which is what got me thinking I might be just walking past loads of other stuff the girls would just love to be tucking into

I feed these and my piggies love them. Myself and my 4 year old go forraging to guinea pig safe plants for them to eat. I am thinking about starting to dry some out to use as hay sprinkles in the winter. x

This is an excellent idea! I already dry lots of herbs from the garden for our own use in the kitchen, so it makes perfect sense to do it for the piggies too.

 

[SophRuss5]

Mine love blackberry leaves, the young fresh ones, also feed them the leaves from wild strawberries, the problem is guessing whether they are above the pee line of dogs!

 

[Sue_P]

Didn't know that. I'll get trying them myself.

 

[Sarah from Chucklebunnies]

I grow a thornless bramble in the garden, got it from a garden centre, and it grows really well. It's basically just for the piggies, although we do get the fruit! They get whole branches from it, I just pull a branch off now and then, and they munch away at the leaves and the stem. (good chew toy)

I can recommend planting deliberately for the piggies if you have a garden, you know there are no chemicals or problems with wee that way.

I also have a grape vine, another I can give whole branches from and a very speedy grower as well.