Fresh herbs?

[kimgrif]

A friend has a lot of fresh herbs growing in her garden, way more than she can use. She has sage, tarragon, thyme, and oregano. Are any of these okay to feed piggies?

I looked on Guinea Lynx, but didn't see them on the list of veggies.

Thanks!

[HowietheGreat]

You can give them cilantro, basil and parsley(only once in awhile for the parsley-it is high in calcium) for sure. I also believe lemon grass, peppermint and speariment are edible as well. I have never read about any of the above being fed to Cavy's.

[Percy's Mom]

I just double checked the food list that Ly helped me edit, and I have dill, mint, basil, and thyme as fine once or twice a week. Cilantro can be fed daily, as can parsley if you have young pigs. If they're over 6 months old, back the parsley off to once or twice a week as well.

[Tatalp]

Also, it is possible that oregano is safe, nobody is sure yet. I've give mine a few tiny leaves without any problems.

[cavy-cool-crazy]

Mine love tarragon. The herbs I know are definitely ok for pigs:

Cilantro
Parsley
Mint
Basil
Thyme
Tarragon
Chives

Another one someone found in UK is marjorum but I have no idea what this is. But apparently the pigs enjoyed it.

[JarBax]

Marjoram is , I'm pretty sure, just another name for oregano!

[Ly&Pigs]

Marjoram is , I'm pretty sure, just another name for oregano!

Close, but oregano and marjoram are two different herbs that are closely related. Do a wikipedia search on both.

[JarBax]

...pretty close!!!

[jabberwock]

Oxbow sell a product called "Nature's treat" which they say is suitable for guinea pigs. It says that it:
Includes 4 or more of the following: Sage, oregano, sweet basil, comfrey, borage, salad burnet, lemon basil, lovage, purple basil, calendula, chamomile, lemon balm, thyme, peppermint, savory, spearmint, orange mint, lemon verbena, horehound, hyssop, catnip, anise, tarragon, rosemary.


These are dried in the Oxbow product - would the fresh herbs be different?
I feed lemon balm, peppermint, salad burnet, and basil and very young comfrey leaves as ingredients in the guinea pigs' morning forage. I also feed oregano (in the UK this is commonly called Sweet Marjoram, though on Wikipedia the two herbs have different Latin Names). Obviously not all at once - that would be a bit of a taste overload! Coriander, for some reason, I regard as a veggie. I'm growing basil but that's not ready yet and we're so fond of it ourselve the pigs might not get too much of a look in...

[aqh88]

Mine have tried all of those herbs but didn't like oregano at all. I know they are safe to feed I just don't know how often. I definitely wouldn't give them big piles of it or everyday but a few stems with leaves as a treat with their regular veggies won't do any harm.