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How much hay does a 3 to 4 lb. bunny consumes in 1 yr.?

Happy Hopping

Wise Old Thumper
I have 1 bale, i.e., 65 lb., and I have 3 bunnies. Goofball doesn't eat hay, so I handfeed her some hay daily. The other 2 bunnies are tiny, 3 to 4 lb. or so. I bought the 65 lb. of timothy hay in Aug., would it last till this coming July 2008?

If I don't come close, then I would have to go to the farm now for another bale before they run out.
 
Is a bale = 65 lb. in your country? But I never use it as bedding, so the hay is just for eating. Does anyone has a record of this?
 
I think bales vary in size but 65lb is about 30 kilos and my 2 bunnies [a mini rex who is about 5lb and a tiny lionhead girl who is 2.5lb] get through about 2 kilos [so about 4.4lb] a week roughly. I don't use it as bedding either as they are house buns but obviously some gets wasted as it gets dropped on the floor/chucked around the litter tray and pooped on so *some* gets chucked out.
 
That's a lot, so when I got my 2 new bunnies last Oct. 2007, they start eating the hay, if 2 bunnies consumes 4.4 lb., that's 228.8 lb. per year.

In my case, I need 10 mth. worth of hay before the new ones is available, that would make 10 x 4 weeks x 4.4 = 176 lb, that makes 2.7 bale.

I find it very hard to believe my 2 bunnies who eat hay regularly can eat that much hay. Goofball eats 2 small bundle per day (handfeed) plus the hays I cut on the mix she eat (blackberry).

Can I get some other input on this?
 
Mine do eat huge amounts of hay, I have to fill their trays at least twice a day.

I now buy dustfreehay which comes in 2kg bags, a bag lasts about a week, they are house buns so most is eaten except what the leave in the litter tray.
 
So far we have 4 kg/3 wk. or 1.33kg per week to 4 kg / wk. I don't have a scale so I can't weigh how much hay is given per day or per week. But I don't think my 2 bun can eat 4 kg/wk.

I suppose if there is a way for me to track it somehow, but w/o a sensitive scale, there is no way
 
I have a Netherland dwarf and a dwarf lop and I still have hay left from a bale I bought in June. I also give them meadow hay - which seems to be more like grass. I tried to buy enough hay for a year - 1 x 55lb bale, 1 x 22lb bale of meadow hay, 1 x 10lb aromatic hay and it looks like I'm about right - unless they suddenly have an eating rush. They have paper and hay (at one side to eat) in their litter trays and their room is strewn with hay. I give them fresh hay everyday, but often they will find some thats been lying there for weeks (I've given up throwing it away) and will chomp on that.

I also feed them pellets
 
Ailz:

why throw them away? they are dry hay to begin with?

do you have record from 2006 to 2007 as to how many bale you bought to last 1 year?
 
I estimate that my 5.5kgs (12 lb) worth of bunnys (2 medium buns, one tiny)

Eat - 100kg (220lb) a year
Bedding - 50 kg a year (110lb)
Being annoying and pulling it out then peeing on it so not eating it....about 5 squillion kg.

So thats about 150kg/330lb a year or 5 of your bales

27kg per kilo of bunny per year
30lb per pound of bunny per year

ooh er thats a lot of hay.
 
220 - 7 I was using straw as well as hay, and buying hay a small bag at a time. I reckon 2 -3 bales would do for a full year - including bedding & litter trays. In part it depends on how much hay your bun eats. I don't give mine many vegetables so they eat hay nearly all the time. In fact they eat it in preference to their pellets. I can put down 4 oz of pellets for 2 buns and sometimes they'll last 2+ days. Mnd you they always have cardboard boxes which they seem to like to eat too :roll::lol:.

I can understand why you want to buy it all in one go, but the hay - over here at least - has been rubbish this year, so you may want to buy enough until the new crop in late summer. The other thing is that you have to make sure that the hay remains dry or it can get mould on it - which I know makes my buns sneeze.
 
See, I already have 1 bale. If it doesn't last, then I have to go to pet shop and buy the not so fresh hay.

Alternatively, if this bale is defnitely not going to be enough, I should go to the farm now, and buy a 2nd bale, it's cheap, but it's a long drive for me. And the longer I wait, the less choice I have to pick a nice bale in green
 
I'd go for it and get another one. Better too much than too little. You can always use it in trays too.
 
I suppose if there is a way for me to track it somehow, but w/o a sensitive scale, there is no way

Dont try to weigh little amounts then. Weigh a big amount then feed only from that and see how long it lasts.

I know Muppet eats approx 4kg per three weeks because a) it comes in a 4kg bag and b) I need to reorder about every three weeks. No science involved!!
 
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