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Bales of hay

danp83

New Kit
Hi all,

What's your views regarding bales of hay for bedding? The reason I ask is, we used non vacuumed packed hay with our last rabbit and it had some sort of mite in the hay causing the rabbit to loose chunks of fur and became very ill. Since then we've always used vacuumed packed hay but it can work out quite expensive. Has anyone had any bad experiances with bales of hay?

Thanks,
Dan
 
there is mites in all hay and all rabbits have mites, they just get the chance to multiply if the rabbits immune system can't cope for whatever reason, illness or stress for example. then obv the vets can treat and clear the mites.

alot of people use bales of hay as they do work out alot cheaper. i don't personally but only because my two have uri's and have to have dust free hay. if you buy in bulk it works out at £4 a 2-2.5kg bale so not too bad when you think all the dust has been removed.

it is from dustfreehay.co.uk :wave:
 
no probs :wave: it's nice hay from there! other people use 'the willow warren' aswell for timothy hay, that is supposed to be good. bit more expensive though i think.
 
I buy hay bales & have had no negative health outcomes for my rabbits. I find good quality baled meadow hay is better than whats on offer at the pet stores. Its also way more economic. Though I'm in NZ....... & we don't have anywhere near the variety of hays available in pet stores that you have in the UK.
To make storage easy & reduce mess I just incorporated a well ventilated cupboard into my bunny shed design, it fits one bale in it with plenty of space around it for air circulation.
I also grow herbs & vegies for my bunnies, as this provides them with better nutrition that supermarket stuff & reduces cost too.
 
I use bales and not had a problem and I have heard of buns getting mites from bagged hay so I guess its just pot luck and you were unfortunate.
 
You read my mind!

I was only talking to someone about this the other day and a vet and a P@H person told me meadow hay wasn't that great. I was starting to worry and was going to ask an opinion on this. I get my hay and straw from a farm as with lots of buns it works out better! What do people think about the mite issue, should I worry? As yet nothing has come of it and I have been using the hay for over a month!
 
We get ours through a friend who buys it for his horses. We've never experienced any problems with it and I much prefer it to the vacuum packed stuff.
 
I was only talking to someone about this the other day and a vet and a P@H person told me meadow hay wasn't that great. I was starting to worry and was going to ask an opinion on this. I get my hay and straw from a farm as with lots of buns it works out better! What do people think about the mite issue, should I worry? As yet nothing has come of it and I have been using the hay for over a month!

Of course P@H are going to be against bales of meadow hay! They want you to spend a fortune on their piddling bags. The rescue I got my bunny from recommended buying bales of hay (even for just two), because it has the weeds/herbs in it (which a rabbit would eat naturally in the wild) and the long strands are good for wearing down teeth. That said, there's a huge difference in the quality of hay; if a horse owner wouldn't buy it, neither should you. :)
 
I buy hay bales and go through them very fast! I've not had a problem, you get the odd feather and thorny/sharp weeds but the bunnies love the odd little surprise, I leave the weeds in and remove the feathers ofc! :wave:
 
Ive been using Bale for about a year and have had no problem. It must of been a wet one on the last bale, I kept finding lumps of mud :)

Definately recommend it :)
 
I got a bale fairly recently from a horse supplies place that was recommended on here near Nottingham and the quality is excellent.

I had been feeding my very fussy chinchillas high quality American Timothy hay but just thought I'd try them with the hay from the bale and they love it - they eat it far faster than their 'posh' hay! So now they get their 'posh' hay every now and then and have the hay from the bale as their staple hay.

The guinea pigs love it and can't get enough of it, lol! The mice also like playing with it and using it for nests and the degus love it too so everyone's happy. :D x

I've tried a fair few different hays from different places - including Oxbow Timothy Hay, Burgess Excel Herbage and Alfalfa King Timothy hay plus several other well-known brands but I can honestly say that the bale is much more popular and smells fresher in every way. So although it's far, far cheaper I don't think the quality is lower by any means. Definitely will be buying a bale again when this one runs out - which will be a while yet - though it is going down faster than expected!
 
I've been buying bales of hay for quite a while too and, if anything, my two seem to prefer it to the 'posh' bagged hays such as Excel etc. I've recently started buying huges bales of timothy hay and it's much nicer than the stuff Pets at Home sell - really long and stalky, not a bag of 2 inch long strands and lots of dust.
 
It keeps for ages as long as you store it somewhere dry. I keep mine in an old duvet cover in the coal shed. :) A bale probably lasts 5-6 weeks for my two buns, but I tend to be very generous with it because it's so cheap to buy.
 
I've been buying bales of hay for quite a while too and, if anything, my two seem to prefer it to the 'posh' bagged hays such as Excel etc. I've recently started buying huges bales of timothy hay and it's much nicer than the stuff Pets at Home sell - really long and stalky, not a bag of 2 inch long strands and lots of dust.

Yes mine do too, they go a bit crazy when fresh stuff goes in.
 
We get farm bales and its great stuff never had a problem, there are far too many buns here to buy the packed stuff!
 
Thanks everyone. Thats great help. With 6 Bunnies posh hay all of the time would have bankrupt us! I was looking at it and it is greeny/brown! I just worried after 2 people said that to me. However the supplier I get it from was reccomended by my regular vet as there horses eat it. Thanks again x
 
You may already know this but a single duvet cover is an absolute 'must' when it comes to transporting a bale of hay..... it fitted my bale perfectly and I've kept the bale in the duvet cover as it's breathable but keeps it neat(ish!).
 
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