Bunny Hay...

Dear everyone,
we are the house-mates of Chilli & Pepper, and wanted to pass on a little bit of wisdom that some people may not be aware of, if we're trying to teach you to eat carrots we're sorry
I noticed a few months ago that Tesco's are selling 'small animal hay' for about £1 a 'bag'. What you get for your £1 is more like a bag of compressed wood splinters, and full of dust (which is odd, because it's apparently had the dust removed) which our bunnies hate. We used to get our hay from a farmers field (with his permission obviously!) after he'd cut it and raked it - there was still plenty left. He's rotated crops, and thus no more hay.
A freind suggested buying a bale and I stupidly thought it would cost us a lot, but it was surprisingly cheap.We've now found an animal feed shop (on the A6 between Bedford and Luton) that will sell them for £2.50 a bale!
Apparently, if you go to a place which provides feed for horses bales are always that cheap. Sorry for sounding dense, but I don't knolw anything about horses! We now buy a bale every six months, break it into chunks and stick it in bin-bags in the loft untill it's needed.
We put fresh hay in everything from their hutch to their litter boxes (they love moving it where they want it, not where we want it ) and still barely manage to get through a bale in 6 months. As a guide, we'd get through one of those Tesco bales in a week.
If you don't live anywhere near an animal feed place, it's worth getting in the car and getting one, as it is massively cheaper, and much much better quality hay, which they love to eat.
For those that may not know, bad hay can cause sneezing and runny eyes in buns. Not sure what the actual risks are, but many bunny site's We've visited warn about excessive hay dust.

Hope that helps someone! Love to all the bunnies out there.
:lol:
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Glad you have found yourself a good hay supplier. I live in a small flat with no loft or shed or garden so i dont really have much space to store excess hay. I havent found anywhere local that sell bags of hay that is decent. My local petshop sells bags of 'fresh' hay but i dont think its great stuff. Luckily there is a pet place near my parents i can get a sack of nice hay from but im not there very often.

Hi and welcome to the forum :wave:
Yeah it's definitely cheaper to buy a bale rather than these prepacked bags from supermarkets and petshops. Years ago I used to work in a pet shop and when I first started off, I use to bag bales of hay and straw up. I could get around twenty-five small bags out of one bale, these bags of straw sold for 50p each and the bale cost him £1.50 at the time! So you can see what profit he was making! Needless to say I've always bought a bale of straw ever since!
I have one of those long plastic storage bins for garden furniture cushions, and I squeeze a bale of straw into that. I don't buy bales of hay for two reasons, one being lack of space and two, I like to give a variety of different hays such as Fresh Meadow hay from the local farm, Excel Supa Forage, Friendy Pure Dried Grass and I've just discovered Timothy Hay at Pets at Home. Whilst I agree it's more expensive bought this way, I get great satisfaction seeing them enjoy the variety

I just found you have to find a hay your bunnie likes. Like ~Lisa~ I just do lots of different types and they seem to eat it (but love the barley straw the most!). Some hays people think are great mine ignored ;-(

where do u get your barley straw from amber?
I havent foudn anywhere locally yet.
Altho im going home this weekend so will probably get a sack of each from the place there.

There is a farm just outside Basingstoke but they only sell whole bales. Next time I am getting one I will make you a bag up.

Hi Chilli & Pepeer

I live in St. Neots so not far from Bedford at all. Please could you tell me where abouts this place is as think I will make a trip!!
We are getting a bin bag size full from Pet Paks on the way to Cambridge. It is £3.10 a bag and lasts 2 - 3 weeks

Anna, Bob & Dexter xx

Whereabouts do you live Chris?

I know of a feed place in Bedhampton which I think sells Bales of Hay because he says he can feed a horse

Gem x

I have found a fab brand of pet shop hay. Its called "homefriends" and it smells divine. Evo loves it, its very green with texture similar to timothy hay. Big bags (enough for a month for one bun) cost £3.49.
They also do special "medicinal" hays - chamomile & dandelion for calming the digestion, and peppermint & something for something else. Same price for a small bag. Evo has the chamomile one & thinks it's yum.
Don't know if it's a nationwide thing, as the big hay was grown in Devon, although the medicine hay was grown in Holland.

Hi Chilli and Pepper.

You will definately have to tell us where this place is. I am from Bedford. We normally buy a bale of hay for their bedding and meadow hay for them to eat.

The best place I have found so far for meadow hay is Steppingley Garden Centre. £2.90 for a bin sack full (you can only get two bags in a vectra boots, that is how big the bags are) and it still smells sweet when we get to the end of the bag, that lasts us about 1 month..

Does anyone know of a good hay supply in Surrey (Guildford area)? We currently get very large bags from our local pet shop, and it seems to be quite tasty stuff. But six rabbits make very short work of it, and if we add a Frenchy into the equation we're looking at a hefty hay bill. We were going to buy in a big bale from WWW, but if there's a good quality source local to us that could work out a bit cheaper and is convenient to get to then that would be awfully handy indeed.

Bertie said:

Does anyone know of a good hay supply in Surrey (Guildford area)? We currently get very large bags from our local pet shop, and it seems to be quite tasty stuff. But six rabbits make very short work of it, and if we add a Frenchy into the equation we're looking at a hefty hay bill. We were going to buy in a big bale from WWW, but if there's a good quality source local to us that could work out a bit cheaper and is convenient to get to then that would be awfully handy indeed.

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Some how I dont think you will be stopping at 7 buns :lol: :lol: If I were you I'd sell up and buy a farm :lol: :lol: solves the expense of hay buying :lol: :lol:

I'd be keen on knowing the farm you use too Amber as I can buy a bale through my pet shop but it would be loads cheaper to buy direct.

Caz

Its Grays farm in Mapledurwell (just off tunworth road RG25 ) sorry all I have is a circle on a map. Its right at the end of the drive you can see the hay/straw and the farm house is the quite bigh house of the three. I got charged £1.50 but sometimes its £2!!! If you untie the string it literally falls into slices which you can bag up and then use as you wish. Of course cos its not been dust extracted I shake it a bit in the garden to get the dust out but I have had no problems with my sneezey bunnie. I think its cheaper this year (from what the farmer said) as this year isn't as good cos of the damp weather. I have had non I have had to chuck though some isn't so great but I make sure that bit is put where the bunnies wee. They seem to love to eat it so it works out well, I got 5-6 bags from it (did a split with someone)

Definatly worth the effort I say (put something in the back of your car unless you want to be hoving straw from the car for the next year.

Im in Basingstoke Gem.
Thanks Amber.. but i should be ok for a while as i can get a sack of each from the place near my parents.. and that lasts me months!
There is a breeder in basingstoke who goes to a farm in Ewshot, near Church Crookham. They only sell bales tho but if u need a bale then they are also good.

Another breeder in Basinstoke? Wow it must be bunnie central there.