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what hay should I be feeding

newbunnylover

Young Bun
After seeing lots of ads for oxbow, timothy hay, orchard grass etc ect what should I be giveing Egard (4 months) and Gorgeous (3 year lop)!!
Any help would be greatly appreciated
 
Timothy hay is highly recomended! I used to buy stuff from the pets shop, it was awfull and my bunnies hardly touched the stuff. As soon as I ordered some oxbow stuff they nearly bit my hand off for it! :lol: it is more expensive, but it's worth it if it means your rabbits are eating more hay. lots of hay means a happy healthy bunny tummy, as I'm sure you're aware that they need the fibre in hay, and it also helps wear their teeth down. Try your bunnies on a selection of good quality hay and see which ones they like! mine love orchard grass and timothy hay :D
 
You are lucky to find good quality medow hay, the stuff I keep finding if brown and musty and generally horrid!. If I found some that was nice and sweet smelling with lots of lovely green bits, I would try it for my bunsters too! :D
 
I get mine from a garden centre.. the meadow hay from PAH is horrid stuff!!! The stuff I get it really long, the buns and guineas all eat lots of it! :D
 
The good thing about the different varieties of hay is that it's a great way of encouraging buns to eat more. Because wild rabbits graze on grass all day, and buns often don't have this chance because they're in a hutch or indoors, they need to be eating as much hay as they can, for healthy teeth and to keep their digestive system going and working fine.
All of the above hays are great for rabbits, and have different properties. Hay like timothy hay is great for the back teeth because of the way it is, it is more abrasive than regular hay, so especially good for rabbits prone to spurs and other teeth problems.
Oxbow isn't a type of hay, it's a brand - they do timothy hay, orchard hay, alfalfa, etc.
Meadow hay is probably the most easy to get hold of, and the cheapest. It's what pet shops sell most of, although usually petshop hay isn't the best quality. If you have room to store it, getting a bale of meadow hay from a farm shop is much cheaper and the hay is usually a lot better quality than what petshops sell too!
Timothy hay and orchard hay are great but can be quite expensive so you might prefer to keep it as an occasional treat, or to mix it with meadow hay.
Alfalfa hay is good for growing buns as it's higher in protein but isn't ideal for adult bunnies as it's too high in protein and can cause problems. The same applies to dried grass too, though you can feed more of it than alfalfa safely.
You can also get shortly chopped hays, which are quite good too - mine love the timothy chop from Bunnybasics, and it's good as it encourages my incisorless buns to eat more hay too.
It's up to you, and will depend on what your buns prefer and what you can get hold of more easily, but I personally feed my buns a half and half mix of meadow hay and Bunnybasic's timothy hay. Currently I get the meadow hay from a petshop as I don't have the storage for a bale but will be hopefully getting some from Greenfields Rescue, and once my bunny shed is done I will have the space to buy a bale. But right now I just make sure I search through for a nice soft, fresh, green looking bag at the petshop. They also get the timothy chop, and occasionally a bowl of dried grass (like the high fibre grass from Bunnybasics, or Readigrass)
They also occasionally get the timothy hay cubes from Bunnybasics (though obviously the incisorless buns don't have these!)
Hope that helped!
 
even the meadow hay from my little local pet shop looks like it's been there for 10 years!! :? before I was banned from p@h I was unlucky enough to try their hay and found springs and screws in it! :shock:
 
I've just started getting meadow hay delivered, by my local greengrocers - it's gorgeous stuff and they love it - I was paying a fortune for West Wales hay, but the quality wasn't consistent - the last lot was so bad I burnt it as the animals wouldn't eat it. WW offered me a free box next time I order, but I don't know what quality I'll get, so I may not bother. I'd get Oxbow if I could afford it, but I use a bale a week!
 
Ive just started mine on Timothy Hay only getting it in small bags at the moment but will be changing to Oxbow next week or so
 
The best quality you can get, i give mine the hay I give my horse which is just yummy!!! and cut from local fields so i know its good.

I have also bought from pet shops, but as they are in plastic bags it difficult to smell it to test for freshness, so i normally make a good size hole with a finger and have a sniff!!! :twisted: :twisted:

I would also give readi grass aswell.
 
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