Changing hay

Alicia

Mama Doe

• Dec 28, 2012

• #1

My rabbits get hay for pets meadow hay and although it is great hay and my rabbits love it, I keep forgetting to reorder so I normally have to go out to buy a bag of hay from the pet shop to last a few days whilst I wait for more to be delivered, and it's quite expensive. I wondered about buying a bale instead, but I feel a bit mean because I don't know how good quality a bale of hay would be, and hay for pets is very good quality and my rabbits love it. I get the biggest hay for pets bag they do 9.5kg, would I get much more hay in a bale to that?

 

A

AnnieElms

Mama Doe

• Dec 28, 2012

• #2

I think the h4p 9.5 kg are about half a bale.

Some baled hay is lovely...you just need to find a good supplier. The best thing is to go and check out the hay at a local farm, and if it looks, feels and smells good the buns should like it. Frosbury farm in Guildford is good, but you may have somewhere more local to you. Search for horse feed places as well as farms.

 

L

LionheadLuver

Warren Veteran

• Dec 28, 2012

• #3

i buy farm hay and quality can defer from bale to bale. However if you get a good bale and good supplier, its the best hay around IMO. My rabbits love it and for £6 a bale, I can afford the occasional bad bale. Its such good value. A bale lasts me around 18 days (but then I use a lot of it, over the floor and as bedding).

 

Fee

Wise Old Thumper

• Dec 28, 2012

• #4

yes. I also use a bale of farm ha now at £4.95 and despite a difficult start when the buns wouldn't eat it.. they are now munching it like there's no tomorrow

if you get a chance give it a try!

fee x

 

F

fosterdog

Young Bun

• Dec 28, 2012

• #5

I get bales from a local farm for £4.50, they also do a £3.50 bale but it's not as fresh as the £4.50 bale. I prefer to pay the extra and get the nicer stuff. I usually get to say hello to the horses while we are collecting it so an extra bonus.

We store the bale in a large wheelie bin and a full bale just fits in and stays fresh enough like that. My two love it and eat a lot more hay now that they use to when we bought it from a shop and it's less than half the price we used to pay.

 

Alicia

Mama Doe

• Dec 30, 2012

• #6

Thank you I think I'm going to get them a bale. If I broke it up and stored it in those storage boxes with lids would that be ok? I've got a big plastic bag that the hayforpets hay used to come in, could I put some in that as well? because I don't think I'll have enough boxes. How can I keep the hay as nice as possible for the bunnies?

 

I<3Rabbits

Mama Doe

• Dec 30, 2012

• #7

Alicia said:

Thank you I think I'm going to get them a bale. If I broke it up and stored it in those storage boxes with lids would that be ok? I've got a big plastic bag that the hayforpets hay used to come in, could I put some in that as well? because I don't think I'll have enough boxes. How can I keep the hay as nice as possible for the bunnies?

Click to expand...

I keep mine in a shed round the back. But I do keep some in one of those big plastic bags in the garage, so I dont have to keep going backwards and forwards. so yeah its fine to keep it in a plastic bag:thumb: Ive never kept it in storage boxes my self but im sure its no different

 

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fruitandnutcake

Mama Doe

• Dec 30, 2012

• #8

I store some of my hay in tuff-crates and seal them with cable ties, then pop them in loft (drier than shed :lol as I thought they would last ages ( I bought about 30KG 2 months ago). Unfortunately my buns won't touch one type of hay, though they may do when I run out of the other ones :lol:

I only get large bales of hay from farm shop in the summer, when the shed is dry enough to store it!

 

B

Babsie

Wise Old Thumper

• Dec 30, 2012

• #9

Personally I would stick with the HayforPets if your rabbits like it and you know they eat it. I wouldn't get a farm bale without asking if you can try some first.

 

M

megansmummy

Mama Doe

• Dec 30, 2012

• #10

At the moment im getting through a bale of hay a week...I get 5 delivered at a time and then split them up as I need it into a H4P big plastic bag and then I take that into the garden when I do feeding time :thumb: Its deffinatly a good thing to find a supplier that your happy with...my farmer is great (and he brings it here to me!) but when I first got in touch he let me half about half a bale free to try it and of course the buns love it :thumb: I pay £4.50 for a large horse sized bale! :thumb:

 

Santa

Wise Old Thumper

• Dec 30, 2012

• #11

I'd see if you can find somewhere near you that does farm bales and go and have a look. I drive about 20 miles to buy a decent bale of hay but it costs £5 per bale. I also buy hayforpets hay, but I use the bale hay for litter trays and to spread around and I use the h4p hay in the litter trays and on the top. It gives the best of both worlds really because then you're not using expensive hay for the litter trays...but actually the bale hay I get is beautiful and they love it anyway...it's just that my hubby gets really cross at the mess I make with the car :lol::lol: