Another hay thread, need help!

So I have picky rabbits..

How is the timothy hay & rye from hay for pets at the moment? I have 4 bags of meadow hay opened and just used for litter trays now because they don't like it and I don't blame them, it feels like straw. The bag of ings I have is also being used for litter trays as they won't eat it.

The last two bags from timothyhay.co.uk have been pants, so I spent £25 on some hay from zooplus but one bag was brown, not that they're eating it anyway. I think I'll have to buy another one from timothyhay.co.uk though as Donny and Lola are running low and I'll just hope for the best. I already swapped bags with Leo and Kerbie which Leo eats fine but Kerbie doesn't like timothy hay now, he prefers asda meadow hay so we have 4 bags of that. Donny and Lola are eating more of Leo and Kerbie's old timothy hay as it isn't as stalky.

Do I try some hay from dust free hay? I don't care what I spend, I just want them eating hay properly again, the ones I've had are such rubbish quality In the past month I have spent close to £200 on hay, much more than usual. They ate their baled hay but now the new bale is horrible too.

It's so stressful I've tried leaving them to eat it but it stays untouched.. And I don't like leaving it because 4 out of the 6 rabbits have had dentals and while their teeth are all fine now, I know they can get bad quickly I've tried everything to tempt them, is nice hay too much to ask for I know it's usually pants this time of year but I've been massively unlucky..

I haven't used HayforPets for a while, I've been getting it from TimothyHay, which has been fine.

It's horrible when you can't get them to eat hay - they don't listen when you tell them how important it is.

I find mine get bored after a while, so I try to get some different hay - perhaps the one with forage mixed in - just for a change.

I tell you what I do, which seems to help, when I give them their veg in the morning I clean out their litter trays then mix up the chopped veg with the hay, so they then settle in the trays for a good old munch. When I've been foraging, which is most days, I also put that in the litter trays. Go on, you're going to tell me that's what you already do.:lol:

I buy Spenser's hay from The Hay Experts. His favourites are Oxbow orchard grass and Supreme's selective Timothy hay. The latter is the ony Timothy hay Spenser has ever condescended to eat. It is only available in 450g bags though, as far as I know, so not ideal for multiple bunnies. The Oxbow I know buy in the medium 1kg size bags as for some reason it seems to be greener than when bought in the 450g size.

I'm still getting decent baled stuff at the moment, having found a decent stockist eventually. I know I'm probably lucky with my lot, when they were in pairs the girls only liked meadow hay, and the boys only liked stalky Timothy hay, but now they all eat far more of the baled stuff than they ever did of the packaged pet shop stuff. I've never tried them on any of the mail order stuff, I suppose because I've not needed to yet. Would it be worth trying to find a different local place you could get decent stuff from, and see if you can get some samples for them to try? Maybe stables or horse feed places? I'm sure you've probably done all that already though.....

Have you tried Oxbow timothy? It's expensive but usually goes down well. Then there's The Willow Warren who sell their home grown timothy hay from West Wales. Very stalky and similar to Timothyhay.co.uk (but more expensive ).

Ours will eat pretty much anything but have had a huge preference for chinchillas2shops oxbow Timothy hay
http://www.chinchillas2shop.co.uk/foodstuff.htm

If we put that in willow balls or toilet roll tubes, it gets a lot more attention than the farm bales or pets at home or timothyhay.co.uk hay.

Am still to try hayforpets sample pack

Babsie said:

I haven't used HayforPets for a while, I've been getting it from TimothyHay, which has been fine.

It's horrible when you can't get them to eat hay - they don't listen when you tell them how important it is.

I find mine get bored after a while, so I try to get some different hay - perhaps the one with forage mixed in - just for a change.

I tell you what I do, which seems to help, when I give them their veg in the morning I clean out their litter trays then mix up the chopped veg with the hay, so they then settle in the trays for a good old munch. When I've been foraging, which is most days, I also put that in the litter trays. Go on, you're going to tell me that's what you already do.:lol:

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I clean their litter trays out but put the forage and things on the floor, in the litter tray sounds like a much better idea! Thank you

susie bun said:

I buy Spenser's hay from The Hay Experts. His favourites are Oxbow orchard grass and Supreme's selective Timothy hay. The latter is the ony Timothy hay Spenser has ever condescended to eat. It is only available in 450g bags though, as far as I know, so not ideal for multiple bunnies. The Oxbow I know buy in the medium 1kg size bags as for some reason it seems to be greener than when bought in the 450g size.

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I did think about the oxbow stuff, will no doubt try that afterwards :lol: I did see that selective timothy hay, it looks really nice in the pictures but you can never trust them

Zoobec said:

I'm still getting decent baled stuff at the moment, having found a decent stockist eventually. I know I'm probably lucky with my lot, when they were in pairs the girls only liked meadow hay, and the boys only liked stalky Timothy hay, but now they all eat far more of the baled stuff than they ever did of the packaged pet shop stuff. I've never tried them on any of the mail order stuff, I suppose because I've not needed to yet. Would it be worth trying to find a different local place you could get decent stuff from, and see if you can get some samples for them to try? Maybe stables or horse feed places? I'm sure you've probably done all that already though.....

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The bales are from a horse supply shop called The Hungry Horse by where my dad works so he can pick them up in his van but apart from that place I haven't found anywhere else There were 2 really lovely smelling green bales which none of them ate, but 2 bales that were kind of yellow/green and stalky/soft which they devoured. But the last bale is just horrible I am grateful to my dad as he will get them for me but he doesn't 'get' hay :lol:
I did ask a girl I went to school with who is a farmer but no reply..! I might order a bale off eBay.. :lol:

Work are used to these huge bales/bags of hay turning up now, there will be a 15kg bag of readigrass and 3 boxes arriving soon.. :lol: ..and timothy hay!

Mackers said:

Have you tried Oxbow timothy? It's expensive but usually goes down well. Then there's The Willow Warren who sell their home grown timothy hay from West Wales. Very stalky and similar to Timothyhay.co.uk (but more expensive ).

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No, I was always scared in case they liked it because it's so expensive, but it would have probably been cheaper than what I've spent so far :lol:
My bf ordered a 3 box set of DFH for me but I think I'll buy some timothyhay.co.uk just in case.. :lol: It's still nice hay, but it's really stalky and Donny and Lola don't like it :roll:

dumblepaws said:

Ours will eat pretty much anything but have had a huge preference for chinchillas2shops oxbow Timothy hay
http://www.chinchillas2shop.co.uk/foodstuff.htm

If we put that in willow balls or toilet roll tubes, it gets a lot more attention than the farm bales or pets at home or timothyhay.co.uk hay.

Am still to try hayforpets sample pack

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They used to just eat the asda and The Range hay, but they seem to have trends of what they're liking. It used to only be timothy and rye from h4p, then ings, then all of a sudden meadow hay again and now I'm trowing all different types of hay at them!

Going to The Range tomorrow so will just buy a bag of hay for the sake of it and mix it in with the litter tray hay :roll: :lol: I might stick it in a brown paper bag and toilet roll tubes with some readigrass, see how they take it!

I think if hay was my main diet I'd get a bit bored too so they're sensible to demand variety!

My farm stuff at the mo is awful and i phoned to ask but the new cut isnt till July up here at our farm so I will have to wait...

It murderous as both buns are being exceptionally picky and Smudge is fussy at the best of times,,,

Roll on summer