Hay! (Not hey)

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 13sd replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 2 months ago by MooBunnay.

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- 03/15/2009 at 7:57 AM
  Moonlight_Wolf
  Blocked
  1155 posts
  Hi,
  
  I wanted to get Fern some differnet types of hay because she is not a great fan of hay and I wanted to give her a variety.
  
  What hays are low in calcium and calories, but high in fiber.
  
  Are Medow Hay, Orcherd Grass, or Oat Hay ok? (I heard that Oat hay can make bunnies fat, well at least I think it was Oat Hay I heard that about)
  
  I know that Alfalfa hay is too high in Calcium.
  
  What hays can I give Fern just as I give her timothy?
- 03/15/2009 at 9:35 AM
  Balefulregards
  Participant
  715 posts
  Coco doesn’t eat much Timothy, but I have had excellent luck with Oxbows Brome and Orchard. She also occasionally gets a handful of Oat, but she doesn’t LOVE it like the other two.
  
  In the past, when I asked this question ( as Coco was boycotting the Timothy) I was told that the Other Oxbows were fine. It wasn’t until I intro’ed Brome that I saw true Rabbit enthusiasm for hay
- 03/15/2009 at 2:36 PM
  Scarlet_Rose
  Participant
  4293 posts
  Hi Moonlight_wolf!
  
  Here is some good info on fiber in realtion to hay in the rabbit diet and it’s nutritional content:
  
  http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/fiber.html
  
  Here is info on hay and harvesting – it’s pretty interesting and just FYI:
  
  http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-7/hay.html
- 03/15/2009 at 2:47 PM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  I love the oxbow orchard hay… it smells SO GOOD. If I were a bunny, that’s what I’d want to eat. We haven’t tried brome yet…
- 03/15/2009 at 3:37 PM
  Scarlet_Rose
  Participant
  4293 posts
  On a personal note, I would totally avoid the brome hay. Every rabbit I’ve known (including at the rescue) has absolutely HATED it.
- 03/15/2009 at 4:31 PM
  Balefulregards
  Participant
  715 posts
  Isn’t that funny Scarlet? It was Seriously the first Hay that Coco was ever enthusiastic about- She eats it 2 bags to one of the others, including the Botanical.
  
  Oh, these Buns!
- 03/15/2009 at 6:42 PM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Really Scarlet? What is different about the hay that they didn’t approve of it? Does it have a different consistency… or…?
  
  So it might be a good idea to just get a smaller bag first to make sure it’s something the bun would be interested in eating…
- 03/15/2009 at 8:27 PM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  I had heard Brome was popular for some here too – everybun is different I guess! Maybe try just getting very small quantities when trying new types. Oat hay is ok, wheat also, but I hear this is the fattening one…
  
  Scarlet, thanks for the 2nd link. I’m attempting growing Orchard grass to entice Jersey to eat hay so that info is good to know.
- 03/19/2009 at 12:10 AM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  Regarding the Oat question: Oat is high in fiber, low in calcium, but it is higher in calorie, so I wouldn’t recommend it as the only hay, but as one you can mix in your daily servings unless your bunny has a weight problem, then you may want to stick with the other hays.
- 03/19/2009 at 5:58 PM
  Scarlet_Rose
  Participant
  4293 posts
  That is funny a couple of you have brome fans. Beka – I think it is how it is grown here in CO, ours is the consistency of straw, thick dry stalks and my two will eat nothing but timothy hay.
  
  Jerseygirl, you are welcome! Here is another link I have on growing hay that I dug up last year for Mimz but it’s not loading (???).
- 03/20/2009 at 5:06 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Oh, okay! Like I said, I’ve never tried it with my two. I think I’ll just stick to our regular timothy/orchard combo. They love it and it’s readily available for me. ;o)
- 03/29/2009 at 10:40 AM
  bunnytowne
  Participant
  7537 posts
  Same problem here. The brome hay Cotton just loved it. He refuses to eat timmy and botanical no way. I ordered some orchard/bleu fescue/ oat from BB. Cotton loves I mean loves the oat. But he is getting a little chunky. I need to cut back on his treats.
  
  I hope BB gets supply of meadow hay in so I can try that one out.
  
  I never see Cotton eating in his litterbox. So I took all the papers he chews on away cause he eats it. Still no go on hay til I got him Oat. HE has slacked off on the brome hay too.
  
  There is no satisfying these bunnies.
  
  I don’t know what to do with the situation either.
- 03/29/2009 at 11:00 AM
  LittleMiraclesRR
  Participant
  39 posts
  We get bales of Oxbow Timothy Hay, and Timothy/Alfalfa Blend from the feed store (Because they don’t have straight Timothy bales there) – we get Orchard Grass from a local farm for $7 a bale when it’s fresh!
  
  We usually keep a few handfuls of alfalfa on hand for young or underweight bunnies.
  
  Kristie – Little Miracles Rabbit Rescue
  http://www.littlemiraclesrr.org, Join us at Our Grand Opening, April 11th, 2009.
- 03/29/2009 at 7:53 PM
  MooBunnay
  Participant
  3087 posts
  You may also want to consider alternate suppliers in addition to alternate types of hay. I know that Oxbow is generally the best quality, but for some reason my bunnies really prefer the baled timothy hay we get at a local feed store. You always want to be careful to inspect hay from a new source, but don’t be afraid to try some different places. While I have also heard of the danger of bunnies becoming fat on oat hay, I actually did feed mine oat hay for about 2 years with no negative impact, just make sure that they don’t get too excessively many of the seed heads, and mixing the oat hay with another type of grass hay as the others have mentioned is probably a very good idea.
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