Oat hay doesn't appeal...?

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 12sd replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 1 month ago by KatnipCrzy.

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- 01/15/2010 at 2:24 AM
  MimzMum
  Participant
  8029 posts
  Wow…I was thinking if Mimz & Pip would eat some young oat hay last night, (Pip actually IGNORED her evening cookie for it…a first!) perhaps I’d give a bundle to Fiver, thinking it would help him with his recent shed. He’s been passing some pearl strings of late.
  
  However, Mr. Picky Bun suddenly decided that the hay was better suited for the floor of his pen, not for his palate. It was strewn all over his habitat all day today. I left it thinking “Eh…he’ll get around to eating it.” But it was not only cast aside…it was MESSED on!
  
  I think I’ve been given a not-so-subtle hint.
  
  Has anyone else ever seen a bun turn down this hay? I mean, usually when I can’t get them to eat anything else, they’ll at least eat that. Perhaps I should keep trying anyway? I’d just hate to waste it.
- 01/15/2010 at 5:43 AM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  My rabbits don’t care for this either. What about that 3rd cut timothy from KMS? Did they stop liking that?
- 01/15/2010 at 1:43 PM
  rosalie68
  Participant
  193 posts
  i have heard that a lot of buns dont care for the oat hay. i guess they do like it better for bedding. a lady told me that when she used to show her buns that they put oat hay in their nest boxes and it makes there fur super shiny. do your buns like meadow grass?
  
  kim
- 01/15/2010 at 2:58 PM
  MimzMum
  Participant
  8029 posts
  Oh no, Sarita, they still love the 3rd cut timmy (good thing too, I still have over 45 pounds worth!) but I did notice that it gets a little dusty towards the middle of the box, (this is what is aggravating Mimzy’s nose of late) and in a few spots there’s some kind of nettle leaves stuck in it that the bunnies don’t seem to like the smell of and I won’t feed it to them for fear it would make them sick, so I just pick that out. It’s only been in a bout a pounds worth of the hay so far.
  Still, if I put it side by side with a different hay, the timothy goes first…except for Pip, who’d eat your hat if it came too close. >.<
  
  Sorry Kim, meadow grass is a no. I’ve tried that one a few times too, but they don’t like it. Thanks for the suggestion though.
  Well, I guess Fiver is just a picky bun. Like we’ve never seen one of THOSE before! lolz….
- 01/15/2010 at 3:16 PM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  I think it must settle – I’ve never gotten a box of hay that doesn’t have a little of that dust. I don’t know if I noticed any nettle leaves or not in my first box (on my second), but I’m not terribly observant unless it’s something really really odd.
- 01/15/2010 at 3:41 PM
  MimzMum
  Participant
  8029 posts
  These were pretty large and numerous and each one was anywhere from 3-6 inches long. I just pulled them out. No worries.
  I am thinking of having the hubby make me a ‘hay sifter’…kind of like what you use for flour only on a larger scale, to help get all the dusty bits out. It’ll have to have some kind of catch all on the bottom so it doesn’t go everywhere, but that way I can separate the choice strands for the buns and then have all the dust go into a garbage bag at the bottom. Otherwise, shoving my hand in and having to pick it apart chunk by chunk tends to get me all cut up on my hands and sneezing myself.
  Who’d have thought that hay strands could be sharp enough to go under your fingernails like bamboo shoots! 0_0
- 01/15/2010 at 3:45 PM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  I’ll start looking for those in my current box – I doubt they are dangerous though and I know that rabbits love the oak leaves (dried of course).
- 01/15/2010 at 3:49 PM
  MimzMum
  Participant
  8029 posts
  Wow…they can eat oak leaves? 0_o But those have those nasty little pointy barbs on the sides don’t they? Ouch! I can’t imagine…lol.
  I guess it would be like us eating Doritos I suppose. ^_^
  I wish I could identify plants better. I want to dry willow stems and leaves for the buns this year, but I can’t tell them apart from birch or aspen.
- 01/15/2010 at 7:27 PM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  I know weeping willow smells a bit like snow peas when you pick it. You might be pleased to know birch and aspen woods are safe for them anyhow.
  Personally, I think hay cubes would be fine to trial. Some bunnies have only these due to their owners allergies. There’s also dried grass. Well that’s what hay really is anyway, but this is quick dried grass. It’s available for horses a bit. I saw some for rabbits though on that Hay Experts site.
  Fresh and dried grasses can help abrade teeth too.
- 01/16/2010 at 8:00 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Mimz, your description made me think of one of those large wooden frames with wire stapled to the bottom that they used for finding gold in “the old days”. They’d scoop up the dirt and water and everything and sift thru it. Not a bad idea at all… especially if you had a spot outside that you could do it…
- 01/16/2010 at 8:09 AM
  Elrohwen
  Participant
  7318 posts
  It’s funny you should mention this. On Wednesday I picked up some more hay – a big bag of timmy and small bags of oat and botanical. I have a bin in the basement where I mixed them together and then put some in Otto’s cage. He’s totally eaten around the oat and left it all sitting there. Silly bun. Fiver’s in good company in the “Picky Bun Club”.
- 01/16/2010 at 7:36 PM
  RabbitPam
  Moderator
  11002 posts
  Pass it over. Sammy really loves her oat hay – she’s picked it out of the timothy pile and gobbled down more than ever. So nice to see a bunny of mine eat hay once in a while.
  
  MM, just before I scrolled down and saw you mention it, I was going to suggest a kind of sifter. Panning for gold was the expression, and that would be perfect. It might help your allergies, too. I wonder if a salad spinner would get the dust off?
  
  Just swap out the hay for a little while. He’ll eat the oat again when he’s less bored.
- 01/19/2010 at 3:38 PM
  KatnipCrzy
  Participant
  2981 posts
  I order my treat Hay from BB and I might have gotten a bag from Oxbow before maybe- but all my bunnies think it is the best thing EVER. Griffin didn’t “get it” at first at 8 weeks old but once he understood to eat hay and veggies along with pellets he became a fellow treat hay addict. I throw a handful in each pen and all you hear is munching and seeing each piece being consumed like a branch entering a chipper/shredder.
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