Best hay type

[Catalin]

Hi, I have two female rabbits (as it turned out several weeks ago). They’re about 10 months old and I was thinking if I could make them hay at home. I know someone who have A LOT of grass in the back of the garden and she wants to cut it. I was thinking, can I give them the hay I make from that grass? Or should I feed Thimoty hay? Is this much more nutritious? And should I be concearned of some harmful weeds?

Sorry if I ask too many question and I hope you don’t mind answering. Everyone call me crazy but I want the best for my bunnies

[joea64]

Posted By Catalin on 8/09/2017 1:27 PM

Hi, I have two female rabbits (as it turned out several weeks ago). They’re about 10 months old and I was thinking if I could make them hay at home. I know someone who have A LOT of grass in the back of the garden and she wants to cut it. I was thinking, can I give them the hay I make from that grass? Or should I feed Thimoty hay? Is this much more nutritious? And should I be concearned of some harmful weeds?

Sorry if I ask too many question and I hope you don’t mind answering. Everyone call me crazy but I want the best for my bunnies

While more experienced people – I’m still studying on bunnies myself!! – will need to have the final say on this, it’s my understanding that while you can feed rabbits the kind of grass that grows on your lawn, it’s less nutritious than timothy and other such grass fodder hays, and you also need to take great care that the grass hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals. Toxic plants can also be a problem, since domestic rabbits can’t really distinguish between what’s good for them and what isn’t. Personally, I think you should stick with tried-and-proven timothy (and you can mix it with other rabbit-suitable grass hays like orchard, oat, brome and Bermuda for variety, buns like that).

[Bam]

Grass hays have about the same nutritional contents. You can cut grass and dry it yourself, but the point about pesticides is very valid and the grass you cut should be good quality. Could you pick a few strands, with seed heads on them, and take a picture? Maybe we could help you identify the type of grass.

[Toe Beans]

I’d like to add, though this probably goes without saying, how it is cut makes a difference too. Clippings from a lawn mower or weed whacker will have exhaust fumes, which aren’t good for buns. Personally, I just buy my hay from smallpetselect.com. My rabbit was really picky and wouldn’t eat a lot of hay so I tried their softer third cutting hay and now I’ll never go back. The price is very affordable too. Though if you have the space by all means experiment with growing your own hay. Sounds like a fun project. I live in town right now, so couldn’t do that sort of thing if I wanted to.

[Catalin]

Posted By bam on 8/09/2017 3:37 PM
Grass hays have about the same nutritional contents. You can cut grass and dry it yourself, but the point about pesticides is very valid and the grass you cut should be good quality. Could you pick a few strands, with seed heads on them, and take a picture? Maybe we could help you identify the type of grass.
[

It has no pesticides because it’s wild grass in the part of a forest this woman owns. I’ll post pictures only in two weeks.
Meanwhile because I don’t feed my rabbits veggetables, I give them a lot of weeds and I was wondering if I could give them chicory(cichorium intybus) or the leaves of Robinia pseudoacacia

[Catalin]

Sorry for how I wrote this message, I am not the best when it comes to computers and Internet

[Bam]

The cichorium intybus is fine for buns and much appreciated. I pick leaves and flowers here for my bun, but the dried root is bunny edible too.

The pseudoacacia is toxic though. It doesn’t say if it’s toxic to rabbits specifically, but it is toxic to horses, and horses and buns are very similar GI-wise
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinia_pseudoacacia

Most normal grasses can be eaten by buns. You can try a little bit and see if your buns will eat it. If they snub it, you don’t need to bother drying large amounts :/

You’ll get the hang of how the forums work with a little practice, never mind how you posted your post. It’s perfectly readable ?

[Catalin]

Hi everyone, the hay is in the yard, drying at the sun, but I won’t feed much of it, because I found out it has some alfalfa and red clover. They loved the chicory, but how long do I have to let the roots dry? I also found some Queen Anne’s Lace. I gave them the root and the parts above the ground, but can I give them the flowers?
And there are a lot of Cirsium arvense around here. Are they edible for rabbits? Do I have to dry them?

Off topic: for someone who has chickens, I have a lot of alfalfa from my grandpa. I wont’t give it to my rabbits, so is there any problem if I give it to the hens?

[Author]

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