best type of hay for picky rabbits?

[mschoonover11]

Hello all

Many people have picky bunnies including myself that often refuse to eat hay which is what’s actually good for them. The picky bunnies prefer to eat pellets, fruit,  and yummy things that are not as good for them. With that said, for those of you have very picky rabbits, please, please, PLEASE tell me what type of hay you buy for them. There’s oat hay, meadow hay, bluegrass hay, orchard grass, and the most popular of all, timothy. There’s also alfalfa but that’s a legume so I’m not going to include that. Whichever type of hay out of those that you recommend to me, also please tell me the brand you use. I know some rabbits prefer specific brands over others but it’s just helpful to know what you guys use. Thanks in advance

[Deleted User]

My boys absolutely love the sweet taste of orchard hay, any brand, but they do prefer the Oxbow. They also love the Oxbow timothy+orchard blend. I know BunNoob uses Pets Select for all of her hay and her girl loves it. Because if I remember, Toby isn’t a huge Oxbow fan. I would definitely suggest orchard though because of his sweet tooth. You could also try botanical hay because it has dried herbs/flowers mixed in. My boys also enjoyed that a lot.

[mschoonover11]

Posted By Asriel and Bombur on 2/26/2018 2:24 PM

My boys absolutely love the sweet taste of orchard hay, any brand, but they do prefer the Oxbow. They also love the Oxbow timothy+orchard blend. I know BunNoob uses Pets Select for all of her hay and her girl loves it. Because if I remember, Toby isn’t a huge Oxbow fan. I would definitely suggest orchard though because of his sweet tooth. You could also try botanical hay because it has dried herbs/flowers mixed in. My boys also enjoyed that a lot.

I tried the Small pets Select Timothy. He wasn’t the biggest fan, but he liked it a little better than the oxbow. I also tried  the Small Pets Select orchard and he hated it. Yes, I definitely have the pickiest bun on the planet. I’m really tempted to buy him a small bag of the oxbow orchard grass. so many people have recommended it to me. Maybe Small Pets Select is better with their timothy hay, and oxbow is better with their orchard grass. I’ll have to try and see

[mschoonover11]

anyone else

[Wick & Fable]

Wick had a stark change in hay taste randomly one day, where he used to love orchard hay but now he’s like… eh. Don’t care. Wick eats the most of Oxbow’s Timothy Hay Harvest Stacks, as opposed to all Oxbow loose-hays they sell (oat, timothy, botanical, and orchard). He likes the compressed hay a lot better. Unsure why, but to my nose, it does smell much more potent and attractive.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[tobyluv]

Sometimes you have to cut back on the pellets to make rabbits eat their hay, if you haven’t already done so.

My rabbits wouldn’t be considered picky when it comes to hay, but they do like all of the varieties of Oxbow. They like American Pet Diner Hay, both the timothy high fiber and the timothy gold, which is a softer, second cutting of timothy. They also like the APD mountain grass, which is orchard grass.

There are hay toppers, consisting of dried flowers and herbs that you can sprinkle on hay to possibly make it more enticing to rabbits.

[Luna]

Luna isn’t picky per se, but I’ve bought a few different brands/types of hay for different reasons, and the following is a list of her preferences from most liked to least liked:

– Oxbow orchard: 9 lb. bags (what Luna eats currently) have longer strands and different texture (in between 2nd and 3rd cut) than the smaller bags (3rd cut)

– Small Pet Select timothy: Luna loved it but the freshness was inconsistent (2nd cut)
– Kaytee timothy: tended to be quite chaffy (2nd cut)
– Oxbow timothy: Luna ate it but picked through it more than other hays (1st cut)
– Small Pet Select orchard: darker and softer green than the Oxbow (3rd cut)
– Oxbow oat

[MountainBuns]

My bunny is not too picky but she does not like the harder hay and prefers soft, sweet orchard grass hay.

[caillou]

Alfie won’t eat Oxbow timothy hay because it’s too stalky for him. He will only eat Oxbow Orchard grass which I think a lot of bunnies tend to enjoy and he also will eat the second cutting timothy hay from Small Pet Select because it is much softer!

[mschoonover11]

Thanks for all the replies! As I can see, every bun has different preferences of hay. But the one people have told me most about is the oxbow orchard grass. Even though Toby isn’t the biggest fan of oxbow, it wouldn’t hurt to give a try to the orchard grass they sell.

@Luna, we’ve purchased very similar brands of hay. With the oxbow western timothy, he would just pick out all of the seed heads as the hay itself was just very yellow and stalky. With the SPS timothy, you were so right when you said that the freshness was inconsistent. My first order was outstanding and he loved it. After that first order, all my other orders were terrible. Very orangey and dry (not worth the amount of money I paid for it.) Then I decided to order the SPS orchard grass. Ugh, it was terrible. I ordered a 12oz bag of it and it came in a little Ziploc baggie that wasn’t sealed. It was very cold the day it arrived, so of course it dried out, and I obviously wasted my money again because he wasn’t gonna eat dried out hay. Especially as picky as he is.

I’m currently feeding this Tractor Supply Brand called Dumor. It’s really bad quality but he seems to like it. It has 34% percent fiber which is good. The only reason I’m feeding this hay is because I can’t seem to find anything else he likes. I’m still in the process of finding a local feed store that sells hay. I’m also going to buy a small bag of the oxbow orchard grass to see if he’ll eat it. Please wish me good luck on this. It’s been super stressful trying to find a brand he actually likes. Any advice if I don’t find anything he’ll eat?

[mschoonover11]

Posted By caillou on 2/26/2018 8:30 PM

Alfie won’t eat Oxbow timothy hay because it’s too stalky for him. He will only eat Oxbow Orchard grass which I think a lot of bunnies tend to enjoy and he also will eat the second cutting timothy hay from Small Pet Select because it is much softer!

I just have to say your bun in that picture you have as your avatar is just simply ADORABLE Is Alfie a lion head?

[sarahthegemini]

My two love Oxbow Orchard and Burns green oat hay. They’ve currently lost interest in Oxbow timothy!

[Sirius&Luna]

I’ve started buying 9kg bales of timothy hay (I’m in the UK, so no point telling you the brand), but I find it has much longer strands than the small bags, which often end up being quite dusty. Now if I have to buy them a small bag, they tend to turn their noses up at it. They seem to really like chewing through a whole long strand – sometimes they get strands that are over 30cm long.

I know it’s a risk to buy in bulk when he’s picky, but I do think that sort of hay is generally fresher than the bagged types.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Sirius&Luna on 2/27/2018 4:33 AM

I’ve started buying 9kg bales of timothy hay (I’m in the UK, so no point telling you the brand), but I find it has much longer strands than the small bags, which often end up being quite dusty. Now if I have to buy them a small bag, they tend to turn their noses up at it. They seem to really like chewing through a whole long strand – sometimes they get strands that are over 30cm long.

I know it’s a risk to buy in bulk when he’s picky, but I do think that sort of hay is generally fresher than the bagged types.

My rabbits loved that hay at first but the more I got into the bale, the browner it was and they started rejecting the brown pieces  It looks so lovely and green in your insta photos and forhaymazingpets’ photos. I must have gotten a bad bag 

[Sirius&Luna]

Oh, that’s a shame. Mine are always happy to eat the entire bags, and I haven’t noticed a deterioration. Perhaps you did get a bad bag

[mschoonover11]

So with the oxbow orchard grass, when you buy let’s say 9lbs of it, will it come in a box or bag? Because I bought 10lbs of the oxbow western timothy and it came in a bag. The whole bottom layer of the hay was shredded.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By mschoonover11 on 2/27/2018 10:24 AM

So with the oxbow orchard grass, when you buy let’s say 9lbs of it, will it come in a box or bag? Because I bought 10lbs of the oxbow western timothy and it came in a bag. The whole bottom layer of the hay was shredded.

I think only the 11kg and 22kg comes in a box. I’d buy the smallest bag to see if they like the taste and then buy a big box if they do. The stuff in the boxes is much better quality in my experience, but my rabbits still loved the bagged stuff.

[Nibbler&Georgie]

Ok so the information I have on hay is horse owner based, and not rabbit owner based, but hay is hay. Hay is generally cut in the spring and summer, sometimes you can get a fall crop, but its not as like. So here in February, the hay your buying was, at latest, probably cut around September/October. Obviously you cant just look at hay and say oh this is good quality. and I would take what the bag says with a grain of salt because they’re probably not testing every batch of hay. When I’m looking at hay to buy for my horse, and my rabbits, I look for the greenest hay I can find, thats a general rule of thumb probably good hay. Another thing I’ll look at is if the hay is more straw like or more grass like, and how many seed heads are in the batch. I would look at every bag or box of hay differently, because every batch of hay is probably from a different field, and they’ll have different nutrients. I hope this helped at all and isn’t just me rambling

Because my rabbits are still under 6 months old, I’ve been feeding alfalfa, and from trying oxbow, SPS, Kaytee and Dumor, I’ve actually found I like the Dumor hay the best. Dumor is a horse brand, so I know it pretty well.

[Luna]

The 9 lb. Oxbow orchard hay is in 1 big bag. There will be some chaff at the bottom and/or between the layers, but for the price ($24.00) and quality I always end up getting my money’s worth in hay even if there is more chaff than usual. And the amount of strands of hay is always more than the amount of chaff, so I never feel like I got cheated on the amount of hay. The only downside is that it isn’t available in stores (I order it online), and there isn’t a zip loc on the bag so you have to close it up with a huge twist tie or some clips.

[mschoonover11]

thanks for the replies!
@ Nibbler&Georgie, thanks for all the info on hay. It was very helpful And tbh, the Dumor hay honestly does seem better than the well known brands. I did say that it was terrible quality, but i know regret it. It looked very shredded to me, until I found out that compressed hay is supposed to look like that lol.

@Luna, thanks for the pic!! The oxbow orchard grass definitely looks greener than the SPS orchard grass. I ordered a small 15oz bag to see how he does with it. Crossing my fingers he likes it

[Author]

Messages