How much hay is too much hay?

[BunnyBeth]

Howdy!

I’m the proud mama of two 10 weeks old siblings. However, buying alfalfa hay for them is burning a hole in my wallet. Basically, all the stores nearby only sell the ounce bags of Oxbow alfalfa, if they sell it at all. So for the past week I’ve mixed their alfalfa with Timothy while I searched for a sustainable option.

Guess what? I live in a rural area with a whole bunch of feed stores which sell BALES of hay! I’m talking 115lbs of alfalfa for under $20. I have a carport I can keep it dry in and a friend who could help me lift it from the back of my truck, but is that too much hay? The feeding recommendations said I could feed them alfalfa until 7 months and then start phasing it out. I guess I’m just wondering from people who’ve been feeding rabbits longer than I have, what are your hay feeding solutions and is this a decent option?

Cheers!

[Mocha]

Rabbits need UNLIMITED hay no matter what. Hay keeps their gut moving, and provides them with all the fiber they need. If your rabbit ingests too much fur or eats things she’s not supposed, to the hay moves it safely down the gut. If your rabbit isn’t eating enough hay (at leasts it’s body size in hay each day, but the more the better), your rabbit can get a blockage and easily die.

I got a bale at the begining of last year, and I still have A LOT left. I wouldn’t get the bale of alfalfa (maybe you could ask if you could only buy a few flakes though), your just going to end up throwing a way practically all of it. You want to stop feeding alfalfa and alfalfa pellets when they stop growing, usually around 6months-1 year.

Alfalfa contains too much calcium for rabbits, and makes them fat and unhealthy.

When your rabbits are older though, they do love farm fresh hay and it’s a cheaper option.

Rabbits are very expensive creatures though, from their expensive vet checkups to uh organic veggies. Cutting down on hay is great, but eventually the cost of it was cheap compared to all of their other needs. It’s best to save on hay, because you’ll be spending a lot more on your rabbits’ health, supplies, and replacing furniture and cords.

[JackRabbit]

If you are feeding them alfalfa based pellets then you’re fine with feeding them timothy hay.

[drwil]

Mocha is right. The bunnies are getting too old for alfalfa. So much calcium and they can get painful gas from it.
Timothy hay is great…you can get a large bale for about $17. Then let the bunnies have as much as their hearts desire.

[Stickerbunny]

Yeah, you can just feed an alfalfa pellet until 7 months and feed grass hay. If you live in an area that grows hate, awesome – I buy 40lb or so bales for $5 of Brome. Brome/timothy/orchard/oat are all fine grass hays.

[Beka27]

They don’t absolutely need to have the alfalfa hay, but If you did choose to get it, are there any rabbit rescues around you that might be able to use your leftover for their young rabbits they might have? Just throwing that out there…

Unlimited access to hay is obviously important, but the amount they eat will vary from rabbit to rabbit. If you can get such great deals for quality hay, consider yourself lucky!

(Do you have somewhere to store all that hay?!)

[BunnyBeth]

Thank you for all the input!

I realized that they can’t keep eating alfalfa when they’re older, which was kind of why I was wondering about the bale. Though, no where nearby seems to sell Timothy hay, most places do have large bales of orchard. Would that be fine?

I had to basically cut out their pellets because it gave one of my buns the runs, she’s fine when they’re not eating pellets though.

I have a carport that I can use for a bale, and also a woodshed.

So, should I go for the orchard bale? Will that be enough if they’re not getting many/any pellets?

[Avantika]

Orchard is another hay that can be given to bunnies.

[BunnyBeth]

Thanks for the link. I had looked online, but most stores charge 50-60 dollars for 50lbs of hay, where I can get twice as much at the local feed stores for less than half the price. I was just wondering because it’s such a massive amount of hay and no one seems to sell Timothy in bales, which is what they’ve been eating the past couple weeks.

It sounds like an orchard bale is my best bet.

I like the idea of going to horse races. Though in my case that’s further than the local farm store (I live in a very rural area).

[Author]

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