which hay?

[Sadie]

Hi Again – I have one tiny baby bunny and I want to order some hay rather than keep getting the expensive stuff at petsmart. Which hay should i get? I only want to order one kind, do I get 1st cut timothy? Second cut? oy. who would have thought hay would be so confusing.

Anyone know the cheapest/best place to order hay? I don’t want a large quantity since I’m not sure if Gazpacho will eat it and she won’t eat it very fast.

Thanks.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

I Like second cut the best, third cut is softer and finer, and first cut is coarser, second cut is in the middle!

I buy my hay from a local farm – their hay is very nice, the bunnies prefer it over Oxbow and it is waaay cheaper. Look online to see if any local farms are selling bales. Make sure it is horse quality and not cattle quality.

Bales are pretty big but I store mine in the basement and just bring some upstairs once and a while, they are the cheapest way to go.

[Beka27]

Are you not doing alfalfa? You don’t *have* to… but I was just thinking that she’s SO YOUNG. If she’s been on timothy, I guess it would be good to stick with that and maybe you can buy one of the little bags just to supplement.

We get teh large boxes of Oxbow Orchard, it’s softer and yummier smelling than timothy, but it’s still a grass hay. The little petstore bags are a complete waste of money.

[Sarita]

I prefer the 2nd cut American Pet Diner timothy hay. I don’t do baled hay – it’s cheap, but honestly, I’ve never been happy with the quality.

[Sarita]

I also think you should order a little bag of fresh alfalfa for her.

[Sadie]

Really? I guess I missed the part about alfalfa, I thought timothy was best.

[Sarita]

Alfalfa is good for babies. You do need to get her accustomed to grass hays which can is best and that includes timothy, orchards, bluegrass and others – timothy just seems to be the most readily available in the US.

[Sadie]

I thought I remembered reading that too much alfalfa was bad for rabbits. I guess it makes sense that its good for babies because it’s more nutritious, which I guess is bad for grown ups but good for little ones. I’m convinced, I’ll look for some alfalfa.

[Beka27]

Do both. For some buns, alfalfa is the “tastier” of the two, so if they get too used to alfalfa, they may later snub timothy. Alfalfa is recommended for babies until approximately 7 months (when you can start switching over), for nursing mothers, and for some senior bunnies over the age of 6. It is higher in calcium.

[BinkyBunny]

Posted By Sadie on 03/20/2010 06:20 PM

I thought I remembered reading that too much alfalfa was bad for rabbits. I guess it makes sense that its good for babies because it’s more nutritious, which I guess is bad for grown ups but good for little ones. I’m convinced, I’ll look for some alfalfa.

Babies grow so fast that most benefit from the extra nutrition, but as adults alfalfa is normally too rich.   Beka gave you a good guideline for when to start/stop and here is a link to the HRS diet guideline that may be helpful  as well. http://rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html#babies

[Sadie]

OK, so where do I get fresh alfalfa? I haven’t seen any on any bunny sites, maybe I’m missing it again!

[Sadie]

ok, here’s another question:
What’s with those compressed hay cubes? yay or nay?

[Elrohwen]

No on the hay cubes – they don’t have the long fibers that bunnies really need for digestion. They can be a good treat every once in a while, but regular old hay should still make up the bulk of their diet.

Have you searched for Oxbow? They make high quality bun food. I know you can get their alfalfa in many pet stores, but you may be able to order it online too. You can also order timothy hay online, then just buy some alfalfa in the pet store to mix with the timmy. You’d probably still save money overall vs just buying hay at the store.

[RabbitPam]

You can also try mixing some alfalfa in with the Timothy, so he eats both and isn’t on Alfalfa alone. That way you can buy one bag of alfalfa and dole it out more slowly in the mix daily. Eventually you will wean him off but he will have a taste for Timothy all along. (Hopefully).

[Beka27]

Hay cubes make a nice treat, but they’re not a replacement for real hay.

[BinkyBunny]

 As far as hay goes, you can normally find alfalfa in your local pet store or search online with reputable companies like Oxbow - http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/pr…?node=1517

or American Pet Diner

http://www.americanpetdiner.com/mm5…de=Rabbits

Some others have had good experience with KleenMama’s Hay http://www.kmshayloft.com/pellets.html

In the BinkyBunny store we sell Oxbow Alfalfa Pellets 15/23, but we don’t have an all Alfalfa Hay.  As we cater mostly to an adult  bunny diet. 

I’m not sure where you live, but you might be able to do a google search for alfalfa hay near you and see what pops up. 

 

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