Hay

[Baby-Daisy]

I been feeding my bunny Timothy Hay, And I was wondering if rabbits could eat regular hay? I feel like this is a weird question for me to ask but I never thought of it.

[Sarita]

Well, timothy hay is regular hay…what exactly do you mean by regular hay.

[Baby-Daisy]

Like hay that farmers make, and hay that are in blocks or rolls, or hay that is yellow.

[Sarita]

Well, I suppose you need to find out what type of hay they are producing. Hay that is yellow is most likely straw.

[tobyluv]

You can get hay from farmers. You have to make sure it’s good quality hay, has been stored properly (it hasn’t gotten wet or been packed in so tightly that mold may have formed), and that it looks and smells fresh. Besides Timothy hay, good hay for rabbits is orchard grass, prairie grass, Bermuda, meadow and oat hay.

If you are seeing bales that are yellow, they are either straw or they are old bales of hay. You don’t want either one of those.

If you only have one rabbit, it may take you a while to use up a bale. You will need a place to store it where it can stay fresh, but also get some ventilation.

[blackfang]

You can feed varieties of hay:

Bluegrass hay
Timothy hay
Orchard hay
Oat hay
Brome hay

If your rabbit is under 6 months old then add alfalfa hay

[Roberta]

Mine have Meadow hay and what I call yellow hay but I think its rye or barley. I get it in bags from the pet suppliers. 

This is the meadow hay, I stirred it up so you can see the green crumbly bits. They love those.

 

 

This is the Yellow Hay, its actually a variety of colours with a little bit of green. They love it. I think its horse grade that’s never been bailed it’s packed locally and is much crunchier and longer than the stuff in the bales. Although I have used the baled hay in emergencies when there was a shortage last Christmas.

[james waller]

Posted By Baby-Daisy on 12/08/2012 10:56 AM

I been feeding my bunny Timothy Hay, And I was wondering if rabbits could eat regular hay? I feel like this is a weird question for me to ask but I never thought of it.

–no,!–hay is a general term for grasses and miss used for grasses-,-,but one day at the grain and feed store i ordered hay,-guess what i got.??-hay,hey-hay- i said -no i wanted timothy /orchard,,–duh!-commedian,eh.??—so you see that is the difference,,—rabbits are herbivores and require a high fiber diet timothy-(grasses)- offers a higher source of fiber-there for its the best,,–now the other hay/straw is just animal bedding–rabbits donot eat this hay–so what the hay/hey.??–at the moment i don,t recall the acuall break down/particular differences,,sorry –wikapedia..?–sincerely james waller–

[Roberta]

This page has some good images and guides to the protein content of each hay variety. http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/hay.htm Note- Formerly a breeder as of January they will only be selling bunny supplies not bunnies otherwise I would not post the link. I have posted it mainly for the images and nutrional info. Identify the right ones then buy them here at BB or your nearest supplier (unless her prices are better for you locally then go for it)

Just checked and the stuff I call yellow hay is a rye/wheat/barley blend.

[BinkyBunny]

Well all hay is “farmer” Hay and starts out large and then divided. The “yellow” hay though can be Oat hay, which is also fine, but just know that Oat hay for consumption is harvested earlier and “Straw” are the stems that are left behind, which might be fine for bedding.

The difference you need to really look for though if you plan on buying directly from a farmer (regardless if Timothy, Orchard, Oat etc) is to make the distinction that you want Horse quality hay not Cattle quality. My understanding is that cows can digest much lower quality type of hay without an issue, but that same quality hay can cause digestive issues in horses, etc.

[Baby-Daisy]

Oky thank you I will use ALOT of this info. This helped me ALOT!!

[Ben & Jerry's Clusterfluff]

BB – From my large animal education, I’d agree that you need to find horse quality hay. Horses and rabbits digest much more similarly than compared to cows. Horses and rabbits both process roughage in their cecum; cows are ruminants. Therefore, cows can eat lower quality hay (or anything really…including nails, you feed them magnets to get the nails out…) because their digestive system is much less sensitive. Hopefully we won’t be seeing bunny hay prices going up too much, but there’s a major hay shortage here in Iowa. To the point that people are stealing large round bales from the sides of farmers’ fields.

Now for my hay question, I had been feeding timothy hay since I got my bunnies in March, but last week I picked up some orchard grass. I fed it for the first time yesterday and usually overnight they devour all their hay, won’t touch it during the day. But this morning, their hay box was still mostly full. What was missing was on the floor of the cage. Do I stick it out and hope they stop being picky? Or do I switch back to timothy? They also get a very small amount of pellets everyday and lots of fresh greens with fruits here and there for treats.

[mocha200]

My bunnies are stubborn and will only eat thick hay (like each blade of grass is thick). So they will eat Orchard and they will eat Timothy but only if it is the right cut. So to answer your question Ben, I tried the hay for over a week and they were eating some but not much so I decided to let them have their way and get the hay they like (although it was very hard).

[Ben & Jerry's Clusterfluff]

Thanks for the advice Mocha, I may try mixing in the timothy to see what happens. I did notice the orchard is cut much finer with shorter pieces.

[Malp_15]

I have some complications with orchard grass as well. I buy the Oxbow stuff as a suppliment hay, and my rabbits will just barely nibble on it if I buy the smallest bags. But if I buy the 40oz or larger they will gobble it up, because the strands are longer and more “hay” like in the bigger bags.

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