Changing hays

[Rookie]

Sprocket is hitting the age where he needs to come off alfalfa hay. He eats those Timothy pressed cubes as snacks but when I put out Timothy hay he won’t eat it. I have and tried every hay possible and tried mixing them with the alfalfa but just selects and digs until alfalfa is all eaten out and leaves the rest. Any tricks out there to get him to eat hay other than alfalfa?

I was suggested before by the vet to put out the timothy and eventually once he gets hungry enough he will just eat the hay. I don’t want to starve him over to Timothy as I am worried not eating hay will start a stasis.

Open to tricks, ideas and suggestions please.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Have you tried Orchard Grass? My buns love the Oxbow Orchard Grass. It’s a nice soft hay that a lot of buns prefer.

[Bam]

My Bam likes oat hay. He also likes fresh grass, if you have access to fresh grass (pesticide free), that could perhaps be like an intermediate step between alfalfa and grass hay. Its unlikely that a bun would starve himself if he were served small-ish amounts of fresh grass throughout the day.

[Rookie]

I haven’t tried Oat Hay…i have tried literally all other ones…in the cupboard so far i have alfalfa, timothy, botanical, orchard grass, organic meadow and premium sweet grass hay. I also have the little round blocks of hay by Oxbow the harvest stacks of Timothy with chamomile.
He likes tossing around the hay stack and I assume that way he does eat some of it too but not enough. I also put his pellets on the hay bin to make him dig around for it hoping he eats while digging.
I have a backyard with grass but I don’t have a fence and I have wild bunnies so I don’t think I’d want him eating that hay. I used to go to Booster Juice and I get their tray of wheat grass for Rookie but haven’t done that for Sprocket yes maybe I’ll give that a try.

[SuperBunnyto]

Have you tried offering more than one variety or hay mixes? I offer my buns more than one kind of hay. Their favorite seems to be the orchard/ Timothy mix with flowers. They also like mature oat hay (they’re not as crazy about young oat), and I offer a Timothy/ blue grass combo, as well. I’m not saying you have to offer as many kinds, but sometimes a nice hay mix does the trick. Also, maybe sprinkle some alfalfa leaves on the hay you want them to eat, just to help with the transition.

[Rookie]

Yeah I tried mixing all of the ones I have at the moment which are listed above. I also try and sprinkle the alfalfa on top but he just eats the alfalfa out then leaves the rest.

[Azerane]

I know you have tried different types of hay, but are you trying only one specific brand? Sometimes it can help to try a different brand of timothy or orchard. For whatever reason sometimes that’s all it takes.

[Rookie]

Yeah I’ll take a look and see what other brands we have. I know from alfalfa he only likes the oxbow.

[Rookie]

YES YESS YESS… He started eating a specific type of Timothy hay…now problem is…i bought that out of town and I believe it s a local brand… but he is eating it!!! Yay!!!!

[Author]

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