Anyone else having trouble with their hay or is it just me?

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suem said:
well I dragged out my doc martin boots from the conservatory. Emptied out the sawdust and guinea pig bits. trekked up to the pet shop and got a bag of pillow wad. Dont like it much but Bertie is eating it. That will teach me to only get the stuff he likes, and not run out. Did nip into asda though for my bananas and got 2 lovely bags of mixed salad, so he will like those...:rose
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What's pillow wad hay? Are you talking about the large hay cakes or is this something completely different? Mine love haycakes but I like to give them plenty of loose hay too to forage in and I'm not sure that the haycakes are enough to keep their teeth down as it seems quite soft.
 
furryfriends (Excellent Adventure Sanctuary) said:
The bale I got from the farm shop yesterday is really stalky and sharp. In fact I started to think they had given me a bale of straw instead of hay. I'm not at all keen but they seem to love it. I am just a bit worried about eye injuries though.
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After my experience I'd give it an extra check before giving it to them Debbie. As you already know it's heartbreaking when they get eye injuries. I've been sorting through mine and then after a sort I've been squashing it all in my hands to feel if there's any extra hard bits I've missed.
 
Bekki2308 said:
Ive tried a few hays,

Baephar hay is pretty rubbish and cut too small to stay in any hay rack
Bob Martin hay stinks and was really poor quality compared to every other one
Wilkinsons meadow and timothy are cool the piggies seem to like them
Burgess hay makes the piggies go mad but its pricy!
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Wilkinsons is one I've never tried, and I've tried most of the bagged ones before moving onto the various mail order and farm shop bales. I may give that a try. Ta.
 
first_time_piggie_mum said:
Ive been getting mine from a pet supplies shop near Ampthill called Dovart....Ive had two bags £3.60 for a bag. It lasts ages and is lovely!

It smells so green that sometimes when I walk into the piggies room it smells like I'm growing ! lol! Lovely long green stems of hay and the boys absoloutely love it!
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Ooh! Sounds lovely, you are lucky! :)
 
this is what I mean, yorkie is waiting for her dinner so she got in on picture, excuse my knees..
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yes I have a few troubles with hay too!

I often buy great and small and it occasionally , not always but occasionally has massive clumps of mud in it! :(
 
I use Dust Free Hay from here:

http://www.dustfreehay.co.uk/index.html

Been using it for the last 3 years and never had a problem. My guineas love it and typically they won't eat anything else now..even new ones love it!
Go for the 'soft' hay its never stalky and always very sweet smelling. My guineas love it.

In addition, as treat hay I also then go to the Hay Experts for variety hay such as Orchard Grass and Botanical and put this in those metal ball things for them to work for their hay.
 
Oh forgot to say, it never takes more than 48 hours to be delivered and they happily leave it by the door if I am not in.
 
Piggiepigpigs said:
yes I have a few troubles with hay too!

I often buy great and small and it occasionally , not always but occasionally has massive clumps of mud in it! :(
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It's very frustrating isn't it?
 
Maybe see if there's any farm shops that sell it by the bale/half bale? I do that and mine always have lovely soft, sweet smelling hay that they LOVE.

Only thing is it's gone up from £5 a bale to £8 in just a few months! Although it works out so much cheaper than anywhere else (if you can get a good supply) and last my 5 guineas and 4 rabbits for 3 weeks-ish a bale.
 
Guinea Slave said:
Oh forgot to say, it never takes more than 48 hours to be delivered and they happily leave it by the door if I am not in.
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I've just ordered some of the "softer" cut. I'll get them some Burgess for their treat balls so their teeth have got a tougher type too. Was very impressed by the "dust free" rather than "dust extracted". Would be lovely if my husband stops sneezing too. rolleyes
 
sport_billy said:
Which store is that Tracey? Thinking of getting the girls some more from somewhere else...
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Doolittles at Shipley, nr Bridgnorth :)
They do a hay 'Norfolk' something or other but the piggies don't like it - just have a quick look to see what it says on the bag:

OK, it just says 'dust free Meadow Hay'
Company called Lunnen make it, dust free, unchopped Meadow hay containing Timothy. It's a huge bag for £11 or two for £21, our lot love it, in fact little Sally buries herself in it and dozes off - can just hear her nom nomming x) Bless :laluot_29:
Lasts around two weeks as we're a bit heavy with hay but it's defo the best we've used :(|)
Lovely long and stalky strands, smells great too :)
 
Just wondering if Wally Whiskers got an eye poke, do your piggies have a tray of hay or have it as bedding where they can actually sit/lie in it?

My last piggy Poppy (RIP) used to have a lot of hay I put in her cage & she was always getting bits of hay in her eyes :( I know it's not as natural but with my current three I put a little hay in a bowl in their litter tray & they have a bird feeder as a hay rack/tidy so they don't actually lie in it, which is a good thing at the moment as Daisy's wound needs to be kept clean.
 
Poppy'sMum said:
Just wondering if Wally Whiskers got an eye poke, do your piggies have a tray of hay or have it as bedding where they can actually sit/lie in it?

My last piggy Poppy (RIP) used to have a lot of hay I put in her cage & she was always getting bits of hay in her eyes :( I know it's not as natural but with my current three I put a little hay in a bowl in their litter tray & they have a bird feeder as a hay rack/tidy so they don't actually lie in it, which is a good thing at the moment as Daisy's wound needs to be kept clean.
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I just stuff my heards hutch full of hay so they can borrow in it. I know there's the risk of eye injury but if not I worry they won't be warm. So I make sure the hays as soft as possible and check them over on a daily basis :)
 
Ive recently discovered the hay from our local farmshop-its dust extracted and its really grassy and green-all our piggies love it.

I used to buy the hay from a garden centre
but its really dry and dusty and more expensive too.
 
Poppy'sMum said:
Just wondering if Wally Whiskers got an eye poke, do your piggies have a tray of hay or have it as bedding where they can actually sit/lie in it?

My last piggy Poppy (RIP) used to have a lot of hay I put in her cage & she was always getting bits of hay in her eyes :( I know it's not as natural but with my current three I put a little hay in a bowl in their litter tray & they have a bird feeder as a hay rack/tidy so they don't actually lie in it, which is a good thing at the moment as Daisy's wound needs to be kept clean.
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They used to have it in racks and trays and didn't really like it like that, they all love to lie in it. I've never had a single incidence of eye poke before, that may be just luck but I'm sure it's got more to do with this last lot of hay and all the very stiff weed stalks in it. There's no "give" in it like a normal strand of hay so if Wally did run into a bit it would have just poked straight in rather than bent, which is what probably happened. :(
 
For nice, soft hay (and also safe for poorly eyes) you can't go wrong with Oxbow orchard grass. Although it can be expensive the quality of it is fantasic. I've been buying it for well over a year now and each and every bale has been perfect...well, according to the pigs anyway ;)

Up until recently I had been mixing it in with Wilkinsons meadow hay but now my pigs have caught lice! :<> I can only assume they have come from the Wilkinsons hay as Oxbow has to stick to certain regulations when their hay is shipped to other countries. It might sound a bit daft but I don't think i'll buy another cheapy bag of hay ever again, it's just not worth the risk :{
 
RolyPolyPigs said:
For nice, soft hay (and also safe for poorly eyes) you can't go wrong with Oxbow orchard grass. Although it can be expensive the quality of it is fantasic. I've been buying it for well over a year now and each and every bale has been perfect...well, according to the pigs anyway ;)

Up until recently I had been mixing it in with Wilkinsons meadow hay but now my pigs have caught lice! :<> I can only assume they have come from the Wilkinsons hay as Oxbow has to stick to certain regulations when their hay is shipped to other countries. It might sound a bit daft but I don't think i'll buy another cheapy bag of hay ever again, it's just not worth the risk :{
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I agree, if you can afford it then get the sterile stuff like Oxbow, otherwise you need to bathe the piggies in Lice n Easy or Flea or Die regularly to eliminate the static lice.

Since I have been using Western Timothy or the A. King Timothy hay I've not had this problem rolleyes
 
Mine do love Oxbow hays but as you say they are very expensive! Oxbow Orchard Grass would be their hay of choice but it would use up all of their pocket money ;)
 
Bertie approves of his hay. He has been cleaned out and has broccoli (one of his best faves) and is ignoring that in favour of chomping on the hay....
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Bekki2308 said:
Which hays are sterile?
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The Oxbow ones; Western Timothy, Orchard Grass etc. So far since getting my three since last September we've been lice free.

And I think the Alfalfa King Timothy hay from the dreaded P @ H is as well, as it is imported from the US. EU regulations means they have to be bug free rolleyes

That's the one my lot are on at the moment, being the paranoid piggy mum I am I also microwave my hay on high for 40 seconds in the hope it will kill any creepy crawlies, not sure if it would though :)

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/timo...ayProductList=true&ref1=1|Brand-|Alfalfa+King
 
does anyone know if the burgess hay is sterile? my piggies have this at the moment but dont seem too keen about it, fussy piggies:))
 
Well my hay attacked me again the other day - thats at least 4 times now I've reached in to pull out hay and ended up with thorns embedded in my hands....

This time I photographed the offenders:
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It also has loads of big leaves which I cant identify:
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mallethead
 
I don't like the look of those, make sure you get them all out. Maybe think about sending the pics and an email to the supplier, I will be emailing ours when I know the outcome on Wallace's eye and if they want to arrange collection of the offending bag of hay to look at then they're welcome to it! I'm certainly not using anymore of it.
 
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