Hay, Hay And More Hay

[Flamestriker]

Hello everyone

I have just completed a poo clean of the cage and replaced the hay...and I was wondering, what does good hay smell like? For that mater, what does not so good hay smell like?

One bag I have half used has a very sweet smell, almost sickly to my nose. Is it mouldy or something? The girls seem to love eating it, as a huge handful I had put in their cage this morning had gone by this evening. It's from Wilko's, and it's Meadow hay.I would hate to give them something was was not good for them.

As I have never really taken much interest in any form of hay until the girls arrived, I have no clue what is good hay and what is bad...my OH just tells me that the smell of hay reminds him of his horses. When he used to own one, that was.

Both girlies are zooming around their pen. I put them in there late as I did not get home from work until 8.30pm.

 

[Deleted member 114675]

not sure how to describe the smell of good hay - but don't give hay that smells like mushrooms .

 

[PiggySmitten]

Sweet smelling hay is usually good. I buy from what used to be called hay for pets (now hay and straw) and it always smells sweet to me.

It's a musty sort of smell that's not good.

Also colour can help a bit - green hay is fresher/younger than yellow/brown hay.

It's quite hard to know what's good until you've compared a few. It might be out of your price range to buy from them regularly (and there is always a chance you might get a bad batch where you buy from even if they are good usually), but you could perhaps order one of the small sample packs from hay and straw online and do a smell and sight compare test yourself so you get an idea for what to look for.

 

[eileen]

mouldy musty smells usually means it is not nice hay !sweet hay is usually good hay,musty hay is hay once you have smelt it,never forgotten !

 

[cassybaby89]

the meadow hay I get smells sweet as well. This is usually fresh and green as well, my girls gobble it up too!