Which Hay Do Your Cavies Prefere,and Can You Recommend A Type Of Hay?

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eileen

eileen

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I am trying to decide which hay to buy,qxbow timothy hay,or orchard grass.please can anyone inform me which hay is most liked by guinea pigs ?
 
I buy timothy hay, which is one of the good basic hats for guinea pig daily diets. The brand varies. I find it there are too many stalks, the pigs will leave the stalks as they prefer the tops and the leafier bits, so I am the weirdo squeezing all the bags trying to find one that is not too pointy! LOL! Orchard grass is great for a treat or a change of pace, but timothy hay is a really good staple food for guinea pigs.
 
Mine love the Orchard Grass - but it's quite pricey so , the get a small handful every evening as a treat.
 
Timothy hay is the way to go. My boys had oxbow and they LOVED it. Popcorns every time I touched the bag! However I find oxbow is very dusty at the bottom and they don't like the bottom parts. Contrary to the above my boys LOVE the stringy pointy "tougher" hay. I buy Kaytee mini bales for them as oxbow bags don't last long and I get more bang for my buck this way. With only two pigs I feel getting a bale from a farmer would be overkill so I stick to shop bought hay but if you also use hay as bedding I know lots of members here save money buying from farms so that's another thing you could consider
 
they do need hay daily rather than grass so if you are deciding between those two choices then oxbow timothy is definitely your answer
that's the brand my pigs prefer and i have recently discovered it lasts longer with a hay holder. I also use cheaper meadow hay just for them to run about in but they also eat that too.

Oxbow timothy is a good choice though
 
My boys all get a large pile of farm hay to play in, sleep in and eat. And then supplement that with some bagged hay - Timothy based from UK. They get handfuls of that through the day to add interest. It saddens me that lots of people in UK buy imported, especially American hay when we grow great stuff here. I know it it is harder in towns and cities though as you have to rely on what the shops sell.
Farm hay is more variable than bagged hay so you need to research your supplier - direct from farm or farm shop is what I do but I always inspect whatever bale I am getting including the all important sniff test!
 
Which brand of british hay do you use laurabora? I did try a few different brands before settling for oxbow. But that's the one that's consistently been the best for me. German washing machine. American hay. Veg from the local farm shop though:tu:
 
Thanks for the replys,i use soft meadow hay from a local farm shop,this is very green,but this batch is very soft.i am just trying to find a treat hay that may help to wear the teeth more.ive gone for a 4kg box of timothy hay ,then next time i will buy large box of orchard grass,as when that is given none is wasted,all is eaten by 21 cavies!
 
Mine have meadow hay every day in their hay trays. Then they get a bowl full of oxbow Timothy hay in the evening as a "treat" and they eat every part of it. It's so expensive and also so tough I wouldn't want to put it in the hay trays for fear of another hay poke.
 
tabelmabel said:
Which brand of british hay do you use laurabora? I did try a few different brands before settling for oxbow. But that's the one that's consistently been the best for me. German washing machine. American hay. Veg from the local farm shop though:tu:
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Here is one online supplier of UK Timothy hay ...

Timothy Hay | Rabbit Hay Supplies UK

I haven't bought from here a while

The 2013 and 2014 batches were quite stalky so only used it in a hay rack - I will look forward to seeing what the 2015 batch is like .
 
VickiA said:
Mine have meadow hay every day in their hay trays. Then they get a bowl full of oxbow Timothy hay in the evening as a "treat" and they eat every part of it. It's so expensive and also so tough I wouldn't want to put it in the hay trays for fear of another hay poke.
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Is Timothy a concern for that? I thought that most use Timothy as their main hay in hay trays
 
I tried the dust free hay company before which has a good name but i must have struck unlucky as the first time i used it i caught my hand on a thistle, one of several in my bag.

I've tried pets at home own brand but the pigs wouldn't touch it and I'm no hay expert by any means but it just didn't have the lovely sweet smell of the oxbow.

I'd never really thought about not buying british til lauraboara mentioned it. When i thought about it, only my dog is fed on british food. Even my cat is on acana and i think that's also american! with all my animals, i just tried a few and settled with what they seemed to prefer.

So oxbow for hay. Acana for cat food. Natural dog food company (yay!) for dog food
 
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mine will only eat seed heads of timothy hay if it has lots and leave the stalks,oxbow is stalky,but not so many seed heads,so will eat stalks.:agr: with @VickiA ,meadow hay in trays ,oxbow in bowls or racks is a good compromise.I found oxbow hay on Vet UK 4KG BAG FOR 24.99 Pounds,free delivery if spend over £29.Its the cheapest ive found anrwhere for that size,but far too expensive to use as every day hay for myself:nod: .
 
I am a hay-cholic, i.e. I'm addicted to the smell of hay. I usually keep different types of hay for the pigs, and buy large bales, as it is cheaper, and then mix them. The current mix has 2 parts organic alpine meadow hay, 2 parts oxbow orchard grass hay, 2 parts local timothy hay, and some ReadiOats and herbs like camomile, strawberry leaves, etc. They quite like it. I have to admit I like the quality of Oxbow's big hay boxes compared to the plastic bags, but I'm happy I decided to order a big bale even though the pigs didn't like the bags much.
 
Chock has Wilco meddo hay and kings alfalfa timothy hay every 3 days or so to vairy his diet a bit...
 
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