Types of hay recommended

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sommrluv

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I've been reading a lot about rabbit feeding & hay, and I was not sure if some of the caveats are of the same "Oh they shouldn't eat greens" mindset or not.


Is the only hay rec. to feed alfalfa? Or can I feed oats hay with the oats still on it? Any other hays that are ok?

We like to buy the oats hay for our chickens, they really like it, and it would make my life simpler to get it all from one place. It's also half the price of the pricier hays...$2 a bale versus $5.
 
Early cut oat hay that actually stays green would be fine. It's nearly the same as grass hay at that point and oats are good for rabbits. Grain hay that is cut too late is considered straw and will brown easy with little nutrition for the rabbits. They would probably just take the oats off the stems and leave them behind if the hay isn't cut early enough.
 
I agree with Akane.

It is nice when you can feed the same things to more than one kind of animal, isn't it? I feed alfalfa hay to my chickens and geese in winter as well as to my rabbits.

Alfalfa hay is certainly not the only kind of hay that is good for rabbits, but it is high in protein which is useful if you are not feeding pellets. A combination of oat hay and alfalfa hay with some greens and other fresh foods should give you most of what your rabbits need. If you are not feeding pellets, be sure they have a mineral salt block as well.
 
First question you need to ask is: why are you feeding hay to your rabbits? for nutrition or for something to nibble on or for fibre?

If it's for nutrition get what has nutrition in it. So avoid the straw, but if it's green and grassy.. get it. :) now I do know that one type of a grain hay can cause issues with abscesses because the grain can work under the skin, can't recall if that's oats or not (I don't think so, but you might want to double check that).

IF you are feeding hay primarily for long fibre intake then it really doesn't matter what you feed. straw will do the trick with that and I find if I give straw they eat it just fine. :)

if just for something to keep them occupied, then feed whatever you are comfortable giving them.
 
Wheat can cause problems if it's not cut early enough because the hull has a stiff beard when mature but then you have straw instead of hay. We've used oat hay and straw with mature oat heads for our horses with no problems and it provided interesting forage as they sifted through the straw for the oats. The reason we stopped is because the oat heads attracted rats and we had a horrible rat issue until we got all of it out of our barn. Wonderful stuff both as hay and as straw and easier to grow, although you only get one cutting, but you gotta watch the rodents extra carefully if you fill a barn with grain hay/straw.
 
I remember a HT posting where it was oat hay that caused the abscess-- the oat punctured the skin and started an infection. A different variety of oat hay probably would have been better- I have noticed, oats, wheat, whatever-- some varieties are a bit more blunt than others. I lIke"racehorse' oats-- big, fat grains- no sharp hulls on them (and yes, the hulls are still on the oats)
 
Whao! You are feeding hay to chickens?? What kind of chickens do you have that they eat dried grass??
All my birds know it as bedding or nesting material, never food. Odd.
 
I'm talking about good, leafy alfalfa hay. My chickens free range but they love the alfalfa in winter when the snow is too deep for them to get grass, clover, dandelions etc. And picking through it gives them something to do. They don't like wading through snowdrifts and so get bored. Whatever doesn't get eaten (hard stems etc.) becomes part of their litter.
 
Lavender":3gfeg6f9 said:
has anyone ever tried Coastal Bermuda hay?
Click to expand...

I feed my rabbits Coastal Bermuda and they like it fine. I use it for feed and for nest boxes.
 
Whao! You are feeding hay to chickens?? What kind of chickens do you have that they eat dried grass??
All my birds know it as bedding or nesting material, never food. Odd
Click to expand...

My chickens will eat 3 bales of straw over a winter. We throw the straw down at the end of the year for insulation and by spring we don't have to remove any of it. That's not even useful nutrition there. They'll go nuts over nice green legume hay in winter when there is no other green forage.
 

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