What does good hay look like

Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum

Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BoundNoFtWaL

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
117
Location
Las Vegas NV
I've been buying Kaytee brand Timothy hay. I'm looking into buying a bale of Timothy next go round locally though. The couple of feed stores that had hay was all dry and yellow-grey looking and some of it had pigeons sitting on it... Is baled Timothy supposed to be green? And what is the smallest size bale I could get a hold of do you think? Like any other food hay looses nutritional value over time right? I know that they hay is supposed to help keep the teeth in check, but they also eat it so they are getting some kind of nutrition from it, at least fiber. How long should I keep a bale around for feeding once I buy one? I posted a request on my local craigs list to other chinny owners looking to see if anyone wanted to split a bale. I don't think my one chin would go through a bale before it lost all nutritional value.
 
Well, firstly most baled hay won't look like the Kaytee hay. That hay is so abnormally green that there's rumors they dye it.

Baled hay should not be predominately yellow or grey however. It should still be pretty green, but like a dried grass green, not the bright vivid green you see in the Kaytee hay.

If it is sitting outside with birds sitting on top of it I would not buy it. It could get rained on and then if it doesn't dry out properly it can get moldy.

The smallest bales you can normally get are the square bales and I think they weigh around 50lbs.

A whole bale for one chin would probably last a year. I think that it'd be best if you could split it. Or maybe give some to a rabbit rescue.
 
alli......thanks for the descrip. i just bought a bale from my local feed store and while it is no where near as freaky green as the kaytee is pale green to not so green but they seem to like it. i was planning on taking it apart & putting it in a trash can to breathe and to make sure there wasnt any mold or moistness.
i figure with 7 now, i will definitely go thru it!
 
Moldy hay:(

I'm all about bringing older threads back to life today, lol!

I just got done with chin-time upstairs. The last thing I do every night when my boys out is hay. I sit on the floor, grabbing some, feeding him some of his favorite (the brown, lol), checking a lot for any mold, then when I put it in the cage, he knows playtime is over. But tonight was different:cry3:

I think I found a peice of moldy hay! It was a stalk, a really dull, yellish color-sickly looking! I pulled it apart and inside was black powdery stuff that came off onto my finger! That was mold, right?! So, I inspected every single big and tiny peice of hay before I put it in his cage, freaking out a little, and here I am!!!! That was mold, right?! So, what do I do now?! I know which section of the bin I got it from-do I throw that 1/2 away, or should I dump it all and go buy more tomorrow?! And also, I use Kaytee!!!! It smells really fresh (sweet) and looks great, so I always thought it was such great hay-I knew there was talk of the products, but the hay always seemed so fresh to me. I know any brand could have a moldy peice! I'm still sort of a new chin mom, though-compared to some of you who've owned chins 10, 20 years, I'm a newborn mom-so I'm still really paranoid and overprotective. I'm afraid of the peices I had already fed him, worried I didn't look at them or not enough and I missed mold.

So, should I dump it all, some, what?! And if he did get a little mold, will he be okay? Should I bring him to the vet? There's an emergency one a 1/2 hour from me who treats chins-his vet, so I can do it now if I have to! He's acting fine, but if you think I should, I will! And I can go buy new hay tomorrow-Oxbow if you think its better (i'm guessing you do, lol)! Help me:(
 
Vet is probably not necessary unless he's showing signs of a URI (wet eyes or nose, rubbing his face, sneezing, wheezing, etc.). I'd get a new bale, though. The mold can make you sick as well as him.

Just got an email that Kleen Mama's hay loft in CA has a great crop of second cut Timothy coming in, but shipping from there will kill you. So, since you're closer to here, try: www.farmerdave.biz

The 5 pound box usually lasts me several months and I only have a singleton too. :)
 
Thank you both!!!! I'll check them both out tomorrow definitely. And he's acting totally fine, hopping around, running on his wheel, dry, quiet besides the normal chin noises. I'll keep a close eye on him for the next few days though-like I don't already, lol! Overprotective-he's not even a year old, though, so there's my excuse, but I'm sure most of you are as well.

3C'smommy, I bought an applewood toy off ebay from a farmerdave-I wonder if it's the same guy:) My chin devoured it in one night, lol-he LOVED it and it wasn't small-petshop applewood he takes longer to tear up-his was probably fresher.

Seriously, thank you both! I'll dump it all! I'd rather be safe than sorry! Another question, though. Where's a good place to store hay? His is in a plastic storage tote thing from Target-like 65 gallon-full too:( Is that ok? I asked on Yahoo Answers before I joined onn here and they said yes, but now I'm questioning it. It never gets wet, his room is always 70 F or below, and the AC gets rid of the lots of humidity in NJ, but...

Thanks again:) I needed it!!!!
 
Thank you both!!!!

3C'smommy, I bought an applewood toy off ebay from a farmerdave-I wonder if it's the same guy:) My chin devoured it in one night, lol-he LOVED it and it wasn't small-petshop applewood he takes longer to tear up-his was probably fresher.

You're welcome. :) I once brought a small baby chin home once (well, technically twice, but like most 'moms' the second time wasn't as stressful), so I know how nerve wracking it can be to have this itty bitty creature that's totally your responsibility.

And as for the toy, yes, that was probably him. I wouldn't waste the money/time getting Oxbow from a big box pet store if you can deal with FarmerDave: his stuff goes from the field to a barn to a box to you; while Oxbow is good stuff, it's still a mass produced item. I've found Farmer Dave to be fresher, and better priced, though if Oxbow is what you can get, it's certainly not bad by any means.
 
Hay needs to be stored so it can breathe - don't close it up in the plastic container - if you leave the lid off or drill holes it should be fine.
 
Is Farmer Dave's hay really that good? I'm so not a fan of his serious lack of customer service, but I am still looking for that amazing hay. I currently feed Oxbow, but am always on the look out for something better.
 
Oxbow from their actual site is cheaper than anywhere else, but you have to buy larger quantities. The 50 pound box is less than half of what it costs on Fosters and Smith.

And ALL hay is mass produced, if you are selling it in large quantities. They don't produce 5 pounds of hay, they produce many tons of hay. No matter who produces it, that's mass produced.

As far as Farmer Dave's, I've found the same thing Crysta. He's not exactly an outgoing helpful guy. His hay may be great, but you still need customer service. Maybe it was just an off day when I contacted him. His hay is also a lot more expensive than Oxbow, again, for the larger amounts. His 25 pounds is almost the same as Oxbow's 50.
 
Oxbow hay is the one I like the most, I feed them to my chins and they love it, and they tend to eat more, than when I got them to try the Kaytee hay at the beginning, the Kaytee hay I never liked because it was very dusty and too hard, and chins would hardly eat enough hay and they would throw it on the cage floor and would end up being wasted, with the Oxbow, the chins tend to eat more, and is not so dusty, and even though there is still chins that just play with the hay, they still eat more of the Oxbow than when they ate some of the Kaytee in the past.

You can find Oxbow hay in many places, pet stores, chinchillas.com, there is even a website for Oxbow that can help you find stores in different locations.
Oxbow has many different kinds of hay, such as timothy hay, orchard grass, oat hay, botanical hay, between others, and their hay is very natural and chins love it. I like buying different kinds of hay, so I can give my chins timothy hay plus a small bunch of a different kind of hay a day, just to vary.
 
Oh yeah! I couldn't believe the difference in the #9lb that shipped from Oxbow(even though I ordered it from Foster/smith).It looked and smelled sooo much fresher than the Oxbow in smaller quantities from the pet store or foster/smith.
 
Maybe it was just an off day when I contacted him.

I doubt it, as if that's the case he was having another off day when I contacted him. I asked him how his apple wood was processed and he flew off the handle. He was basically screaming at me in this email about how he was the first person to sell apple wood and that his is the best and that there is no need to ever ask him questions as he knows what he is doing, blah blah blah. Lo and behold, he never did answer the question. His wood is severely overpriced on top of it (even more than his hay), so that with the lack of customer service just turned me off even more.
 
Speaking of the Oxbow hay, I was looking on their website and what type of hay is the best for chins. I seen the chin deluxe but I wasn't sure what the difference it between all their products and what the best is.

Is hay from a local feed store safe and how long can you keep hay for?
 
If I could get hay at the local feed store, I sure wouldn't be paying Oxbow's prices. Hay can be kept a long time, like a LONG time, provided it's kept in a cool, dry environment. I am still using hay from 2 years ago for my horses. It's stored in a well ventilated barn and after you pull the outside layer off (I have 1500 pound round bales) the inside is nice and fragrant.
 
I've never had a problem with customer service through FarmerDave, but I'll certainly keep an eye out for it should something come up. The other plus to it is that I'm fairly close to them, so shipping on my order took 2 days. The only time I've ordered Oxbow from anywhere took over a week, and it wasn't the quality I was expecting. *shrug*

Would "factory farmed" be a more specific and acceptable term than "mass produced"?
 
After some ups and downs with Kleen Mama's, I was told about American Pet Diner:

http://americanpetdiner.com/

I have ordered their Timothy Gold and Mountain Orchard Grass exclusively from them since my first order. They have had the best, greenest, freshest, most fragrant, consistently perfect hay I've ever tried!!! :thumbsup:

I usually get 10 pounds of the Timothy and 5 pounds of the Orchard at a time. For my 3 boys, this lasts several months.
 
Back
Top