What does good hay look like

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I'm just so confused now, lol!

I am sooo indecisive. That's why I had you all pick a wheel for my chin, lol, and he ended up with the CHin Spin which he LOVES.

All I know about farmerdave is, I bought an applewood hanging teeter toy from him off ebay (yes, overpriced) and my chin devoured it in one night! He's always gotten the applewood from petsmart, and still has some he barely touches, but farmerdave's applewood went seriously fast, plus the toy was destroyed completely:) But what was the point of it anyway once all the bark was torn off?! I think I'm going to get Oxbow hay and farmerdave applewood, since Sunny just LOVED it sooooo much! How can I deny my only chin-child:thumbsup:

Oh, and I always contact a seller on ebay and wait for a reply before buying (my other standards are: at least 98% seller's score, has sold over 50 items, and I try it first to make sure, then he gets it a few nights later from my daughter-she insists and almost enjoys new stuff for him more than he does). He got straight to the point when I asked a few questions. No small talk, but he answered my questions-I believe there were 3 or 4. And of course my chin has to really like it or I'll look for something else-well, Sunny DID!!!! So, I can get 200 applesticks for $49.25 not including shipping-is that a serious rip-off?!
 
You can get other high quality apple wood for soooooooooooooooooooo much cheaper. I get mine from qualitymutationchinchillas.com (member name rcr here). Her wood is fantastic and not near as high priced as his. 200 sticks for $49.25 not including shipping? That's insane.
 
I also order my apple wood from QMC and you can get 6 pounds of wood for 69.95 and that includes shipping. I only have one chin that eats it exclusively, as the others love all kinds of wood, and it lasts me a while. Herby only chews on half then "saves" the other half for some reason. But she loves her hanging toys I make for her!

I ordered some hay from farmer Dave yesterday and for 50 pounds of Timothy and some Timothy with clover ( for my guinea pigs ) it cost me 66.37 with shipping. Unfortunately I have not been able to find anyone close to me that sells bales of hay so I have to go this route although I know it would be cheaper than having it shipped. Hopefully I have better luck with customer service, should I need it, than some of you guys have! I have the worst luck when it comes to that!
 
Let me know what you think of it. If it's really good and your chinnies like it, I'm more than willing to split the cost with you if you want to split it. 50 lbs is a lot of hay for 4 chinnies (just remembered that you have piggies too!). :p Absolutely no pressure, just wanted to put it out there in case you wanted to.

If it's something we both like we can split 50 lbs in the future tooooo. Save us both some money. Or, the feed store by me has decent hay, but really only in the fall/winter. If you want to split a bale later on we can do that too. I think it's $18.00 for a 70lb bale.
 
I combined a few different kinds of hays in the bag that Meanie sells here on the forum. It is the best place to store all of my hay, I can also do a quick shake and nothing comes out on the floor (when fully zipped closed).

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Kristin - I'm sure you paid at least $60 with the shipping, that is just ridiculous for 200 pieces of apple wood sticks. As others have said, rcr, Ronda and petproductsbynature all members here, sell great prepared wood at great prices. Check the chin supply store list in the classifieds for other items as well. For my own personal reasons I do not buy wod or hay from ebay.
 
I've noticed Farmer Dave's wood prices are really steep, but I'm also spoiled b/c my parents have wild apple trees on their property. I usually go with his hay because it costs me so much for Oxbow. A 10 pound bag here was over $20, and it was old and browning when I got it. I paid $25-$28 for 15 pounds of hay and priority shipping across the state. I think it really pays in terms of quality to try to shop local, though if I can get in touch with a hay grower near my family home at the county fair this weekend, you can believe I'll be bringing back a bale of Ohio grown Timothy and finding a place to keep it! I'd much rather pay $5.00/bale than $5.00/10 pounds.
 
tunes said:
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.
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I bet you get a much better deal than I do by ordering direct because you are closeer to NE where they are, so your shipping probably isn't too bad.

I just ordered from Oxbow 15 minuntes ago and my total was $139.xx, $60 being shipping!! From Drs. Foster & Smith it would have been $148.55. $9 is $9!!
 
I bought a small bag of Oxbow Timothy hay from Petsmart today...

just to try it out on Sunny and see if he likes it. I also got him a bag of Oxbow orchard grass. He started inhaling the Timothy Hay immediatly, lol! He's NEVER been anywhere near as interested in Kaytee! He acted like he does with his rosehips when he gets them as a treat. Even the stalks he loved, which he'd just nibble on with Kaytee's. And no, it wasn't as green (Kaytee's is strangely green, lol-I can see what some of you mean by that) but he's always preferred the brown peices anyway-he's weird like that:) So, Sunny is officially an Oxbow LOVER!!!!

I only gave him a few pieces of the orchard grass cause I wasn't sure how much he should have-he ate them right away, first thing, lol! When I go to bed, I'll check to see if he already needs more Timothy hay cause I don't put a lot in his cage at a time-then he wastes a LOT more. Just a handful and always rechecked in the morning, adding more when needed, but with this new stuff.... I'm confused about the Orchard Grass, though, cause before I got him, I also got him a bag of alfalfa with the timothy hay, but then read a few days later that it should very rarely be given in small quantities as a treat (especially since he's on Mazuri alfalfa based food), so that bags still huge, only given like once a month and just a pinch of the tiny leaves and a stalk as a treat. How about the Orchard Grass, though?! How much should he be given a day, a week, a month?! Maybe Oat Hay would've been the better choice....

Oh, and I'll check out the people on this site who sell applewood! If he loves it as much as he loved that farmerdave applewood toy, I'll stick with them. And a new thing to keep my hay in, like that bag in Sandi's pics! I doubt I'll need one so big, though, for my one chin-child:) Thanks everyone! I just LOVE this site:thumbsup:
 
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Orchard grass is fine to give on a regular basis. Some people feed orchard instead of timothy since they can get better quality orchard. I feed a mixture of both.
 
I bet you get a much better deal than I do by ordering direct because you are closeer to NE where they are, so your shipping probably isn't too bad.
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My shipping is actually worse than yours. Lucky for me, SD is in a dead zone for shipping. So even though they are only 4 hours away, I probably pay higher shipping than almost anywhere in the US. Lucky me, huh? I've often thought of just driving there and loading up the back of the truck, but by the time I drive 8 hours plus, as wellas gas, it doesn't seem to be worth it.
 
Essentia said:
Orchard grass is fine to give on a regular basis. Some people feed orchard instead of timothy since they can get better quality orchard. I feed a mixture of both.
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Thank you:) Sunny will be super happy with that! He LOVES the stuff. Poor thing is probably full of hay right now, though. I went to check on him a 1/2 hour ago, put a few peices of orchard grass in and he went crazy for it last night, but he just sniffed it and turned away, lol. He probably ate so much cause he likes it so much, he's all full now! I'll watch his poop to make sure it's not more, but I bet he's just full, lol! I feel horrible for finding that idea funny....
 
Sally also has great apple wood for which the boys go crazy. Hers is usually $10 per pound plus shipping, but she uses flat rate boxes so the charges aren't crazy... :thumbsup:

http://www.keepyourchinupwood.com/stickstwigsmore.htm

Her best deal is 3 pounds for $10 each and only $5 shipping -- she pays the other $5 shipping for you!!! $35 total and I guarantee you, there will be a whole lot more than 200 sticks in the box!!!
 
Have to agree sally's wood is fabulous! There is a great mix of small twiggy pieces and nice thick pieces so you get some variety for your chin to chew and play with.

Also - what DOES good hay look like? Can a few of you take a couple of pics of what your hay looks like? I feed a mix of Oxbow timothy and orchard grass and its fragrant enough, I just feel like its not 'fresh'.
 
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I feel fortunate to have found a farmer about 15 minutes from me that bales hay. I just go to the barn and pick it up. His is "grass hay", which he means orchard grass with some alfalfa mixed. For $6 I get a bale and I only have one chin. Even if she can't eat a whole bale in a year, who cares for that price? And for storage, I got a huge garbage can on wheels and drilled 1-inch holes into it for breathing. It doesn't look perfect, but it isn't moldy, smells good, and Idgie eats it. You might be surprised to find a farmer closer to you than you think. (I live in the suburbs of Chicago!)
 
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