kaytee brand timothy hay

[jessers]

Anyone else have a problem with kaytee hay? I found little black bits in the hay? What is it and is it safe for chins?

 

[Bam.Bam]

Alot of people on here don't use Kaytee.. it's not a very good hay, actually not a very good brand all together.

I would suggest Oxbow.. they sell it at Petsmart. I've been using Oxbow and haven't had any problems.

 

[jessers]

I bought it before coming to this forum and I didn't know but I have a bit more than half a bag left and it a 48 something bag so it's kind of big so I don't want to waste it but if it will make my chins sick I can go pick up some hay at FTC today

 

[mishellyshel]

It wont make them sick, but pick up another bag and just mix it. they may like the coarseness of the kaytee. personally, i find it very coarse and have actually poked my finger & bled from it!
black bits??? meaning like brown grass?? that happens with many brands.
but if it is black like mold or something than i would toss it.

 

[jessers]

I can't tell if its mold or not but it only appears on the hay at the very top part where I fold the top part of the bag down to keep it from spilling, could that be the cause?

 

[mishellyshel]

i keep my hay in box with holes in it and also in a plastic crate with the lid open. that way air gets thru and it doesnt get moist.

post a pic, its hard to say just discussing it. it may just be brown grass.

 

[jessers]

It's something like this, the brown dots fall off sometimes and it looks like little seeds, and it's not on all of them and only these 'flowery' bits have them

 

[Olallie]

They look like seeds, but i dont ever recall seeing those on my stalks... I would ask more people about it.

 

[Bam.Bam]

I've never seen anything like that before.. maybe somone else can chime in.

 

[Chinwawa]

My rehomes came with a bag of Kaytee hay. I just threw the whole bag out unopened. It was so awful looking compared to the Oxbow hay I have been using that I didn't want to even open the bag to look at it.

 

[jessla]

I personally like Kaytee hay more than Oxbow. Actually, it would be my chins that do. They barely ate the Oxbow hay when we bought it for them, but they LOVE the Kaytee hay.

My husband and I also like the smell and look of Kaytee hay better.

Neither have gotten sick from eating it.

 

[mishellyshel]

it looks like the buds were flowering??

i would just make sure the middle of the bag isnt moist. if they have been eating it then personally i would just mix it in with whatever new bag you get. no reason to toss it if its still good.

 

[jessers]

the middle of the bag isn't damp and i fed it to them before i saw the seeds, nothing happened yet but i just wanted to make sure. i picked up a bag of oxbow hay and ill mix them a bit later tonight and see how they like it. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Isabella Whateva]

I "used" kaytee hay for years, but my chin wouldn't touch it. not to mention, it was so dry it always cut my hand when I reached in the bag to get it out. My chin was seriously lacking hay in her diet for almost a year until I switched to oxbow. I knew right away I made the right choice. The hay is so much softer to the touch and you can tell it's fresher. My chin loves it. I put a new handful in there every day, where it used to take her a few weeks to even nibble at kaytee.

 

[jessers]

I got the orchard grass one to mix in with the timothy since i have to finish the bag or my mom wont be happy but they seem to be finishing the new hay and the oxbow alfalfa hay faster than the kaytee and always leave it after. Maybe ill just give it to my friend if my chinc stop touching it altogether

 

[caiti]

Yea my girl came with a small bag of generic pet store brand hay (maybe Kaytee, not sure). It was a struggle to get her to eat it, even though there was nothing I saw in it that shouldn't have been. I got her Oxbow when she finished the small bag she came with and she eats at least three times more hay than she used to. It smells and feels so much better too. And it's really not that more expensive, if really at all than the other generic pet store brands.

I just keep the bag open and nearish my AC so it has air flow and is in low humidity, but isn't in front of the AC. I don't even poke holes in the sides, but it still stays completely dry.