Best place to get hay?

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Smile414

Smile414

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Messages
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Location
USA
Hi there,

I’ve researching a lot and learned that rabbits need unlimited hay, however timothy hay is really expensive. Any tips on where to get cheaper hay ( during pandemic). And how much hay does a rabbit go through in a month (in lbs would be helpful) I was wondering cause I like to calculate ahead of time. Thanks!
 
I think, you can buy hay in a farm, I bought my rabbits hay online and I know it's expensive since you want the best for your rabbit. But I suggest going to the nearest farm in your place maybe they can offer you cheaper price.
 
VanillaMarshmellUwU said:
I think, you can buy hay in a farm, I bought my rabbits hay online and I know it's expensive since you want the best for your rabbit. But I suggest going to the nearest farm in your place maybe they can offer you cheaper price.
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About how many pounds of hay do you usually go through a month? Just wondering because I’m looking for an average cost, to calculate a total cost per month in all for a rabbit. Thanks!
 
Smile414 said:
About how many pounds of hay do you usually go through a month? Just wondering because I’m looking for an average cost, to calculate a total cost per month in all for a rabbit. Thanks!
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You see.... I dont have farms near my province. I purchase 1kg online for now because im a new rabbits rabbit parent myself and it's his first time eating hay, so I don't know how much it would cost me per month and you should ask others maybe someone could help you l. Im from the Philippines so it's hard purchasing hay and I don't know which country are you from but you can order at smallpetselect.com Terrific supplies for rabbits, guinea pigs, small animals, dogs, cats.
 
In Estonia finding good hay is an equally hard thing. Most hay is so overpriced! We got our first bun 08.06.2019 and throughout the summer he "lived off of" store hay, which honestly was bad. A small bag of 0.5kg (just over a pound) would be enough for about 3 days if he didn't spill anything. He had outside grass as supplement too, a huge handful per day. One of my old classmste's parents were nice enough to give away three stacks/bales/blocks of hay.
My 5.5kg (11-12 pounds?) frenchie munched through those from somewhere in mid-autumn (october?) to late April. Somewhere around 5-6 months. After that we got the last two bales from them. But you must take notice that he didn't have much of an appetite for the last two months. So maybe the hay would've ended a month earlier in March or something...
Now we still have those two bales which i know won't last nearly as long since the new young 3kg(~6lbs) lop churns trough SO much hay.

So in a way, the estimate of how much hay you need will also depend on your rabbit- how big they are, if they're adolescent or full adults, are they single buns or not. It also depends how willingly they eat hay and if they're even healthy enough to do so.

At least this has been my experience with hay.
 
So that bale of hay for the single adult house rabbit lasted me for about two months. Sadly i have no clue as to how much they weigh in here so it's hard to say. I'll have to ask my dad.
 
Smile414 said:
Any tips on where to get cheaper hay ( during pandemic). And how much hay does a rabbit go through in a month (in lbs would be helpful) I was wondering cause I like to calculate ahead of time. Thanks!
Click to expand...
In the US, you can check feed stores and get a bale or compressed bale. It doesn't have to be timothy. Any grass hay will do. Bermuda, orchard, brome... are all grass hays and are just as good.

Hay is what you use the most but should still be the cheapest thing you get. A full bale (as in photo) can last a pair of rabbits for about 8 months. That is with being super generous and also using it inside the litter box (on top of wood pellet litter). A full bale only cost about $18. Buying bagged hay from a pet store is crazy expensive by comparison.

The following reviews costs and then how to save:
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/costs.html
 
If you have a feedstore or farm near by, definitely check if they sell grass hay. It doesn’t need to be Timothy.

I probably spend way too much money on hay. Mainly because I don’t have any farms near me, aside from city farms that don’t sell hay.
I think that I have a feed store local to me but it is closed due to covid.
I buy my hay online. It costs about £30 for a 10kg box of hay, which last my one rabbit just over two months.
 
Heads up if you’re going to a feed store- make sure you have available space to store the bale!

Story time- I decided to be all money savvy and drove 45 minutes to pick up a bale. I was new to bunnies so I didn’t realize how big a bale is. I drive to the back and this guy dumps a HUGE horse sized bale of hay in my brand new Honda trunk. The whole drive home I’m thinking how on earth am I transporting this dear thing to my 4th floor apartment. To make a long story short, that bale sat in the middle of my apartment for 2 weeks until I figured out how to store it on my porch. I bought Costco bins and flaked the hay which took hours.

NYC apartments and bales of hay do not make sense. Also I still find hay in my trunk.
 
Gelly said:
Heads up if you’re going to a feed store- make sure you have available space to store the bale!

Story time- I decided to be all money savvy and drove 45 minutes to pick up a bale. I was new to bunnies so I didn’t realize how big a bale is. I drive to the back and this guy dumps a HUGE horse sized bale of hay in my brand new Honda trunk. The whole drive home I’m thinking how on earth am I transporting this dear thing to my 4th floor apartment. To make a long story short, that bale sat in the middle of my apartment for 2 weeks until I figured out how to store it on my porch. I bought Costco bins and flaked the hay which took hours.

NYC apartments and bales of hay do not make sense. Also I still find hay in my trunk.
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Well you learned something for sure 🤣
I can confirm that horse bales are hard to store in an apartment, but you were lucky since your bale wasn't probably one of the bigger ones, there are smaller 3ft about 20kg and there are 8 ft bales as well so you better ask before you order one
 
I gguss that our bale might've been around 20 kg as well. Maybe 15 or less because it wasn't really compressed tight. We got those bales for free because my old classmate had rabbits but she no longer does so the hay was left over and they were willing to give it to us, disn't want any pay when asked about the cost so i'm happy to say that our first year of hay was free.
 
Catlyn said:
I gguss that our bale might've been around 20 kg as well. Maybe 15 or less because it wasn't really compressed tight. We got those bales for free because my old classmate had rabbits but she no longer does so the hay was left over and they were willing to give it to us, disn't want any pay when asked about the cost so i'm happy to say that our first year of hay was free.
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Lucky, no one in America is willing to give hay for free lol, at least not around me
 
Catlyn said:
Our bale was a bit shorter but chunkier. How much kg did yours weigh?
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The bale was too heavy for me to lift (hence the cart and my husband!)...maybe 75-100 lbs.

Smile414 said:
Lucky, no one in America is willing to give hay for free lol, at least not around me
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If you have the means to store a bale, it is almost free. Bales can run from around $12 to $20. But as you can see, it is A LOT of hay! It would be well worth it even if you threw half of it away. (Or you could split it with another bunny owner.) Heck. If you threw 3/4 of it away, the remaining quarter would easily last a small rabbit 4-6 months. That'd be just $2 -$5 per month for hay!!
 
Blue eyes said:
The bale was too heavy for me to lift (hence the cart and my husband!)...maybe 75-100 lbs.



If you have the means to store a bale, it is almost free. Bales can run from around $12 to $20. But as you can see, it is A LOT of hay! It would be well worth it even if you threw half of it away. (Or you could split it with another bunny owner.) Heck. If you threw 3/4 of it away, the remaining quarter would easily last a small rabbit 4-6 months. That'd be just $2 -$5 per month for hay!!
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I don’t know if there are many farms which sell hay near me. Are there any farms which maybe ship hay? (If that is possible)
 
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