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Small pets

Anyone buy whole bales of hay?

6 replies

Methe · 05/10/2013 19:14

Paying thought the nose for really expensive really shit quality hay from a petshop is starting to do my head in! It's £3 for half a section and is horrible quality.. None of the petshop hay seems any better. There is No way you'd feed it to a horse and if you did I doubt the horse would eat it.

I have found somewhere to buy full bales for £4, I use hay for feed a straw for insulating. I could theoretically save myself a fortune over winter but it'd be a waster of money if it rots. I recon a bale would last about 6 months ( I have 4 guinea pigs)

Anyone here buy full bales? How do you store them?

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HappyAsASandboy · 05/10/2013 19:17

Yes, I buy whole bales for my rabbits.

I just store it on a wooden pallet (so off the floor, air can circulate underneath) in a brick outhouse. I've also stored it in a single duvet cover inside the house and its been fine.

Out it in a duvet cover to get it home in the car too. Saves a lot of car hoovering!

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Methe · 05/10/2013 19:35

Duvet cover is a brilliant idea thank you!

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 05/10/2013 20:50

I haven't bought a bale but like you I've been really hacked off at dusty, dry hay with added sharp twigs,

So I had a look online and found someone selling hay by the kilo.
I bought 16kg for £20 (which when I weighed it up against £4 - £6 for 4kg of 'PetShop' hay was pretty good)

Though it was really fresh smelling, it was quite long stems, so definately more eating than bedding. (I had some very soft barley straw and compressed hay left)

My older boar did get a hayseed in his eye which DD hoiked out, but you could get that in any hay.

This was from a bale because I recognised the Slices that we used to portion up hay in when I was a horsey type.

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guineapiglet · 06/10/2013 19:46

Hi all - yes in the end I got fed up with buying tiny little bags of hay which lasted less than a week. A friend organised a huuuuuuuuge hay bale delivery once every month/six weeks or so and we used to store it in the shed and would last forever. The girls got very excited when a new one arrived, and would try exploring in it and playing inside it, making tunnels and so on. When it got cold they would lie inside itShock to keep really warm. Buying in bales is great if you have the room to store, it used to cost me £6 for the bale including delivery! Marvellous.

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DoubleMum · 07/10/2013 11:48

Yes I had 4 bales delivered recently. One is in the rabbit shed, one is in a new wheelie bin in a duvet, and 2 are on top of the freezer in the garage being really annoying. Won't get 4 at once next time.
I found mine on Preloved, a local place who had extra from their field they cultivate for polo ponies, so very good quality. The bunnies love it.
I've also had deliveries from Hay 4 Pets before and it's very good - cheaper than pet shops but more expensive than bales.

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ilovexmastime · 07/10/2013 11:50

I buy bales too. I store it in one of those plastic storage boxed from B&Q.

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