Hays

Useful info for you today on hays... someone asked about this, and I figured this would be good info for all.  The person was asking about buying bales of hay, which any of you could potentially do, for your chins or other small pets.  They were asking about different types of hays and what might be in them. So, here goes. 

As far as the type of hay, you don't want any hay with clover, as in hays (as opposed to like, buying dried clover -- the type used for tea -- as a treat), the clover that would be in hay usually isn't dried out well (just because of the way hay, itself, is dried out) and without being cured properly, can cause stomach upset and runny poos. 

You also want to check what the hay is primarily made up of.  It'd be rare to have a mix that is literally 1/8 this, 1/8 that, and so on.  Most horse hays (which you want -- no cow hays!) are alfalfa based, as the horses can handle the richer, higher protein.... chinchillas cannot.  Runny squishy poos again.  They can have SOME alfalfa, but it can't be a bale of mostly alfalfa with some other stuff mixed in (which is typically what we have around here).  Organic hay (or not) doesn't really matter... I can't imagine it makes much of a difference in the actual hay... other than upping the price. 

If you can find bales that are primarily grass hay mixes (which alfalfa is not, just fyi), they'd tend to be timothy / orchard grass / rye / fescue / brome / meadow hay... that sort of thing... that would be fine to feed.  Ideally you want a hay that is primarily timothy with other hays mixed in, though any grass hay mix should be fine.

For the cuttings, 1st is super stalky, so a lot of chins won't be as fond of eating that... they pick through and find the softer pieces.  2nd is softer and more of a mix of leafy and stalky, that's what we feed (if at all possible).  Third cutting (at least here) isn't available unless we want to ship it in, as the growing season isn't that long, and most places need to irrigate the fields to get a 3rd cutting (also not really done around here).  It's super leafy (read: soft) and the chins LOVE it.  However... because it's so leafy, it practically does nothing to wear down the teeth.  Occasionally I'll buy like a 10 pound box of third cutting from small pet select and use it here and there as a treat, but I wouldn't use it as a primary hay, because it sort of defeats the purpose because it's so soft (though I can see why they like it!).

Also worth noting, you don't want to store bales of hay on the floor -- you need to store them "up" somehow... we put ours on two 2 x 4's (think like train tracks)... this allows the air to go around and under the bales, and keeps moisture from building up and spoiling the hay.  You don't want moldy / mildew-y hay, so no storage in plastic containers or garbage cans with the lid on.