Big news here. All week we’ve been waiting for delivery of our quarterly hay order. It arrived today and the bunnies are celebrating the end of their self-imposed hunger strike. They’re spoiled and won’t eat anything but the stuff that comes straight from the mountains of Nevada. We ran out of it last weekend, after I ordered an extra 25 pounds just before Christmas. I’m embarrassed to admit what I pay for it. The hay itself is expensive, but having to pay 2 times the cost of the hay just for shipping makes me feel like I’m being taken advantage of. I’d imagine hay-making to be a very lucrative business, but really, I know better.
There used to be a wonderful hay company in Canada, just outside of Ottowa, that I ordered from for years. They grew a beautiful mix of timothy and orchard grasses that was loaded with dandelion flowers. It was pesticide free and the bunnies loved it and the price was reasonable. Then they went out of business and I was forced to find another hay that the rabbits would eat. There’s plenty of timothy available locally, but even that top-quality horse hay is not appetizing to the bunnies. A 7 dollar bale will last for six months because I use it only to fill their litterboxes. The hay I buy now is way too expensive to be litterbox fil
ler! I dole it out by the handfull and still 75 pounds won’t last me three months! Doesn’t that sound like an awful lot of hay for five rabbits and two guinea pigs? I mean, I do feed them lots of greens and pellets too.
Lots of people find this blog by searching for “rabbit poops too much” which I think is just hilarious. Of course they poop a lot – that’s a good thing! The rabbits are pooping out all that hay that I pay a small fortune for. I’m repaid by having plenty of organic fetilizer for the garden, but still.
I was forced to migrate to the new Blogger this evening. I knew it was coming, but it might have been nice to have a choice about the timing. I was hoping to make a quick post tonight and then get started on grading papers; instead I had to fangle around with setting up new accounts and worry that I would foul something up. Hopefully it was a successful *migration* – I haven’t been brave enough to look yet!
Lucky bunnies! I find it amazing that you were able to order hay from Ottawa, Canada and not have it seized by some over-enthusiastic narcs officer at the border. US border guards give us grief if we try to bring a roast beef sandwich over for our lunch. (mad cow you know) Your transition to the new Blogger is fine. I have decided that new Blogger is way better than WordPress, even if it does act up occasionally. WordPress is for people with a lot more html knowledge than I have.
Fiona is quite picky about her hay. She only likes timothy or orchard grass from Oxbow.
I’m glad your bunnies are happy again! It’s too bad there isn’t any place closer where you can order an organic combination that the bunnies love! Shipping anything across country is outrageous, isn’t it?
P.S. I mean the price for shipping, not that you have the hay shipped!
I agree with Ruth. Blogger made me mad when they forced me to change to the new one. But it is better than the old. Everything looks fine, Laura. WordPress scares me since I’m still learning the wicked ways of blogging. If you like to load many photos, as I do, Flickr is your best bet.
Your bunnies are fortunate! Hey, we all write checks for what we love… Dogs, fish, pond, and birds can strain your bank account, but aren’t they all worth it???? I think so.
Naturewoman: I think it is sort of outrageous that I have hay shipped!
Diva Kitty: Oxbow is a safe alternative, but isn’t liked by everybunny here. Their prices are reasonable compared with APD I think. I buy Oxbow in the 40 ounce bags (for about 10 dollars!) – but I used to order it by the 50 pound box until one time we got a box of hay that no one would eat. What do you do with 50 pounds of hay that nobunny likes?
Ruth: Funny you should mention that! After 9-11 I suddenly had to pay an extra charge to customs via UPS for inspection of the hay.
One problem with the new thing is that it doesn’t automatically resize pics like it used to. I had to manually go in and change the code so that when you click to enlarge the pic you don’t get a HUGE picture. Wonder how to fix that?
Mary: I do have a flickr account, but only used it once or twice when I was about to pull my hair out!
I don’t begrudge the bunnies their expensive hay, but it feels like a rip-off to pay 60 dollars for the hay and almost 120 to have it shipped!
I hope no one who has horses or cattle reads this because they’ll know that I’m insane to pay that for hay!
I suppose you don’t have the space in your yard somewhere to grow your own?
Hmmm…I do. Maybe I will start a hay business, and all my blogger/bunny-philes will get it for free!
What lucky bunnies! Sadly, Buddy just gets regular pet store timothy hay, but he DOES get organic baby mixed greens.
Have a good weekend! 🙂
You bunny people are just so neat. It must smell so good when you open that package.
Susan: My yard is kind of big, but are you nuts!?!
You could make a million growing hay for us bunny nuts.
Lynne: funny – there really isn’t any regular pet store hay here.
Cathy: I forgot to mention how nice the hay smells – like a visit from summer.
It is too bad that the shipping is so expensive. Maybe someone out there in blogland will have a more reasonably priced source for you.
As for your blog migration, it looks like it worked to me.
Lucky bunnies–to have found a home that cares so much for them.
Migrating to new Blogger–it is interesting how many of the blogs I read have had that experience, being forced to the new Blogger.
I did too but didn’t realize that it was happening “universally.” Nice to have company.
And it looks fine. I agree it is easier to use.
Growers of high quality horse hay in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut are getting an astounding $8.50 a bale. Lots of stables and riding rings sprouting up where there used to be dairies, and horses don’t eat silage. If I had a forty acre field and sufficient rainfall, I’d put it all in top shelf hay.
It looks fine over here- good migration! The bunnies look very hoppy with that new chlorophyl rich hay. I miss Millie, our guinea pig. In the end she ate nothing but fresh veggies so now when I cut the core out of green peppers and the tops off carrots it’s pretty sad.
I say, nothing but the best for the furbies who enrich our lives. And the poop, in this case, is good reward.
These have to be the luckiest bunnies on the planet.
Niblet’s happy with Oxbow but nothing else, and he’ll only eat the Purina bunny chow pellets. Luckily the pellets are super-cheap at Wiscoy and the hay isn’t too expensive there either. Still, I’d pay whatever it took to keep my little son happy! I usually get dandelions from our yard–he LOVES them!
Your favourite hay must have come from right around where I live. Too bad we don’t bale hay here anymore — I could have shipped it down there to you. We used to have a large herd of dairy goats and they’re extremely picky about their hay (don’t believe what you hear about goats eating *anything*!*). (-;
Bev: I think they were in Stittsville or something similar? Their hay was beautiful, at any rate.
What is it that makes them so picky about the hay they’ll eat?
LOL – I have heard that goats will eat anything – my husband had one that loved peppermint lifesavers!
Dguzman: Fresh dandelions are a treat here too! Oxbow goes over well with most every bunny here – and they like the Purina pellets too.
FC: Lucky, but mostly just spoiled.
Vicki: The GP’s do love their veggies, but they’re fiends for the hay too.