hay gone bad?

[Lover_Of_Lopz]

My bunnies hay has brown patches in it i just got is like2 weeks ago and have kept it dry will it hurt her?

-----Nicky

 

[Leaf]

I moved this tread to Nutrition & Behavior

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What type of hay, and what cut is it? Can you post a photo of it here on the forum? How does it smell? If it smells moldy at all or has white "powdery" residue, I would not use it. Do you mind saying where it came from?

 

[Lover_Of_Lopz]

Yes i will get picks it came from a wallmart and it smells like nothing.picks are comming.....

 

[Lover_Of_Lopz]

here is a pick:



thanks for mooving it i dont know why i put it in the rong place

 

[Flashy]

I would say trust your gut instinct. If it doesn't seem right to you, and you are not sure, then don't use it. That's the rule I go on and have not yet had a problem.

 

[Sabine]

I've had some bags of hay that had a moldy smell to them although there were no visible signs. If it smells of nothing and there are no visible signs of mold maybe you could still use it as bedding underneath other stuff and not feed it to the buns

 

[delusional]

As far as I'm aware, hay goes brown when exposed to air. It's why hay bales are brown on the outside, but if you break a flake off them then they are green inside. Hay that has gone brown is not necessarily bad for your bunny, I believe it carries slightly less nutritional value than green hay (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

But unless it's damp and mouldy - and trust me, mouldy hay smells REALLY bad - I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

 

[maherwoman]

I would say try to find a tack & feed place near you, if you can. Or try to see if you can tell ahead-of-time if the bag is greener or not. Some types of bagged hay have clear plastic sections to the bag so you can see the quality before buying.

I don't think the hay is "bad", persay...but definitely dried out, and I'm sure with it being brown, has lost most of it's nutritional value. Not to mention, your buns might not like eating brown hay.

Hope you find greener, yummier hay soon!

 

[Snufflez]

I know my rabbits get hay from a farm.. and some of their is brown. But my boyfriend (he lives on a farm) says it could bewhen hays curesit turns brown... and if put in a bag persay.. like wrapping wet bales.. they are brown when taken out. Then they dry out to a light brown. Or the sun could have bleached it. I am not saying thats what it is.. but if you are not sure and don't feel safe feeding it.. then don't. You can't be to safe.

 

[S_Toast]

Mold will be black and when you pull the hay apart you will be able to see dust coming off it. Also the mold will want to make the hay stick together not fluff out like in the pic you posed. The pic looks like the hay is just bleached. It could have been before it was baled if it was allowed to dry too long. However, I agree that if your gut says not to feed it then don't.