Wood pellets

[Imbrium]

wow, that's crazy expensive I live in a major city and went to a feed store in town and paid $7 for 40 lbs.

 

[slavetoabunny]

I use horse bedding pellets. It is really hard to find wood stove pellets here in Florida. The wood stove pellets are safe. You just need to make sure they haven't been treated with an accelerant.

 

[Kipcha]

Ok, I live in a big town, so not too many horse feed stores around. I found one fairly close that sells it by the lb. or $29.00 for a 50#lb bag. That is much cheaper than the $21.95 I am paying for 10#lb!

Oh my goodness! There are no feed stores, or even tack stores? I cannot imagine paying that much!

 

[majorv]

Ok, I live in a big town, so not too many horse feed stores around. I found one fairly close that sells it by the lb. or $29.00 for a 50#lb bag. That is much cheaper than the $21.95 I am paying for 10#lb!

OUCH!! I live in a big city, but on the outskirts, so there are several feed stores in the area plus a Tractor Supply, all of which carry the pelleted bedding for horses at a third of that price for 40#.

 

[Elliot]

Hmm..maybe I should look a bit out in the boonies? It would have to be a substantial savings to offset extra gas and time though. I will look around a bit more. Thanks

 

[Imbrium]

if you pick up a bale of hay (usually $9-14 for 60-80 lbs) and get a few bags of pine pellets so that you shouldn't have to go back until it's time to get another bale of hay, it's worth the trip to the boonies

 

[Elliot]

if you pick up a bale of hay (usually $9-14 for 60-80 lbs) and get a few bags of pine pellets so that you shouldn't have to go back until it's time to get another bale of hay, it's worth the trip to the boonies

Hello, I found a place that is a bit out of town. She has 40# bags for $8.00. I can get two bags for less than I was paying for one. How would I keep a bale of hay before it would dry up or get mildewed? This is Florida, our humidity is high. I am kind of a fan of the various oxbow hays. There are a variety, and they are fresh and green. Probably paying too much for that too, but oh well...

 

[brittneydee]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that's been paying a fortune for litter! At least you have an excuse - I live in the middle of horse country and have never known about horse pellets! LOL Another advantage of living here is that I can buy western timothy hay by the bale and save a ton of $$ instead of having it shipped in from Oxbow. I just bought a 100lb bale for $38! :biggrin2: Of course I won't be able to use it all before it molds, etc. because I only have one bunny, but that's the smallest bale they carried. Even if you could only store it for a month or so it would still probably be cheaper than having it shipped in. Between the hay and the pellets I think it would definitely be worth the trip. How do you currently store your hay to protect it from the humidity?

We've only had our little girl for just over a week now and have already gone through $10 in litter, so I'm super excited to hear about these pellets! Especially since everyone raves about how well they control the urine smell I'll swing by our local southern states and pick some up today!

 

[Imbrium]

I ordered bale bags from this site - http://www.tackwholesale.com/bale-bags-c-11.html (I got two half-bale bags instead of one full one so that I could easily carry them in myself and so that they could be stacked to take up less space). they shipped out within a couple hours after ordering them and arrived in 2-3 days (with the cheapest shipping option).

I keep the bags in the corner of my living room. since hay is already dry and bales are compressed, you don't really have to worry about it "drying up" - just keep it inside so it doesn't get exposed to too much humidity and get moldy. hay can easily be stored for as much as a year as long as you keep it dry and insect-free.

 

[SOOOSKA]

Jennifer I have one of those Bale Bags too. I love it. I keep it in their cupboard in their bedroom. I have never had a problem with mould. A bale can last sometimes 2 - 3 months.

They are a bit pricey but so worth it.

You should see me trying to get a bale of hay into my apartment with out anyone seeing. I do look like the "BAG" Lady. :nod lol

Susan:anotherbun

 

[Elliot]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that's been paying a fortune for litter! At least you have an excuse

How do you currently store your hay to protect it from the humidity?

LOL..:biggrin2:
On keeping the hay dry, it just stays inside and we use the A/C a lot. The bags are fairly small.

 

[Bill Jesse]

I used pine pellets for a while until the supplier got a different type. These are stove pellets but on the label it mentions that they are good for bedding. In my case I put the pellets on the hutch floor, cover them with newspaper and then a bed of hay. My bunnies do not use a litter box sadly but go in the same spot all the time. So I am now just putting the pellets in that spot. I go through a 40 pound bag in about 6 months and I bought the last bag at Home Deptot for about $5.

 

[ldoerr]

I store the majority of my bale in my parents garage (I live in a 2nd floor 1bdrm apt). I keep a plastic rubber made tub of it in my apt and refill at my parents when needed. Buying hay by the bale is SOOOOOOO much cheaper then at the petstore (or oxbow). I once calculated it out. At the time I could buy an 8oz bag at Petco for $8. I could get a 100lb bale of good quality timothy (that I just found out 6 years later) actually weighs 125-140lbs, at my feed store for $30 at the high end. I did some basic math 6 years ago about it and if I bought the same amount of hay at Petco that I bought at the feed store, the petco price was over $1000. (this is what I remember it being after 6 years since doing the math.

As you can see the feed store will save you sooooo much $$. A bale will last you at a bare minimum 6 months of feeding it daily. I have some hay that is 3 years old that is still perfectly fine (though I do not feed it anymore because I got newer stuff). I used to store it outside in a shed that had the doors open 24/7. There is only 1 haying season so all the hay you get no matter when in the year you get it is from that same month or two. Oxbow sells hay that is almost a year old I can just about guarantee you. The trick it to keep it dry and well ventalated. So I have found that keeping it loose in the garage or other area is best.