Encouraging them to eat hay

[ludo]

My 2 boys are nearly 7 months old and to begin with would eat quite a lot of hay but have recently stopped eating as much. There is no problem with their teeth. Just wondering if anyone has any tips to encourage them to eat more. I have alfa hay blocks and also loose hay. Should I maybe remove the food bowl for 1 night and just leave them with the hay then put the bowl back in the morning?:hmm:

 

[Essentia]

I mix in a few of my herbs with their hay to give it a yummy smell. It has encouraged my lazy chewers to consume more hay. I put the hay in a large ziploc bag (at least a gallon size, though I use the 2.5 gallon) with a small handful of herbs and close it for a few days. Then when I go to give them the hay I just shake out the herbs back into the bag to reuse them.

Please don't think this is a post to sell my chinnie salad. I promise it isn't. I have had several people let me know that they have started using my salad for this purpose and it has also worked for them.

 

[ludo]

what herbs do you use?

 

[kimbt622]

what brand of hay do you give them? maybe try a different brand, i know some chins like certain brands over others.

 

[Essentia]

I use the already mixed chinnie salad I make, which is: chamomile flowers, pink rosebuds and petals, hibiscus petals, crushed and sifted rosehips, bee pollen, and peppermint leaf.

 

[Carol~Anne]

You could try alternating timmy hay with orchard grass, botanical and oat etc. I generally mix a little of other hays in with the timmy hay and they seem to like that. Also, the spoiled puffs really only like the hay when it's put in fresh each day and will not eat yesterday's hay... they pee on it in protest I think.

 

[Tanya]

Rotating a variety of hays and mixing multiple types (timothy, meadow, bluegrass, orchard, brome, oat, some alfalfa) encourage chins to eat more hay.

Many chins prefer pellets, they eat lots of (or all) pellets before turning to their hay. I think pellets are just tastier because of the molasses, wheat, etc... added and maybe some chins are just lazy (pellets are chewed quickly and easily).

I personally limit the amount of pellets and mix some herbs (rose hips, oat tops, chamomile, red clover blossoms) with hay for extra foraging fun! My chins got used to this diet, they actually prefer hay to pellets!

I used to buy regular grass hays, but want to switch to organic hays. I know some certified organic farms that grow organic timothy, brome, orchard. Their hay also contains small amounts of alfalfa, clover and some wild herbs (like dandelions), I think chins will be happy!


Carol~Anne, my chins also like fresh hay each day, spoiled fur balls!

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

I have found that by offering more than one type of hay, my chins eat more of it. (Though one already ate more hay then the pellets when I got him.) I try and offer them Mountain grass, Timothy, and orchard grass and I take a few rose hips and mix them in with the hay when I transfer it form the bag to the hay container. This seems to work on the two that would rather eat pellets than hay any day, especially my dental chin.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

The chins may not be growing as much as they were when younger. They don't need as much food so they aren't eating as much.

 

[Nervousings]

i can attest to Essentia's 'chinny salad'!
my little guy was never that into loose hay, as he had always been fed hay blocks at the breeders. i added a tablespoon or two of the salad and he LOVES it. when he hears my alarm go off in the morning he is waiting at the door for his fresh batch of the "smell good hay" as my husband calls it. LOVE IT!

 

[Carol~Anne]

^^ Ordered some of Crysta's chinnie salad and I can't wait to give some to my pampered puffs. =)