Cheap and easy hay rack

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coyotejoe

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I've avoided buying hay racks for my cages because I really don't have a lot of "disposable income" and the outhouse is rather tight quartets and I thought having things sticking out in front of every cage might become a hassle. I was just dropping hay on to the floor of the cages and when it was gone I'd drop more. Lots of hay got trample through the wire bottoms and into the drop pan but that was no big loss, a years supply of hay costs about as much as 50 pounds of pellets. What changed by mind was when I discovered a gross, putrid mass of feces and urine soaked hay hidden at the back of a floor level cage. Hay racks are not optional, to feed hay I needed racks.
This design was about the simplest and cheapest I could come up with, in other words, just what I wanted. The base material is 6" wide aluminum roof flashing. I had gotten a couple rolls to use as urine guards and had most of a roll left over. This is a very soft material and you don't even need tin snips, it cuts very easily with scissors, and is easy to fold in bare hands using a straight edge to keep folds straight.
First I cut out the metal as shown.
Hay rack.jpg
Then fold on the lines. To make the 1/2" fold I found it easier to clamp the metal to a straight edge in my vise and press the metal tightly over.
Hay rack2.jpg
I then press the 1/2" fold fully closed with fingers, insert straightened wires into the fold and crimp the metal tightly over the wire, using the powerful leverage of channel lock pliers to get a tight crimp.
Hay rack3.jpg
This is what the finished rack looks like.
hay rack 4.jpg
And this is what they look like attached to cages.
Hay rack 5.jpg
 
Nice job, Joe!

Putting the wire through the folded edge was genius! :ugeek:
 
Redneck ingenuity. Being poor and lazy, which pretty much go together, forces one to become inventive. That's why Rednecks always have a junk pile in their back yard, sometimes front yard. It's not that we're too lazy to haul it away, well maybe that is part of it, but we know there are still lots of useful parts in the junk and you never know what you might need. You can keep some junk for 30 years and when you finally do get rid of it it won't be a week before you're saying "now I wish I had that". :lol:
 
I like it! My only concern would be lost hay from the bottom since it appears to stick out. Hay is not 'super cheap' here. :/ I WAS getting it free due to collecting loose hay from the floor of a guy who sales hay, but it was so dusty that I stopped doing that. :/
 
Great job! Being resourceful is a wonderful thing.

I don't know if others have thought of this but I actually use suet cake bird feeders for the hay!
I'll have to take a picture sometime to show exactly how I use them but basically I have ones similar to this photo that I just don't latch all the way together. I latch but leaving space.
I bought a bunch of them on clearance for like $1.50 each! They have a hanging chain and it loops right through the side wire on the cage and hangs.


images
 
I am going to try stuffing paper towel or toilet paper tubes with hay and give them to the rabbits. Food, chew toy and plaything all in one!
 
Looks like a great, easy and cheap idea!! I was thinking about using the suet feeders myself, but the metal boxes look like it would work just as well, plus hold a little more!! Thanks for sharing!!
 
WhWRabbitry":1z0jhwaa said:
Great job! Being resourceful is a wonderful thing.

I don't know if others have thought of this but I actually use suet cake bird feeders for the hay!
I'll have to take a picture sometime to show exactly how I use them but basically I have ones similar to this photo that I just don't latch all the way together. I latch but leaving space.
I bought a bunch of them on clearance for like $1.50 each! They have a hanging chain and it loops right through the side wire on the cage and hangs.


images

That's a great idea!! :D
 
Syberchick70":g6uod8op said:
I like it! My only concern would be lost hay from the bottom since it appears to stick out. Hay is not 'super cheap' here. :/ I WAS getting it free due to collecting loose hay from the floor of a guy who sales hay, but it was so dusty that I stopped doing that. :/
Of course "cheap" is a relative term, I think I paid about $9.00 or $10.00 per bale last summer but two bales are a year's supply for my 6 cages of rabbits. If I had to buy hay from a pet store I'd be very concerned with any loss at all. Loss from the bottom largely depends on how you insert the hay into the rack, with a little care in placement you can have any hay at the bottom going inside the cage wire. I'm finding that my 7 week olds eat lots of hay but the adult rabbits eat very little. Bucky is a spoiled brat and he won't eat hay at all but I keep it available to him just in case he has a change of heart. :lol:
 
As you say, my two adults don't eat a LOT of hay, but the kits plow through it. I pay $6/bale for orchard grass (cheap) but I think it was closer to $20 for the compressed bale of Timothy grass. :x
 
coyotejoe":2bc21am5 said:
Of course "cheap" is a relative term, I think I paid about $9.00 or $10.00 per bale last summer but two bales are a year's supply for my 6 cages of rabbits. If I had to buy hay from a pet store I'd be very concerned with any loss at all. Loss from the bottom largely depends on how you insert the hay into the rack, with a little care in placement you can have any hay at the bottom going inside the cage wire. I'm finding that my 7 week olds eat lots of hay but the adult rabbits eat very little. Bucky is a spoiled brat and he won't eat hay at all but I keep it available to him just in case he has a change of heart. :lol:

We make our own hay so I guess it's free if you don't count the costs for equipment, gas, etc.--and the price we get for what we sell instead of using. We go through a lot more than 2 bales with just 2 does, a buck, and the kits growing out. The hay gives me confidence that they are getting enough to eat. When they stop eating hay or we start seeing cecotropes we cut back a bit on the other things we feed. If they're cleaning out their hay feeders, we up their other feed. We use a larger version of Grumpy's hay feeder. Or for cages that are beside each other, a few inches apart, we've made a wire sort of cradle between them to hold hay for both cages.
 
Just thought this would be the perfect place for the hay mangers I made. I used scape wire that was left after building the cages we needed. :p
006 (400x300).jpg
003 (400x300).jpg
001 (400x300).jpg

Overall I have spent $80 out of pocket for wire, clips and pliers and still have enough of the new wire to build another large cage. Have enough of the old/recycled wire to build 2 more large cages. With another investment of $20 we could have a total of 3 more cages. I love recycling. :p :cheer2:
 
WhWRabbitry":25d9zsob said:
Great job! Being resourceful is a wonderful thing.

I don't know if others have thought of this but I actually use suet cake bird feeders for the hay!
I'll have to take a picture sometime to show exactly how I use them but basically I have ones similar to this photo that I just don't latch all the way together. I latch but leaving space.
I bought a bunch of them on clearance for like $1.50 each! They have a hanging chain and it loops right through the side wire on the cage and hangs.


images

I actually went out and bought two large suet feeders yesterday :) I got them at Lowes, so I thought they were kind of pricey at about $6/each, but that's about what I would pay for a hay feeder anyway. They seem to work really well. There is one side that unlatches and I made that the 'top'. I folded the lid on the feeder back and just left it open so the bunnies can more easily pull the hay out. I used a combination of the hooks on the side of the feeder and the chain to secure it to the side of the cage, letting it hang on the inside. Bunnies seem to like it and I think it will keep the hay contained better than what I was using before. :)
 
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