How do you feed hay? Toss it or specialized feeders?

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SaratogaNZW

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Saratoga Springs, UT
When you feed hay, timothy or alfalfa, do you use a special type of feeder that creates less waste, or just toss it in there?
I have always fed timothy with pellets, and I'm thinking about going natural, alfalfa and grains. I have always put a large handfull in the cage, set in front of the J-feeder for pellets. Some buns are great with eating it, and keeping it for later, and some scatter it and pee on it, wasting it. Some always falls through the cage and is wasted too.

Have you ever used a device specifically to feed hay and waste less, and what kind?
I was thinking about creating some little round mini-bale feeders out of leftover cage wire to fill with hay for them. Keeps them entertained AND feeds their hay!
 
feeder is cheap, usually spare/scrap wire, and keeps the mess down.
 
I built some hay lofts out of shelving grids and put cardboard around the ones inside so they can't shove hay out on the floor.
100_0550.jpg


The rabbits in wire bottom cages outside have similar haylofts. The ones in solid bottom cages I usually just throw it in especially now since they are packed full of straw anyway. When I was setting the colony up in a small building I put wire storage baskets up for the hay but when we moved them to the horse stable it was easier to throw a large cage pan down and put the hay on that. I do the same thing for my chickens. Their feeders and waterers sit on a rabbit cage pan and I throw treats on another one. It's an easy way to keep shavings from mixing with their food without having to make anything that is raised up off the floor.
 
I feed our hay that we make ourselves, just grass and weeds.
I don't have any waste because if it falls through I scoop it up and put it on our garden beds, and if there is clean hay that they haven't eaten I throw it in with the chickens. So all in all it works out perfectly. :)
 
My rabbits are hungry piggies and clean up almost anything I toss in, so I feed by just putting it in the front corner of the cage (furthest from the potty corner). One guy likes to lay on it and pee on it but he is little and old, so I am probably just over feeding him and he has a surplus...it all goes to the compost so I don't mind the spills. I have few buns, a bale lasts months.
 
When I had rabbits in cages, I just put the hay in the front corner. Some was wasted, but as others have commented, it all goes to compost and to the garden.

This winter I put my four adults into a colony in the goose house. I am using a medium sized dog crate for a hay silo. It is taking the rabbits some time to figure it out, so I have also been tossing some hay on top of the nest tunnels as well. This seems to be reducing the "waste".

When the hay builds up on the floor of the rabbit colony, I use the clean parts (all but the potty corner) for bedding for the geese and chickens. The geese go through a lot of bedding because they splash water about. The chickens use less, but they love to scratch about in it and eat anything edible like stray grains of wheat or bits of alfalfa. After the birds finish with it, it goes to compost and the garden... so no real waste.
 
To make a simple external hay rack we use left over cage wire.

The dimensions are 9" to 10" X 4" to 6" I've tried both these sizes and I like the 10"X6" the best but I make them smaller depending on the cage wire we have.

If you are using J-clips to attach then cut them exactly 10 X 6 if not cut them 11 X 6 and remove the center wires at the top so that the wire looks like this:

|.....| Bend these two wires in a J shape to hang externally on the cage
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
------- Bend in a round J shape beginning here
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------

The hay is help in place by the J shaped cradle and it leans against the outside of the cage. The rabbits have no trouble eating it and the hay stays clean. I may post an actual photo later.
 
I have hay racks for each cage. My buns seem to waste much less with the hay racks than when I put it on the floor of the cage.
 
Thanks for all the helpfull responses.

Having never used a hay rack feeder, the only question I still have is:
Large breeds dont have any problem pulling the hay as they want it through the 2"x1" wire cage sides? I guess they eat it off the cage floor the same way, one stick at a time =)

And FWIW, When I say "waste" I just mean the same that you do, I think. Its not really wasted, but its not being used for what I bought it for. It falls through the cage bottom (I still use pans) into the poopy pan, and then into the compost every other weekend. When I do empty pans, I hate seeing hay that was edible going into the compost.

I think I will make some about 8x10 j-shaped hay racks to hang on the outside of the growout pens. For my mature breeding bucks and does, I will probably make a little ~3 inch tall by 5 inch long round (cylindrical) hay feeder, for them to roll and toss around, filled with hay. It will be more work for me to grind sharp edges off and J-clip them together, and then to retrieve them and re-stuff them daily, but since I have cut back on the number of breeders I keep, The ones I do keep are worth it =)
 
I think it makes a difference in what kind of hay you are feeding. Grass hay is usually inexpensive, and if one isn't using cages with trays, it can be simply tossed in the cage easier than anything. If one is feeding expensive "horse grade" alfalfa, lespedeza, or clover, you will loose many of the leaves (which have the most protein). While this makes a great nitrogen supplement for the garden, it is quite expensive. They make sheet metal hay feeders which will help and one can lay a small board or something similar in front of those feeders that will catch more of it before it falls through. If one has hay that good, they probably don't need pellets.

The hay I use is first cutting red clover hay, which means it is about 3/4 grass. It is cheap, and the grass holds the clover in (which they eat first). This is just a lucky thing, since I ran into a farmer down the road that sells it. When I had "good" hay, it was much more expensive, and I was always trying to find ways to be parsimonious.
 
Right now it doesn't seem expensive, to pay between 6 and 9 bucks for a compressed bale of certified weed-free timothy hay, which lasts me a month. When I switch to alfalfa, I will be looking to get it more than one bale at a time, from one of my neighbors.
Hopefully it will be cheaper in the long run to mix my own BOSS/COB feed and alfalfa hay than to feed pellets. I also found a pelleted feed that is 50% alfalfa hay and 50% grain mix to help them in the process of moving to a more natural diet.
 
I always feed the Hay in a Hay-rack,
the reason for this is:
When hay is tossed in on the cage floor it is easily
soiled and then eaten. This will bring on bouts of
intestinal illness. I find it more efficient to invest in
or build hay-racks than coping with disease which would
not even make an appearance were it not for tossing hay
on the cage floor and giving disease a chance to flourish.
As always, JMPO.
Ottersatin. :eek:ldtimer:
 
I put mine directly on the cage floor too, generally up against the cage wall as much as possible to discourage them trompling it too fast. My floor bunnies clean up the better stuff that gets dropped, even though they have their own hay. Probably not the best for them, but it IS efficient!
 
tagra123":3pgxscdg said:
To make a simple external hay rack we use left over cage wire.

The dimensions are 9" to 10" X 4" to 6" I've tried both these sizes and I like the 10"X6" the best but I make them smaller depending on the cage wire we have.

If you are using J-clips to attach then cut them exactly 10 X 6 if not cut them 11 X 6 and remove the center wires at the top so that the wire looks like this:

|.....| Bend these two wires in a J shape to hang externally on the cage
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
------- Bend in a round J shape beginning here
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------

The hay is help in place by the J shaped cradle and it leans against the outside of the cage. The rabbits have no trouble eating it and the hay stays clean. I may post an actual photo later.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do. I thought I was a total genius for the invention...lol. I have just gone back to feeding hay daily rather than a couple times a week and am remembering how much nicer the wasted hay made the clean up when I was doing it before. It absorbs some of the urine and the barn floor stays much nicer for it!
 
I have some rabbits who have hay racks, and some who don't...Sometimes I'll be in a hurry, so I just toss it in all the cages, regardless of those with hay racks. Usually they still have some left in the racks anyway, so if they want to eat that, they can.

Emily
 
tagra123":25adn1gc said:
To make a simple external hay rack we use left over cage wire.

The dimensions are 9" to 10" X 4" to 6" I've tried both these sizes and I like the 10"X6" the best but I make them smaller depending on the cage wire we have.

If you are using J-clips to attach then cut them exactly 10 X 6 if not cut them 11 X 6 and remove the center wires at the top so that the wire looks like this:

|.....| Bend these two wires in a J shape to hang externally on the cage
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
------- Bend in a round J shape beginning here
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------
| | | |
-------

The hay is help in place by the J shaped cradle and it leans against the outside of the cage. The rabbits have no trouble eating it and the hay stays clean. I may post an actual photo later.
Click to expand...
I would really like to see photos of this! :)
 
Heres what I ended up making. I just had some old pieces that I had cut out for, or from cage doors that I trimmed down. Most of them dont have the big open space at the bottom like this one, but you get the idea. The hooked ends hold it on the inside of the cage, or door, depending on the size of the cage. I usually have a little board underneath it too, since I moved to alfalfa hay and alot of the "good stuff" leaves and such will fall through.
The bunnies are tolerating the change so far pretty well. Free feed alfalfa hay, then the mix is now 1 part COB+Molasses, one part BOSS, and 2 parts 16% pellets. Next batch will be 1:1:1. A batch should last about a month, making about 120# or 50+/- gallons of feed.
Anyways, Pics!

The flat pattern
flat_pattern.jpg


The finished product, laying horizontal
horizontal.jpg


The Finished Product, As it will be hung
verticle.jpg
 
Im glad you had pictures! I made the same thing, different wire, and was certain I had some pictures, but alas, I have none. :(
 

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