using used hutch hay in garden?

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swaggymama

swaggymama

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Have any of you used the discarded hay/straw from cleaning out pens for garden use?

I was thinking that maybe we would be able to use the hay/straw pulled out to use as mulch in addition to using it in our compost pile...
 
yep! it did a great job of keeping moisture in my raised beds once i got hot. most of the hay my rabbits don't eat ends up in the poop piles, but discarded nests and old/spoiled hay from the bottom of the bin that got wet was great as mulch.
 
I put a lot of the stuff they waste ( a lot, I feed mostly forage and hay) on the grass and run it over with the lawn mower. When I don't have freshly harvested patches to do this it goes on the compost pile.
 
If it could have some weed seed you might want to compost it well. If it's a field maintained well or otherwise certified "weed free" it can be used without composting and minimal risk of gaining unwanted plants. A lot of grass hay sold locally is basically weed hay of whatever in the heck popped up between crop fields and got baled so you can end up with thistles and other nasty things. Weed free straw and hay in small amounts can be mixed in or used over top for suppressing weeds and retaining moisture and heat.

The manure part is perfectly fine added straight to the soil or composted. Most small herbivore droppings break down without harming plants and make a good slow release fertilizer. It's more other things with it that may need composting.
 
Everything from the pans goes straight to the garden. I’ve dug out about a 50 x 50 ft space a few inches and i’m laying straight hay and manure for my base layer for the vegetable garden next year. It’s also great to protect young perennial vegetables and fruit trees without established root systems from their first winters in the ground. I’ve got about a foot of hay/manure over my new fruit trees, artichoke plants, and berry bushes because we’ve already had snow, twice so far and more expected on halloween.

I’m on a permaculture/gardening group and laying straw as the base layer of a hot bed is very popular! It retains moisture to help with hot dry summers. I don’t see why grass hay should be any different.
 
This is my main Purpose for raising rabbits, that along with worms, is to naturally fertilize my garden, orchard, and lots.
it is the perfect fertilizer when used with the earth worm to produce humus in my opinion. There are records of pastures hundreds of years old maintained this way that are more productive today than before. Read “Pay Dirt” by J. I. Rodale.
 

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