Hay waste management

[michaels4gardens]

One of the frustrating things about feeding hay, Especially Alfalfa hay for me is all the waste, I have a system that stops almost all leaf loss and most of the stem loss, -- I put a tray under the hay manger that catches the leaf so they can eat it out of the tray and not let it fall to the ground.It is made from 4" metal framing material, , "top plate" it is about 4 " wide and an inch deep, and runs almost the length of the back cage wall- The back cage wall is the hay manger, so they pull the hay through the 1x2 inch wire to eat it. -<br /><br />__________ Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:15 pm __________<br /><br />another picture of the cages

 

[Miss M]

Niiiiice... that looks like it works really well!

 

[michaels4gardens]

as you can see from the picture, the does like the top shelf the best--

 

[dayna]

I really like the looks of your cages and would love to see more photos.

I'm planning the next phase of cages for here in Hawaii and am looking at a variety of options.

 

[michaels4gardens]

My cages are built in a group of 6 [using 16 foot lumber] I used 3 foot high 1x2" wire, and 2 foot wide 1/2 x 1" on the bottom,There is a 1 foot wide perch in the cage at 1 foot, and at 2 feet high. It gives them a lot of exercise, and makes for easier access to manger feed. The design allows me to fill the manger in the back of the cage with a lot of feed, [as it takes a lot of green feed for a doe and a big litter].The manger has a metal cover to keep rain, snow, and sun off the feed.
The cages have a metal roof , the roof hangs over in the front about 10 inches, and in the back just an inch to cover ,the manger cover metal, so rain doesn't leak into the hay.

__________ Fri Jan 17, 2014 11:29 am __________

These cages are refered to as "the rabbit condo's" by some of my friends

__________ Sat Jan 18, 2014 9:13 am __________

Local alfalfa hay is between 18 and 20 % protein,[so the locals tell me] I love this high mountain hay, the rabbits often leave their pellets in the feeder , and just browse on hay and corn stalks durring the day, but-- the pellets are always gone by the next day when i feed again, - I can get good leafy alfalfa hay for $10/bale [about 60 - 75 lbs] - and now that the rabbits are not wasting as much I have noticed the last 3 months, the hay has lasted about 3x as long as before. - so now it is a lot less money to feed hay then $20/ bag pellets.
I had no idea just how much I was wasting- before-- I wish I had thought of this years ago--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------just a side note- I feed a lot of dirt with my root crops , and weeds, , as I don't wash them off, -- I had a doe or two looking a little lean, and thought they may have picked some parasites, so-- I gave all of them a tablespoon of wormwood, on their "hay tray" and they all ate it, -- now-- 3 weeks later I can see the thin does are all gaining weight and look much better. [none of these does were pregnant, as wormwood may be a problem for pregnant does]

 

[RothsRabbits]

ok found the pics! very nice! more please.

 

[bunnygardener]

love the pics, mine waste a lot of hay also. I love you hay manger. How cold does it get where you are? I think I saw snow on the ground. what do you do for cold management? We recently moved to the mountains so I'm trying to figure out how to best handle winter temps.

 

[michaels4gardens]

cold--I have solid cover on the hay manger, and back of cages, as well as sides on north and south cage groups, -- so they have a wind break on both sides, It sometimes gets down to neg 15 or 20 F here, -- the rabbits do fine as long as they are out of the wind, -- when it gets real cold I hang a curtain in front of the cages at night to stop any wind and protect them some-- I do not breed in jan and feb -so- no litters are born in the bitter cold time. [feb and march] --the wood shelves the rabbits like to sit on are much warmer for them then sitting on wire on the bottom of a cage. I do not have any trouble from cold this way.