Hay waste

[coffeenutdesigns]

I like to free feed hay, but a lot of it falls through the cage floor onto the ground or in the poop bins. How do you guys keep the hay waste down and out of the poop you are planning to use for fertilizer? It takes longer to break down hay than pure poop.

 

[skysthelimit]

I haven't has it be much of a problem.

 

[Teddy2511]

Hm, I'm curious too... I tend to get a lot of wasted hay falling through my floor wire as well.

 

[Secuono]

I only use alfalfa/timothy horse cubes. They have other cubes, but this mix is the cheapest and nearly all gets eaten.
Hay is 50% or more wasted, never use hay anymore other than in the nest.

 

[mystang89]

I use some of the homemade hay holders you see floating around here which has cut down on the amount of waste but even with what does end up falling in with the droppings I don't take it out. Never has effected it much for me as I just throw the hay on what I want the poop on too. Acts as a kind of blanket in my opinion though my mom says it will lead to hay being grown too. Win/win!

 

[Dood]

I put the hay on top of the rabbit cages so they must pull it through the 1x1 bars. Some does end up on the floor but not much and it is usually just bits and not long strands.

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

Note the feeder on the left of the cage. This saves a ton of hay.

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

Note the feeder on the left of the cage. This saves a ton of hay.

That is a nice hay holder. What about pens with multiple babies?

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

A bigger feeder on the grow out cages would be a good idea. For when the kits are real small tossing alil on the cage floor isnt to big of a waste imo. Just thought I would add the rabbit has to pull the hay through cage wire I did not cut out the cage wire. The rabbit on bottom without the hay feeder waste about 3-4X more hay than the one with it. I know some on here really dont like wire cloth but it works really well for this in my limited experience and I plan to put these on the rest of my cages within the week.

 

[Miss M]

Note the feeder on the left of the cage. This saves a ton of hay.

Mine are made of 1" x 1/2" floor wire, and that works pretty well, but that 1/2" x 1/2" hardware cloth would allow even less waste.

Same as you... the rabbits have to pull the hay through the 1" x 2" cage wire.

 

[skysthelimit]

mine's pull it through just for fun. I use the bird feeders.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I have an appointment on Tuesday with an attorney to start the patent process on the hay feeder I designed.

Hopefully I will be marketing them soon, and save us all a ton of money on wasted hay.

 

[Marinea]

I have an appointment on Tuesday with an attorney to start the patent process on the hay feeder I designed.

Hopefully I will be marketing them soon, and save us all a ton of money on wasted hay.

Wow! I can't wait to see that! Put me down for four to start with. Wait...make that six (I'll have popples some day *sigh*).

Wait, I have a quarantine cage...better make it seven. Yeah, seven is good for now. Are they going to come in colors? They have to coordinate with my cages you know

*said by the lady with one rabbit at the moment*

 

[faiththequeen]

Awesome! Can't wait! You always have great ideas, so I'm sure it will be great. Can't wait til I can buy some

 

[Beekeeper10]

I was just thinking about building some hay racks. opcorn:

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I made some temporary ones out of 2" x 4" welded wire fencing that work quite well. There is still loss of the leaf, but I gather it up and give it to the horses.

 

[mattdv]

I used the 2x4 wire fencing method I found in these forums and picked up a few rectangular plates from the dollar store for right underneath so the hay leaves are not wasted through the bottom of the cage. I had originally used the brown clay ones but the rough texture and the light weight let the rabbits toss them around the cage which defeated the purpose.

Matt