oh! The wasted hay!

[TF3]

"I'm sure there are starving bunnies in the wild who would appreciate all that hay you bunnies waste!" :lol:

We have wire cages-- hit me with your favourite hay delivery methods!
Homemade/DIY or purchased. I have FG, meat mutts and Hlops so amounts of hay vary widely!

 

[Zass]

My current method.
Plastic organizer basket from dollar tree. A shallow, solid bottomed one with perforated or latticed sides, something like this object:
http://www.nbtopgear.com/products/Plast ... 67714.html
or this: http://home-wholesale-dropship.doba.com ... 659743.php
Cut away one side, zip tie to outside of cage with cut away portion facing up.
Stuff with hay.
Much less waste than an all wire hay rack.

I totally saw someone else post pics of these in their rabbitry and copied the idea.

 

[TF3]

Clever! And they come in lots of sizes!

 

[akane]

For the rabbits I pitch it in. $10/50lb bales and total usage is less than my horses would waste so it doesn't seem that expensive to me. For the chinchillas (who eat $1/lb hay) we made shallow, tall wood boxes with the front open and then drilled holes through the sides and slid in wooden dowels. They pull hay between the rungs. We also drilled a hole in the back to slide a bolt through it and screw it to the cage wire. Some 2x4s, a box of penny nails, and some $.10 wooden dowels.

 

[grumpy]

This might help:
hayrack-feeder-t17591.html

 

[Susie570]

For the rabbits I pitch it in. $10/50lb bales and total usage is less than my horses would waste so it doesn't seem that expensive to me. For the chinchillas (who eat $1/lb hay) we made shallow, tall wood boxes with the front open and then drilled holes through the sides and slid in wooden dowels. They pull hay between the rungs. We also drilled a hole in the back to slide a bolt through it and screw it to the cage wire. Some 2x4s, a box of penny nails, and some $.10 wooden dowels.

The chins don't eat the hay boxes? :shock: <br /><br /> -- Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:07 am -- <br /><br /> I've been using large suet feeders, as recommended by someone here. They are pretty cheap and they hold a lot of hay. The rabbits still waste hay, they dig at them and the hay falls down, through the wire floor, into the pan below.

Since the hay is still clean, I've been 'recycling' and grabbing the hay back out of the pan and stuffing it back into the feeder. I always check to make sure it isn't wet, so I guess that's ok. Sometimes I just shove a handful of hay into the cages. They seem to enjoy that (especially River, 'nest maker extraordinaire'). :roll: Some rabbits enjoy a small cardboard box stuffed with hay, others will just dig it all out.

Rabbits are strange.

 

[HOWsMom]

I use suet feeders for my degus - it's hit and miss for waste, but it's what I have

 

[TF3]

Awesome!
I think I'll keep tossing it in for the brood does/kits but the bucks and the rest are going to get something... Hay has been poor the last two years here and it is pricey and people are hoarding it (and this year is not promising!). So I'd like it to go a little further and I need something for the worst offenders (scatter and gone!).
This has got me all set for a project

 

[Miss M]

Mine are homemade floor wire ones. We do have wasted hay, but it gets composted by the chickens who have the run of the rabbitry.

Sounds like one of the more solid options might be better for controlling lost hay, though.

 

[akane]

Chins eat the top rung of the hay feeders. If the hole gets big enough and they start on the 2nd rung we tap it out and cut a chunk off those cheap rods again and tap the new on in.

 

[funnies50]

My current method.
Plastic organizer basket from dollar tree. A shallow, solid bottomed one with perforated or latticed sides, something like this object:
http://www.nbtopgear.com/products/Plast ... 67714.html
or this: http://home-wholesale-dropship.doba.com ... 659743.php
Cut away one side, zip tie to outside of cage with cut away portion facing up.
Stuff with hay.
Much less waste than an all wire hay rack.

I totally saw someone else post pics of these in their rabbitry and copied the idea.

Ooh, clever idea.

I was just gonna put the hay on da floor, buuuuut........

 

[TF3]

The dollar store baskets work really well!!

 

[Susie570]

As a recent improvement, my boyfriend suggested using the chain on the suet feeders to hang them from the CENTER of the cages, instead of the outside edge, so wasted hay falls to the cage floor instead of MY floor. :lol:

Clever boy.

So far, the rabbits seem to enjoy it and the feeders are no harder to fill.

 

[funnies50]

On an unrelated note, I was wondering how much hay you'd feed a baby bunny? I know they can go through it pretty fast, so jw.

 

[Susie570]

On an unrelated note, I was wondering how much hay you'd feed a baby bunny? I know they can go through it pretty fast, so jw.

As much as they want to eat.
A bunny should always have as much hay as it wants to eat.

 

[funnies50]

I see.
I'm just worried about getting a totally overweight bun...that can be a little difficult on 1. your back 2. your social life
:yes:

 

[Susie570]

I see.
I'm just worried about getting a totally overweight bun...that can be a little difficult on 1. your back 2. your social life
:yes:

Lol it's not good for rabbits to be overweight, but in my understanding, they won't get overweight on hay. Unless maybe it's alfalfa hay.

 

[skysthelimit]

I hate hay. hard to get, harder to keep and no matter the delivery it's mostly wasted here. Makes me itch and mostly makes great nesting spots for mice.
I went 2 years without it.

I finally found somewhere to get it under $14. There are hay feeders on almost every cage. This new group, they eat hay, they like it more than pellets Except the Sable Rex, he never goes near his hay, and the Angora buck, he tosses it around like he's nesting then lays on it.

 

[funnies50]

What kinda hay are they supposed to eat?

Alfalfa hay....den wut's normal hay?
And any info on pellets?

 

[skysthelimit]

What kinda hay are they supposed to eat?

Alfalfa hay....den wut's normal hay?
And any info on pellets?

alfalfa, timothy, orchard, clover, brome, costal, blends or these, others I don't know about, or what every hay you can find.

Pellets are an all together other matter, many types. i believe if you type in best pellet in the search box it will explode with many posts on what is the "best" pellet and how to make the choice.