looking for the perfect hay grate and catcher.

[Adam]

I have tried 3 or 4 different configurations for feeding hay to my bunnies, and all of them have massive problems. 

 

The problem is that the hay goes everywhere when I try to move it, it goes every where when they try to eat it (because they love throwing it everywhere), and where there is hay, the bunnies will pee, and pee’d on hay is really annoying to deal with.

So my current idea is to keep the hay just in the box it was shipped it.  Use a utility knife to cut a large square hole in it, then cover that hole with a metal grate.  The grate has to be close to perfect.  It has to give them enough width to stick their snouts in to grab the hay, but not enough to get stuck or get all the way in. 

 Underneath that needs to be a catch.  This can be the part I clean daily.  It catches the hay that gets spilled.  It has to be narrow enough to let the bunnies get to the hay, but deep enough to catch.  I’m thinking 2 or so inches.  It’s height can vary.   It’s width needs to at least match that of the grate. 

 So I don’t really know what I’m looking for in terms of shopping terms etc.  Help me find these things?

 

Thank you

[Vienna Blue in France]

LOL – …
I made a hay holder which is permanent. My bun takes out hay and not much falls down…. not enough to make me clean out the litter tray more than I do anyway….
I agree with putting all hay directly in the litter tray is a recipe for very quick dirty hay. Not good and not healthy.
If mine had a tray that caught the falling hay she’d have several good tugs at it before it broke away… ;o/

I suggest (I know you probably won’t like it) putting a litter tray under the hay dispenser. Then bunnies chomp and poop at the same time, which is what they always do and any falling hay will just fall in the litter.

If you come up with a DIY solution, we’d love to see what you came up with!

[Adam]

Basically, the hay falling into the litter easily doubles how long it takes to change their litter because of the way it sticks to the box.

I used a large magazine rack with some modifications to hold the hay. It’s not easy to load up though, and my rabbits chew up and then let fall on the ground like half of the actual hay product. It’s really wasteful. I ordered 70 pounds of hay a little over 4 months ago. I’m down to prob 15~ pounds. I don’t know if a pound of hay per week per bunny is normal.

I think I will use existing grates (cooling racks), cut out some of the wires to improve the width. Still need something to keep hay off the ground, because that’s when they decide to pee in it. I might still put it in front of the litter boxes, but not without a catching tray.

[vanessa]

I don’t know… I put a layer of hay in their litter box, and a fresh hay rack where they can only reach it from inside their box. The hay from the rack falls into the litterbox. The box has puppy pee pad, then wood shavings, then a grate to keep their feet off wet bedding, then hay to keep their feet off the grate. Some types of hay make it difficult – the soft Orchard hay is easy to clean out. The harder timothy stalks can be tricky. I grab the 4 corners of the puppy pee pad, and lift the whole mess out and drop it in a grocery bag to trash/compst. The timothy hay stalks sometimes poke through the bag.

I’m not sure what would work best for you. A narrow “bucket” might not catch all the hay, since they like to drag and toss hay around. A wider bucked would catch more, but might get in their way of eating. The only thing I can think of is to allow the hay to be caught up in the litter, and perhaps use a softer hay if it makes cleaning easier.

[Deleted User]

Vanessa, what are you using as a grate in the box? Please!? I had the same set up, using a grate from Binky Bunny (which I highly recommend) but that grate gave up after years of devoted service, and with the Canadian dollar so low and shipping from the U.S. so high I’m looking around for an more affordable alternative closer to home. Naturally it has to have just the right size grating so I’m finding it a bit of a challenge and would be thrilled to receive Any and ALL suggestions!

Thanks,
Grey Dove

[vanessa]

I use a fluorescent light diffuser from home depot. It costs $12 US dollars. Perhaps you have something similar in your stores? The openings are 5/8 inch so even with a layer of hay on top, poop still manages to get shoved through. The plastic edges are hard, so I put hay down on top of the grate to protect their feet. I read the comment about dirty hay, but I give my bunnies an extra hay rack so they always have clean hay. They choose to eat the clean hay over the dirty hay. With this arrangement, I clean their boxes every 2 days. 1st night = clean, 2nd night = add wood shavings under the grid and fresh hay on top.
The grate is about 2ftx4ft. I use 1 grate for 2 litter boxes. It’s easy to cut using a set of wire cutters or a hacksaw.
If you look in this same thread for a post of mine called “pics of my bunnys litter box”, you can see the setup. It’s about a page behind this post.

[Deleted User]

Thank You Vanessa! Our set ups sound very similar which is why I asked about your grating! This gives me somewhere to look since finding one with the right size holes/grates was a challenge. I really appreciate the tip! I always covered the grate I had with hay so if necessary I can just add a little extra. Sounds perfect!
Sincerely,
Grey Dove

[Author]

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