Longevity of Hay in an Outdoor Hutch

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This topic has 2sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 6 months ago by sarahthegemini.

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- 10/10/2017 at 10:50 PM
  Snidget
  Participant
  1 posts
  Hi All!
  
  I’m hoping someone here can shed some light on my hay issue. I have two young rabbits (just about 7 months now), who have finally been neutered and made it out into the hutch I built. They were outside last week with no issues, but I had to feed them up to head elsewhere for Thanksgiving. I was away 3 days. ALL of the hay was moist when I got back. Even the hay on the carpet and in the feeder. It DID rain while we were gone, but the interior of the hutch is completely dry. I assume the hay just soaked up the moisture from the humid air… obviously the best thing to do is only feed as much as they’ll eat in a given timeframe, but certainly people ‘overfeed’ hay for a day or two’s excursion. ?? I have a house bunny as well and have never run across this problem inside (where the air humidity is regulated), nor has the timothy sitting in my garage had any issues (no air regulation save for closed doors).
  
  What do people with outdoor rabbits do? The hutch is raised 28″ and insulated on the bottom. Thankfully a friend of mine checked on them while we were away and gave them some fresh hay, but the rate of moisture absorption really threw me. Is there anything that can be done to combat this?
- 10/11/2017 at 11:18 AM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  Moist hay is bad hay and needs to be thrown out asap. It can get your rabbits very sick if they eat it, especially if its been sitting out for days while wet. Dry hay in the hutch should be removed and replaces every one to two days to avoid bugs.
  
  Your hutch is built wrong if moisture can get locked inside, even if its only seemingly on the hay. Youll need to work on better insulation, covering, packing, ect to ensure the hutch and everything in it stays dry.
- 10/11/2017 at 11:51 AM
  sarahthegemini
  Participant
  5584 posts
  Moisture shouldn’t be getting in to the hutch at all. May I ask, why do you have an indoor bunny but these are kept outside? I’d also hesitate to leave bunnies alone for 2 days. If I had to leave my bunnies for 2 days, I’d ensure someone was looking after them. I wouldn’t need to overfeed them…
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