Where to keep the hay

[della luna]

 My loverly bun (who I’m still not sure if I’ll be keeping! >.>) has only been with me for a few days, and one of my biggest frustrations has been how she manages to get the hay EVERYWHERE haha.  I mean, I’m finding it in remote corners of my bedroom lol.  I’ve discovered that she doesn’t like her hay to actually be in the litterbox, but quite near it.  However, I’ve been keeping it in a small bin, which isn’t really working.  When the hay gets too low, she flips the bin over so she can reach inside, which results in hay flying everywhere.  I don’t want to tie it in place, though, because I don’t want her to have to work too hard to get at it.  Does anyone here use hay racks?  I was thinking I may be able to hang a rack next to her litterbox…

thanks for input

[mocha200]

I use hay racks for both my buns, i think they work pretty good.

[Elrohwen]

I use this as a hay rack: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/pro…SKU=118935

It’s not perfect though – a fair amount of hay falls out the bottom. I find that to be a problem with all hay racks though unless they’re positioned over the litterbox so the fallen hay doesn’t matter. I would prefer a bin, just haven’t gotten around to getting one.

Can I ask why you’re not sure if you’re keeping your bun? I think I missed your story about how you got him.

[TARM]

All of my bunnies have hay racks but I don’t think there is a way to keep 100% of the hay in it until/unless it’s eaten.

[della luna]

Yeah I didn’t expect ALL of the hay to stay in place with a rack, it’d just be nice to have some of it stay contained >.>

Elohwen- I wasn’t sure whether I was going to be able to keep her because she actually belonged to my neighbors. I found her roaming loose in my front yard last week. I found out today, though, that they didn’t want her and were willing to give her to me

[wendyzski]

I’m allergic to timothy hay so planning for hay control was a large part of my preparation to get a bunny in the first place.

When I first got Pepper she had a condo-style cage in the kitchen,  and I built a “hay rack” by zip-tying a cardboard box to the side of the cage, above the litterbox.

When we finally went free-range I experimented with a couple of different arrangements, and finally settled on this:

The sides, back and sloping bottom are made of wood scraps and the front is NIC grids.

This is the back – you can sort of see that the bottom is higher in the back, so that the sloping bottom tips all the leftover bits into the litterbox (or at least somewhere in the general vicinity)

 

[Elrohwen]

That’s great that you’ll be able to keep her! I did remember after I wrote that that you found her in your yard. Her owners probably set her free because they didn’t want her anymore 🙁

[MooBunnay]

I also use hay racks for my bunnies – but for my real digger bunnies I use a covered cat litterbox. I have the big igloo one that has a ramp, and I just pile the hay up in there. Then they usually use one side of the box as a potty and the other side has the hay that they eat.

[Deleted User]

Hay racks are basic rabbit equipment, I have a couple for mine, too. They do leak hay fines and rabbits may dig hay out of them so it is best to place them above their litterboxes.

This hay box from SaveABunny is as clean a hay solution as you will get.

It is for sale on Etsy but you could build it yourself, I’m sure.

My rabbits, like most, prefer eating hay off the ground so I have a small cage that I stuff with hay once a day and they can do whatever in there.

 

[Chilly's Mom]

my boyfriend ziptied the hay rack to the cage because Chilly kept trying to eat from the top of the rack, making a mess all around by flipping the darn thing. Since it’s now secured all is well. Only problem now is Chilly digs all the hay out of the hopper and spreads all the grass on the floor. Bunnies!!!

[Wasabi]

Posted By wendyzski on 01/18/2010 09:37 PM

When I first got Pepper she had a condo-style cage in the kitchen,  and I built a “hay rack” by zip-tying a cardboard box to the side of the cage, above the litterbox.

^That’s what I used to do with mine. I’d take a 12 can soda box and stuff hay in it, cut like a bunny-size hole in the side that would be facing the cage, and just stuff hay in at the top where the box had been originally opened and clip it to the side of the cage. At the moment though I don’t have any cages that let me do that setup, so I just take a empty soda box (which are mostly those 24 can sized ones) and stuff them with hay. They’ll munch on them till they eat enough that they’ll then sit inside of it and munch from there lol. So far it hasn’t been very messy. 

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