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How do you offer hay to your buns?

B

Bitzy

Mama Doe
:wave:

Since my two have been indoors (for the winter) I've been struggling to find a good way of feeding them their hay.

When they were in the aviary outside they had their litter tray full of hay with a manger above it downstairs and upstairs they had a big pile of 'posh' hay! They NEVER pooped upstairs but always ate their posh hay and some of their baled hay.

Now they're indoors they're completely ignoring the hay manger and if I put a pile of 'posh' hay on the floor they just poop all over the place whilst they eat (which I understand is normal rabbit behaviour) ....... so the only other idea I had was to just put the posh hay on top of the baled hay in the litter tray.

However, even though their litter tray is quite big (an under bed storage box) they don't tend to poop in one place and eat from another, they just randomly poop all over the litter tray and I'm worried that they may eat 'contaminated' hay. So am basically after more ideas as to how to offer it them?? Or is it fine to only have it in their litter tray??

Sorry for the lengthy post! :oops:

Jo x
 
Bitzy said:
:wave:

Since my two have been indoors (for the winter) I've been struggling to find a good way of feeding them their hay.

When they were in the aviary outside they had their litter tray full of hay with a manger above it downstairs and upstairs they had a big pile of 'posh' hay! They NEVER pooped upstairs but always ate their posh hay and some of their baled hay.

Now they're indoors they're completely ignoring the hay manger and if I put a pile of 'posh' hay on the floor they just poop all over the place whilst they eat (which I understand is normal rabbit behaviour) ....... so the only other idea I had was to just put the posh hay on top of the baled hay in the litter tray.

However, even though their litter tray is quite big (an under bed storage box) they don't tend to poop in one place and eat from another, they just randomly poop all over the litter tray and I'm worried that they may eat 'contaminated' hay. So am basically after more ideas as to how to offer it them?? Or is it fine to only have it in their litter tray??

Sorry for the lengthy post! :oops:

Jo x
Click to expand...

I've asked this one before too Jo :wave:

They won't eat any hay thats contaminated :) It won't 'smell' right.

B&G have hay (sometimes, long story) in their litter tray and they just eat what they want and poop/wee where their bums are, Biscuit tends to use a corner, but Ginger goes where shes sat.

Does that help?
 
Ha ha thanks - I've asked before too! lol

As long as they won't eat anything contaminated I spose its ok then ..... I'll just make sure I keep topping it up with both baled and posh hay!

Was worried that they might not eat enough because they'd pooped/pee'd on it :?(although to be fair they do tend to pee in the corners, its just the poops they like to spread around)!! :lol:
 
Bunski has all of his in his litter tray. I bought him a hay manger and he refuses to eat hay from it. I always fill it up just in case :roll:

I guess he doesn't eat the hay he pee'd on!
 
Thats how mine are, they have a large dog basket with hay at both ends and they trawl their way through it pooping away as they go! They do seem to have a particular area which they like to wee in, Daisy with bum over the edge :roll: and Dudley at the back of the basket so not really at the ends where the hay is. But they drag the hay around in the basket and poo on it. I change it once a day. Their posh hay goes in a large plastic dog bowl and I put it on the floor near the hay basket they do poop around it as they munch but no wee so its easy to clean up with a handheld vac... its quite satisfying hearing the little bullets fly into the vac :lol:
 
yeah mine did the same, i tried hayracks but they rarely ate out of it.. I do find using a grassy ball (like those hamster toys they can climb into) and stuffing it with hay they will pull it out but then they poo on the floor.
 
I just throw some in their cage and put some on top of their cage because they like to reach up and pull it through the bars. They just rip down hay racks and I feel like they probably eat hay better this way when its just scattered about. When they're bonded and free range 24/7 together I'll have one big littertray full of hay.
 
I now use underbed storage boxes and litter boxes for hay and replace the whole lot daily. Most of mine refuse to eat out of racks! I do have a trio who is happy too though :)
 
I put hay everywhere on the floor because of Molly's sore hocks, so they eat from the floor. Even if I put "posh" hay in a hayball, they won't eat it, only from the floor. Mine poo everywhere and still eat the hay, so don't worry about "contaminated" hay. It's very unlikely rabbits will eat hay that they have weed on.
 
We buy those cheap wicker paper baskets from Asda when they have them in and we fill them with hay and put them in the bunnies play areas as they can pull the hay out and nibble on the basket as well. Or I save little carboard boxes and just stuff hay in them and put them in their hutches/indoor cages with the buns. Toilet roll inners are another favourite stuffed with hay as they can toss them about and I also save muller lite yogurt pots and stuff with hay as they love them as well. :D
 
Spenser is an outdoor bun so not really relevant, but ... he will only eat posh hay from the floor of his hutch, not from a manger or bowl. He eats supermarket hay and straw from his litter bowl and I have seen him nom weed on pices with particular relish. :mrgreen:
 
Tuckerbunnies said:
We buy those cheap wicker paper baskets from Asda when they have them in and we fill them with hay and put them in the bunnies play areas as they can pull the hay out and nibble on the basket as well. Or I save little carboard boxes and just stuff hay in them and put them in their hutches/indoor cages with the buns. Toilet roll inners are another favourite stuffed with hay as they can toss them about and I also save muller lite yogurt pots and stuff with hay as they love them as well. :D
Click to expand...

Thanks, do they poop all over the gaff when eating from cardboard boxes etc?

I used to give them loo rolls with hay stuffed in but as they pooped everywhere when munching I stopped doing it .... happen I should stop being quite so anal (no pun intended) about where and when they poop!! Its not like its difficult to clean up is it! :?
 
susie bun said:
Spenser is an outdoor bun so not really relevant, but ... he will only eat posh hay from the floor of his hutch, not from a manger or bowl. He eats supermarket hay and straw from his litter bowl and I have seen him nom weed on pices with particular relish. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...


:lol: Oh bless!! :lol:
 
I use a hay rack. :oops:

They don't have any hay in their litter trays, it just has paper based litter in and they usually only go in it to relieve themselves.

They both don't mind the rack at all except that I placed it too high to begin with (that's having horses for you, though I fed my horse from the floor), it is a bar lower now and they're fine.

I refill it twice a day (re-stuff rather, they haven't usually finished it) and chuck any uneaten hay away the next morning to be replaced with fresh stuff. I have three different hays in at the moment so they get a bit of a combination - Western Timothy is on the way so hopefully they'll like that too.
 
I have underbed storage boxes and I top up the box with fresh hay twice a day usually. Sometimes I throw in some extra midday.
 
Thanks everyone! :D

I clean the litter tray out every day so if I just make sure its topped up twice a day will that be ok??

Think I'll go back to stuffing some loo rolls n yogurt pots etc with hay too and then just clean up the poops afterwards! :)
 
I provide them with the meadow hay and the expensive green oat hay at one end of their litter tray so they can eat and poo at the same time. :)
 
Bitzy said:
Thanks everyone! :D

I clean the litter tray out every day so if I just make sure its topped up twice a day will that be ok??

Think I'll go back to stuffing some loo rolls n yogurt pots etc with hay too and then just clean up the poops afterwards! :)
Click to expand...

I do mine every 2-3 days and the extra hay means they never come in contact with the soiled megazorb so I should think that would be fine.
 
I put hay in their litter trays, and on the floor in their crate, and in a big food bowl. They also have a large litter tray in the lounge that is filled with hay.
 
susie bun said:
and I have seen him nom weed on pices with particular relish. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

:lol::lol::lol:

I change Alfie and Bubbles' litter trays every day but, when I let the buns out for free range time, they always head straight for the litter trays from the day before (as I usually clean them out while in the garden supervising the buns) to have a munch on all the minging hay. :mrgreen: :lol:
 
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