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Hay Question

How do you know if your buns are eating enough?

Marley and Dolly dont even eat a full rack a day (i use half moon wall baskets). They are only small, but surely they should at least be eating 1 rack a day!? :shock:

They have a small hay rack in the run too which they nibble on, but again that always seems to be full!

As far as pellets go they get a table spoon each per day and a cup of veg between them on an evening. They occasionally have treats like fenugreek crunchies and wagg apple bakes but they never have more than 1 a day.
 
I would look at their output and see what it looks like. Golden and round is indicative of a large hay consumption.
 
I would look at their output and see what it looks like. Golden and round is indicative of a large hay consumption.

They have more space now, and when they were indoors they were in a 6x2 pen when i was out of the house. This gave them plenty of time to sit and munch their hay. Now they have a 5x4 playhouse and attached 6x4 run i dont see them munching as much.

Their poos are golden still, but there are a lot more small dark ones than there used to be.
 
Try putting some on the floor. My buns hate hay racks and eat hardly any out of them but they eat loads when I give a pile.
 
Do they have grass as well? Whereabouts do you put the hay? Like inside or outside? where do they spend most of their time?
 
Do they have grass as well? Whereabouts do you put the hay? Like inside or outside? where do they spend most of their time?

They dont have access to grass unless i give them readigrass as a treat. Im going to be needing my puppy pens over the next month or so, but after this they will be on the grass 2 days a week. The hay is by the cat flap on the inside and also at the front of the run in a small hay rack.

Last few days ive caught them in the playhouse more often, but they are flopped out, the rest of the time they sit in the run. Ive been locking them in the PH on a night though to give them a chance to eat more.
 
I'd say to get creative. My bunnies eat far more hay when its in their litter trays, so that would be my first tip, and then maybe have a litter tray inside and maybe two smaller ones outside (I've used washing up bowls for The Swarming and apparently you can fit more bunnies in a washing up bowl together than I realised :lol:, or under bed storage boxes, or because its outside, just normal cat litter trays can work too).
 
Buckley prefers it if he can poop on it first :shock:
He's also ignore his hay rack but go mad for a new pile.
We gave him a hay cookie the other day and he thoroughly enjoyed ripping and chewing the :censored: out of it haha
 
I'd say to get creative. My bunnies eat far more hay when its in their litter trays, so that would be my first tip, and then maybe have a litter tray inside and maybe two smaller ones outside (I've used washing up bowls for The Swarming and apparently you can fit more bunnies in a washing up bowl together than I realised :lol:, or under bed storage boxes, or because its outside, just normal cat litter trays can work too).

Okie doke. they used to have it in the trays, but i was wasting loads of hay. I guess ill go back to that way and use the basket for treat hay. I gave them 3 slices of hay not so long ago and Dolly sat on her hay mountain looking rather pleased for most of the day :lol: ... I did like it like that, but i worry about flies. :shock:
 
I use a mat and put a handful fo Timothy hay on it twice daily, and they finish both piles, so I know that they are getting at least two handfuls of timothy hay a day between them, and they also eat the meadow hay which they have as bedding. They also get a bowl of grass daily too, so their poos are slightly darker than before.

If you think they aren't eating enough of their current hay, maybe get some samples of hay and try them out on them.
 
I use a mat and put a handful fo Timothy hay on it twice daily, and they finish both piles, so I know that they are getting at least two handfuls of timothy hay a day between them, and they also eat the meadow hay which they have as bedding. They also get a bowl of grass daily too, so their poos are slightly darker than before.

If you think they aren't eating enough of their current hay, maybe get some samples of hay and try them out on them.

They do like the hay i use. They go mad for it on a morning and on a night, they just dont seem to eat as much of it. Ive cleaned htem all out today, and put the hay in their litter tray instead of in the rack. Will see how that goes. I do usually have a treat hay, but ran out a while ago and havent got anymore as the stuff they go mad for is hard to get hold of. x
 
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