# Emptying hay in to litter tray.



## moorevfr (May 15, 2014)

have two young (unsprayed till next week) female rabbits and they share a room with cage in but the cage is always open and the room is their run.
On the cage is the hay rack and under is the litter tray I fill the hay rack full when ever empty which is usually at night near bed time by the morning the rack is empty and the try under it has a nice think layer of hay on top. I know they are eating some of it of it as it all couldn't fit within the litter tray but does seem a good amount is going in there and them doing their business on it in layers.

My first thoughts to them doing this is they are being very hygienic and just putting a clean layer on top of their mess but I am starting to burn through hay at a fast rate due to this. I can hear them sometime just going at the hay and trying to drag it all out as hear their feet rattling down the bars.

I thinking about raising the rack a little higher so they don't find it as easy to be able to get it all out and hopefully put them off emptying most of it in their tray?


Any thought or suggestions would be grateful.

Thanks


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## farhana (Mar 15, 2014)

The hay lover of my two rabbits hates hay racks. She would rather not eat than use a hay rack so I've given up on them. The one time she was close to using one she emptied it all out in the litter box out of boredom and then ate it all because she likes eating hay off the "floor" rather than the "wall".

It might be that your bunnies are the same? Instead of putting hay in the rack you could give them hay in their tray? It means you have to replace the soiled hay with fresh hay regularly though...

I have no other advice to offer unfortunately. I've just gotten used to the idea of some hay waste.


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## catherine09 (May 10, 2014)

They're just telling you they prefer to eat their hay off the floor - most bunnies do as it's quite un-natural for them to reach up for hay. Putting the hay rack higher may just mean they eat less hay, which is not good news.

I personally found my buns did this, in the end I just cut out the middle man and put the hay straight in the tray. I top up with fresh hay twice a day and replace the tray every 2-3 days. The waste hay just goes into the garden waste bin so it's not an issue.


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## Amelia66 (Feb 15, 2011)

It could also be they are pulling the hay out to get to the good bits and leaving the rest once soiled. What hay are you feeding them? 

Its always worth putting a handful in their toilet as well as in the hay rack as some prefer to eat from the floor as that would be more natural to them.


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

They are probably just selecting the tastier bits. 

We never use hay racks.

We just use big underbed storage boxes as litter trays. Put in a layer of newspaper, then pile in the hay.

The rabbits wee and poo in one corner and munch from the rest.

They need a very generous rabbit sized mound minimum fresh per day, so if you are finding this expensive, look into buying it by the bale from a farm. Much cheaper.


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## moorevfr (May 15, 2014)

Thanks to everyone for the advice.
I been and purchases a bale of hay... massive thing for just £4.75 bargin! Hopefully should last a good while.

I've took the hay rack down and instead with the litterl boxes filled half of it with hay and other half with litter.

Done this to both the one I keep in their cage and the other in their room/run I did put some hay in them to get them to use it but now put good generous amount in there hopefully now will be more than happy to eat it instead of just layering it, will find out in the morning.

The hay I guessing is just farmers meadow hay nice thiick yellow stuff with the odd branch/stick in there that I am taking out.

I've attached some photo's of the red hay rack I was using and also how I've not set out the hay in their litter boxes hopefully correctly?
Also attached an image of a haybox with a litter tray attachment that colleague made for me but unfortunately the spacing between the bars are little to wide and the rabbits are small enough climb in on top of the hay and eat all they like but also soil it all with the peeing and pooping all over it so have put away until they are bigger and cant fit through.


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## catherine09 (May 10, 2014)

Sorry to be a little negative...

...are you sure the hay you bought is good quality? I only ask as I do cringe a bit when posters tell people to buy a bale of hay, most hay you can buy isn't actually good enough quality for rabbits to eat (I trawled every horse feed supplier within a 20 mile radius before i found one that was good enough, probably the 10th place), so it's not as easy as just buying the first bale you can get. They will eat it if there's nothing else there, but a lot of bales I tried were musty and mouldy and had mud in them, as cow quality hay is much closer to straw and this is the most common type of bale.

I only ask as you say the hay is thick and yellow, which screams to me that its cow quality hay. Rabbit quality hay should be sweet smelling, with a mixture of green and green/brown stems, not particularly thick (unless it's timothy hay, but you don't usually get that by the bale). The farm I go to have 3 different grades of hay grown on seperate fields, cow hay is the lowest quality and is £5 per bale, horse is then £6 and rabbit is £8.

IMO as hay makes up 90% of the diet, it's vitally important that it's good enough quality, as it can cause no end of issues if it isn't.


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## kathyr25 (Oct 8, 2013)

catherine09 said:


> Sorry to be a little negative...
> 
> ...are you sure the hay you bought is good quality? I only ask as I do cringe a bit when posters tell people to buy a bale of hay, most hay you can buy isn't actually good enough quality for rabbits to eat (I trawled every horse feed supplier within a 20 mile radius before i found one that was good enough, probably the 10th place), so it's not as easy as just buying the first bale you can get. They will eat it if there's nothing else there, but a lot of bales I tried were musty and mouldy and had mud in them, as cow quality hay is much closer to straw and this is the most common type of bale.
> 
> ...


That's really interesting.... mine are currently on baled hay from a local sheep farm, and eating it very very happily - but it has the odd bit of earth or dried sheep dung in it which i find a bit concerning.

I've also got them some hayforpets hay, so depending on what they think of that, when the farm bale runs out, I might move to that permanently


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## catherine09 (May 10, 2014)

kathyr25 said:


> That's really interesting.... mine are currently on baled hay from a local sheep farm, and eating it very very happily - but it has the odd bit of earth or dried sheep dung in it which i find a bit concerning.
> 
> I've also got them some hayforpets hay, so depending on what they think of that, when the farm bale runs out, I might move to that permanently


The best way to tell if hay is good or not is to smell it. Good hay will smell fresh and sweet. Bad hay will just smell musty - its difficult to explain but you'll know the difference!


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## Notnowbernard (Jul 31, 2012)

I buy my hay from just for pets. They sell a slab of hay from a bale, bagged up, which is great as I don't have room for a whole bale. I used to have horses so I know what good quality hay looks like and it's always been great.


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

catherine09 said:


> Sorry to be a little negative...
> 
> ...are you sure the hay you bought is good quality? *I only ask as I do cringe a bit when posters tell people to buy a bale of hay,* most hay you can buy isn't actually good enough quality for rabbits to eat (I trawled every horse feed supplier within a 20 mile radius before i found one that was good enough, probably the 10th place), so it's not as easy as just buying the first bale you can get. They will eat it if there's nothing else there, but a lot of bales I tried were musty and mouldy and had mud in them, as cow quality hay is much closer to straw and this is the most common type of bale.
> 
> ...


*Beg to differ.

We always buy hay by the bale. But we are choosy about where we buy and what we buy.

The best and only way to choose a good bale, is to plunge your nose in. Don't trust the farmer. The bale should look good and smell sweet. It's a lovely smell. Far better than the bagged stuff at the shops. If the hay smells at all musty, reject it.

First cut will look very different from second cut. First cut is coarser and stalkier. Second cut is finer.

*



catherine09 said:


> *The best way to tell if hay is good or not is to smell it. Good hay will smell fresh and sweet.* Bad hay will just smell musty - its difficult to explain but you'll know the difference!


*Spot on.  *


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## catherine09 (May 10, 2014)

Summersky said:


> *Beg to differ.
> 
> We always buy hay by the bale. But we are choosy about where we buy and what we buy.
> 
> ...


I don't think you are differing 

Whereas you and I are very particular about where we get our hay from and the quality of it, others may not be aware of the vast difference in quality and so IMO telling someone to just go and buy a farm bale could mean they buy a bad one, as they know no different. By all means suggesting buying bales is great, but I prefer to always caveat it with a quick reminder of how to choose a good bale (sniff test ) or if they are local, recommendations of nearby places who are consistently good.

That's all


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## sskmick (Feb 4, 2008)

I bought my first hay bale approximately two months ago and I did smell it and check it for unwanted debris, it was fine and I have bought another. 

However whilst I clean them out every day and put fresh hay in, they also have other types of hay and grasses, plus fresh veg.

I was told by a rabbit savvy vet that a rabbit should eat its own body weight in hay, daily and ideally eat what nature intended, by giving them free range in the garden, which my two get. 

OP my two will move their hay to different parts of their hutches, I tend to refill ensuring I put mounds where they last made one.


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