Best hay feeder for least mess?

[bairnns]

And least waste? Mine pull it out and drop it all over the place; it makes daily cleanup harder to do. I have a small Oreck canister vacuum that I use to clean the poops off the shelves daily; works great but large pieces of hay jam the hose.

I have six chins, four girls and two boys, in three cages, home-built melamine type ones. I had pics up at one time on Chins'n'quills. I am NOT breeding.

I just added metal litter pans and lined my cage floors around the pans with ceramic tiles. The boys (just babies still) are doing very well at using the pan; the girls are older and a bit unsure- they're using the pans some, but the floor nearby quite a bit too. I'm moving things around to help them get the point. There's not much floor space to use; most of their real estate is in height.

I'm trying to sweep up or vacuum around the pans daily (they're quite accustomed to the vacuum) but the hay mess makes it difficult and also there's all that waste...

I've seen several types in your cage photos, mostly open dishes, but the photos never show the mess my kids make! Do you all take pics only right after a cleanup? Or maybe I'm giving them too much?

I get that it's never going to be neat; they're going to scatter some hay no matter what I do. Just looking for the best possible system. I'm happy to make it myself if homemade is the way to go.

Lori

 

[MyFuzzies]

I think regardless of what you use, they're going to make a mess!! I make my own hay bins that do pretty good with keeping the mess to a minimun. Here's a photo of one. It doesn't require alot of wood and only takes about 10 minutes :thumbsup:

 

[Silverrose]

I agree, no matter what you try to use to contain hay, it will end up on the cage floor, and on your own floor. My best suggestion is to invest in a shop-vac. That thing will suck up anything! Hay stands no chance against its power! We get obsessed with cleaning the chin room and vacuum it at least once a day. The chin room always looks pretty immaculate right before we go to bed... And then the next morning, I swear they've thrown a party or had a poo flinging contest... :err:

 

[Essentia]

I use two different kinds. One that hangs on the outside of the cage and the hay gets pulled through the bars, the other is a hamster house that I just turned over.

I popped off the tabs that hold it on and use a bolt, washer and wingnut in the holes on the sides after the tabs are removed. My chins like to move everything and I didn't feel the tabs made it stable enough.

The other holder I use looks like this.

Like I said above it's just a hamster house turned over. I think it works great.

Everything I have seen produces some mess and a lot of waste. it just comes with owning a chin. No matter what you use your chin is going to dig through and find that special piece of hay that he wants. And long as the hay it's peed on I pick the large pieces and put it back in the bin. Both my boys use a little box so I know the hay is fine. I still throw away a lot, but it makes me feel a little better.

 

[Tagna]

http://www.bunnybale.com/MetalBunnyBaleFeederkit.html

I have the bunny bale hay holder and love it! I want to get a few more!

 

[Siylvat]

I used that metal super pet one. I put it on the outside of the cage, cuz I wasn't sure how safe it would be on the inside. Only problem is, one of my chins couldn't figure out that you had to pull the hay thru. One of my other chins has it now, and he is pretty good at it. It just puts the mess on my floor though...

 

[Chinniechantel]

I just put the hay on the top of their hidey house, and that usually works best for us! They seem to eat more and waste less that way, I have no clue why. I usually turn the house sideways and put it on one of the walls. They must eat it all because they are always in the house?