They waste a lot of hay!

[Shopaholic0514]

Guess I'm not the first one asking this but since I'm on my phone the search function doesn't really work and our house WiFi is down. If so please direct me to another thread before deleting this please...
Our chins waste a lot of hay, basically after maybe 3 days the bottom of the cage would be covered with hay soaked in urine that they throw away.
Is it the hay? Or is it my chins?
I've heard people day 1st cut hay and 2nd cut hay, what does that mean? My chins seem to like those thin ones.
Or is there some kind of feeder I can purchase that can prevent this?
And please give me recommendations on where you get your hay if you are really happy with it.
Thanks a million!!!

 

[Amethyst]

It's normal for a chin to throw out a lot of hay, so long as they are eating it too. If they are tossing more then eating it my first thought would be the hay, how does it smell? it should smell sweet and no moldy or dusty. Also how does it look? Does it look nice and green and flexible? or brown and brittle? Another possibility is it could just be they don't like that hay, you could try a different brand or type. 1st cut 2nd cut 3rd cut, etc is just when it was cut from the field, some places down south have as many as 4 or 5 cuts a year. The only real difference seems to be (depending on how the farmer does the hay harvest and where you get the hay from) 1st cut tends to have more stems and contains a mix of old growth from after the last harvest in fall and new rich spring grass. 2nd and on has new growth and can be more leafy grass. Some of the later cuts 3rd and up can also have more seed stems, many chin's love seed heads and fuzzies.
Hopefully I've made sense, it gets very complicated and really depends on where your hay is coming from, the weather, and how it's harvested.

Any of the grass hays are fine to feed, so timothy, orchard, blue grass, mountain, meadow, etc are all good. As to brand it really comes down to the best is what your chin will eat. I'm currently feeding oxbow, but I've also use American Pet Diner, ZuPreem, and local hay. My boys loved the APD mountain hay, but it's expensive since I can only get it here by ordering it online. They love the Oxbow as well, the ZuPreem was always a hit or miss and they definitely didn't eat as much as they do with the oxbow. I also feed hay cubes as well, they are a lot less messy, but also give them something different.

There are options for feeders, some people use clay plant pots, other people make fleece hay holders (a sack with a hole), I use wood boxes with a hole in the front and a hanging holder, but most chins just pull all the hay out anyway.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

You might try getting giving smaller amount several times a day. If you fill the hay once a day, maybe give it twice but not as much each time.
Any hay they toss on the floor, if left there, they will pee on it. You might take any hay on the floor out each night and throw away.

 

[Godofgods]

Once my chins decide not to eat a piece of hay, it doesnt get eaten. They do waste a lot of it. But with my chins, the more hay i give them at once, the more they will waste. So i feed them smaller bits of hay more often. (For me, twice a day. In the evening when i feed them, then closer to midnight again)

 

[EternallyCynical]

My boy does this a lot too :/ I have a fleece hay bag for him but he pulls all the hay out and throws it everywhere no matter how nice and new and sweet smelling it is 9.9 Sometimes he likes the hay cubes more, other times he likes the loose hay more.... chins are fickle, real fickle. I've started feeding smaller amounts more often and tried to waste less that way.