Nutrition hay rack

[busybusy]

I was wondering if anyone can give me ideas on ways to make a hay rack for my piggies. I have a store bought on that my piggies will not use. My plan is to build an extension to my cage that will be a 1×1 square that will be their hay area. Is it ok to just put it on the bottom of that or should I keep it in a rack?

 

[Guineadog]

I was wondering if anyone can give me ideas on ways to make a hay rack for my piggies. I have a store bought on that my piggies will not use. My plan is to build an extension to my cage that will be a 1×1 square that will be their hay area. Is it ok to just put it on the bottom of that or should I keep it in a rack?

Hi, of you have some you could make a rack out of Grids. Search online for pictures! It works Great!
Hope I helped!!

 

[4cavies]

I keep mine in a rack that I made out of extra bent grids left over from the cages and zip tied it to the cage. If I leave mine on the floor of their cages, they all pee and poo in it and it gets ruined very quickly (even though one of my pig pulls some out so she can nest in it, at least all of it isn't icky).

 

[4cavies]

Here is a photo with one of my boy's, Spencer, hanging out in his!

 

[BaconAndEggs]

I didn't have any extra grids, so I had to get creative- I made my hay rack out of a baby wipes container. I cut out the sides of it, and made two sections in the front, so my boys wouldn't get testy about who goes where. It might make more sense to just cut out the sides to other people. My rack can be a bit messy, but it's worth it. The store bought one works horribly.

Here's a picture of my boys eating from it.

You can keep it on the bottom. It will give your pigs something to burrow under. However, when you clean the cage you'll waste quite a bit of hay, and it would look a bit messy. That's only my opinion though. You can also make a hay bag out of spare fabric or, as mentioned above, a rack out of grids!

EDIT: I attached it to the side of the cage with hooks meant for ornaments, and they can't get to the hooks. I poked a hole and slipped it through, you can't see it in that picture though.

 

[bpatters]

@4cavies, that's actually a very dangerous rack. I've known of at least half a dozen pigs who've had broken or otherwise injured legs by being startled and trying to jump out of one of those. We don't recommend those bent racks at all unless you turn them up on end and zip tie them to the cage.

 

[lissie]

See the hay racks gallery.
(broken link removed)

 

[4cavies]

@bpatters Once again, excuse me. I had known many people who used them this way and I had been using them this way for years without ever having a problem or hearing of one. So sorry.

 

[bpatters]

I've known of many people using them that way too. But even one injured leg is too many.