librarychick
Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2011
- Posts
- 112
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2011
- Messages
- 112
I see a lot of people posting about how to manage a hayrack/pile/kitchen. So I thought I'd share my newest solution.
When I still had Francine and Molly divided I was giving them each a hay pile in a litter box with carefresh at the bottom. That worked well, but the hay was just going everywhere - mostly when I moved it from the bin I store it in to the hay piles.
I buy alfalfa hay from local farmers, it's MUCH cheaper and I've gotten much better (and fresher) hay than if I buy from the pet stores. I looked into shipping but it'd cost a small fortune to ship 1/4 of the amount of hay to Canada...AND the hay itself is way more expensive even before shipping costs. I can buy a bale of amazing alfalfa or orchard hay for $7 a bale. It lasts me easily 6-8 months, and I can store the extra in the shed.
Anyways, when I put the girls together (including proper intro ) I decided I'd add some extra shelving for myself next to the cage. The girls are in my craft/plant room (one of our only cat-free areas, and therefore safe for the piggies) but I've well overflowed my previous storage.
So I used the storage cubes to build a shelf, and had a brilliant idea. I used leftover bits of coroplast to build a little hay area right next to the cage. It holds 2 flakes of hay, so I hardly have to fill it, just fluff the hay so it's pressed against that end of the cage! I still have two litter boxes in there, and I pull out a little pile of hay for each - so Molly can burrow to her little hearts content - but there's been FAR less waste and much less hay mess everywhere the past 2 weeks. I LOVE it.
Here's some pics so you can see what I did . Sorry no pig pictures, but they're both convinced my phone is going to eat them...
Inside the cage view - just filled hay storage area and hay pile.
https://s131.photobucket.com/user/l...nea Pigs/20160502_194502_zpsj8td7mtm.jpg.html
Front the front
https://s131.photobucket.com/user/l...nea Pigs/20160502_194515_zps0pryy9hj.jpg.html
With the door off- it's held in place by these cool spring clips I found at the dollar store usually. It just slots right in. You can also get a better view of the shelf above the cage , storage shelf at the side, and my piles of craft junk
https://s131.photobucket.com/user/l...nea Pigs/20160502_194557_zpslok2s7ct.jpg.html
When I still had Francine and Molly divided I was giving them each a hay pile in a litter box with carefresh at the bottom. That worked well, but the hay was just going everywhere - mostly when I moved it from the bin I store it in to the hay piles.
I buy alfalfa hay from local farmers, it's MUCH cheaper and I've gotten much better (and fresher) hay than if I buy from the pet stores. I looked into shipping but it'd cost a small fortune to ship 1/4 of the amount of hay to Canada...AND the hay itself is way more expensive even before shipping costs. I can buy a bale of amazing alfalfa or orchard hay for $7 a bale. It lasts me easily 6-8 months, and I can store the extra in the shed.
Anyways, when I put the girls together (including proper intro ) I decided I'd add some extra shelving for myself next to the cage. The girls are in my craft/plant room (one of our only cat-free areas, and therefore safe for the piggies) but I've well overflowed my previous storage.
So I used the storage cubes to build a shelf, and had a brilliant idea. I used leftover bits of coroplast to build a little hay area right next to the cage. It holds 2 flakes of hay, so I hardly have to fill it, just fluff the hay so it's pressed against that end of the cage! I still have two litter boxes in there, and I pull out a little pile of hay for each - so Molly can burrow to her little hearts content - but there's been FAR less waste and much less hay mess everywhere the past 2 weeks. I LOVE it.
Here's some pics so you can see what I did . Sorry no pig pictures, but they're both convinced my phone is going to eat them...
Inside the cage view - just filled hay storage area and hay pile.
https://s131.photobucket.com/user/l...nea Pigs/20160502_194502_zpsj8td7mtm.jpg.html
Front the front
https://s131.photobucket.com/user/l...nea Pigs/20160502_194515_zps0pryy9hj.jpg.html
With the door off- it's held in place by these cool spring clips I found at the dollar store usually. It just slots right in. You can also get a better view of the shelf above the cage , storage shelf at the side, and my piles of craft junk
https://s131.photobucket.com/user/l...nea Pigs/20160502_194557_zpslok2s7ct.jpg.html