Cage Hay bins beat Hay bags for my pigs!

[RodentCuddles]

So we've tried wire gird hay racks, then hay bags (all the pigs that have come to our house have climbed into them and would pee inside them and sleep!) and now we've moved everyone *yes everyone all 17 pigs in the house right now* to hay bins...they love it!

I had to make my herd's cage back to just a 3x5 instead of their 3x5 with 2x5.5 loft as we needed to use the girds for cages for the pigs in the rescue..we'll they still pop-cornered when I put them in the down-sized cage...so couldn't be too bad! Plus they were nearly always up in the loft and didn't really use the 3x5.

So here are four of my piggies...my Trixie, Gigi, Pluto and Pixie (who has settled in nicely) eating some hay/their veggies just now..

 

[pinky]

I prefer hay bins, too. I'm concerned that they could squeeze into a hay bag and get trapped. I've tried a lot of different things and plastic corner litter boxes work well as hay bins in my three cages.

 

[MochaAndMoo]

I might have to make a hay bin for my lot, the cotton from the hay bag and urine doesn't mix :yuck:

 

[cfoster1966]

I agree that hay bins are the best. Pigs naturally love to sleep and pee and poop and eat in the hay. I think sometimes we are so busy trying to make the cages "pretty" and "easy" for *us* to clean that we forget that, as much as we love them, piggies are animals and are messy and love to be messy in hay.

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

My guinea pigs just pull down hay from their wire hay racks. I have been thinking about making littler boxes for under the hay racks to contain the mess because it is a huge mess!

 

[Red_Stafford]

Do you have the sides too high for them to climb or do you have a low wall so they can enter the hay bin when they like?

 

[boofp]

Here is my hayrack is just the pink container zip tied to a grid, works pretty good I have had this way for a day so far. They seem to be okay with it. Not much mess so far. I think its gross to let them pee and poop on the hay they are going to eat.

 

[madelineelaine]

@boofp well considering guinea pigs eat their own poop, I don't think it's a huge deal!

I have to agree, I tried wire racks, hay bags etc and finally a hay box is working! Keeps the mess down.

 

[Nika Lee]

Geeze that top picture is so cute! Your pig on the right looks like it has a little smile, adorable!

 

[RodentCuddles]

Haha @(broken link removed) the reason I've gone to hay box is because my pigs always seem to want to be on their hay...in the hay bags they climbed in though the hole or the top and pooped and peed in the bag and then would sleep in it...or they'd just drag out all the hay and sleep on it on the floor.
With the wire gird hay racks (I tried 4 different ways)..they jumped over the gird to get into the hay rack, or chewed though the coro on the side of the rack to get in or they just pulled out all the hay to sleep on it.

Theres no more finding pigs where they're not meant to be with the hay bin for us. We put Aspen then carefresh under the hay and freshen the hay either once a day or once every two days depending on the amount of pigs and the size of the hay bin.
I know this doesn't work for everyone...but now my pigs are happy and aren't spending hours pulling out the hay or moving grids or chewing coro.

I know it depends on the pigs, with your hay rack...my pigs would of jumped in via the side or just over the gird...you're so lucky if that works for you and your pigs!

@(broken link removed) I have it high enough so they can jump or walk over...there'd be no point if it was to high!

 

[NM_MOM]

so do you just toss the hay and refill it every day?

 

[RodentCuddles]

It depends with which size hay bin and how many pigs are using it. With my four they go two days until they need it emitted and re-fulled.

 

[pinky]

If you have a paper shredder, you can even put shredded paper under the hay so it absorbs urine if they pee in there. It makes it easy to clean out. They never eat the paper. I clean out my hay bins at least once a day. My males never climb in theirs but my females do sometimes.

 

[Agrimony]

I use a hay rack and just overfill it so it spills out. My boys all love to play in it and popcorn through it, and sleep in it. I also put a few piles other spots in the cage too. It doesn't bother me at all it being on the ground but I also use bedding, and not fleece, if that makes a difference.

 

[NM_MOM]

i hate how the hay sticks to the fleece. It make it difficult to clean, and then it gets all in my washer. :/ And if they pee in the hay, doesn't that ruin the hay and will they still eat it?

 

[aeiou]

They usually don't. I've heard some people buy a better hay for the racks, then a cheaper one for the bin. I personally love seeing them cuddled up in a big pile of hay

 

[Pigalicious]

I've been using the hay bag for my girls, and they use it with no problem. Then I saw this post. So I dumped the Carefresh out of the kitchen, cleaned it good, and filled it up with all kind of hay. I have never heard such wheeking and carrying on! It's been about an hour since the change and Fig and Selena Gomez are laying in the hay, in a hay stupor! Happy little hay piggies!

 

[lunarminx]

I've been using the hay bag for my girls, and they use it with no problem. Then I saw this post. So I dumped the Carefresh out of the kitchen, cleaned it good, and filled it up with all kind of hay. I have never heard such wheeking and carrying on! It's been about an hour since the change and Fig and Selena Gomez are laying in the hay, in a hay stupor! Happy little hay piggies!

I line mine with lots of newspaper, few handfuls of carefresh and lots of hay. You find they go under, lay on top, just enjoying life completely in their hay. I had cut the front of the kitchen down when I went from a hay covered kitchen to a rack. The mess in the rest of the cage increased way too much. Now the kitchen is 3x1 with hay and a hay rack but with the short front is was very messy. Today I raised the front so hopefully it will stay mostly in there. The hay that is.

 

[Pigalicious]

I did put some puppy pads underneath to line the kitchen. They may never leave that kitchen now!

 

[soccerchickgrp5]

I love your cage lay out! Th matching colors are very cute! That's a very smart idea, but my boys would kick the hay out