What to do with the hay

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I have a lot of hay coming from the rabbit hutch. I have 5 young rabbits that I am going to move soon, but right now I use a lot of hay in their bed to keep them clean and dry, and they have a back area that they mostly use for the bathroom. I change it daily and the hay is soaked with urine and has rabbit droppings. The rest of the rabbits have hay beds that are not getting changed, just fluffed and anything dirty taken out, but underneath the hutch are plastic bins that catch those droppings and each have in the back part of their hutch a litter box with a little bit of hay with woodstove pellets. I change those boxes and the hay is wet with urine, the urine makes the woodstove pellets break up and there are rabbit droppings. At first I kept that separate and my husband spread the droppings on the garden and chopped leaves and cow manure. We have several bins that are cooking down okay that have the rabbit hay stuff, cow manure, grass clippings, leftover garden plants, chopped leaves and food scraps like coffee grounds, tea bags, pieces of old lettuce, apple cores and things like that. Then, we have this PILE of hay that has all the rabbit stuff in it. What would be the best use for it? It seems like too much hay to compost, but how would we layer it now that it is cold and no leaves or grass clippings now? Should we save it and use it for mulch around the plants? I am afraid to spread it on the garden because last year I build a new box. It had new topsoil, new cow manure, new compost. We planted potatoes early and I had a bale of straw. We covered the potatoes and thought job well done. That straw sprouted and the whole top of the potato area was green. It was easy to pull, but would the hay be worse than straw for sprouting? Would it sprout with all the urine and rabbit manure? Would it break down pretty fast and be ready for planting in the spring? I feel like it is a gold mine being wasted. Would it be best to layer it with cow manure? We still have some left that did not get spread. We also have a pile of compost from earlier and some topsoil. I am going to expand an area would it be smart or crazy to take the hay, layer with some of the finished compost, topsoil, hay, cow manure, hay? I worry about putting the rabbit manure on the garden not composted. I have heard good and bad. It was put on in Oct., so it should be okay, but I did not want to put more on, but if we put it on with layers of hay, compost and topsoil, would the rabbit droppings breakdown or would we have a garden full of round berries?

 

[Mickey328]

The issues with straw bales is that they usually have a LOT of weed seeds which will definitely sprout and grow given a chance. Are your rabbits outside or in? Either way, they really don't need "bedding". You can just let the "stuff" drop through the wire into a bin if inside or on the ground if outside. It can then be either composted or put directly on the garden and around the plants.

For the bedding you're using, I'd recommend spreading it on the yard and running over it with the mover a time or two to chop it up. You can then use it as mulch or soil amendment or compost it. If it goes in the compost pile wet with urine, you're providing some good "green" for the compost which will help balance out the "brown" or dry stuff. That along with the fresh kitchen scraps will mix well with the dried stuff to get the process going. As it all decomposes, it should produce its own heat to help with the process also.

 

[catjac1975]

My garden has a fence around it to keep out hungry furry neighbors. I would use the extra material on the edge of my fence both inside and out. This keeps grass from growing along the fence which looks ugly and is impossible to weed. Or you could spread it rather thick on a garden and plant within the hay by moving it to open patches for planting. The manure should be less hot by spring. As in the Ruth Stout method.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

I'm sitting here wondering:
1. Why do you use any hay or straw at all in the rabbit hutches?
2. Why do you use hay instead of straw?
We all know that good hay is loaded with viable seeds of all sorts and to put it on any garden is a recipe for "weed city". Even straw has some weed seeds in it but hay that is primarily used for feed should be full of seeds.

I use home-grown hay for rabbit food sometimes and I try to be very careful to not allow the hay to make it into the good compost or veggie gardens. I have a separate compost pile just for used or otherwise soiled hay and I keep it away from my good compost piles as much as I can. Since I use the solid rabbit droppings in the good compost or directly in the gardens I have to be careful t keep the hay droppings out of the catch pans under the hutches. I have a cookie sheet for each of my hutches that I slip under the hutch floor (and on top of the catch pan) every time I feed hay. The cookie pans will catch the hay droppings and keep most of the seeds out of the rabbit poop that is destined for the good compose piles. I know this sounds like a lot of messing around with hay and straw and poop and pans and stuff but it has become a regular routine for me and it REALLY helps to keep the weed growth to a minimum in the gardens. I figure the hours spent trying to keep the weeds out of the gardens is more than offset by the few minutes spent segregating the rabbit droppings.

Something that I'm seriously considering is to abandon the home-grown hay completely. I usually only feed it to nursing does and babies. I just toss a hand-full into the cages at each feeding time. But with the high quality of rabbit feed pellets nowadays there is no need for any other food. The pellets have vitamins and seem to be much better for the bunny's digestive systems. I thought that I was doing something great by growing my own rabbit food (orchard grass, alfalfa, timothy, buckwheat, and fresh veggies) but the cost and labor involved just isn't worth it.

I would strongly suggest that you consider either building or buying rabbit hutches made of all wire hardware cloth. And keep the bottom of the cage open to allow all droppings to fall through into a pile on the floor or into a catch pan to be emptied and cleaned regularly. Having urine-moistened straw or hay in the bottom of the hutch is an invitation to disease and infected feet on the bunnies. Not to mention the odor.

 

[catjac1975]

I kind of agree with smiles. But instead of rebuilding, why not use wood shavings? I buy them for my horse bedding. Around here they are 4.00-5.00 for a compressed bale. I would think that is much cheaper than hay or straw and much easier to shovel up. It decomposes well mixed with horse manure and urine. We dump it on the gardens throughout the winter without actually composting it and just till it in in early spring.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I'm sitting here wondering:
1. Why do you use any hay or straw at all in the rabbit hutches?

Well, I did not want them to be cold and it is taking a lot to get it in my head they are okay without bedding.

2. Why do you use hay instead of straw?

Because I do feed them hay and I buy it by the bale and to use straw and hay I have to store more and I do not have a lot of room to store the bales.

I use home-grown hay for rabbit food sometimes and I try to be very careful to not allow the hay to make it into the good compost or veggie gardens. I have a separate compost pile just for used or otherwise soiled hay and I keep it away from my good compost piles as much as I can. Since I use the solid rabbit droppings in the good compost or directly in the gardens I have to be careful t keep the hay droppings out of the catch pans under the hutches. I have a cookie sheet for each of my hutches that I slip under the hutch floor (and on top of the catch pan) every time I feed hay. The cookie pans will catch the hay droppings and keep most of the seeds out of the rabbit poop that is destined for the good compose piles. I know this sounds like a lot of messing around with hay and straw and poop and pans and stuff but it has become a regular routine for me and it REALLY helps to keep the weed growth to a minimum in the gardens. I figure the hours spent trying to keep the weeds out of the gardens is more than offset by the few minutes spent segregating the rabbit droppings.

My husband did do the sifting with the pans underneath the hutch, but because this one bed I am changing daily has so much, he has not had time, but my son and I could go separate it. The hutch was build with a back bed area and we do not raise rabbits for food, just built this hutch for the rabbits running loose in our yard that nobody wanted and one had babies, so we thought they would be warm in the back and they have wire for the poop to go through and then they have a resting board where the food and water is. Well, they decided to use the back part for the bathroom. They would go and back up to the back and urinate and it ran down the back under the door and they pooped there, even with no hay. It is a good place to run when a dog or something scares them, so we did not want to take it off, so we put litter boxes back there and they mostly use that and if I take the hay out they will go on the wire too. The big amount of hay will stop as soon as I move the 5 young rabbits to their own beds. They will have the same litter box, etc.

Something that I'm seriously considering is to abandon the home-grown hay completely. I usually only feed it to nursing does and babies. I just toss a hand-full into the cages at each feeding time. But with the high quality of rabbit feed pellets nowadays there is no need for any other food. The pellets have vitamins and seem to be much better for the bunny's digestive systems. I thought that I was doing something great by growing my own rabbit food (orchard grass, alfalfa, timothy, buckwheat, and fresh veggies) but the cost and labor involved just isn't worth it.

I thought they had to have the fiber, so that is why I feed it. Only other advantage I can see is that when they are bored they eat hay and do not chew on the wooden hutch.

I would strongly suggest that you consider either building or buying rabbit hutches made of all wire hardware cloth. And keep the bottom of the cage open to allow all droppings to fall through into a pile on the floor or into a catch pan to be emptied and cleaned regularly. Having urine-moistened straw or hay in the bottom of the hutch is an invitation to disease and infected feet on the bunnies. Not to mention the odor.

The only ones with the urine in the hay are the 5 young ones. They run to the back corner and use that for urinating. They never go in their eating, sleeping area. I am not going to be raising rabbits, so what hutch they have will be. There is no smell around the hutch at all. The litter boxes with the wood pellets have no urine smell and underneath the hutch aer plastic bins/pans and they have dirt in the bottom and whatever droppings go through the wire go in that box, but hay drops in. They have a big area. The can hop all around the place and seem to keep their sleeping and eating areas clean. I just have to get it through my head about the weather. I had them cool when it was 90 degrees out and watched them close, but I have no idea with the winter. I know they are happy at 30 degrees and not to let the wind blow on them or get wet, but when it is in the 20s and teens, I am not sure. They would be okay in a wood hutch with a solid wood roof, enclosed back and sides, half wire bottom, and wire doors without bedding? We did have cardboard over the wire doors, but changed to plastic when it got colder. So no hay near the garden without being composted?

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I kind of agree with smiles. But instead of rebuilding, why not use wood shavings? I buy them for my horse bedding. Around here they are 4.00-5.00 for a compressed bale. I would think that is much cheaper than hay or straw and much easier to shovel up. It decomposes well mixed with horse manure and urine. We dump it on the gardens throughout the winter without actually composting it and just till it in in early spring.

I was told not to use pine or cedar near a rabbit and that is all I have seen around here. I was told the woodstove pellets were safe and they will fall apart when wet and absorb the urine, which they do. I think the winter is just confusing me and I had the baby ones born and was worried about them.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

My garden has a fence around it to keep out hungry furry neighbors. I would use the extra material on the edge of my fence both inside and out. This keeps grass from growing along the fence which looks ugly and is impossible to weed. Or you could spread it rather thick on a garden and plant within the hay by moving it to open patches for planting. The manure should be less hot by spring. As in the Ruth Stout method.

I could do that if it does not sprout, but the fence is not all the way finished yet and when it is, it is running next to blackberry bushes and I am going to plant more on the fence. I will have another fence on the other side and that I am going to plant peas on. The other side has flowers. I have read her book, but do not remember that much and I am going to go read about hay now. We have had such a weed problem and it is from cow and horse manure. We had no grass in this area when we first started. It had really bad dirt and a bunch of pine tree stumps and my husband dug those out with a tractor and we filled this place up with a big dump truck of topsoil and lots of manure, and we have been putting compost on. This year I put newspaper down in bad areas and put compost on top and really did do a good job of keeping weeds down compared to last year.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

The issues with straw bales is that they usually have a LOT of weed seeds which will definitely sprout and grow given a chance. Are your rabbits outside or in? Either way, they really don't need "bedding". You can just let the "stuff" drop through the wire into a bin if inside or on the ground if outside. It can then be either composted or put directly on the garden and around the plants.

For the bedding you're using, I'd recommend spreading it on the yard and running over it with the mover a time or two to chop it up. You can then use it as mulch or soil amendment or compost it. If it goes in the compost pile wet with urine, you're providing some good "green" for the compost which will help balance out the "brown" or dry stuff. That along with the fresh kitchen scraps will mix well with the dried stuff to get the process going. As it all decomposes, it should produce its own heat to help with the process also.

They are outside. I am going to do the mower. We did have hot piles with smoke and all that when it was warmer, so that compost should have most of the seeds killed. I might just run over this with the mower and then keep it in a pile until the weather gets warm and then make hot compost.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Ruth Stout, too happy!! I should take a picture of myself in my pile of hay, but it is full of rabbit droppings. I am almost tempted to do what she said.