To: Buck Jones
- Thread starter Carolyn
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Meganc731
Well-Known Member
Sounds like my kind of hay rack!
Megan
Megan
RaspberrySwirl
Well-Known Member
Might I suggestsome up closephotos with that wonderful new digital camerayou got! 
Raspberry
Raspberry
Buck Jones
Well-Known Member
My hay racks are commercially available racksthat are made to hang outside the cage. They are made out ofsheet metal and are a three sided, hopper style design. Oneis supposed to hang the rack outside the cage, with the open sidefacing in toward the rabbit. The bars of the cage thenfunction to hold the hay within the sheet metal sides, with the bunnybeing able to pick at and withdraw hay through the cage wire.Most major rabbit supply houses sell these racks in 4" - 11" widths byabout 8" high for $5.00 - $8.00.
The shortcoming of these hay racks is that they are designed to hangoutside the cage for easier filling, but by the same token, theirlocation tends to produce loose hay refuse/litteron the flooras the the bun(s) pull(s) hay through the cage wires.
I simply rework these racksto hang inside the cage by bendingtheir wire attachment apparatus so that the sheet metal back of therack is against inside of the cage wire wall and the bottom is on thefloor of the cage. The "open" section of the rack now facesin toward the rabbit(s).
I take ordinary fence wire with 2" x 3" rectangular squares,and cut a piece slightly larger than the open side of the hayrack. Using the cut piece as a guide, I use a magic marker tomark where each horizontal "line" of wire will intersect the sheetmetal of the two sides of the opening. I then drill a hole ofa slightly larger diameter than the wire at each spot oneachof thetwosides that the wire will intersect.
I now cut away any vertical wire on either sidethat wouldinterfere with my "threading" the horizontal wire through theaforementioned holes on the sides of the opening face of therack.
The horizontal wires are "threaded" through the holes, filedto eliminate sharp edges,and bent 90 degrees to parallel theside of the rackand facing the back...away from the bun(s). Ihave, in effect, "caged in" the open face of the rack in order toenable it to hold the bun's(s') hay.
As the hay rack is inside the cage, any hay refuse pulled through thenewly installed "wire fascia" does not drop to the outside of the cage,but remains neatly within. I hope the verbal description isclear enough. In truth, it takes just about as long to writeabout it, as to actually make the change.
All I'm doing is putting wire on the front of a rack designed to behung on the outside of a cage and hanging that rack on the inside withthe sheet metal back against the wire wall of the cage. Iusuallywire or zip tie asuitably sized piece ofPlexiglas, on the outside of the cage behind the rack, so virtually norefuse hits the floor.
Rack modification alone will reduce hay refuse on your floor by about80%. Add the Plexiglas "backstop" and you're looking at a95%+ reduction in hay litter onthe floor.
Buck
P.S. Too tired to play with the digital camera rightnow. Perhaps, some other time will e-mail someone who canpost it.
The shortcoming of these hay racks is that they are designed to hangoutside the cage for easier filling, but by the same token, theirlocation tends to produce loose hay refuse/litteron the flooras the the bun(s) pull(s) hay through the cage wires.
I simply rework these racksto hang inside the cage by bendingtheir wire attachment apparatus so that the sheet metal back of therack is against inside of the cage wire wall and the bottom is on thefloor of the cage. The "open" section of the rack now facesin toward the rabbit(s).
I take ordinary fence wire with 2" x 3" rectangular squares,and cut a piece slightly larger than the open side of the hayrack. Using the cut piece as a guide, I use a magic marker tomark where each horizontal "line" of wire will intersect the sheetmetal of the two sides of the opening. I then drill a hole ofa slightly larger diameter than the wire at each spot oneachof thetwosides that the wire will intersect.
I now cut away any vertical wire on either sidethat wouldinterfere with my "threading" the horizontal wire through theaforementioned holes on the sides of the opening face of therack.
The horizontal wires are "threaded" through the holes, filedto eliminate sharp edges,and bent 90 degrees to parallel theside of the rackand facing the back...away from the bun(s). Ihave, in effect, "caged in" the open face of the rack in order toenable it to hold the bun's(s') hay.
As the hay rack is inside the cage, any hay refuse pulled through thenewly installed "wire fascia" does not drop to the outside of the cage,but remains neatly within. I hope the verbal description isclear enough. In truth, it takes just about as long to writeabout it, as to actually make the change.
All I'm doing is putting wire on the front of a rack designed to behung on the outside of a cage and hanging that rack on the inside withthe sheet metal back against the wire wall of the cage. Iusuallywire or zip tie asuitably sized piece ofPlexiglas, on the outside of the cage behind the rack, so virtually norefuse hits the floor.
Rack modification alone will reduce hay refuse on your floor by about80%. Add the Plexiglas "backstop" and you're looking at a95%+ reduction in hay litter onthe floor.
Buck
P.S. Too tired to play with the digital camera rightnow. Perhaps, some other time will e-mail someone who canpost it.
Thank you so much for explaining that so well, Buck.
It certainly does save a lot of hay in my house. The hay I buyisn't cheap and it's a pain in the neck because hay can be messy.You've cut down on my cleanup time and saved me some money in theprocess.
I wish everyone could have these hayracks for their bunnies.
We'll get pictures up, Raspberry. In the meantime, if you could justcopy the picture I took from the Urine Guards post of Cali with it inthe background, and paste it on here, it would give people an idea ofwhat we're talking about.
Thanks again, Buck and Raspberry.
Hope you're able to get one made, Cristy.
-Carolyn
RaspberrySwirl
Well-Known Member
I went back andlooked at the cages only post thinking maybe those photosofthe cages had some shots of the hay racks. But once I gotthere I realized that they wouldn't because the hay racks are for theinside cages.....
Raspberry
Raspberry
Stephanie
Well-Known Member
Oh my, oh my, oh my!!!
I must look into this. Please post another picture when you can. That's great Buck!
I must look into this. Please post another picture when you can. That's great Buck!
My husband thinks he understands it and could doit if only we had a drill. Right now until i can get him adrill i will just have to deal with the loss but will keep it in mindif i can buy him one or borrow him one.Roger has a round thing that holds hay and that one loses the most.
Cristy
Cristy
Buck Jones
Well-Known Member
You might be able to make do withasuitably sized nail and a hammer to punch holes in the sheetmetal, but you would have to "back up" the hole site(s) with a smallblock of wood to prevent bending the metal out of shape.
Buck
Buck
JimD
Well-Known Member
Bumpimg for AnnaS
AnnaS
Well-Known Member
thank you
CorkysMom
Well-Known Member
Anyone got a link to the hayrack he started out with before modifying, where they can be bought, what they look like?
Good Question!
He did give me a link to what company he used. I hope I didn't throw it away.
That will require some digging. God, I do hope I saved that email! I don't think it was pre-assembled.
Will get back to you.
-Carolyn
He did give me a link to what company he used. I hope I didn't throw it away.
That will require some digging. God, I do hope I saved that email! I don't think it was pre-assembled.
Will get back to you.
-Carolyn
CorkysMom
Well-Known Member
That'd be great...cuz not sure I'm totallyfollowing his post....I would LOVE to find something that would controlthe hay better, I'm sick of dragging it all around the house on my feetfrom their room!
