Hay Hutch

Puppy's just bought one, fingers crossed shell see this and let you know hows shes finding it
i was looking at them but ended up buy a sheep ring feeder instead
 
I bought two of the medium size ones last spring and have used them ever since. Got fed up of wasting so much haylage in the field last winter.

The good bits - they keep the haylage dry and mostly off the floor.
You can move them round the field to prevent churned up feeding areas.

Bad bits - my horses still tend to pull out loads of haylage onto the floor rather than just eating from the hutch. BUt definitely much less wastage than simply feeding straight from the floor.
Moving them - they are easy to move on your own as long as they're empy, either by putting them into a big wheelbarrow, by dragging or by rolling. My quibble is that as the medium ones aren't cylinder shape you can't roll them in a straight line! They roll in curves which can be infuriating. The bigger size hutches are cylinder shaped though so would roll better.
The lids - one of my neds very quickly learned how to spin the lid off so he could eat in from the top, defeating the object of keeping the haylage dry. The others haven't susses this out though and there is a big screw that you can fix the lid down with if you need to.

Kerilli - they are very robust and I don't think the plastic would be affected by cold weather. I'll tell you more in a few weeks after the temperatures drop!

All in all they've been a good buy - expensive but worth it.
 
Hey Gedenskis. I don't want to hijack the thread but can I ask. How do they manage to get to the haylage in the middle - or don't they. I've looked at these for a while and would buy two small ones rather than one large (to deal with the pony politics) but Im not sure what happens when they have eaten down the hay at the hole - do they need to put their heads down through the hole to get the stuff in the centre.

Also. has any of your put their feet through the hole. Turbo is a shocking pony for pawing and I'd see a leg going in there for sure.
 
That's a good question - I don't know how they get the haylage from the middle but they do - the hutches are always empty when I get to them the next day, bar a very thin layer on the bottom which I tip out every so often. I guess they stick their noses in as it gets emptier? Never been a problem.

As for getting feet stuck in - again that's never happened with any of mine. The one who learned to stake the lid off is a devil for getting into things so if anyone was going to get a leg stuck it would have been him but he hasn't (yet! suppose I should touch wood
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They're definitely a good buy despite my minor quibbles. I'd buy more, just need to save up a bit first
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I got a large one last winter for my 2 horses and donkey. It's been a godsend - reduced wastage, stays dry, no fighting, no poaching ...

My solution to the 'how do they reach the hay in the middle?' (because I had a feeling the donkey was the only one capable of getting to the middle!) was to put a large supplement tub with a couple of weights in it right in the middle of the Hutch. The hay stays accessible round the outside. They don't twist their necks to get at the hay any more than they would to pull hay out of a haynet. I shake the hay loose before putting it in so that big chunks don't get dragged out.

It's very tough plastic and has even withstood being chewed.
 
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