Peeing/popping in the hay...

Sophie B

Sophie B

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My piggies always pee and poop in their hay, do you know if there is any way to stop this? It wastes a lot of hay and I hope I can stop it... At the moment the have a hay hidey (bottomless) with hay in the bottom.
 
They tend to pee and poop while they eat, so this isn’t something you will be able to stop.
Some people put the hay in a rack and then hang the rack over a litter tray so they can sit in litter and eat and hopefully do their toileting there but sometimes it just won’t work....they will just find another corner to do their toileting in. My two flatly refuse to use a hay rack so hay wastage is just a fact of piggy life!
 
I did have a hay rack I made myself... Don’t know what happened to it though...
 
Try not to view it as waste, they may not have eaten it, but they will have had fun playing in it. They don't have ther same standards of hygiene as we do, they eat their own poop so a little poop on their hay isn't going to bother them :vom:XD
As long as theyve got fresh to choose from and damp stuff is being taken out, theyll be happy as Larry.
 
Mine always have freshhay but prefer to eat the stuff they have wee'd and pooped on. :vom::vom: They are healthy as anything so try not to worry. I have come to the conclusion that if you are a piggy it must taste better:))
 
I do sweep most of it up every morning and give them fresh 😁
 
Mine poo and pee everywhere and have hay everywhere and I chuck in a few handfuls of fresh hay every day then shovel it all up twice a week and start again :) I do daily cleans on their smaller hay trays but they stay clean for about 10 minutes until a fat piggy sits in there and starts converting the hay into poops like its a competitive sport!
 
We have small corner hay trays that are actually Rosewood brand rabbit toilet trays, very good for keeping hay and most poops in one place in a fleecy area but only big enough for one pig at a time. Some people use cat litter trays, or the bases of hamster cages, or actually just a cardboard box with doors cut in is good then you can replace the whole thing! My piggies get amazon delivery boxes full of hay in their playpen with 2 or 3 little doors cut in the sides, then I just empty the hay and recycle the box :)
 
They actually have their own hay pan bathroom so this makes me happy because cleaning time is cut almost in half.

Their hay pan is lined with puppy pee pad at the very bottom, then I put loads of hay where they can sit, pee, and poo. Every other day, I thrown away everything in their hay pan along with soiled puppy pee pad at the very bottom. I wash the hay pans then do it again.

Mine also have hay ball, and hay rack where I replenish with new/ clean hay several times a day.
 
I view their hay as food, toys, toilet and all sorts.
I buy a huge bale of meadow hay for £12 so anything they don’t scoff isn’t really a waste.
Luckily I have an allotment so all the hay that gets thrown (not wasted!) every 3 days just goes into my composter.

They have their own treat hay (Readigrass at the moment) but that is given sparingly and they tend to eat that all up.
 
I use a seed tray, line it with a few sheets of newspaper and pile hay on the top. Every day I chuck what's left, give it a wipe out with vinegar and start again.

They also have a couple of smaller hay holders that they can't fit in so I know they have some clean hay all the time - although they really don't seem to mind nibbling whatever's left at any time!
 
andy50027 said:
I view their hay as food, toys, toilet and all sorts.
I buy a huge bale of meadow hay for £12 so anything they don’t scoff isn’t really a waste.
Luckily I have an allotment so all the hay that gets thrown (not wasted!) every 3 days just goes into my composter.

They have their own treat hay (Readigrass at the moment) but that is given sparingly and they tend to eat that all up.
Click to expand...
That's a good point... different types and qualities of hay! Mine get pillow wad meadow hay £4 for 5kg everywhere, for everything, then burgess excel premium feeding timothy hay with dandelions and marigolds £4 for 1.5kg as a food treat, 2 big handfuls a day. I get through 3 bags of each a month...
 
PigglePuggle said:
We have small corner hay trays that are actually Rosewood brand rabbit toilet trays, very good for keeping hay and most poops in one place in a fleecy area but only big enough for one pig at a time. Some people use cat litter trays, or the bases of hamster cages, or actually just a cardboard box with doors cut in is good then you can replace the whole thing! My piggies get amazon delivery boxes full of hay in their playpen with 2 or 3 little doors cut in the sides, then I just empty the hay and recycle the box :)
Click to expand...


if you put a puppy pad in the bottom of the box ,it will last even longer.😃
 
My thoughts throughout.
I’m a member of several Facebook groups and I’ve lost count of people saying I’ve just spent £5, £10, £15 on these toys and my pigs have ignored them.
I just buy a £12 bag of meadow hay and that lasts them 3 months minimum!

I stuff a toilet roll tube full of readigrass, egg box full of Timothy hay and they’re happy for hours.
I fluff up their hay morning and evenings and change out every 3 days.
None of it I ever view as wasted. Even when I’ve tried new hays they’ve not taken too they becomes useful for the base of their toilet area.
If you’ve got the space to store huge amounts of hay it’s great.


PigglePuggle said:
That's a good point... different types and qualities of hay! Mine get pillow wad meadow hay £4 for 5kg everywhere, for everything, then burgess excel premium feeding timothy hay with dandelions and marigolds £4 for 1.5kg as a food treat, 2 big handfuls a day. I get through 3 bags of each a month...
Click to expand...
 
I had the same problem, so I got a hay rack and left it over the toilet corner and now only bits of hay come down over the toilet area, however it still gets everywhere haha
 
Piggies&buns said:
They tend to pee and poop while they eat, so this isn’t something you will be able to stop.
Some people put the hay in a rack and then hang the rack over a litter tray so they can sit in litter and eat and hopefully do their toileting there but sometimes it just won’t work....they will just find another corner to do their toileting in. My two flatly refuse to use a hay rack so hay wastage is just a fact of piggy life!
Click to expand...

I do that, and it works to an extent - except that Groucho jumps up into the hay rack and gets it from above. It's a constant battle of wits with piggies!
 
I used to put the hay in a hay bag I made and that stopped a lot of the pooing and peeing in the hay but recently they decided they didn't want to eat out of the hay bag anymore and will only eat hay out of a bowl now but at least once a week one will climb inside their hay bowl and pee in it just to be awkward.
 
Eriathwen said:
Try not to view it as waste, they may not have eaten it, but they will have had fun playing in it. They don't have ther same standards of hygiene as we do, they eat their own poop so a little poop on their hay isn't going to bother them :vom:XD
As long as theyve got fresh to choose from and damp stuff is being taken out, theyll be happy as Larry.
Click to expand...
:agr:
 
Sometimes you can try and keep your pigs in too perfect conditions. Mine poo in the hay that they eat from, i just change it when i notice that its damp so that bacteria isnt breeding. Especially now i have the heating on.
 
Mine go to bathroom in their hay pan about 90% of the time. This saves me a lot of time from heavy cleaning duties. I am pretty thankful they are able to use their hay pans as bathrooms.
I change their hay pan every other day by throwing away hay and puppy pee pad that is at the bottom. I wash their hay pans then wipe with vinegar and I line with puppy pee pad at the bottom and top off with hay.

They also have at from hay ball and hay rack where I replenish with fresh hay.
 
If your having problems with this, just get a hay rack. Hay is normally softer than normal bedding so my piggie lays on it all the time when I put on their floor instead of on the rack.
 
I use fleece bedding for my girls and they just have an extra fleece pad underneath their hay pile. When I spot clean I keep the dry bits of hay, replace the damp bits and brush off or replace the fleece pad. For their more expensive hay I made a fabric hay rack. Although the hay pile can be a bit wasteful they absolutely love it so I could never take it away!
 
I used to use a Garden Potting Tray for their hay - nice and shallow for them to easily get into and plenty big enough to put extra bedding in to absorb the wee and poo lol. I found it contained the worst of their mess! Yes you end up chucking some hay away but I found my piggies did most of their wees and poos in there so it did keep the cage relatively clean! Nice and solid so easy to pick up and clean more frequently than the rest of the cage. You can get trays much cheaper than the link below - it's just the first example I could easily find.

I mean this sort of tray: httpsspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1540144289&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=garden+potting+tray&psc=1
 
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