# Homemade outdoor hay feeder.



## HaffiesRock (31 July 2013)

I know there will be people on here who are mega talented and resourceful and will have made one of these 

Pony lives out 24/7. He gets hayed all year round as we don't have a lot of grass.

I'd like to build something that would take a small bale of hay, keep it off the ground and slow down the consumption too (all while being safe obviously) I would probably put it on a rubber mat to avoid mud too.

Any suggestions, links, pictures gratefully received!


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## poiuytrewq (31 July 2013)

watching with interest!


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## Diddleydoo (31 July 2013)

You can make one of these for a LOT less than £55

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Horse-Hay...t=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&hash=item1c346bb2bd

http://www.britishbins.co.uk/off-stock-seconds-lidless.html


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## Meowy Catkin (31 July 2013)

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...home-made-hay-holders&highlight=pallet+feeder


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## Diddleydoo (31 July 2013)

Faracat said:



http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...home-made-hay-holders&highlight=pallet+feeder 

Click to expand...

That is very impressive


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## SatsumaGirl (31 July 2013)

I was going to mention the pallet idea. A guy who used to share a field with my sister made on quite easily with very little DIY skills. Basically take 8 pallets of the same size, tie them together in twos to create four sides, then tie the fours sides together. I'm not sure if he put a bottom in but it was basically done with some strong rope. Ok, so a little bit on the rough and ready side but it lasted years!


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## hayinamanger (31 July 2013)

I would not use pallets, they tend to be flimsy and break easily, they are held together with nails.  I just think what's a bit of wasted hay compared to vet bills.


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## SueL (31 July 2013)

Hi

Normally a lurker but saw this so will watch with interest.  We were thinking of getting some big tyres from maybe a 4x4 and stacking two together, tying with the obligatory bale twin and using as hay feeders.  Easy to move with two of us and can be hosed out easily if need be !


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## HaffiesRock (31 July 2013)

I love the wheelie bin idea!

Would worry about him getting a crick in his neck though :/


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## Meowy Catkin (31 July 2013)

Horses get stuck in large tyres more regularly than you would imagine.




















Not a good thing to make a hay feeder from.


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## SueL (31 July 2013)

Perhaps a stack of mini tyres then


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## Meowy Catkin (31 July 2013)

SueL said:



			Perhaps a stack of mini tyres then
		
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I'm sure they's manage to get their heads stuck somehow!  

Honestly - horses are nearly as bad as sheep with their lack of self preservation.


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## HaffiesRock (31 July 2013)

Faracat said:



			Horses get stuck in large tyres more regularly than you would imagine.




















Not a good thing to make a hay feeder from.
		
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WOW. That is all...


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## HaffiesRock (31 July 2013)

So my thinking is. Build a box out of deckboards roughly the size of a hay bale, and then buy a grid to go on top that is slightly smaller than the box so it moves down with the hay?

Sounds simple enough... *runs to OH waving my arms with my plan for him to build*


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## Bettyboo1976 (31 July 2013)

I have a hay box made from pallets. In winter I tie hay nets into it, secured with baler twine so the nets don't come out.  Works a treat and saves me loads as no hay wasted.  I use small holes nets so it takes longer to eat.


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## SueL (31 July 2013)

Nightmares on 4 legs !

Still think tyres are worth exploring - kinder than pallets providing they don't get themselves wedged that is !!


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## SueL (31 July 2013)

Nightmares on 4 legs !

Still think tyres are worth exploring - kinder than pallets providing they don't get themselves wedged that is !!


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## HaffiesRock (31 July 2013)

Hay is so expensive these days so any way of saving it and I'm game! Said pony has also been caught weeing on his hay too... He did then eat it all, but that's just gross!


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## JillA (31 July 2013)

So long as it isn't on wet sloppy mud, I use hay nets with the tie string securely tied up with no loops for feet to get caught in (someone I know removes the tie string and replaces it with a carabiner) so they are hay balls and can be fed away from fences etc. Hours of enjoyment not only eating the hay but playing with the balls - unless you are my horse who regularly rolls them under the fence and then stands looking hungry! Works well with small holed nets, wouldn't like to use it with the larger holed ones, too many feet traps.


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## tuonodeb (31 July 2013)

Hi I've considered these but I've not seen one in the flesh, so not sure how safe or viable one would be, just an idea, sorry ipad picture fail, just a mo.


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## tuonodeb (31 July 2013)

This.


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## windand rain (31 July 2013)

extra large haynets over rigid plastic storage boxes for mine slows them down and holds about 3 sections of hay enough for mine anyway 





They are virtually unbreakable mad from the same stuff as lego bricks and they are also suitable as they move when the ponies itch on them so they dont take chunks of skin off them


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## TigerTail (31 July 2013)

I have one of these - from my local agric merchants for free - tis what big drills get packet in for


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## Slightly Foxed (31 July 2013)

I've had hay hutches, tractor tyres, home made mangers on the fence and all have failed in that the horses just pull the hay out and throw it around! 

What worked for me is hard standing in all the winter paddocks, put the hay on that and it doesn't get trampled in the mud but I know not everyone can do that.


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## zangels (31 July 2013)

We us a compost bin. I tie it to a fence post usually with bale twine to sop it lowing away, it took a few days for them to eat the hay from it as they were a bit wary but are fin with it now.


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## PingPongPony (31 July 2013)

HaffiesRock said:



			So my thinking is. Build a box out of deckboards roughly the size of a hay bale, and then buy a grid to go on top that is slightly smaller than the box so it moves down with the hay?

Sounds simple enough... *runs to OH waving my arms with my plan for him to build*
		
Click to expand...

Love the idea, but the grid will have to have some weights attached to it so that it doesn't get stuck at a weird angle when the horses eat only the right side of the bale or something and so that they can't lift it up? I should think a brick attached in each corner will do the job nicely


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## ozpoz (31 July 2013)

I second the hard standing idea. I don't want anything with nails in my paddocks, ever. Tyres are a potential nightmare. I would far rather lose a bit of hay than have an injury and horses are very good at finding new ways to damage themselves. I don't know of any safe container that I would put hay in.


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## Honey08 (31 July 2013)

Faracat said:



			I'm sure they's manage to get their heads stuck somehow!  

Honestly - horses are nearly as bad as sheep with their lack of self preservation.
		
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Those tyre photos are shocking!

Funny you should say that about sheep.  I got back from a ride the other day to see a sheep with one of the tyres from a XC fence around its middle as though it was off swimming!  By the time I'd untacked and gone for the camera it had got it off again!


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## SatsumaGirl (1 August 2013)

hayinamanger said:



			I would not use pallets, they tend to be flimsy and break easily, they are held together with nails.  I just think what's a bit of wasted hay compared to vet bills.
		
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Ours were glued together as you could see excess dried glue at the sides. I never thought about nails in different types. Oops! Sorry.


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## twiggy2 (1 August 2013)

those poor horses with the tyres, i used old household water tanks


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## lachlanandmarcus (1 August 2013)

This works perfectly for me, even better it is subsidised to buy from the council! It is cable tied to the fence post in several places. One advantage is it is top loading but horse eats from the bottom so no waste, they eat the older stuff first, and the hay keeps dry. Very useful for my lami girl.


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## FinnishLapphund (1 August 2013)

I read the other thread that Faracat posted a link to, and I wonder what happened to Queenbee's hay hutch? I think that they look nice http://www.hay-hutch.com/?oo=0 .







Found another  HHO thread where e.g. YasandCrystal posted photos of wheelie bins used as hay feeders http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?567252-feeding-hay-in-the-field

Other examples of wheelie bins as hay feeders found through Google image search














Some more images of other homemade hay feeders that I found 

Link to big photo of a round plastic barrel made into a hay feeder http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qd0JqbIWZmU/S__8fhu-qZI/AAAAAAAAANg/iFKDRcZW8VQ/s1600/IMG_0951.JPG

Scroll down to post 114 for photos of how they've attached the grid to the barrel in the photo below http://forums.horsecity.com/index.php?showtopic=47025800&page=4






Something similar to above, except that they've used a piece of a rubber doormat as grid








Link to big photo of a feed bin with net at the bottom tied to a post http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x192/mymacai/DSC02088.jpg









Link to big photo of what looks like a modified version of what Tuonodeb posted a link to http://ferrellhollowfarm.typepad.com/.a/6a01156fa5b26f970c0115712dba6f970b-800wi























































Not quite homemade, but the rack from where the nibble net is hanging is homemade


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## pip6 (1 August 2013)

We got some used back wheel tractor tyres from the next door farm. They are large & deep enough that you can fill the middle & it doesn't blow about the field. They can be moved (car or friends helpful) about field, & being rubber they've never been damaged or hurt the neds no matter how many times they get jumped on.


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## HaffiesRock (1 August 2013)

Quite s lot of ideas here now, thank you all.

I love the idea of the plastic storage box with the haynet over. Its a good place to start until I can sort out something bigger.

Thanks


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## JLD (1 August 2013)

Can horses eat from sheep/cattle hayfeeders ? We've got one out for the sheep and pony will be out with them this winter !


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## Meowy Catkin (1 August 2013)

JLD said:



			Can horses eat from sheep/cattle hayfeeders ? We've got one out for the sheep and pony will be out with them this winter !
		
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Yes - but I put mesh on it to stop the horses putting their legs through the bars. It's adapted rather than homemade.


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## spookypony (1 August 2013)

Here's a tyre feeder. The two tyres have had their inner metal rims sawed out, and are bolted to each other and onto a pallet with a total of 8 coach bolts. Total cost: the price of the coach bolts.

The hay bale in it is 3' diameter, and is contained in a really really big small-hole hay-net (I think these are called "Texas haynets"?).

For safety, you can make holes around the tyre to which you can anchor the haynet, if you use one.

While those pictures of horses stuck in tyres are very alarming (and I hope the horses were extracted safely!), I think having two tyres on top of each other, and the metal rims removed, would increase the safety. I suspect a really determined horse would also find a way to get stuck in a sheep feeder or a tombstone feeder.


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## Meowy Catkin (1 August 2013)

The grey was OK, the foal died I believe, I'm not sure about the third horse.


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## RutlandH2O (1 August 2013)

Finnish Lapphund, The 12th photo, in your very helpful and informative post, is the one we made. We actually made 2 and don't know how we've survived without them! The gridwall we used never shifts or gets stuck. It can't be lifted out while the donkeys are eating, because of the hinged rim around the top of the feeder. There is NO waste, I mean none whatsoever. Even the ring feeders, wheelie bin feeders, feeders where the horses pull at the hay through vertical mesh, and hay hutches, all have a degree of waste. The feeders pictured in your 13th and 14th photos utilise a grid, but I can't see how those grids are secured.


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## RutlandH2O (1 August 2013)

HaffiesRock said:



			So my thinking is. Build a box out of deckboards roughly the size of a hay bale, and then buy a grid to go on top that is slightly smaller than the box so it moves down with the hay?

Sounds simple enough... *runs to OH waving my arms with my plan for him to build*
		
Click to expand...

Exactly!! It works a treat! The grid must have a bit of weight, that's why we use gridwall. If you go to eBay and search for Gridwall, you should find no end of choices. They come in 2 feet widths, and lengths of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 feet. The openings are 3 inches square. When I showed one of my vets our two feeders, she waxed poetic about them. She said they are like rigid horizontal haynets. Go for it!


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## Tinypony (1 August 2013)

This is my prototype, I'm using bigger "plant pots" now.


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## FinnishLapphund (1 August 2013)

RutlandH2O said:



			Finnish Lapphund, The 12th photo, in your very helpful and informative post, is the one we made. We actually made 2 and don't know how we've survived without them! The gridwall we used never shifts or gets stuck. It can't be lifted out while the donkeys are eating, because of the hinged rim around the top of the feeder. There is NO waste, I mean none whatsoever. Even the ring feeders, wheelie bin feeders, feeders where the horses pull at the hay through vertical mesh, and hay hutches, all have a degree of waste. The feeders pictured in your 13th and 14th photos utilise a grid, but I can't see how those grids are secured.
		
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Glad you liked my post  , but to be honest, I don't know if the grid is secured in any way in the 14th photo. On the hay feeder in the 13th photo, they've attached a wooden frame to the grid and I presumed that it is supposed to make the grid heavy enough for the horses to not lift it up with their teeth and remove it. I did a new image search and found this similar, smaller version of the hay feeder in the 13th photo, but where the grid with its wooden frame is more visible 






And a similar grid with wooden frame being made







In the new search I also found some other photos, like this grid solution, but unless it is attached somehow, it looks, to me, like something a horse could lift up and remove themselves?







A hay feeder with an opening towards the top, where you can slid the grid in/out when you fill it up with hay


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## Tinypony (1 August 2013)

That's why I use bungee cord in my feeders, it goes down though the mesh and stops them pulling the lid off.


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## smokey (1 August 2013)

I used a big compost bin at my last yard, secured to fence posts. Worked really well. This winter I have a proper round feeder, on the hard standing, very spoilt now! Lol


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## HaffiesRock (30 September 2013)

I am about to build my hay feeder, so was just wonderign if anyone else has any ideas or suggestions on this?

Thanks


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## YasandCrystal (30 September 2013)

I made 4 of these - brilliant - I am so pleased with them. Hold a whole bale and I can wheel them about.


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## Booboos (30 September 2013)

I am about to try and make this one:
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?sa=X...ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:48,s:0,i:233&tx=81&ty=91

But I don't think my lot would cope with the plastic ones (they would break them in two seconds) and I need something that keeps the hay in (sandy soil so I don't want them to eat off the ground).


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## coffeeandabagel (30 September 2013)

"That's why I use bungee cord in my feeders, it goes down though the mesh and stops them pulling the lid off."I would never use a bungee with horses - imagine the possibilites for split lips or eyes if it twanged off! Bet Faracat can show us come horro pics!A good friend of mine made me a wooden haybox about 1 metre long and 30 high and 20 deep. I have only used it indoors so far because the wood isnt treated. Holds enough for one very greedy horse overnight easily. Think I might investigate the wheelie bin idea for the fields - can you smooth the cut edges with sandpaper?


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## YasandCrystal (30 September 2013)

coffeeandabagel said:



			"That's why I use bungee cord in my feeders, it goes down though the mesh and stops them pulling the lid off."I would never use a bungee with horses - imagine the possibilites for split lips or eyes if it twanged off! Bet Faracat can show us come horro pics!A good friend of mine made me a wooden haybox about 1 metre long and 30 high and 20 deep. I have only used it indoors so far because the wood isnt treated. Holds enough for one very greedy horse overnight easily. Think I might investigate the wheelie bin idea for the fields - can you smooth the cut edges with sandpaper?
		
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Yes, you can smooth the sharp plastic cut edges - we used a round file actually.  The feeder does slow them down - they have to reach in to get the hay after the initial munch and I get little wastage.

I agree re bungees - a friend lost an eye after one twanged into her eye directly - they were fastening down hay - poor lady.


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## noodle_ (30 September 2013)

hay hutch?!


i bought one last year was expensive but brilliant.... they do not roll away (can roll as my youngster battered it but it is literally bombproof).....

fit a whole bale in (i had a medium one)... was ace


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## coffeeandabagel (30 September 2013)

Hay hutches are quite expensive and I am not sure my feed possessive horse would share from it. Better to get 3 smaller bins


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## RutlandH2O (30 September 2013)

I've got the links for the steksinoly slow feeder: http://youtu.be/kL0o_N_W_w8 and http://youtu.be/zvG1pokZPms. We raised ours about 8 inches off the floor and we put mesh bottoms in the feeders so that dust and seeds fall out and can be swept away.

Just a note about the gridwall: it is heavy (not so heavy as to make it unmanageable) and lays on the hay securely. The donkeys (horses) could lift it while pulling out a wad of forage through the 3 inch openings. The grid weight, and the hinged lid with the overhang all the way around the feeder, prevents the grid from being dislodged. It really is a very simple, convenient, efficient, robust method of feeding hay/forage.


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## coffeeandabagel (30 September 2013)

What wood preservative is safe to use if I move my box outside for the winter?


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## Sunshine (30 September 2013)

We use the building site mortar tubs, the ones they lift with a fork lift truck. Because they are made from heavy duty plastic it doesn't fracture and split to leave sharp ends and they are heavy enough not to be knocked over. In summer they are great water troughs and are just the right size for a small bale of hay in winter. We got ours for free from a large building site when they had almost finished and were tidying up. It needed a good scrub clean but has done five years now with no maintenance or breakages.


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## RutlandH2O (30 September 2013)

coffeeandabagel said:



			What wood preservative is safe to use if I move my box outside for the winter?
		
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You could try Osmo and Hannant's wood preservers. They are non-toxic and safe.


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## Holzdweaver (30 September 2013)

thats exactly what i needed and so i made one for my ponies to eat out of last year  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7UX6FYwNqs&feature=c4-overview&list=UU5LJwKH6KYqwIu9YUJQCDvQ

i actually adapted it a little better after i took this so it didnt move so much as hes quite a rough eater lol


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## JigsawMLP (30 September 2013)

Tried lots of different things but always gravitate back to the builders buckets , cheap, easy to move, and do the job.


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