Breaking Up Hay Cube Help

mishellyshel · Apr 11, 2011

All this talk about hay cubes reminds me of the difficulty i was having this weekend.

Sometimes hay cubes are more like hay rods! they are often very long and super tightly packed and sometimes they are looser and easy to break up.

I do not really want to give my chins a 4 inch rectangle of compressed hay since they are used as treats not hay replacers. The ones I have are super duper tight.......its like they are glued together!

How do you guys break up those bigger pieces??? Need tips please.

SamiJami · Apr 11, 2011

I drill into it. That tends to loosen it up enough for me to break with my hands.

mercynursie · Apr 11, 2011

I like to take out my frustrations on them!Put 'em in a bag and whack it with a rolling pin!Voila,lots of pieces.Otherwise,if you want to be neat with it,they can usually be divided with a flat head screwdriver and tap with hammer where you want to break.:thumbsup:

mishellyshel · Apr 11, 2011

awesome ideas. thanks! if i get my sweetie to help i am sure he will bust out the power tools........but i am old school so a hammer & screwdriver will be my choice!

btw.........scissors dont work. nor does a butter knife. in fact both can be quite dangerous! lol

Spoof · Apr 11, 2011

I do not really want to give my chins a 4 inch rectangle of compressed hay since they are used as treats not hay replacers.

Off topic, but if the hay cubes are made out of hay that is good enough quality that the chins prefer it, why not let them switch and give them loose hay as a treat only?

Hay cubes and hay do the same thing. The harder the cube, the better it is for them.

I have also found the fastest way to crumble one is to try and drill a hole through it.

mishellyshel · Apr 11, 2011

most of my guys like the loose hay better. some of them wont even touch the hay cubes with the exception of peeing on them.

it is also very difficult in my area to find all timothy hay cubes, and that is what they predominately eat. i buy a huges 25lb box of Oxbow Timothy and a good size bag of loose alfalfa and then give them the alfalfa cubes every now & again to mix it up.