Free feed or scheduled?

[scott]

It gives me great pleasure to read that most everyone`s chins do what mine also do and that is play in or dump there food bowl, the little knuckleheads will make like they are oh so happy to have a full dish and when i check on them later on the dish is empty and one of them will be sitting in it when i walk in and then jump and run when they see me. i like what hownowbrowncow said " hay bomb went off" this very true with my little guys also. I have a ? as far as hay is concerned. i mix their hay, i get 3 or 4 different types depending on the money i have, i dump them into a bin and mix it together real good and when their hay holder is empty i refill it. does anybody else mix there hay?

 

[saffy78]

Hi Scott, I don't mix my hay but I do get two different types and swap it weekly, just so they don't get bored and stop eating it, sometimes I buy a new one to try, but I have found my chins are pretty fussy (suprise suprise lol) so I stick to the couple they like and use them on alternate weeks, and buy the odd sample box

 

[mknoblich1]

I feed mine twice a day but put in extra so they don't run out if they are extra hungry. Right now I have a 4 month old that is going through pellets like crazy and two 1 year olds that are pretty predictable. I don't think chins will over eat on pellets so its ok to have food in all the time.

 

[lilcutie0480]

We feed Gohan at night after he's woken up. We give him roughly 2-3 tablespoons of pellets & hay (which we check & re-fill in the morning). My guy eats when it's served, then eats again before going to be in the am & he also does a mid-afternoon snack. I support allowing him to eat whenever he wants to.
He can be wasteful as previously mentioned, with hay & pellets. Typically he will eat portions of the pellets but then drop them. Most of the time he will eat those he previously threw out. Just crazy chin behavior. ☺

 

[Jenn]

I free feed my chin. She does pretty well at eating most of her pellets, and wasting very little. Hay, on the other hand, is a different story!

 

[Vyxxin]

I think it really just depends on the chin. Some do just fine free fed while others will waste a TON of food. I feed a set amount once a day. I started doing this in response to several chinchillas digging their entire feeders empty, then of course, once the food hits the floor there is no 10 second rule...it's garbage...

Others will set on their feeder and soil their feed...again, waste. My animals seem to do just fine with the once a day feeding. Less waste, healthy chins...no complaints.

 

[greychins]

Typically, I free feed. All the chins get their bowls filled when they get towards the bottom. For some with larger bowls, that may be a few days, for some with smaller, every day.

The only exception to free feeding is if I get in a rescue that digs through their food. So that I don't end up wasting a ton of food, I'll put a smaller amount in those bowls. That way, if they dig it out, they're not wasting as much. But otherwise, I free feed.

 

[aznmexaggie]

I feed once daily but fill feeders to the top. I have a few chins who waste feed so I just don't fill those feeders completely. They tend to stop wasting it when they don't have a full feeder to dig through.

 

[Cinder and Me]

What worked for me was having a larger/heavy ceramic bowl and only filling 1/3-1/2 way. There was much less waste and no where near the amount of 1/2 eaten pellets. It looked like she dropped the 1/2 eaten pellet back in the bowl and she'd eat everything.