How best to store a bale of hay?

So, I'm thinking of taking the plunge and buying a bale of hay. It is SO much cheaper than buying bags, like I do now.

How do I store hay? What about when it needs to be outside? Does it need to be in an air-tight container? Or is air ok? What ruins hay? I thought that water would ruin hay, would non-direct water such as humidity leaking into a storage contained ruin the hay as well?

How do you store your hay? Right now I have bags of it and it lives in the bunnies' room with them, but mum has been complaining about the smell a lot and wants me to move the hay outside.

Thanks in advance!

What hay are you thinking of buying. I dont want to scare you but having had horses all my life I went and bought a bale from where used to and ended up treating 13 rabbits for mites

I'll be buying from the same place that I get the bagged hay from, and I've seen them bag it - they just strip bits off their pre-existing bales, so I know it will be OK.

That's terrible re mites!!!

AFAIK, It needs to kept dry, but open, so that any trapped moisture doesn't become mould - which is highly dangerous to buns.

I've only had a bale once, and it was huuuge! I put in a big bin liner, stood upright, with the top open. It spent around 8 months in a wardrobe - and the room smelt strongly of hay!

If it's going outside, then that vessel it goes ito should prevent rodents, water and insects from getting in.

I'm sure you'l get some other tips too

ETA:

Indie22 wrote:What hay are you thinking of buying. I dont want to scare you but having had horses all my life I went and bought a bale from where used to and ended up treating 13 rabbits for mites

this is also true of bagged hay, although if it's dust extracted, it's less likely. Both times Bertie had mites was from bagged hay, and a well known brand.

Im sure plenty hays are safe. I need to get plenty myself

I now use hay for pets as its easier to store and fab quality, but when i had farm bales, i would keep them in the shed.
I would just cut up a bin liner so that it was opened up into a square, then put it on the floor of she shed so that there was a membrane between the floor and the bale. I would then stand the bale upright on its end so it took up less space and take a slice off at a time. We just left it in the shed and kept the door shut. Its the easiest way of saving space as the small end of the bales are no more than 2x2.

If you have to keep it outside, im not sure. Some people have used wheelie bins. You could use horse feed bins and divide the hay between the two. It keeps them dry, but theres no air circulating then. They do go funny if they dont get air to them.

Put your hay inside if possible; if you leave it outside covered with a tarpaulin, moisture can seep into the hay and cause problems with mold. If you must leave it outside, using a pyramid structure under the tarp will encourage moisture to run off.

Wooden pallets are ideal for stacking bales of hay on as this allows air to flow under the bales, if you stack them directly on concrete this will cause moisture from the ground and it will travel into the bales.

Store hay in an area with vents or windows to encourage air circulation. ( we buy about 15 bales at a time with having so many buns and we stack in a storage shed that we had vent's put in at the back of the shed for this reason)

We also have an old black dustbin in the garage with hay in and we have made holes in the lid of the dustbin.

How do you mean a pyramid structure Maysie?
I'm storing a bale that I'm not using at the moment. It's wrapped in tarpaulin in a shed but now I've read this I think I need to change how I've stored it.

Dotdot wrote:How do you mean a pyramid structure Maysie?
I'm storing a bale that I'm not using at the moment. It's wrapped in tarpaulin in a shed but now I've read this I think I need to change how I've stored it.

the pyramid is for outside storage so the bale of hay had a sort of tent over it so moisture can run off it easily.

We use a big wheelie bin - no problems with mould.... although a bale only lasts our lot 2 or 3 weeks....

Sparky wrote:We use a big wheelie bin - no problems with mould.... although a bale only lasts our lot 2 or 3 weeks....

same here

Amelia66 wrote:

Dotdot wrote:How do you mean a pyramid structure Maysie?
I'm storing a bale that I'm not using at the moment. It's wrapped in tarpaulin in a shed but now I've read this I think I need to change how I've stored it.

the pyramid is for outside storage so the bale of hay had a sort of tent over it so moisture can run off it easily.

Thanks for the advice guys. When I say outside, I realised I should have clarified - it'll be in our garage, but the garage has only 3 walls, so there's the chance if there is rain at a very strong angle it could get a little wet. I might speak to my mum about putting it so far away from the open wall that the rain can't get to it.

I saw a large storage bin with holes in it, maybe that would be good for circulation? On the plus side, bales are SO much cheaper!