Burgess Excel Meadow Hay Box: How to Store and Serve Feeding Hay

Start with the box, not a hay rack

The Burgess Excel Meadow Hay Box is a 4.5kg pack of British meadow hay for rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas. It arrives in a resealable, fully recyclable box, so the first storage decision is simply whether to keep the hay in that box or decant it. Keeping it in the box is the simplest route: the resealable closure helps limit mess and keeps the hay together between servings.

The product record does not include specific storage temperatures, humidity limits or a use-by period after opening. Treat those as unknowns rather than assumptions, and rely on the box’s resealable design plus your own observation of the hay.

A simple storage routine for the 4.5kg box

1. Reseal after every serving: Close the box fully once you have taken out the day’s hay. The resealable box is the main storage feature confirmed by the product record.
2. Keep the box dry and out of the way: The record does not specify a storage location, so use your judgement: a dry indoor spot is more sensible than a damp shed or a spot where the box can be knocked over.
3. Check the hay before serving: Burgess notes that this is a natural field-grown product and that extraneous matter from the field can occasionally find its way in. Look over each handful as you take it out.
4. Do not overfill the feeding area: The record gives no portion size, so there is no manufacturer figure to copy. Offer hay in a way that lets your pet graze through the day, and top up rather than leaving stale hay sitting for long periods.

How much hay to feed a rabbit, guinea pig or chinchilla

The clearest feeding figure in the product record is that feeding hay should make up 85–90% of your pet’s diet. That is a diet-share guideline, not a gram-by-gram portion, and the record does not give a daily weight for rabbits, guinea pigs or chinchillas. The practical takeaway is that hay should be the main food on offer, not a garnish beside a bowl of pellets.

For a rabbit, that means hay should be available for most of the day rather than served once. For guinea pigs, the same principle applies, and meadow hay is one of the hay types the product is intended for. Chinchillas are also listed on the pack. If you are switching hay or changing how much you offer, do it gradually and watch how your pet responds.

What the Burgess Excel Meadow Hay Box record confirms

• Burgess Excel Meadow Feeding Hay Box: Composition: Meadow Hay (100%). A single-ingredient meadow hay is straightforward to assess if you are choosing a hay for a rabbit, guinea pig or chinchilla.

  

• Burgess Excel Meadow Feeding Hay Box: Analytical constituents include beneficial fibre 64% and crude fibre 30%. These are the fibre figures supplied for this box; they help you compare it with other hays without guessing at values.
• Burgess Excel Meadow Feeding Hay Box: The hay is dust extracted, and the record states it is good for dental health and high in beneficial fibre to aid digestion. These are the manufacturer’s stated features for this product, relevant when you are deciding whether the box suits your feeding routine.
• Burgess Excel Meadow Feeding Hay Box: The pack is 4.5kg and comes in a resealable, fully recyclable box. A larger box means fewer reorders, but it also means the hay sits in storage longer, so resealing matters.

Serving meadow hay to guinea pigs and rabbits

Meadow hay is the only ingredient listed, so there is no blend to explain. For guinea pigs, the product is explicitly listed as suitable, and the same is true for rabbits and chinchillas. The record does not state a minimum age or a transition schedule, so there is no manufacturer step-by-step to follow for introducing it.

A practical serving approach is to put out a fresh handful, let your pet graze, and remove soiled hay before topping up. The 85–90% diet share is the anchor: if hay is not the majority of what your pet eats, the feeding routine needs adjusting before you worry about which hay box to buy.

Checkpoints before you reorder

• Is the box still closing properly?: The resealable box is the main storage control. If the closure stops working, the hay is more exposed between servings.
• Does the hay still look and smell like hay?: The record does not give a shelf life after opening, so use your own check rather than a fixed date.
• Are you getting through 4.5kg at a sensible pace?: A bigger pack suits multi-pet homes or frequent hay eaters; a single small pet may take longer to finish it, which makes storage discipline more important.
• Have you checked for field matter?: Burgess states that extraneous matter from the field can occasionally be present despite precautions. A quick look before serving is the sensible response.