Hay Hooks–The New Hipster Accessory?

With so many city chickens I predict that hay hooks will become just as indispensable to the urban hipster as is the fixed gear bicycle. After years of hauling staw bales up the 30 steps to our house (to use as bedding for the chickens) I just broke down and bought a pair.

A vaquero at the feed store intervened with a neat tip when he saw me struggling to use my new hay hooks to load some bales into a friend’s truck. Here’s what he showed me. Note the red arrow in the photo above. Odds are with new hooks that this distance needs to be shortened a bit. My hay hooks were much easier to use after the feed store guy bent them using one of the anchor points in the truck bed.

In addition to the steps, my other reason for owning hay hooks is that I have to navigate bales down a narrow side yard. Hay hooks make the maneuver above a lot less awkward.

Now when will we see Bianchi come out with the hay hook equivalent of the Pista?

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9 Comments

  1. Nice. I watched a video of a butcher processing a deer. He used a little butcher’s hook–just like these, but much smaller. It sure looked useful.

  2. Plus, you can show your solidarity extra stylishly, if longshoremen should ever happen to go on strike.

  3. Now if you could just come up with a solution for bales molding and mildewing in the northwest winter – even well protected under a tarp. Am I risking burning our house down through spontaneous combustion, keeping hay under the porch under a tarp? Sadly we do not live in a Mediterranean Climate like some people.

    • Tarps trap moisture which help straw and hay mildew faster. It is better to keep them in a building, such as a garage or shed, where there is better air circulation. I too live in the northwest and understand your issue.

  4. Pingback: Friday Links: Netherfield, Parisian Kale, Salted Chocolate, and Hay Hooks

  5. Growing up I always used hay hooks like this: http://www.edarley.com/hay-hook

    The difference between this one and yours is the hook slides between your middle and ring finger. I recently tried one like yours for the first time and for the life of me I couldn’t get it to cooperate. I didn’t feel like I had any torque on it, and I kept having to wrench it into the bales, and it would keep bouncing off. Finally I changed my grip by moving it up to the bar that would be in front of your knuckles, so the hook rod was between my fingers like normal. Make sense? Just wondering if I’m the only one who has had that problem

  6. I grew up using both kinds, but the one you put your hand through was handmade and not as long. It could be that the problem is as much about the length of the hook from your hand as how it is gripped. I liked them the ones with the sharpest hook the best as they had the best bite into the bale.

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