Recently Potato has started doing this and I can't figure out why. After I clean the cage, I put a fresh load of hay in the hay rack. Potato comes over, sniffs at the hay and examines it. But he doesn't eat it right away. Instead he does a circle to check it from all sides, then he pushes it away from the wall and starts eating from the back of the rack.
When Bean has already started eating, sometimes this takes him by surprise.