Advice sought on sheds for piggies

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LindaChef

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I'm thinking of getting a shed for my piggies but am confused to the window situation. All of them seemt to come with fixed styrene windows - don't they need opening windows? If i took the plastic off and replaced with mesh would that work? But then if its cold and rainy that would let in the draft. Can you let me know if you've got a shed what sort of set up you've got and what works well? Many thanks.
 
My 6 pigs are free range in a 10' x 6' shed (which was the garden shed). They have pigloos and a couple of small hutches to go inside/under. The large space means that cleaning them out in the winter is not such a huge chore (yes it takes longer, but they don't need doing as often).

The shed has fixed windows and does get hot in the summer. They are out in their covered run all day except when it's pouring with rain, so this isn't a problem. I leave the door of the shed ajar if it's hot during the day, so that it remains cool enough for when they go back in at night.

However, I would say this is not an ideal situation, because it means that if for some reason they are left in the shed on a hot day, they would overheat (I wouldn't leave them in the shed of course, but you understand where I' coming from). Other people I asked who keep their gps in a shed, said they leave the door open during the day (but their gps are in hutches).

I haven't yet managed to come up with a better alternative than leaving the door open and I'm not sure whether just having mesh in the windows would keep the shed cool enough on a hot day. I have a roll of silver bubble-wrap, like that used to insulate hutches (e.g. Scratch & Newton), but I didn't try this in time last summer to see if it kept the shed cool enough.

The rabbit shed was originally on the patio where it did get hotter than anywhere else, but there was a shady patch in their shed. We were going camping for one evening and I covered their shed in the silver bubble wrap; it did seem to keep the shed cool, however, there was someone checking up on them and the weather wasn't too warm.

The silver bubble-wrap DID NOT however keep the gp hutch cool enough, which was also on the patio but not in a shady position, even though it was not a particularly warm day. (The pigs were okay as they were removed in time.)

My only suggestions that I can think of at the moment are:
Position the shed in a naturally shady position (but of course this will likely change depending on the time of day).
Insulate the roof of the shed and preferably the sides with silver bubble-wrap.
Remove the fixed windows and use mesh, but then attach hinged board covers to keep them snug in winter.

See if there is anyway of creating a mesh screen door for the shed, so that you can create more of a breeze into the shed on a hot day to keep your pigs cool, whilst still keeping them safe from predators (and escape).

One thing I would definitely advise against is putting a hutch with short legs and with a width of greater than 1.5ft in the shed for them to hide under/in. I had one of these in last year and it was a nightmare. The hutch was too wide for me to reach any gps that hid under it at the back, cleaning the shed out took far longer (due to the same problems with access), and the short legs made underneath it dark and inaccessible.

I would be really interested in hearing how you resolve this as I am currently experiencing your predicament.
 
Mine are in a shed at the mo and during this weather they are fine but it does bother me with the warmer weather coming up.
My brother has offered to put me a sliding mesh door on the inside of the shed so I can leave the outside doors open (this will offer protection from predators and give some breeze).
He also said he was going to do something with the 4 block windows so that they'll open but nothing will be able to get inside the shed.
 
I bought my shed from a shed makers. The problem often is, if you buy an off the shelf shed, you can get them quite cheaply, but they are flimsy, draughty and doors rarely fit. The knots in the wood often fall out and then you have holes, and you can sometimes see through the slats of wood where they don't join properly. Insulation only makes a little difference in a flimsy shed, just like a flimsy hutch. I would urge anyone who is considering a shed to find a good quality shed maker that uses really thick wood and will work to your specification. My shed is 12' x 6' and cost just under £800. It has a stable door, opening windows and I had electricity put in so there is light and heating. x
ps. I have a wire mesh covering the stable door when open, and fly meshes at both window and door. This allows air to flow through also on hot days. x
 
Hi i am also wanting a shed for my guinea pigs and after looking around came to the conclusion that i would have to have one made to my specifications. There are shed shops around that will do this. It means that they can also make a same height roofed run that will be attached to the shed. I am going to have a main door into the shed which will be a stable door, for me to get access and then i am having another large door from the shed into the run for me to get access to clean out the run area, therefore i can keep this door open all through the summer and keep the shed cool.

I am also going to put in a smaller hatch type access from the shed to the run for the pigs to use in the winter so that they dont have a big door open letting in the cold for the winter. I am currently looking into safe ways to heat the shed too throughout the cold months.

As you can imagine this is coming at a cost and the whole project is going to cost me in the region of £1,000. However i do believe it is worth having it built to your own specification as it will solve all the problems.

Hope this helps
 
Depending on how 'handy' you are, many timber yards will sell you the log-lap timber panels for shed-building, meaning you can build your own shed for a fraction of the cost and one that's better quality. My local timber yard said that they would build me a door, and you can get shed plans off the internet. (I ended up not needing to build one though, so I don't know how feasible this would be.)
 
I have mine in a shed, and when we first put my rabbits in last summer, with the fixed window, the shed got WAY too hot in summer. You definitely need to open the window or take it out. I couldn't keep rabbits in there, I was terrified they'd die.

So I took out the perspex window and I put chicken wire over the window. What I did was stapled some to the outside of the window covering the whole window (I have cats who were trying to get in and nearly did, so use lots of staples or nails!) and then I stapled some chicken wire to the inside of the window, only covering the bottom 2/3rds, so I can slide the perspex back in between the two bits of wire and it stays in place.

I put the perspex back in at night and all through the winter. It's not too warm yet but I take it out during the day to give them fresh air, cos it's not too cold either. Wire mesh would be stronger than chicken wire, I just happened the have chicken wire with small holes already so used that.

There are other ways you could hold the perspex in place but that's just what I did :)


Oh and get a shed with lots of windows if you can :) I only have one window, so it still can get a little warm in there, and there's not enough light. It's fine really, you can see fine, just not as bright as outdoors and not as much air can get in as I'd like. But I already had the shed, so had no choice on how many windows it had. :)
 
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