Preparing outdoor hutch for winter

[Lizabel]

Here's another question related to preparing an outdoor hutch for the colder weather. My two boars live in a two-storey hutch and I'm planning to shut the hatch cover very soon as they live and sleep upstairs and rarely go down to the lower level. Someone has already commented in another thread that they close their lower level off to keep more heat in and give more space for running around.

This plan raises a potential issue and I wondered whether anyone else has experienced similar. My boys seem to pee down the ramp - I've never seen them do it but the ramp is always wet, so if I close the hatch I'll shut off one of their toilet options. Does that matter? When we first got them they chose a corner at the top of the ramp that they both use as a toilet, and they have also adopted a corner each in their bedroom where they chill out, poo and pee, so it's not as though they only use the ramp. Makes cleaning fun!

The hatch cover is made of wood whereas the rest of the floor is aluminium and slides out of the front of the hutch for easy cleaning. I wonder if they might start weeing on the closed hatch if they can't access the ramp, so what can I use under the usual bedding materials to protect the hatch cover from getting wet? I was thinking something easy to replace, like puppy training pads, or easy to clean, like a plastic coated place mat/pet bowl mat. Or is there something else that might work?

Also, I've noticed that although it's a well-made hutch it's got big gaps around the doors, so what do people recommend filling the gaps with? Anything along the lines of the self-adhesive draught excluder strips you can get to put round house doors? which are probably toxic to animals so maybe not an option? Stuff the gaps with newspaper every day?

TIA from a slightly anxious first-time parent not looking forward to winter, apologies for the essay.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I only let my boys have the top half to help keep them warmer in winter.

Your boys will just pee somewhere else.

My hutch is the same - metal pull out floor trays, wooden ramp hatch. I have a piece of plastic over the hatch cover - it’s an off cut from the sheet of plastic which is used to protect the shed floor - and then pop a piece of newspaper, then aubiose /megazorb on top and then hay

If the gaps are big then you can try newspaper, but also, ensuring there are lots of layers on the hutch - blankets, hutch covers, tarp Etc might be enough so the gaps aren’t actually a problem

 

[Lizabel]

I only let my boys have the top half to help keep them warmer in winter.

Thank you @Piggies&buns, I couldn't remember who it was who had mentioned closing the hatch in winter. It was so mild here today in Leicestershire that the boys had unexpected run time on the patio while I cleaned their hutch out. I have put some plastic (a mailing bag from a recent online shopping delivery) over the hatch and they look happier to have more space.

Good suggestion about blankets and layers rather than filling rhe gaps, I'll see how it goes. I've put a Snuggle safe in with them for the first time (unheated) to get them used to it and they are lying on top of it without questioning what this weird thing in their hutch is! I thought they would be suspicious of it but they seem quite chilled.