Which hutch or cage!

[littlewizz]

Ok struggling to decide - in an insulated and boarded shed - with piggies to come in during winter as with any luck our extension will be done by then (lockdown has stopped all work!) should I get a C&C with loft & lid so I can blanket over it when chilly over summer or a double height hutch and then a run area. For three girlie piggies. We’ve acquired some and in temporary hutch for this week till we get something. I keep changing my mind?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Is the shed predator proof? No rats etc. I only ask because a c&c wouldn’t offer protection from that.

My two boys live in my shed year round. I have both a hutch and c&c grids with a loft (the loft is of temporary construction at the moment as I’m waiting for the correx and ramp to arrive). Hutch is essential for mine though as they are out there year round so need the hutch for winter warmth

Just one other consideration, the temperature your shed gets to during a summers day.
The biggest issue I have in summer is it getting too hot in there very quickly - I have to get them out of the shed by 9am in the height of summer and onto the lawn run. I then have separate c&c grids, cable tied together so if can be folded up, which form an indoor playpen so I can bring them into the house when necessary at the hottest part of the day. They often can’t go back into the shed until much later in the evening (9pm sometimes). Even on a cooler day, the shed sits much warmer than the outside air temperatures - a 16 degree reasonably bright day can easily cause my shed to get up to 25 degrees and be stuffy and getting too hot for them to stay in for the day.

 

[littlewizz]

Thank you for the quick reply! So shed is fully insulated walls and roof and boarded. Yesterday when 27 degrees I put a digital thermometer in and even with all doors and windows shut at 3pm it hadn’t got over 23 degrees. So I can open windows and doors and put fly screens up. No rats or mice have ever got in during the last ten years. It has skirting and carpet tiles! Husband has just been made to clear a big space for piggies!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Excellent!

I guess it then comes down to personal choice! I like the c&c element of their space for its flexibility, but I also like the security of their hutch - as I said though mine are out year round so having a hutch is essential for them.
If you had a c&c, then maybe you could bring it in each autumn and use it indoors for winter so would save you having to have a second indoor cage for winter use.