Winter housing preparation

Status
Not open for further replies.
catherine

catherine

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 4, 2011
Messages
281
Reaction score
4
Points
240
Location
York
Hi everyone :))

I don't post here too often but I often come and read the posts, it's bad of me I know :red

I have three piggies who currently live inside in a large 2 level C&C cage, a neutered male and his two pig-wives.

In the summer if all goes to plan I will be renting/buying a house with my other half, but the problem is he is allergic to the piggies so in reality they will have to move outside (no more wheeking alarm clock 8... )

I have a few questions about moving them outside really:

First one is - my local hutch/run maker has quoted me £150 for an 8 x 3 x 3 single storey hutch, which I think is brilliant. However, will that be sufficient room for them throughout winter? I wouldn't put them in an outside run during the winter months as their little piggy feet will be freezing but I hate the thought of them being cooped up and bored in the same space. With my current trio one seems to be being left out so I will probably be on the lookout for another sow to even up the numbers, so that space is potentially for 4 piggies (one being particularly crazy and active!)

Secondly - the company making the hutch can make me perspex window protectors to put over the mesh parts in winter, which I will buy.
A run cover (like the Scratch and Newton ones) will cost a LOT of money for a hutch of that size, so I am interested to know your opinions on alternative ways to keep the hutch warm. I would use tarps as well as the shutters but was looking into the idea of a heater to position inside the hutch (probably going to be 3ft tall so would put it right at the top). Does anyone use heaters and could you advise?

Sorry for all the questions, it's just the recent weather has got me worrying about them having to move outside next year.......:...

Thanks in advance
Catherine
 
Sorry I'm unsure on the hutch questions but my proposition is this...

Buy a shed for the garden.

Fit it with bed, beer fridge and games console.

Send OH out to live in shed so piggies can live indoors with you :))

On a serious note I hope it all goes to plan and you all live very happily together
 
Hahahahahaha! Brilliant - I shall have to suggest that to him later on and see what he says :D
 
Lady Kelly said:
Sorry I'm unsure on the hutch questions but my proposition is this...

Buy a shed for the garden.

Fit it with bed, beer fridge and games console.

Send OH out to live in shed so piggies can live indoors with you :))

On a serious note I hope it all goes to plan and you all live very happily together
Click to expand...

The funny thing is you could buy a new 6x4 shed for less than £150 (or even cheaper/free second hand) although you would then have to put it up. Heating a shed would probably be easier (and safer?) than putting heating in a hutch as you could run electricity to it and then plug in heat lamps/oil heaters. I'm talking about for the piggies of course, not your OH.

As for keeping the hutch warm you can by snugglesafe heatpads which are microwaveable and retain heat for up to 12 hours. People put old duvets, carpet, tarps, whatever you have to hand over the top to insulate and keep out drafts. Then in the 'sleeping' compartment of the hutch you can also put in a hidey/igloo filled with hay, put a cardboard box (with entrances obviously) over the top also filled with hay and then put more hay on top of that. The piggies will also be able to snuggle up to keep warm.

The other thing is to position the hutch so it's out of the prevailing wind and has some shelter. If it's a really cold winter then it's best to bring the pigs inside.

Oh, and also that size would be fine for three piggies. :)
 
:)) Hermes I thought you were seriously suggesting for her OH then hehe

to be honest the shed is what I plan to do when I move house and have a garden. The OH wants to have a go at building a run etc and building a cage within the shed and electrics to the shed etc etc hehe
 
:)) Hermes I thought you were seriously suggesting for her OH then hehe

to be honest the shed is what I plan to do when I move house and have a garden. The OH wants to have a go at building a run etc and building a cage within the shed and electrics to the shed etc etc hehe
 
Hermes said:
The funny thing is you could buy a new 6x4 shed for less than £150 (or even cheaper/free second hand) although you would then have to put it up. Heating a shed would probably be easier (and safer?) than putting heating in a hutch as you could run electricity to it and then plug in heat lamps/oil heaters. I'm talking about for the piggies of course, not your OH.

As for keeping the hutch warm you can by snugglesafe heatpads which are microwaveable and retain heat for up to 12 hours. People put old duvets, carpet, tarps, whatever you have to hand over the top to insulate and keep out drafts. Then in the 'sleeping' compartment of the hutch you can also put in a hidey/igloo filled with hay, put a cardboard box (with entrances obviously) over the top also filled with hay and then put more hay on top of that. The piggies will also be able to snuggle up to keep warm.

The other thing is to position the hutch so it's out of the prevailing wind and has some shelter. If it's a really cold winter then it's best to bring the pigs inside.

Oh, and also that size would be fine for three piggies. :)
Click to expand...

I did debate for a while whether to go for shed or hutch and in the end decided hutch for a couple of reasons. One being it is easier to move than a shed so should we end up somewhere with a large shed/garage I could actually move the entire hutch into the garage/shed if it gets cold. But obviously I've no idea where we will end up moving to so need to cater for all eventualities with buying this hutch.

I hope the hutch is ok for 3/4 piggies during the colder months. Obviously in summer they can go out into a large run either on grass or the patio but it's just too cold for them to do that in winter.

Secondly as the hutch will be about waist height (hopefully) it will be much easier to clean out. I have a wendyhouse for the buns which is perfect as they are litter trained however if I had to bend over and sweep up poops and litter/hay from the floor it would be a pain for bending over and crouching all the time (the g.p's aren't litter trained!)

I've got snugglesafe's for the buns and intend to buy a few more when the pigs do go outside and they have fleece tunnels and igloos to hide in and they will have mountains of hay. I could arrange for electricity to be run to the hutch and a simple greenhouse/shed heater to be put up (knowing me I will also want a fire alarm in there as I'd be paranoid about the heater setting on fire tho.....) Just wondered if anyone has heaters in their hutches/sheds and can advise me on how safe they are?
 
You may have found it already but this thread may be useful, there's one person in there who's set up heating in their hutch and others who have heated sheds. http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=82550&highlight=heating&page=5

You could install heat pads under the hutch or put in an infra-red lamp/bulb, I would think that would be easiest and safest. You'd need to try and maintain a fairly constant temperature though because fluctuating temperatures can cause illness as much as cold can.
 
A hutch that size is enormous!

I'm sure they will be very happy

and in that size you could line the walls with real house insulation in the sleeping area to keep it extra cosy

we did that for our alley cat in a kennel and he loved it
 
Lady Kelly said:
Sorry I'm unsure on the hutch questions but my proposition is this...

Buy a shed for the garden.

Fit it with bed, beer fridge and games console.

Send OH out to live in shed so piggies can live indoors with you :))

On a serious note I hope it all goes to plan and you all live very happily together
Click to expand...

Problem solved!! ;)
 
Catherine I've got a heater (or two!) installed in my outdoor hutch. I'm lucky enough to have a very practical Dad and we already had an outdoor electricity supply.

I've got these heaters:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hea...ular+Heater+60W+55+x+305mm/d230/sd3168/p32265

We've got a hutch with three levels so have installed them to the underside of each level inside the hutch (one 240watt and one 120watt), and they work a treat! I'd really reccommend it and as long as you're sensible with it and have nothing touching the heater they should be fine. If you're worried about the pigs being able to touch them for whatever reason then I think you can get metal grid covers for them but we haven't really found a need.

I've also bought a remote thermometer that I've fixed inside the hutch so that I can keep an eye on the temperature from inside the house. It means it's dead easy to know when we need to switch one or both of the heaters on. I don't have a photo of it installed but if let me know if you want me to take one in the morning and post it :) xx
 
rachelsharp said:
Catherine I've got a heater (or two!) installed in my outdoor hutch. I'm lucky enough to have a very practical Dad and we already had an outdoor electricity supply.

I've got these heaters:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hea...ular+Heater+60W+55+x+305mm/d230/sd3168/p32265

We've got a hutch with three levels so have installed them to the underside of each level inside the hutch (one 240watt and one 120watt), and they work a treat! I'd really reccommend it and as long as you're sensible with it and have nothing touching the heater they should be fine. If you're worried about the pigs being able to touch them for whatever reason then I think you can get metal grid covers for them but we haven't really found a need.

I've also bought a remote thermometer that I've fixed inside the hutch so that I can keep an eye on the temperature from inside the house. It means it's dead easy to know when we need to switch one or both of the heaters on. I don't have a photo of it installed but if let me know if you want me to take one in the morning and post it :) xx
Click to expand...

Oh that's brilliant, thank you :-)

The hutch will be 3ft tall I think (though now I'm considering 2ft as maybe 3ft is too tall...) but either way it should be well out of their reach.

Pictures would be great if it's not too much hassle :)
 
Hi

Buy a shed and covert it, it may be cheaper

PRE20113431.jpg


PRE20113432.jpg
 
I'm not sure, if I were to get a decent shed thats a few hundred then I'd have to get the same company to come in and create the custom hutches inside and I don't think that would be much cheaper than £150 :)

Hopefully we will be able to find somewhere with a garage/large shed and the big hutch can be put in there over winter. If I fully insulate walls and floor and have a heater and lots of hay,fleece beds and snugglesafes I'm hoping they should be ok
 
my clever husband built a cover lined with thick insulating foam (it is about 2ins thick) it fits over the hutch and completely covers the bedroom end

They then have a snuggle safe under their hay to keep the bottom warm. He would have built it so it slid on and covered the bottom but my floor comes out for easy cleaning
 
Guinea Fan said:
my clever husband built a cover lined with thick insulating foam (it is about 2ins thick) it fits over the hutch and completely covers the bedroom end

They then have a snuggle safe under their hay to keep the bottom warm. He would have built it so it slid on and covered the bottom but my floor comes out for easy cleaning
Click to expand...

Yes I think over summer a complete insulation of at least the bed area (3 x 3ft) will need to be done. I've got some plywood and I'll get some house insulation and perhaps do the floor too, how exciting :(|)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top