Winter housing
- Thread starter rara
- Start date
A 5ft hutch is fine for two sows but a 6ft hutch is needed for two boars.
Home and Roost is a good place to look for hutches.
Be careful with hutches which have runs underneath them connected with a ramp. Often the ramps can be steep plus moving such a hutch/run combo can be tricky!
You will also need thermal covers (or to make one yourself, silver foil insulation works well), as well as blankets, duvets etc to put over the hutch to keep draughts out.
Lots of hay for bedding and Snugglesafe heatpads are essential for outdoor/shed/garage piggies.
In terms of a run. A wooden run, pop up playpen, c&c grids cable tied together - can all be used as a playpen in a garage. Only put them in it if it is warm enough in the garage though. Make sure the floor is covered and cover the run with a blanket to protect them from any draughts
Home and Roost is a good place to look for hutches.
Be careful with hutches which have runs underneath them connected with a ramp. Often the ramps can be steep plus moving such a hutch/run combo can be tricky!
You will also need thermal covers (or to make one yourself, silver foil insulation works well), as well as blankets, duvets etc to put over the hutch to keep draughts out.
Lots of hay for bedding and Snugglesafe heatpads are essential for outdoor/shed/garage piggies.
In terms of a run. A wooden run, pop up playpen, c&c grids cable tied together - can all be used as a playpen in a garage. Only put them in it if it is warm enough in the garage though. Make sure the floor is covered and cover the run with a blanket to protect them from any draughts
Thank you would you recommend an outdoor hutch for the garage then? I was thinking of having a run permanently attached so they could run around whenever they wanted to..but you think not? Also will they be ok with a lamp for light in daytime hours?
Yes will need an outdoor hutch. While the garage will provide protection from the elements, they still need to be kept warm and a hutch is the best way to do that. Open cages in garages or sheds have the potential to be highly problematic
Is the hutch going to remain in the garage year round?
I personally don’t like hutches with runs permanently attached/attached with ramps. I’ve only ever found more cons to them than I have ever found pros!
They are heavy to move; can be awkward to access - you’ve got to climb into the run every time you want to get access to the hutch itself; the ramps can be too steep; they can’t have free flow time between hutch and run in any event because of the fact they should be supervised when in a run outdoors.
Consequently a separate run can be so much easier as it can be more easily moved around to fresh grass; just pick the piggies up to put them out for supervised run time.
How often they can have run time in the garage depends on how warm your garage is.
They would benefit from natural daylight
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Ive just found this on Amazon and I personally would not get this.
The enclosed hutch part is only 90x30cm - meaning it doesn’t come anywhere close to minimum welfare sizing.
If you were to have this, then it could be very difficult to keep it warm even in a garage and because the enclosed hutch part does not meet welfare sizing, you would not be able to lock the piggies inside the enclosed hutch part at any time — they would have to have constant free roam of the entire enclosure even if it was too cold. This consequently means you would have to be sure the garage remains above 15 degrees and/or that you insulate the entire enclosure (the wire part of it and floor included as garage floors are cold) to attempt to ensure they were warm enough. You would need to put covers over the whole thing but I still think with such an open enclosure you will really struggle to keep them warm enough.
You would not be able to move this outside for use (should that be your intention) out there as it would not be safe or suitable.
If you have two sows or a mixed sex pair, then you need a hutch (any area they are to be locked into) to be 150x60cm.
As I said, a separate hutch raised off the ground is much easier to insulate and keep warm.
My four boys live in a two storey hutch (a pair in the bottom hutch and a pair in the top hutch). They are in a shed which is insulated. The hutch is also insulated and has a thermal cover, two blankets, a normal waterproof cover (purely as an additional layer, it obviously doesn’t need to to be waterproof given it’s in the shed!) and then a duvet thrown over all of it. The hutches are fully filled with hay and each piggy has a snugglesafe heatpad. I can usually keep them above 12 degrees with these measures.
Do you know what temperature your garage is? Particularly in the cold spell we have just had?
Look on the Home & Roost website for examples of suitable hutches, but i definitely would not get one which has an attached run.
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I have two boars in my garage. I wouldn’t get a run attached as I personally think the floor will be too cold in the winter. You will need lots of covers too. Mine have a clear plastic sheet over the front, a duvet and two other blankets. You will need some snugglesafes as well so they can sit on them to keep warm. Also natural light will be best. Do you have no windows at all?
aredgrave90
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I would go for a large, outdoor hutch without an attached run. The run will be too cold, and heating it will be impossible. I would also take the same precautions that you would if they were still in your garden: Insulate the hutch on the outside, line it with cardboard inside, give them plenty of hay to bed down in, and a Snugglesafe heat pad each. Change out the wet hay at least once daily - damp hay is far too cold to sleep in. Cover the hutch with a fitted hutch cover, and add heavy blankets or quilts in the evening. Give them natural light if you can, and put them in a run if the temperature permits it.
aredgrave90
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It's also worth buying come cheap thermometers - one to put in the hutch itself, and another one for the garage.