Am I winter ready for shed piggies?

Sally Newbie

Sally Newbie

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi all. So today was Project Shed. Cleared it all out and then rolled out lino to cover whole floor. Then cut and taped insulation board all over hutch including underneath. Then put the Scratch&Newton silver Snuggle cover on top. The half of old outside run in shed as extra rat deterrent, and hutch squeezed in. The new small run attached to hutch. Phew! In the hutch there are in the sleeping area 2 cardboard boxes stuffed w hay and 2 heatpads at night. I have 2 Cavy Couture fleece tunnels which are yet to go in cardboard boxes.
Ok, so what else do I need? Have puppy pads for run, getting bathmats and a fleece blanket to put in run on top of lino. What else do I need for warmth in hutch? Duvet? Fleece blankets (how many) to go on hutch back top and drape over (w ventilation )?
 

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It looks great! Your piggies will love it!

I have a blanket over my hutch, then the thermal hutch cover, then I have an old duvet which I pull over everything (Along with internal measures - loads of hay, snugglesafes, fleece tunnels)
 
The fleece tunnels arrived yesterday so I'm washing them in ecological washing powder and then drying in between , following advice on this forum, to get them to wick. I will put these in the cardboard boxes and then the hay on the top. What a nightmare! Old duvet coming out of loft shortly. Do you get that to hang over the front a couple of inches off the ground for ventilation?
 
Looks great, we’re getting winter ready too. Insulation going In soon and been using gmy hello fresh boxes over my carrot topped box with hay in between both levels and a snuggle safe under, plus a snuggle safe in the actual hutch. Extra blankets over the hutch as well h until we fit the heater x
 
@Piggies&buns , what temperature do you allow yours to be out in their shed run? The temperature in the shed is less than 10 degrees but I am letting them have the choice of whether to come out or not by leaving the hutch door open. They still have the sleeping area for warmth.
 
Yes I’m the same. I’d still open the hutch door - they don’t have to come out If they don’t want to.
The actual routine does depend a bit on whether I’m on a work day or a home day and what the days weather is going to do though.
my shed is on average 7-8 degrees warmer than outside temperatures, even on a grey day. Add in sunshine than a 0 degree day outside can mean my shed is 15-20+ degrees mid winter (and then I’m trying to keep it slightly cooler so they arent exposed to great fluctuations. For this reason, there are very few days my piggies don’t come out, even if I don’t let them out first thing. It may be I give them their breakfast in the hutch and let them out an hour later. If it’s a work day and I know it’s going to be a ’warm’ shed day then even if it is colder than I’d like in the shed at that moment, id still leave their hutch door open so they can come out if they want to. I do play it by ear though, if lifting the hutch covers is going to expose them to a great sudden whoosh of very cold air then they’ll stay in, but as I say, it has to get incredibly cold outside before my shed gets that cold that they can’t come out and by that point I’d have considered it unsafe to keep them to stay outside and moved them into the house for the rest of the winter anyway
 
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Our girls are in the corner of our shed, we put down foam matts on the concrete then cover that with newspaper and put puppy pads for easy sweeping/cleaning, we have an old duvet that gets tucked around the top of the hutch and today I am adding some cardboard around the run area to help block draughts. We put snuggle safes in and last year my husband installed a greenhouse heater in the top part of the hutch that we leave on to try and keep a consistent heat. We also use lots of hay and nice beds, it's not perfect but it works for us, we open the door so they have access to the run during the day if they choose, we also tend to put their veggies in the run to encourage a bit of exercise otherwise I think they would just stay in the hutch, when I checked yesterday they were a nice 17 degrees in the hutch, just above 10 in the shed. Our shed is quite large so it's difficult to keep the whole shed warm, I'm hoping when we do our house alterations next year we can include a shed of their own so we don't have all the moving around each winter. Am happy to add photos if helpful.
 
We don't have electricity in our shed otherwise I would have a heater in, I presume you need electricity for the greenhouse heater. They have snuggle safes in their sleeping area so they do have somewhere warm but I was just interested in when people stop letting them go into their run in the shed which has been less than 10 degrees. I don't know how you keep your shed so warm @Piggies&buns without electricity!
 
Sally Newbie said:
We don't have electricity in our shed otherwise I would have a heater in, I presume you need electricity for the greenhouse heater. They have snuggle safes in their sleeping area so they do have somewhere warm but I was just interested in when people stop letting them go into their run in the shed which has been less than 10 degrees. I don't know how you keep your shed so warm @Piggies&buns without electricity!
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Being a south facing shed helps In winter! Causes havoc in summer though - it hit 42 degrees in there this summer and wasn’t even cooling down enough overnight, which is why they had to move indoors for a fortnight! I find keeping warm in winter easier to manage than keeping cool in summer.
 
Your
Sally Newbie said:
We don't have electricity in our shed otherwise I would have a heater in, I presume you need electricity for the greenhouse heater. They have snuggle safes in their sleeping area so they do have somewhere warm but I was just interested in when people stop letting them go into their run in the shed which has been less than 10 degrees. I don't know how you keep your shed so warm @Piggies&buns without electricity!
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You're right, it is my husband's shed really, so electricity was something he installed, so we are able to heat and have lights, the girls don't drop below 16 in the top part of the hutch and the shed is currently around 15 degrees they are spending more time in the hutch but at least they have the option to go in the run which they wouldn't if they were still outside.
 
Our shed hasn’t dropped below 10 yet but we have a greenhouse heater in there. We have insulated the hutch part and drape a cover over it as well on a night which reaches the floor and keeps part of the run draft free to. We have a carrot topped house in there and we have put some insulation on the top and then put a bigger cardboard box on it. On a night we put a snuggle safe in the hutch and one in the cardboard box. Mittens seems to prefer the lower area with the upside down cardboard box house to the hutch. We leave the hutch open so they can go in and out when they want and lock the shed with 3 locks :-) 👍🏻X
 
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