Hutch inside a shed; what modifications are needed for ventilation?

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Olympigs1000

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We are buying a 6x4 shed to put our two-tier hutch in for our two piggies.

We've opted for a double door shed with two square windows in the side. Hoping to make it easier for cleaning out and provide natural light for our girls. It's also a Shiplap design which means it's draught proof and airtight. This is great to keep out draughts but I'm not sure what we need to do in terms of ventilation.

The plan is obviously to close the double doors at night but I feel this is then not enough ventilation. Can you tell me what I would need to do to make adequate provision for ventilation WITHOUT undoing the warmth that we're trying to create. I was thinking of making a round hole in the side of the shed (about 14cm diameter) and then placing a grill of some kind over the top. Like this https://www.screwfix.com/p/map-vent...4QkIFRudpNNFCy2KyxRRVKDTicVf3XfwaAnoFEALw_wcB

Would that be enough?

The windows don't open as far as I know and I'm not sure I would remove the perspex and replace with mesh as this might make the shed too cold then and go against what we're trying to do. So assuming I keep the windows perspex, how many ventilation holes would I need?

Obviously I'd like to do what's needed for the piggies without making unnecessary holes in the shed. In the Summer, we'd keep the doors open and/or take the hutch out of the shed.
Thanks Piggie Forum! 🫶
 
Mine is also ship lap.
I don’t leave doors open when it’s cold and my windows don’t open - there is still plenty of ventilation as it isn’t totally airtight.

I do have internal mesh doors so I can leave the external doors open in summer.
 
Thank you @Piggies&buns. So we've hit a snag. We have re-measured now with the internal dimensions of the 6x4 for our 5ft hutch, and it doesn't leave us enough room to back up far enough to clean out as we'll be too close to the shed wall. We are restricted about the size of the shed we can buy because of where it needs to go in the garden (and not covering over a drain cover). So now we are wondering whether a bike store would be ok as I'm sure I've read on the Forum that this has worked for some people with less space.

How are people making it work with a 6x4 shed given the lack of space? Are they cutting into the wall to create a bigger door opening?

This is the 6x4 shed: 6' x 4' Forest Beckwood 25yr Guarantee Shiplap Pressure Treated Double Door Apex Wooden Shed (1.99m x 1.23m)
This is the bike store: 6'6 x 2'7 Forest Shiplap Large Double Door Apex Garden Storage - Outdoor Bike / Mower Store (1.9m x 0.81m)

The store has double doors so we'd be outside whilst cleaning (but that's fine). My main worries are:
1. Given it's a much smaller space than a full blown shed, do we need to introduce the ventilation holes as I was describing in my post above (cut circles and cover with a grill).
2. When the doors close, they will be quite close to the hutch doors. Is this just too horrible?
3. There are no windows in the bike store. Making these ourselves I worry that we are then creating draughts (I am the chief DIYer but this might be beyond my means).

Thanks again for your help on our piggie journey! 🙏
 
Yes the internal measurements of any shed are always smaller and a 6x4 shed with a hutch will not leave much room around it.
I assume you are having the door on the 6ft side?

My own shed is a 6x8ft which I had custom built so I can’t speak from personal experience on how to make a 6x4 work except if you have access to electricity in the shed then perhaps you could fully insulate, heat and secure it and just leave them to roam either the whole or part of the shed floor (a 6x2 stretch across the back is plenty of room for them (marked off by c&c grids)) and you then still have 2ft depth to stand inside and it not contain a hutch.
This does still have its challenges though re security, keeping warm etc.
It’s how I have ended up with my two remaining boys though - they have two open pens on the shed floor. I did originally have two pairs and a two tier hutch in the shed but long story short, one pair passing away and the pair i have left falling out meant making the hutch work with separated piggies needing to be side by side was proving tricky.

Would it be possible to have the doors on the 4ft side and then build your own enclosure/hutch at the opposite end of the shed? It could be along the lines of 4x3ft or so thereby can meet their floor space needs (8sq ft minumum for two sows) (although it would have course be a little less then 4ft given the internal measurements are less than 4ft) and still gives you around 3ft to stand and deal with them before you get to the door? Perhaps even providing a little extra floor space if you wanted to let them have some time to roam the shed floor.
Then use your 5ft hutch only in summer outside.
Don’t know whether it can be made to work - just thinking out loud really!

The bike store - I don’t know how long you have already had your piggies and whether you’ve been through winters before with them but being outside cleaning out and spending time with them several times a day in the cold and rain gets very tiresome, very quickly.
Also, If you have children who want to spend time with the piggies then the likelihood of them wanting to do so will dwindle if they are getting wet and cold.
I’m not into DIY so I can’t say how you would add windows to it. But what I can say is that it will need to have windows, they cant spend all their time in total darkness.
The doors being close to the hutch when closed would be my least concern.
In my mind the smaller the space the more you need the ventilation holes (albeit possibly smaller holes)? I can see then that the smaller space may then become cooler more quickly.
You will still need snugglesafe heatpads and thermal covers on the hutch anyway.

If it were me, I would be more inclined to make a 6x4 shed work whichever way I could rather than go with the bike shed


Regarding summer - I would say to keep a back up plan. Sheds and hutches in summer can quickly become dangerous - they trap heat and with sun heated breezes usually become hotter than the outside air temp would suggest.
I have never had to bring my boys indoors in winter due to cold, but I have to bring them indoors at some point in summer due to heat.
 
Thanks again for your response. Sorry I'm new to the Forum and not sure how to find the thread numbers you've quoted above?

We are new to keeping piggies (since April) and desperate to keep them cosy over Winter. We have a two tier hutch with insulated cover back and top that’s made for the hutch so a snug fit. Then a small duvet and a thick bed throw blanket and then a water proof cover again tight to the hutch. But the duvet and blankets are just cold and damp (as the hutch is outside and not yet in any shed it’s inevitably sucking the moisture and becoming damp). So I’m not sure whether the duvet and blankets are potentially doing more harm than good. The hutch inside is not damp. We have lots of soft straw (was told straw has insulating properties whereas hay does not and providing that it’s soft barley straw this is good bedding for piggies in winter as they can burrow and it’s hollow stem will trap heat). Lots of feeding hay . We also use heatpads during the day if it’s cold but 100% at night.

I don’t think we can convert shed so I’ve asked the shed manufacturer if it’s possible to adapt the doors (firstly looking via their modular shed approach and then thinking about doing this myself). But in the meantime I’m determined for them to be ok out there.

any advice on the blankets much appreciated. Maybe I need to switch to a ‘waterproof blanket’ like this Amazon.co.uk

Under the waterproof cover 🤷‍♀️
 
If you look along the top of a post, where the date and time it was posted is, across at the top right there is a # and a number. That is how you will find the post I mentioned above.

Straw is not a recommended bedding for guinea pigs. It’s too sharp for their eyes and feet. It has no nutritional value so if they eat it then they risk filling themselves up with absolutely no dietary or gut benefit and can thus reduce hay intake.
Yes, straw does insulate due to the hollow stems but the reasons against straw for guinea pigs outweighs that. Hay absolutely does insulate (you want lots of it all over the hutch) - it’s what all of us outdoor keepers use, if it didn’t work then we would all be in trouble!
Straw is more suited to rabbits as their eyes are higher off the ground and their feet are fur covered so protected against spiky bits of straw sticking into them. With that said, I still choose hay as bedding for my rabbits.
The only type of straw which can be used is chopped straw (raviera bedding). But it’s chopped small so sits flat in the cage floor, it’s more like shavings so won’t be used or useful for any kind of burrowing into (you’d still then want hay on top of it).
Hay is the only bedding we would recommend for you to use for outdoor piggies (with shavings underneath for asborbency) for insulation, burrowing into, playing with and of course as their main food source.
If there is straw in use I would put it where the piggies can’t get to it ie right on the hutch floor, then newspaper on top of it and then shavings and lots of hay. Or between two cardboard boxes of different sizes used as hides so the piggies are inside one box with hay and the straw is between the two boxes.

What night time temperatures are you getting to in your area?
I just wonder whether heatpads, duvet and blankets is overdoing it at present if it isn’t that cold. They tend to cope better with cooling temperatures (they don’t cope well with the sudden hot temperatures that we get here) and can gradually get used to it. It’s being damp and draughty which causes the biggest issues for them.
I know you’ve got your shed coming as an extra layer of protection but by using all that protection now, you haven’t left yourself anywhere else to go when it really does get colder particularly if the shed doesn’t happen before the temperature drops more.
You may find just the hutch covers, lots of hay (perhaps heatpads if your night time temps are lower) is enough for now, blankets and then duvets later.
It does all depend on what is actually happening in your area though. Being in the shed means mine have more protection and the temperatures are warmer. They don’t even have their heatpads yet as we are still getting night times of 13/14 degrees which means their shed is still well over 15. I don’t do anything until it’s 10 in there (so it’ll be below 10 outside).
Do you have a thermometer on the hutch itself? That will also help guide you.

The other thing I’ve done with my hutches is to get silver foil insulation and drape it over the front of the hutch. You’d want it under the waterproof hutch cover, then blanket on. You still need make sure nothing is so tight in the hutch that air can’t flow.
 
Thanks for this. I'm very cross with the pet shop in that case for telling me that hay doesn't insulate and to buy straw! This is where we got the piggies from in the first place. I'll stop using straw and just bank up with hay instead + heat pads if the temp drops to lower than 10 (which it has been).

Daytime temps are 12-14 degrees C. Night time dropping to 6 or 7 degrees. Its also been very wet. So overall cold and damp which makes me want to add these additional layers to the hutch which seems quite exposed right now otherwise). But I hear what you're saying about having nowhere to go which I hadn't thought of!

We haven't ordered the shed yet as can't seem to find the right one, so I think it's possible the temp will drop again before a shed solution arrives.

The hutch has this foil insulation around it Thermal Hutch Snuggles with Bye Bye Fly Screen™ that is under the raincover (see picture) but I could get more foil insulation to drape over the front and put that under the waterproof cover? 1762167761742.webp

We started with the duvet and blanket because of the fireworks that are happening sporadically around the neighbourhood. And then just leftt them there assuming it was cosier all round.
 
In that case with the temperatures then yes they do need a bit of extra warmth at night (they will be fine without anything during the day (well obviously they need a waterproof cover)). I definitely wouldn’t use the duvet at this point though.
It’s always a learning curve with this being your first winter you don’t yet know how things will go!

Olympigs1000 said:
The hutch has this foil insulation around it Thermal Hutch Snuggles with Bye Bye Fly Screen™ that is under the raincover (see picture) but I could get more foil insulation to drape over the front and put that under the waterproof cover? View attachment 277720
Click to expand...

Yes - That is certainly what i have done before. Obviously not totally covering the front but it did just seem to help protect from draughts and hopefully hold a bit more warmth in .
Plus it’ll add another layer between the front is the hutch the blankets if they are getting damp

With mine in an open cage, I pull a piece of silver foil across the top and a bit down the sides and then a blanket on top when things get colder

Olympigs1000 said:
Thanks for this. I'm very cross with the pet shop in that case for telling me that hay doesn't insulate and to buy straw! This is where we got the piggies from in the first place. I'll stop using straw and just bank up with hay instead + heat pads if the temp drops to lower than 10 (which it has been).
Click to expand...

Unfortunately shops aren’t always the best place to get information from
 
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