New hutch transition

[CrestedPiggies]

Our girls live outside in a 4x2ft hutch (moved to the greenhouse over the winter months), but we have a new 6x2ft hutch arriving in the next couple of days We'll need to build it and make some adaptations first but hopefully in a week or so they'll be able to move in.

I know to put some of their old bedding in to make it more familiar for them, I was just wondering if there's anything else we can do to make the transition easier for them? They'll have their old bowls, bottles and hides as well.

I think they'll love the extra space once they get used to it! They get along fine for the most part, but it's safe to say they tolerate each other rather than being BFFs

Not that you'd know it sometimes

 

[Piggies&buns]

You’ve already covered the best thing to do - putting in some used bedding so it smells of them.
Gorgeous piggies!

 

[DMS260820]

@Piggylove82

 

[CrestedPiggies]

You’ve already covered the best thing to do - putting in some used bedding so it smells of them.
Gorgeous piggies!

Thanks!

 

[Piggylove82]

I have a 6ft x 2ft hutch too! Mine is a double storey and I have a pair of piggies living on each floor . Previously they'd been living in a Bluebell Pets at Home 5ft x 2ft hutch. I didn't have to build my new hutch, it came ready made and I didn't need to adapt it because it was a bespoke hutch! I did paint it inside and out though, and that means I can wipe it down inside and keep it really clean for them because wood, especially if it's outdoors, can deteriorate.

I think it depends what bedding you use as to moving their old bedding in. Mine enjoy the natural life. They have snowflake shavings and fresh hay beds. They eat their hay from paper bags and have log tunnel hideys and willow tubes. When I moved mine to their new hutch I put fresh shavings and hay. Hay of the same type they know and love. Their hideys, dishes, bottles were all the same though. I put veggies here and there to tempt them into corners, and just left them to it. At the time of moving, like you, I had 2 girls.

Obviously it was new to them and they did take their time exploring it, being very cautious at times. They reminded me of when I have to turn the lights out at night after watching a horror film and then go upstairs

It took them a few days to get used to it, and make it their own, and I didn't handle them so much during those settling in days. But now it's like it's all they've known. I am so so glad I gave mine more space.

Good luck and let us know how I goes.

 

[CrestedPiggies]

I have a 6ft x 2ft hutch too! Mine is a double storey and I have a pair of piggies living on each floor . Previously they'd been living in a Bluebell Pets at Home 5ft x 2ft hutch. I didn't have to build my new hutch, it came ready made and I didn't need to adapt it because it was a bespoke hutch! I did paint it inside and out though, and that means I can wipe it down inside and keep it really clean for them because wood, especially if it's outdoors, can deteriorate.

I think it depends what bedding you use as to moving their old bedding in. Mine enjoy the natural life. They have snowflake shavings and fresh hay beds. They eat their hay from paper bags and have log tunnel hideys and willow tubes. When I moved mine to their new hutch I put fresh shavings and hay. Hay of the same type they know and love. Their hideys, dishes, bottles were all the same though. I put veggies here and there to tempt them into corners, and just left them to it. At the time of moving, like you, I had 2 girls.

Obviously it was new to them and they did take their time exploring it, being very cautious at times. They reminded me of when I have to turn the lights out at night after watching a horror film and then go upstairs

It took them a few days to get used to it, and make it their own, and I didn't handle them so much during those settling in days. But now it's like it's all they've known. I am so so glad I gave mine more space.

Good luck and let us know how I goes.

View attachment 142829

Thanks! Your piggies are very lucky with a hutch like that

We use hay in the bedroom and small pet select paper bedding everywhere else, with newspaper and puppy pads underneath, so it will be easy enough to move some to their new home.

We'll give them plenty of time to settle in of course and get used to the change

 

[BossHogg]

My 2 have a hand built hutch in their own shed.

 

[CrestedPiggies]

My 2 have a hand built hutch in their own shed.
View attachment 142881View attachment 142882

Yet more lucky pigs!

While I'm capable of doing a few adaptations, I'm not quite DIY savvy enough to build my own

 

[Piggylove82]

Yet more lucky pigs!

While I'm capable of doing a few adaptations, I'm not quite DIY savvy enough to build my own

Neither was i, but I knew a man who was

 

[BossHogg]

I was quite lucky, we used to have a good wood yard in the town, I gave them the dimensions of what I wanted and they cut all the pieces to size. All I had to do was assemble the hutch like a giant jigsaw.

 

[Piggylove82]

I was quite lucky, we used to have a good wood yard in the town, I gave them the dimensions of what I wanted and they cut all the pieces to size. All I had to do was assemble the hutch like a giant jigsaw.

How old is your hutch?

 

[BossHogg]

It's about 6 years old now.

 

[Piggylove82]

Did you ever have a hutch fully outdoors?

 

[BossHogg]

Here is a link to me building it.
Member Gallery: Hutches

 

[BossHogg]

Did you ever have a hutch fully outdoors?

I did, I had 2 outdoor hutches before getting the shed and moving them undercover.

 

[Piggylove82]

How long would you say they lasted outdoors?

 

[BossHogg]

The outdoor hutch was built in 2003 and lasted until 2014 when the shed was put up and the new hutches were built.

 

[BossHogg]

It was still sturdy when I dismantled it, it would have lasted many more years.

 

[Piggylove82]

It was still sturdy when I dismantled it, it would have lasted many more years.

That's good