Outdoor hutch !?

[LittleGems]

Bella is in an outdoor hutch in this autumn weather. She has tea towels in her wooden bridge , scattered around and covering the doors of the cage . She has plenty of hay and a WARM water bottle. Is this ok for tonight and future? Is there anything else I can do? We have no space for her inside

 

[Incredipigs]

My piggies are outside in their playhouse, I've put a cage in there for my rabbit, Craig to go in because I think it's too cold to leave him in his hutch
Does your piggie have a cover on her hutch? You could get her a thermal cover to go over her hutch, I've had them for my outdoor piggies before and they are brilliant at keeping the hutch warm.
Maybe you should get her a buddy to snuggle up to when it gets cold?

 

[LittleGems]

Yes she does have a thermal cover
Bellas buddy cookie died about 5 months ago and we will be getting a friend about the same age if when we find a suitable pig!

 

[Mother Hubbard]

All mine are outdoors, I use Chartwells hutches with a thermal cover (hutch hugger) and their main cover. Even in the depth of winter, they are pretty comfortable but mine do have a threshold. Their bedroom area in the winter is filled with boxes and stuffed with hay and fleeces over the top plus snuggle safes and finally a heated blanket. Additionally, you can purchase a dog bed warmer pad, it can hook up to your outdoor electric supply, check if it has room for a transformer type plug, the cable is armoured to help with hungry and interested mouths...

I keep old carpet too and line the hutches in the winter with the carpet then use puppy pads that have the plastic film lining then their equine bedding and hay. I also use the bottle covers to stop them from freezing over.

So yeah, it is really possible to keep outdoor piggies outdoor, but I do have an outdoor weather station, trained cctv and I keep checks on them during the day for everything....my babies are precious.

In the really super bad winter I can bring them all indoors for emergencies, but with all of the above you should be okay. Just bear in mind, I'm in a really rural area and the weather can hammer us from the north and the pigs are south facing so they are better protected. But temperature wise - its lower in the countryside than cities.

 

[Piggies&buns]

My hutch is in a shed. They have a piece of vetbed (it tends to hold a bit of warmth when they lay on it) in the bedroom area with their wooden hidey boxes in it then gets filled with hay. The rest of the hutch is filled with hay, fleece under and over their log hideys with snuggle safes in their bedroom. I then have an old curtain and/or old duvet which I pull over (which one I pull over depends on the temperatures. It is so far staying about 5 degrees warmer in the shed than outside).
I will get some Bubble wrap to wrap around the water bottles and then I’ve saved some old socks which I will then put over the bubble wrap.

 

[Lady Kelly]

I wouldn't use the water bottle. I would get some snugglesafes as a water bottle can easily leak

 

[LittleGems]

I can’t get a snuggle safe as we have no microwave however for the night when Bella goes in her bridge I put tea towels all around it , plenty of hay and a hot water bottle inside. If it does get any colder than 5 I will bring her inside

 

[Lady Kelly]

I would consider getting fleece cosies for her to snuggle into then rather than using the hot water bottle. The problem with hot water bottles is 1. they can leak, 2. the heat will not last long outdoors at all and 3. once the heat has gone the cold water bottle is likely to take the piggies body heat away from them if they lie against it

 

[Claire W]

You have been given some great advise. When I had outdoor piggies, apart from all that had been mentioned above, I would also attach a thick fleece blanket under the hutch hugger against and covering the open part of the hutch overnight to keep the worst of the chill out.

I’m afraid that I agree about not using a hot water bottle for the reasons already mentioned