Outdoor Pigs, Advice Please.

[ScoutingforPigs]

Good Morning Everyone,

I am looking for some honest advice please. I am considering offering a home to some rescue piggies, but do not have enough indoor space to offer them. Therefore it would be an outdoor home. I am thinking of a fully insulated shed/child’s playhouse, with large attached run (which I would buy a custom rain cover for). The inside of the Wendy house would have a compartment with multiple entrances that would be stuffed with hay, alongside heat pads during the cold weather. Whilst I know that I can make them a fantastic home for the summer, my question is - is it cruel to get pigs if I can’t offer them an indoor home during the winter? I could on very cold nights move them into a hutch in the shed, just for the night, as it wouldn’t give them enough space/natural light/enrichment for them to actually live in.

Thank you.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Having them live in a shed or Wendy house is a perfectly fine way to keep them as long as you put in the work to keep them warm but most importantly are prepared for the risks of summer.

It is easier to keep them warm enough in a hutch (given it is a smaller space) with the hutch in a shed than trying to keep an entire Wendy house warm, but there are plenty who do it. Keeping a whole shed/Wendy house warm would be easier with electric heating. Heatpads do not heat a space, they just provide a warm place to sit.
It would be a good idea for you to put a thermometer in so you can monitor what happens in there before you even get piggies.

Mine live in a hutch in my shed (with access to the shed floor for playtime). The shed is insulated. In winter the hutch is stuffed with hay and they have heatpads. On the hutch is a thermal hutch cover, a blanket, then a normal hutch cover (obviously being in the shed it isn’t needed for it’s waterproof properties but it another layer to help hold the warmth inside), and then in mid winter a duvet is pulled over all of it.

As I say, it is summer which you will likely find much harder than winter - it is shed dependent but when you consider the heat we can get and how quickly it accumulates even on a sunny but not particularly warm day, this is where the issues can lie.
I’ve never had a problem keeping my boys warm enough in winter but the shed gets dangerously hot and they have to move into the house for a few weeks every summer for the past four years.
My shed spent most of this summer in excess of 30 degrees (even if outside temp was in the low to mid 20s). Anything over 25 is too hot.
If it is 25 or more outside temp, then it’s also not safe for them to be on the lawn or in a hutch outside (hufches can also accumulate heat and get too hot). The 40 degree heatwave was a nightmare!

Also, you mention a rain cover for a run attached to the Wendy house - do be aware that they cannot have access to outside from autumn onwards. Generally from around now, lawn time is getting towards being finished for the year and piggies will be kept off lawns until around next April time. The guide is you need to be able to stand on the grass with bare feet and not feel cold or damp on your feet Before the piggies can go on the grass. If you need a jumper/cozt then it is already too cold for piggies.

A hutch, even if only used for overnight still needs to meet size requirements. If it isn’t big enough for them to live in, then it still isnt big enough even for overnight.
For two sows you need a 5ft hutch.
For two boars you need a 6ft hutch.

 

[ScoutingforPigs]

Thanks. I am a fosterer for a rescue so I know what’s what but I didn’t want to commit to full time ownership unless I could give them what they need from a permanent home. I’m not so worried about the heat as we had pigs here during the heatwave and we used large cages indoors to keep them cool during the hottest of the weather. I wouldn’t have them on grass but was thinking of having the run on slabs and filled with straw and allowing access year round. I am happy to spend the money/work but it’s just whether it is enough.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thanks. I am a fosterer for a rescue so I know what’s what but I didn’t want to commit to full time ownership unless I could give them what they need from a permanent home. I’m not so worried about the heat as we had pigs here during the heatwave and we used large cages indoors to keep them cool during the hottest of the weather. I wouldn’t have them on grass but was thinking of having the run on slabs and filled with straw and allowing access year round. I am happy to spend the money/work but it’s just whether it is enough.

You still wouldn’t want them out in a run year round unless the run was also boarded and insulated - it would be too cold if not. Access to the floor of a shed or playhouse provides plenty of space for exercise during the winter without the need to be in an outside run. As I say the living space is 5x2ft for two sows and 6x2ft for boars for anything beyond that provides plenty of exercise space.
Straw is not recommended for use with piggies.

As long as you can have them indoors during extremes of weather and they are safe from predators then living out is fine.

 

[Lady Kelly]

It's dependent on the rescue too. I used to keep outdoor piggies, some rescues wouldn't re-home outdoors and those that would would only do so between April and September (dependent on temperature) and asked a lot more questions about provisions for keeping them safe

 

[ScoutingforPigs]

Thank you. I would want them in something much bigger than that, so perhaps need to revisit my options as a playhouse would only offer 5 x 5ft of space at most. Thanks

 

[ScoutingforPigs]

Thanks, Yes. As a rule we only rehome indoors but also to properly insulated safe outdoor housing where appropriate.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank you. I would want them in something much bigger than that, so perhaps need to revisit my options as a playhouse would only offer 5 x 5ft of space at most. Thanks

It’s lovely you wish to give them more - and of course advisable where at all possible! My two boys have a 6x6ft space and I do enjoy being able to give them that.
5x5ft is still an absolutely brilliant size though and many would love to be able to offer that!
(Two sows need 10sq ft and of course they’d have 25sq ft in your playhouse - certainly space for more than two sows!)