Wow! My Piggies Are Allowed To Come In For Winter!

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smileyface:)

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My new cage has been sitting all fleeced up in the dining room for a few hours each day, since it arrived on Thursday and the kids asked if the piggies could stay in till after tea time - I replied that they would have to go to the shed soon as the change in temp later on wouldn't be good for them as the shed was getting colder - blah blah blah,

then my OH turned and said "why don't you just keep them in tonight then", to which I replied "it wouldn't be good for them enjoying the heat to be turfed out tomorrow night again" (you know where this is going.....), to which he said "well as long as they are kept tidy and don't smell I don't mind them staying in at night for the winter."

WOAH! - what happened there? I think him seeing their fat little faces all snuggled up in their cosies just melted his heart, he never saw a lot of them in the shed as they were usually brought in during the day when he was at work.

Result! Now having to re-jig my routine to piggies in shed stuffed with hay and toys during the day (which they love - so much room and stuff to mess about with) and back in here for lots of fleece fun at night - looks like I will have to wash fleece stuff afterall but SOOO worth it if the boys can stay in. :lol:
 
Excellent! Same thing happened with me just over a year ago. Hubby said they could come inside for the winter - must have been an awful long winter as they haven't been back outside since (other than lawn time)!

Am sure you will but remember that as winter starts the daytime temp will drop so you will need to make sure they are warm enough in the shed. Don't want them to be affected by drop in temp from indoors to outdoors.

Enjoy!
 
Yes! I remember reading your post - spooky! Yes, I am trying to balance the temp of the kitchen with the shed, so they don't get a shock, but know this will get harder as it gets colder - going to have to look into setting up an indoor run for during the day when family is out as the cage isn't large enough on its own. Still intend to get heating in shed eventually but really enjoying seeing them more, wee cuties! Must researching adding a run to cage
 
smileyface:) said:
Yes! I remember reading your post - spooky! Yes, I am trying to balance the temp of the kitchen with the shed, so they don't get a shock, but know this will get harder as it gets colder - going to have to look into setting up an indoor run for during the day when family is out as the cage isn't large enough on its own. Still intend to get heating in shed eventually but really enjoying seeing them more, wee cuties! Must researching adding a run to cage
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I will have to keep track of your progress with this :) my boys are free range in the shed with loads of room to run around. Part of me really wants them inside, especially over the cold winter, but we wouldn't be able to give them anywhere near the same amount of space as they're used to and I don't know how I could work the temp difference to have them out in the day
 
Piggies win over even the OH's hearts with their cute little ways. I have a double decker cage in my garage which we now use for storage and my 4 piggies live in my dining room. Result!
 
well, having a few teething problems with my inside cage :no:

I really don't like the fleece in the cage, despite changing the fleece twice each day (yes twice!) there always seems to be a bit of a smell coming from the cage - I think my two adult boys are just not suited to it, and I really hate having to tidy up their poop all the time, not for my benefit but for that of the OH, though I don't like the way the boys are tramping over them too, whereas normally they drop below the hay and the top is nice and clean. Discovering too that a dripping water bottle is a much bigger problem in a cage as the water slips down under the fleece and nicely wets the bedding.

I have cleaned their cage again this morning and put in the same bedding as my shed - but put in puppy pads instead of newspaper and then a layer of snowflake and then hay - fingers crossed that will help! It also means I can scatter new hay over the poops prior to my OH getting home so it doesn't cheese him off too much! The smell of snowflake shavings and lots of hay is strong but hoping that this might be better than the smell of a stinky cage.

If I can't get the indoor setup with the cage to work I will have to try to get power to my shed so they can return there fairly soon so that I can relax a bit :lol!:, though I don't mind putting in the work in an inside cage if the end result is a non smelly cage which doesn't need continual poop patrol going on more than a few times a day.

Any advice appreciated! :nod:
 
Have you used a handheld vacuum cleaner, it can help when removing old hay?
What are you using as the absorbent layer below the fleece?
 
below the fleece I was using puppy pads - tried newspaper on base then pads then fleece, then tried pads with newspaper and then fleece, and then tried pads with just fleece - the fleece is old and washed a lot so no problem with wicking that I can see. Do you think the layer under that is the problem?

removing the hay isn't a problem as I put a litter tray under the hay rack, and lined that with newspaper and some snowflake shavings with some hay on top, if removing the poop quicker reduced the smell that would be good but it seems to be there really quickly, so reckon its the pee thats doing it.

its more the smell thats bothering me most - I am going to bath my boys later as they do have a bit of a smell about them, been meaning to do that since I got them in August, but don't think they personally are causing all the smell :) anything they pee on does whiff and so the accumulation of peep and poop is whiffy!
 
so thanks to Aimzer's thread on cage liners, that is something I will explore - just a quick note - the boys have been on hay, on snowflake for the morning now and no smell! so it was the fleece!

even the wood shaving and hay smell has died down too, - so thats good - so decisions decisions - which bedding?! :doh:
 
thats great - the boys definitely don'[t smell now they are on the hay and wood shavings, but would still like to give fleece a go. going to order some liners and then will experiment with reusable continence pads too - might divide the cage into hay on one part with fleece on an upper level - as I know how much wee Freckles loves his fleece. :beer:
 
Would you consider vetbed instead of fleece? I'm trialling it in my piggies bedroom (hutch in shed run) at the moment as it has great wicking qualities. Fleece has never really appealed to me for the piggies (except cuddle pockets) as in most washable nappies and sanitary pads fleece is actually used as the bottom anti leak layer which to me rings some alarm bells when using as a top layer as the nappy order has always worked for me
 
I think that once they're in the house & you get used to them being there all the time they will be there for good xx
 
the only things that put me off vetbed were reviews I read saying it was heavy to wash and less quick to dry - and that hay gets stuck to it more than fleece, but I am willing to try anything once :beer: I think I am going to end up with a bit of a mix and match situation - I used reusable nappies with my second child and they worked well - from memory there were fluffy fleece strips on the inside which wicked away wetness, and those lay on top of a thicker more quilted piece which held in the pee and poo - and I think I also used ddisposableliners between those layers too - oh, the memories! :doh:
 
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