Im attempting a re-vamp of my hutches!

that looks marvelous

That's really lovely! Well done

The hutch looks fabulous. I'm sure the piggies are going to love their newly painted, piggy mansion!

After 4 hours of work this morning [couldnt believe how untidy/dirty my garden was!] The pigs are now in their re-vamped hutch. The shed is stripped out and pressure washed.
The garden has been disinfected. All the hutches have been pressure washed and moved onto the patio ready for bleaching and painting.

That hutch looks brilliant complete with bedding and residents! I spy a rather cute resident down in the bottom corner there, too!

That does look great, and the whole garden looks lovely (although a bit odd with no buns in it).

What do you have on the floors of the hutch - it looks like bark chips...?

Sparky wrote:That does look great, and the whole garden looks lovely (although a bit odd with no buns in it).

What do you have on the floors of the hutch - it looks like bark chips...?

It does feel really weird without the buns but I have updates that the bonding is going well!!

I use ecobed which is cardboard squares

I love your garden Your grass looks like a lovely soft carpet The piggie hutch looks fab, painting it has really made it look great.

Wow what a fab garden, you have worked really hard. We dont have grass which sometimes I feel bad fir but had to get the garden mono blocked few years back, my oldest kept falling on the uneven slabs. Do you have a run for the piggies, just asking as my son would like a piggie, but I feel they need as much space as bunnies. Your hutch looks like it offers them loads of space with no need for a run (depending how many you have). My niece has 2, both boys which I thought was not advicable but her local p@h said their fine together. She has them in the house tho in a small bunny cage.

They will be having a puppy pen set up for a run..Im just trying to push them to work out the stairs before I let them out lol
Because I have more than just a couple they do need quite a bit of space
I have all girlies.

The lush grass, im afraid to say...is fake! lol

My dad really wanted fake grass, he'd be mighty jealous of yours!!

Fake!!!!!!!!!! Looks great though!

Just off to hoover the grass dear!

Kate7590 wrote:

Sparky wrote:That does look great, and the whole garden looks lovely (although a bit odd with no buns in it).

What do you have on the floors of the hutch - it looks like bark chips...?

It does feel really weird without the buns but I have updates that the bonding is going well!!

I use ecobed which is cardboard squares

how is that stuff and does it come in big bags? i use chipping for the piggies (i know your not supposed to) but they dont get much contact with it as i put paper then chippings and then i cover the chipping with hay but iam always on the look out for another option

and i saw a piggie too the cage looks fab

How much space would 2 need to get enough space to play. I was thinking about getting 1 or 2 later on. Need to do more research 1st tho. I love the fluffy kind but they would need groomed. I would also need to decide house pets or outside.

Pigs need as much space as rabbits. They like to run around and do lots of popcorning (gp binkying). They have similar dietry requirements to rabbits, small amount pellets lots of hay, but they need extra vitamin C so you need to consider how you get this into them. They are highly social animals and are best kept in groups of 3 or more. Like rabbits the males will most likely fight if kept together. They can be neutered so the best option is to have a neutered boar with several sows.

Do males really normally fight?! Both times I had guinea pigs as a child we had two males together, they were fine

Sometimes 2 brothers can get along. My boarding pigs were brothers and they did tell each other off a bit, so I gave them two of everything and it seemed to help. I personally wouldn't keep 3, I say this because I have 3, a neutered male and two sows and one of my sows does get left out. The other sow will not let her share the bed. I have 3 beds in there now so she doesn't get pushed out. I don't find this happens with my trios of rabbits but the pigs can be quite bullish to each other. They are also quite mucky and stinky things. I clean mine out every other day because they smell bad otherwise. I use shavings too simply because they are cheap and megazorb costs a fortune with the amounts of clean outs I do. Piggies are most fun in large groups, they aren't very bright but make up for that in looks. They are prone to skin disorders and don't like the damp. They will destroy your grass in half a day if you don't move their run around regularly! They eat it to the root and kill it! They make lovely sounds and once you learn to speak piggie, it makes it more interesting

Vince the bunny wrote:Sometimes 2 brothers can get along. My boarding pigs were brothers and they did tell each other off a bit, so I gave them two of everything and it seemed to help. I personally wouldn't keep 3, I say this because I have 3, a neutered male and two sows and one of my sows does get left out. The other sow will not let her share the bed. I have 3 beds in there now so she doesn't get pushed out. I don't find this happens with my trios of rabbits but the pigs can be quite bullish to each other. They are also quite mucky and stinky things. I clean mine out every other day because they smell bad otherwise. I use shavings too simply because they are cheap and megazorb costs a fortune with the amounts of clean outs I do. Piggies are most fun in large groups, they aren't very bright but make up for that in looks. They are prone to skin disorders and don't like the damp. They will destroy your grass in half a day if you don't move their run around regularly! They eat it to the root and kill it! They make lovely sounds and once you learn to speak piggie, it makes it more interesting

I have always had more problems with pairs than groups - but I have girls only. Other than that I agree with all of that. They are incredibly mucky. At this time of year whilst it is warm I keep them on just newspaper with a bit of hay in their sleeping area because it is so much easier to maintain them by removing a layer or 2 of newspaper daily than having to scoop out lots of bedding. Once the temperature drops I use megazorb throughout because you can't afford to let them to get both cold and wet. And piggy urine is very acidic so both stinks and scalds them. I am convinced that one of my rescue mums died from a huge mass in her lungs due to the ammonia smell from the bed conditions she had been living in prior to coming to me. (she did die from the mass but the cause is speculation) Whenever friends ask me about getting guinea pigs for their children I always make very sure to tell them how mucky they are and how if they clean them any less than every couple of days they will stink.

They do need alot of room & to be cleaned out every couple of days.
Most books say clean out every week but I dont find its enough tbh...
I have 10 girlies, who came from a breeder who was cutting down on her numbers [I used to breed them but dont any longer as I couldn't bear to sell the babies ]
Breeders say 4 guinea pigs can be kept in a 4x2 hutch..but personally I think this is too small.
Mine live in the 5x2 triple teir hutch and I only feel this is big enough because they are let out first thing in the morning into their run, which they have access to all day. If they were to be kept solely in the hutch then I dont feel it would be large enough...but most would say it was..personal preference I guess.

I would always reccomend getting 3+ pigs, simply because they are so social and if for any reason something happened to one, you will still have a pair for company and wont be left with a lone piggy who would quickly become depressed.