Two boars, three years old, have lived in the house since I got them. I have just finished building a hutch and run and I am keen to use it.
It is mid October here and the nights are already going down to about six degrees. Everything I read says guinea pigs can live outside, which they clearly can, but mine never have. Is moving them now reasonable or am I about to make an obvious mistake?
When you do it in spring, do it over two or three weeks rather than in an afternoon. Week one, an hour or two outside on good days. Week two, most of the day, still in at night. Week three, first nights out if the nights are consistently mild, with the shelter fully set up.
Slower again for young, old or delicate pigs. And watch the appetite and droppings the whole way through, because that is where it shows first.
Roughly 18 to 24C is the usual recommended band, and they overheat as easily as they chill.
@late_spring_only · 2d ago · 3 replies
Obvious mistake, and it is the timing rather than the plan. An indoor pig has not grown the thicker coat or built up the tolerance that an outdoor pig develops over months, so moving one out as the nights hit six degrees is asking it to do in a week what the others did gradually.
Move indoor pigs out in late spring or early summer, when it is mild and settled, so they have months before the cold. Your hutch is not wasted, it is just not for this October.
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@hutch_in_the_shed · 2d ago
Can I use the run in the daytime now, or should the whole thing wait until May?
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@late_spring_only · yesterday
Daytime run time on mild dry days is fine and good for them. Shade, a hidey, hay and water, and bring them in well before the evening cools. That is what most of us do all year: outdoor run, indoor living.
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