where do you keep your guineas in the winter?

[FrameyMcFrame]

our 4 live in the living room at the moment and it's lovely to have them so close,
but it's a bit inconvenient cleaning up all the stray straw that ends up everywhere... keeps blocking the hoover

Mine are indoors.

I have this in XL but I does come in all sizes

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Fabric-Pet-Playpen-Dog-Cat-Puppy-Guinea-Pig-Play-Pen-Run-Green-Soft-Portable-/310828589890?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Kitchen_Steamers_Cookers_PP&var=&hash=item485ed3e342

I bought a remnant roll of Lino and the playpen sits on top.

The playpen is so light it's easy to manoeuvre.

I use a lobby broom and pan, similar to this, to sweep up hay, pellets etc

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lobby-Dustpan-Grey-812GY-/121210493850?pt=UK_HomeGarden_CLV_Cleaning_CA&hash=item1c38b55b9a

When I bought the lobby brush and pan it was a lot cheaper, don't know why they are so dear on ebay now.

Do not hoover up hay, my dyson chokes on the stuff, and whilst henry hoover will swallow it, it can't be good for him, so the lobby brush is perfect.

My 2 boars are in for winter nights but out in their Pighouse every day. (I've written about The Pighouse loads of times - it's my DC old wooden playhouse so all snuggly, airy, protected and with a heater - spoiled piggies)

The first year we kept GP1 and GP2 in a 2'x4' cage at night in the dining room. They were pains in the buttocks (well TBF the cage got in the way) but they were fighty and arsey, we had to put a divide in and they woke at 6am to riot about the lack of food .

Next winter we put them in the small bedroom,, no divide, loads of hay and a cover over. They were fine, went to sleep, ate hay, only was GP2 noisily eating cardboard at 3am.

This winter we have no GP2 but we have the mahoosive teenage GP3. It became clear very early on that he would not be fobbed off with a 2'x4' .
So we have a tarpaulin + cardboard + paper and a 3'x5# with-a-bit-extra pen (metal panels).

Though I have to say , for my boys they'd go stir-crazy indoors. Even with a hay trug, boxes, tunnel, this morning they were sitting judgily looking at the empty bowl (I DO feed them )

Out into the clean Pighouse, they were "Waaayhay" as they tunnelled their way through a huge pile of fresh hay.

I cannot control the random hay indoors, it gets everywhere. I take the tarpaulin out every week and shake it. Newspaper lifted daily to remove the soiled ones.
And those Puppy Pads - provided they can't get to chew them- are brilliant for soaking up puddles. Though I need to anticipate where their respective Pee Corner will be.

I hoover up random stray droppings but sweep the hay.

Mine are permanently indoors. I have a playpen very similar to yours Sunday which they use for exercise during the day. I stick old towels under it as these can be easily shaken/brushed off outside and then thrown in the washing machine.

I can sympathise with the hay being everywhere. My boys are in the utility and either exercise in the kitchen or conservatory. So, how they manage to get hay upstairs is a mystery. I usually pick up the odd stray bit and then brush up the rest.

fernie my hogs are upstairs or outside - and their hay is where they are, but even though they are carried up and down in a lidded sealed plastic crate their hay manages to get all over the stair carpet.
Their little paws don't ever touch the carpet
I blame DD myself

oh the crate has airholes

Mine live in the hallway at the moment we've only had them a few months so they can't go outside until the warmer weather. They live in an indoor cage from pets at home. They did get daily runs outside of the cage and when it's warmer in the run in the garden.

Mine are outdoors, unless it gets real,y bad. They have tons of hay of course, and they've got a fleecy thing which they like to snuggle in, as well as heat pads, which last for 12hrs, which we put in at 7 (we have two) and reheat in the morning, so they can be warm all day.