When can my piggies go outside?

[chicaguapa]

We have two girls who live in DS's bedroom at the moment. They're approx. 4 yo. We're moving house at some stage this year and they will have to live outside as there's no room for them in the house.

I've been looking at decent cages, covers etc to keep them warm at night but I realise they need to build up to being able to be outside as they have indoor coats at the moment which won't keep them warm. So I wondered when the best time to put them outside would be?

We've also wondered about whether it would be kinder to rehome them where they could be indoors all the time like they're used to. DS would be heartbroken but it's what's best for the piggies.

They're in a big 4x2' c&c cage at the moment which DS has space for in his room as it's a huge room. But the new house definitely doesn't have space for something that big. And putting them in the windowless garage seems worse than them going outside.

Would appreciate some advice please.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

you can't really go from indoor 24/7 to outdoor , but when you move , could you buy them a shed?
You can give them more light (my DH made our windows removable but they are Fort Knox lined with metal bars (fox) coated mesh (vermin) and fine mesh( flies etc)

Once you no longer need it for piggies, sheds are useful anyway.

You can put the hutch inside , store hay, and they can run round the floor.

Re-homing.........last resort really, unless you know someone who'll take them. Your girls are middle-aged, and there are Rescues chock-full of piggies.
So kinder to rehome, debateable.

My pigs are in at night at the moment, out in their shed by day (with a heater on low)
It'll be a while before they're out all the time , possibly near Easter (we're in Essex)

[chicaguapa]

We don't have room in the garden for a shed unfortunately. It sounds like a lovely idea! The garden is hard landscaped with raised beds so it's quite restrictive. The hutch would go by the back door so a shed wouldn't fit there.

We'll have to keep thinking. I don't want to re-home them. Just thought someone might say they'd be better off with someone else than in our garden.

[fortifiedwithtea]

Despite we normally bang on endlessly about giving large living spaces, can you buy a smaller indoor cage. With the addition of pinching 70's idea a small paddling pool that can be used as an indoor run for playtime for a period each day. Sows can cope better with smaller spaces than boars.

They have less chance of a forever home in a rescue where they will be competing with younger animals or they maybe split up to accompany a bereaved piggy. For example when I went to our local rescue, sow dating for Naughty Girl who had lost her friend I asked to be shown only pigs that were short haired, no pink eyes, approx. 2 years old and preferably pink claws (that bit not a deal breaker). I came away with Millie who was only one of a pair and Coco who had been separated from a boar. BTW Coco has a full set of brown claws but she said take me home to DD1

[chicaguapa]

We have the cage they came in which we've kept for emergencies, ie if they have to go on holiday somewhere. (That's reminded me of something else but will start a new thread.) It's tiny though. We'll sort something out.