Solitary chicken - need advice

[Yolky]

I was looking at this.....

 

 

and I was thinking of asking the OH to make something similar for the piggies that will fit the hutch we already have in it. The best place we have to put this is a patio area. So what I was wondering is what I should put, if anything, on the concerete floor of the patio for the pigs to walk on when they are out in the run?

 

Just to add we do have a run for on the grass which they can go in when I am about in the day but I would like to have somewhere so they can have more room to play all the time.

 

Anyone got any ideas?

[Chooks Aloud]

Mine are on aubiose and they also have concrete slabs in their run - it helps to wear their claws down.

[Yolky]

Thanks Chooks, do you have any pictures of your run?

[Chooks Aloud]

Hubby made me a 18' x 9' run for the chooks. It has several ladders which leads to raised platforms giving them plenty of things to do/explore. The guinea pigs are also in this run within a separate run with plenty of room for them to run around in.

 

Unfortunately, I don't know how to put photos on, not very computer minded, but I will see what hubby can do.

[Yolky]

Ohhh yes that would be great as now I remember that you were the forumite who kept her chooks with her guineas. This is also an option for us. We only have three chooks but our run is 4m x 2m so they have plenty of space even if I gave 2 square metres to the guineas. This would also be a cheaper option. My only hesitation with this is that the chooks are near the end of the garden and I did want to keep the guineas by the back door.

[Lewis]

I'm not sure the g-pigs will be able to use such a steep ladder like the one in the picture, mine is only confident on less steep ones.

If you look in PAH and they have hutches with ramps with both rabbits in + guinea pigs, I've never seen a guinea pig up the ramp.

 

 

I think its a really good idea though, but maybe with the hutch a bit lower to the ground so the ramp isn't as steep or maybe have a ladder, a little ledge then another ladder running the other way into the hutch so they aren't as steep

[xScrunchee]

We have a hutch with a ramp which takes them down into their run and they are up and down it all day.

[Yorkshire Pudding]

I've been reading this with interest as we are planning to build a new hutch/run for our piggies this summer.

 

At the moment they have free run of their hutch and 4' x 3' run, sited on the grass. The problem is that the hutch and run are old and falling to bits, and that the grass dies where they pull their hay onto it and block the light (and the kids, who are responsible for moving the run around and shifting the old hay, don't move it often enough!).

 

We have a big stack of old decking boards that we took up when making the chooks' garden , and we planned to make a decking base, with built-up sides to contain the aubiose, then mesh sides and access to two separate raised sitting/sleeping areas plus one joint area for our two male piggies. Also it will be sited near an outside socket to allow us to add a heat lamp in winter and have rain covers and insulation.

 

Does anyone think it would be wiser to have it sited directly on concrete? We could do this but I had worried that the pigs would get sore feet from it, or frostbite in winter. I trim their claws regularly so am not worried about wearing them down.