Kitchen setup

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Simon_Tyler

Post   » Sat Jun 09, 2018 8:17 pm


Hi! I have 2 male pigs, Simon and Tyler. We have built a pen for them and now I'm working on the kitchen. I have the bottom of a regular cage we are going to use. Is it ok to just put hay down in it or should I use a bedding and get a hay holder?

bpatters
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Post   » Sat Jun 09, 2018 10:04 pm


You will need bedding. Peed-on hay smells terrible, and you'll waste a lot of hay if you just put it in the bottom.

Hay holders are a personal preference. No design is perfect, and they've all got significant liabilities. I tried several kinds, and finally gave up in favor of a pile of hay in the corner of the cage.

WICharlie

Post   » Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:08 am


Yes, you need bedding. Pigs will spend a great deal of time sitting and eating hay and they will poo and pee MORE in this area than in other areas. Wooden stove pellets work great in this sort of set up. They are cheap and super absorbent. The only downfall is that they are pretty heavy, so can only be used in smaller areas.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sun Jun 10, 2018 4:58 pm


Actually, you can use pellets in any size area. I have a 16+ square foot cage that is full of pellets. It's been about 8 months since I changed the pellets out. I'm going for a year -- that will have cost me less than $15 per year in bedding.

JX4

Post   » Mon Jun 11, 2018 12:56 pm


bpatters, how do you use wooden stove pellets? I currently have fleece flippers and am getting tired of washing them in the washing machine, but do NOT want to go to paper bedding that costs and arm and a leg and has to be changed all the time.

We have five pigs in a 2 x 8 grid C&C cage, plus two haylofts (1 x 2 grid size), one on each end.

Where do you get these pellets, and how do you use them? Is it like cat litter that you scoop out? How do you get all the poo pellets out of them?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Jun 11, 2018 2:42 pm


I get the pellets at a farm store -- they're horse stall bedding. I use TerrAmiga brand, but others are available. You just have to make sure they don't smell strongly of pine.

I use a layer of thin fleece over them, so they're the absorbent layer. That's how I get such a long use out of them. But if you don't want to use any fleece at all, you can just stir them, poop and all. They're very absorbent, so will quickly dry the poop and pee out. I'd estimate that my cage would last three months or more with no fleece.

They're heavy and a little dusty when first poured into the cage or stirred. But to get them out, I just put a large garbage bag in a wheeled garbage can, roll it up next to the cage, and scoop them all out.

JX4

Post   » Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:14 pm


How deep of a layer do you use of the pellets? I'm trying to figure out how much I'd have to buy for a 2 x 8 grid cage, plus the lofts. Maybe I could try the lofts at first and see how that does, since those get nasty so much faster than the rest of the cage because that's where we keep the hay.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:20 pm


I've got about three inches or so in my cage. They get deeper when you stir them, then pack back down again.

JX4

Post   » Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:44 pm


thanks for the info!

WICharlie

Post   » Tue Jun 12, 2018 10:36 am


As they get wet, they slowly break down into a soft dust. I never put anything over them when I used them in the kitchen area. My local Mounds (pet supply store) carried them. I would think that one problem with using them in a large cage would be discarding them when you do clean out the cage. The best would be if you have a compost pile or garden that you could dump the soiled bedding in. Also, the floor of your cage needs to be well supported.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:51 pm


I use closet shelving under my cage. Plenty strong.

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