Guinea pig space requirements help please

[julesjoy]

I've got myself in a total muddle trying to calculate floor space and how much I need per pig. Maths is not my strong point ? how many piggies can I put in my 6ft double hutch please? My 3 are comfortable, but can I fit 4, or is that too squashy?

 

[ester]

Given that I took delivery of 7x4 shed this week as 6ft double hutches made of shiplap were getting near that price anyway . .
Generally people dont always include the levels for calculating (which is sort of true as I do find the ramp takes up more space than you think essentially if 2ftx6ft = 12ft square per level and people do/I would have 4 sows in that.

 

[julesjoy]

Great,thank you! I was hoping you'd see this. There are several variations of that chart floating around, plus my terrible maths didn't make a good combination. I was wondering about a small playhouse but didn't really want to spend more money if not necessary as the hutch is still good.

 

[julesjoy]

How easy is it to add a fourth to a group of 3?

 

[ester]

Yup if you've got the hutch no need to change, mine for the 2 was only a 2 storey 4ft chartwell (that I'd already had to replace the floor and back on hence looking at speccing up for it's replacement). I also thought playhouse for a bit but I decided not beinig able to stand up in it would get irritating. I've justified it to myself by saying I can have shelves above them for storage they can just have the floor, while friends are coming up with all sorts of multilayers, tunnels, hair brained schemes ?.

I don't actually know about adding one to a trio, only issues of adding one to a pair. I was going to cross that bridge when I came to it with the current 4. I'd suspect it likely ok- certainly my older 3 have been very tolerant of the baby, who I would say doesn't quite fit in with them yet (I think they mostly roll they're eyes at her). The 2 newbies weren't an existing pair.
Do you have a piggie in mind?

 

[julesjoy]

Yes, it's an older sow who's friend has died.

 

[Hexx]

Sows are usually quite easily to introduce to a small herd, they sort out the hierarchy themselves quite easily. I have done it quite a few times with no issues

 

[julesjoy]

Thank you. I decided not to go for it. I am concerned that adding one more piggie to my trio will tip the effort and work load into the unmanageable territory.