[harry]

has anyone made a pig house out of straw....no big bad wolf jokes please.... i was going to make a shelter out of straw bales and a tin roof, maybe 2 bales high and 3 long, but wondered if they would eat it.

[robert waddell]

i did that as a demo once they dont eat it and when you are finnished with it you can burn it        just make sure you have pins that go from the roof through the straw into the ground      so everything is secure

[Sudanpan]

I seem to remember on our Pig Day course at Oaklands that they had an example of a straw (or even hay bales?) pig ark for some of their pigs and the key was having a sturdy frame of poles to lash the bales to.

Oaklands will be along in a minute to confirm or deny....
 

[HappyHippy]

Don't use hay for Kune Kunes - they may very well eat it, especially in the winter. Straw should be safe enough though  and it's a good bit cheaper too.
Make sure you weigh the top down with something heavy like old tyres or a couple more bales on top, just in case it blows away.
What are they sleeping in now ?

[Tiva Diva]

It works fine but unless they are very young you need to use some stakes to stop them shoving the wall bales around. You need something to support the roof too: some planks, or a sheet of plywood or corrugated iron

[robert waddell]

if i was better at the drawing and the computer thingy i would put on exactly what you need       just read my post already on here it details everything that is required  for a straw house that wont blow away and they wont move about

[welshlass181]

Hubby made 2 8x4 pig arks and i've got 2 made out of 1 really big plastic oil tank and another made out of a smaller plastic oil tank.  Got some galv sheets coming soon to make a few more out of bits and bobs.  My sow and piglets has the sing;e oil tank and an old plastic garden shed thingy on it's side to shelter from the sunlight and any wind.

Prob not the best of things but it works for us

[SallyintNorth]

Meg is currently residing in the chicken shed (no chickens in this one) and the calf is using the pig ark ... 

[oaklandspigs]

We've built from both straw and hay.

We only used hay as we grow this and buy straw. so cheaper to use hay for us, but as HH says they do slowly eat it, so straw is preference, but if you have old hay, you can use.

Build like bricks, ie overlap each row, and tie every bale to all it's neighbours above below and each side.

Some vertical stakes will make it stonger, particularly at entrance.

Tin or tarpaulin roof.

We have a de-luxe model (home for 5-7 full size sows) which has low boarding on outside and inside, which is now 4 years old.  Needs an annual mot (add new bales where they get chewed), but otherwise is one of the pigs favorites arks.

[JulieS]

I love the sounds of the deluxe model oaklands.  Do you have any pictures?

[princesspiggy]

i knew of 2 shetland ponies who wintered in a side-less barn which had walls made of straw bales. worked fine though a bit drafty towards the end of winter!

[harry]

ok got the idea ... need to be vandal proof ie pushing over.... got stacks of clutter around as you do... wood , tin, fence posts , steel rods so will knock something up..... thought maybe  a pallet floor with solid top not slatted, with a straw bed on top..... i am a x bricky and fancied buiding an old style straw shed plastered with mud and lime so may have a go at that later....the pigs can make the mud