Look whose arrived!

Maggie had her piglets ~ Middle of August

What an amazing morning! We got up and started the feeding frenzy, which involves, feeding kids, dogs, chickens, pigs and horses, last but not least water and meander in veggie garden.

Every evening I've been checking Maggie (pig) for milk, every evening except last night, when we were a bit distracted with fishing at the dam! 

So I went down to the pigs with their delicious breakfast of pigs pellets and what ever yummy treat I find in the house. I always get such a welcoming response from the pigs when I come down they snort and grunt.

I put their food down and they both proceeded to gollop it down, I poked my head into their hut, as usual, and all snuggled up under some hay, were 4 tiny piglets! 4 adorable males. I quickly called my kids and hubby, who were just as eager to see them!

My kids were so excited and couldn't wait to come and touch them. I was very impressed at, how Maggie didn't mind us close by to her babies.
My Hubby gave Maggie a once over check and she seemed fine, she handled her first litter very well.

And then there-where-4-little-piglets. Well done Maggie!

Sleeping time. I mean come on, How cute is that? 

Concerned Maggie watching over her sleeping babies.

Four musketeers! 

Such a good mummy!

Wilbur has been keeping his distance! Sleeping outside the hut and not inside with Maggie, where he usually slept.

I've watched him go inside and give them a sniff around and then walk out, so I will watch him and see how he adapts, before just kicking him out! So far so good! ;) 

We getting close!

Nesting ~ End July

Maggie is getting soo big, she looks really uncomfortable, I'm sure those piglets are going to be out in no time.

Now I've never had pigs, never mind, a soon to be mom with piglets. So I've been doing loads of research and trying to find out what I need to do and how I should prepare, should I be getting my surgical gloves and a bowl of warm water with loads of towels on stand by ;) So after spending much time quizzing friends and hubby who have had pigs, the conclusion is, that they pretty much have everything under control, so I can take a bit of a back seat for this one, but me being me, I really can't, I have to fiddle!
So every evening when I'm giving them there brush or scratch I check Maggie for milk, as they say that when the sow is leaking milk, she will be in labour in the next 12 hours or so.
I've also installed a infra-red light in their pen, so they have a spunky red vibe going on in there little hut and every day they get a nice big armful of fluffy hay added to their bedding.

When I went into their hut today I noticed there where sticks and branches and I thought, "Yea! Maggie is nesting, she must be getting really close", I decided I would take a few branches out as there were quite a few, as I was pulling them out Wilbur (male) walked up, sniffed and started bringing them back in, I couldn't believe it, normally its the female who does the nesting, so it wasn't Maggie, it was Wilbur after all, such a good dad to be. I have read and heard that you must remove the male pig from the mother and her piglets as he can kill them etc. so I've fenced off another area for him, that in the future can always turn into a grazing paddock for them. I have also read that with Potbellied pigs the male and the female can raise the piglets together. So we will see how it goes.

For now it's just the waiting game! For Maggie and Wilbur, that is sleeping, wallowing in mud, eating, sleeping and etc etc.

Wilbur soaking up the afternoon sun, with Bicardi (horse) and Shadow (Weimaraner dog) in the background.

Maggie playing the waiting game, quite well, she has been sleeping a lot! I can feel her babies wriggling around, it's not long now!

Wilbur and his nesting.

Wilbur has also started acting up a bit, he's starting to threaten to nip, which is not a habit he will be able to keep. I have told the kids to not come in without Daddy or I, rather be safe than sorry! I think he's just getting a bit protective.

Pigs

July - PotBellied Pigs

We got given 2 Pot Bellied Pigs from my mother in-law half way through July.

Such awesome characters! When you go in to the pen, they come snorting and oinking wanting something, as you start to scratch them, they almost go into a trace and topple over, they just love it!

Maggie is pregnant, "we going to have babies! Yay!!". I reckon she's been pregnant for about a month and a half.

And......

My husband, being the spontaneous type; gave us a day to get the pen ready for pigs! He was on his way home, and the pigs where quite far from us. 

So there we were, racing around the farm trying to make a pig pen fit for pigs. Because as we all know, Pigs are escape artist!

When the pigs arrived we made a make shift, off-loading ramp and scuttled them off, with a push and tug down the ramp. They settled in quite nicely.

Behind the pen is the chicken run and behind that is my veggie garden!