Piglets

We knew Darla was close to having her piglets.  I worked out the dates from when we saw George on her and came up with Saturday.

Thursday night piglet pile

On Thursday night, Miss Seven came to me and said she thought she'd heard piglet noises coming from their little house while all three pigs were out in the paddock.  I fed the pigs and went and had a look.  She was right.  There was a pile of little piglets in there.  It was nearly dark and hard to see them or count how many there were.

The next morning, we went out to feed the pigs and see if we could see the piglets more clearly.  As Darla got up, she rolled on one of her babies which was heartbreaking, but something I'd been warned about.

Friday morning piglets

My parents came out for a visit that morning.  We went out to see the piglets and I noticed that Darla wasn't in with them and I didn't think she had been all morning.  Two of the piglets seemed very weak, so we rescued them. 

I had seven piglets in a fish crate lined with a woolen blanket and a hot water bottle in there too.  The two weak piglets were very cold, so we wrapped them in towels and cuddled them to try and warm them up.

I left my parents with the piglets while I rushed into town to get some milk powder and a feeding bottle for them.  The vet told me there's a brand that is good for many animals including pigs and to use a lamb bottle.

By the time I got back home, we'd lost the two weak ones and were down to five.  These five didn't seem to be hungry, just cold.  When they did feed, the bottle was too much for them, they weren't up to sucking from a bottle just yet, it required a syringe to drip it into their mouths. 

After four hours, Darla didn't seem to have even noticed that they'd gone.  She showed no signs of looking for her babies, she just carried on with a normal day for her.

Hubby and I were going away for the weekend, a trip we'd had planned for over a month and not one we could cancel easily, but a very good friend was coming out for the weekend to babysit Miss Seven and look after my animals.  We couldn't have picked a better time to be honest.  This friend grew up on a pig farm.  She didn't mind nursing five one day old piglets and had a better idea than I did about how to do it all.

My friend's grandson patting Streaky

We got back on Sunday just after Miss Seven's chosen favourite had died.  They'd lost one other that morning and one more was not looking like he was going to last for long.  The chosen favourite was the only white/pink piglet out of the litter and after watching Charlotte's Web a few times, she wanted a Wilbur.  The problem with Wilbur was that he only walked around in circles.  I'm told it's a sign of fluid on the brain.  Miss Seven was feeding him and he had a seizure quite unexpectedly and then went limp.  My friend realised that he'd gone, but didn't say anything.  After about five minutes, Miss Seven said to her "I think Wilbur has died".  She was really quite philosophical about it and helped her Dad to dig the hole to bury the five piglets we'd lost so far.

That night, the one we didn't really expect to last died too.  He'd had a funny hitch to his breathing and we had to wake him up to make him feed.  This time, we couldn't wake him up, he'd already gone.

So we're down to the last two and they're tough wee fellas (yes, all of the last five were boys and we never checked the sex of the first three we lost).  They're living in my bath (it didn't take long for them to be climbing out of the fish crate for all they're smaller than guinea pigs), lined with woolen furniture moving pads, hot water bottles, towels and with a bar heater going in the room.

Three little piglets, snuggled in the nest in the bath

They're both doing well and have got the hang of the bottles.  My friend gave us one of her grandson's bottles that he didn't need anymore, so Miss Seven and I feed them together.  My bathroom smells like pig and old milk and milky piglet poo, it's okay, last night they slept through the night.  I even refilled and replaced their hot water bottles without them waking up this morning.

Darla doesn't seem to be missing them.  It's a little sad, but I'm glad that I found them when I did.  I know some pigs are just bad mothers and that may be why, although I'm also wondering if she's suffered some brain damage from the seizures she had when Cricket was beating her up.  She was blind for most of a week afterwards.

George has been on her again already.  While we were taking her babies in fact.  I'll see how she goes with another litter and this time, I'll try a farrowing pen, or at least a separate pen for her with a creep rail to keep the piglets safe under a heatlamp.