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Third Week:
Another fairly normal day. Piglets are a bit wet and muddy -but seem active and healthy enough.
The day started off fairly sunny -but started raining in the afternoon and continued into the evening and night. However, without heavy flooding.
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No rain today (before evening) -a nice sunny morning... However, No.One and Butlig both seem under the weather.
Maybe Butlig's roof is too small -and he doesn't have enough shelter from the rain.... Until now it was mostly drought -and only recently have we had serious rain almost continuously.
The problem with No.One, I suspect, is the same old problem with sawdust and rice hull rotting and causing overheating..... since Fatima and Penny filled in her wallowing pit with sawdust (a few days ago)... Now she doesn't apparently have a cool place to rest -and she is digging up the area in front of the trough (and door) and trying to wallow there...
No.One is also not eating very well. Fatima found ants in food storage bin -but it (also) seems she doesn't like the new "lactation" feed delivered yesterday (although her sisters seem to like it). So, I protected her bin with anti-insect chalk and filled it with the day's ration of Mega-mix.... We can always feed the other stuff to the ducks if she really doesn't like it.... but perhaps we should wait first to see how she responds to the removal of the rotting organic material.
Butlig is still not eating. Although he is drinking -and he did have two baths in his pen. His stomach making all sorts of weird bubbling sounds.... I saw a very long pee earlier -but Fatima says he is constipated (I hope it is not his hernia causing a blockage....) So we are giving him charcoal. coconut oil and Bicarbonate of Soda to help the tummy.....The tumour on his prepuce is quite large at the moment.
Have tried to improve drainage around the pens -so they don't flood so easily -and the footpath is not so difficult to walk on because of the drainage trench.
A little rain today -but not much.
No.One seems back to normal today. Perhaps because of the removal of the rotting organic material -or perhaps because Fatima bought a different brand of "Lactation" feed this morning.
The piglets are getting quite big and playful. Many are already nibbling at a whole range of both dry and vegetable food if available. The special "pre-weaning crumble" seems popular by both sow and piglets.
Butlig is recovering slowly -eating the new feed, but very cautiously. He also enjoyed two baths in his pen today -but is still not yet back to normal and is still fairly inactive.
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Butlig is better and eating more -including some green vegetables. Has mange -so we will bath him with Peroxide and Borax after we have been shopping (tomorrow). He is also very thin and his tumour quite large. However, he seems fairly happy -and we hope he will soon get his weight back again.
Sow and piglets ok. Piglets are starting to get independent and have started foraging in the garden.
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Butlig is getting his appetite back. Piglets are exploring the garden (but running home for feeding)
Nothing special to report in the morning. Soft morning weather.
One piglet got her head stuck in the gate to Butlig's pen while we were out shopping. Penny was able to rescue her.
Butlig had made a hole so the piglets could move easily into and out of his pen..... but it now seems to have closed up -or perhaps the piglets have just got bigger... He is now eating green vegetables plus piglet (pre-weaning) "crumble" and sow "Lactation" feed -presumably to build up strength again. His mange is suddenly pretty serious and his ears have nasty wounds. Fatima has sprayed them and will give a peroxide and borax bath tomorrow. We have put up a 6 x 9 foot tarpaulin to increase his roof area.
No.One possibly ate a chick -but the mother hen keeps bringing them into the pig pen where they eat up any remaining food scraps.
The same piglet also got her head stuck again -in the same place -so the gap has been made smaller.
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A cool pleasant morning, The piglets are all out in the garden rooting in the soil.
By lunchtime, it's starting to look like rain -and the piglets rush home for lunch -after exploring the duck pond.
Butlig seems ok. Although his tumour is really big. Fatima gave him a good washing with peroxide and borax -as well as a scrub to improve his skin. She also cleaned up his pen a bit.
Bebe and Atoy cleaned out some more rotting material from No.One's pen. They have also sealed up the piglets escape hole because we were getting worried that they might wander off and never return -as has happened with several of our prize roosters.... One piglet (Blackie) nearly got shut out: Being mostly black, made it difficult to see her hiding under the table -but luckily, I took a head count.... and we found her.
Fatima adds:
Number 1 is getting slimmer. Her breasts are also beginning to sag. She looks like a real sow now. She loves nursing her piglets. Her routine is: eat and drink, then look around the pen to see if there are any vegetables to eat, scratch on the post, lie down, fart and call the piglets to suckle!
Piglets wean themselves by eating some of mommie's food. They also eat (or try at least) the vegetables given for Number 1. They root the soil outside, especially eating insects under the coconut husks. I put some clean water and "early wean immunobooster" outside the pen near the piglets' escape hatch.
The male pigs testicles are starting to become apparent. We're not going to castrate them. I think there are 4 females and 4 males.
I'm also looking out for signs of hernia (umbilical, especially). At least two of them seem to have it. I'm hoping any hernia will heal itself in time since the piglets get lots of exercise. Otherwise, we will need to find ways of repairing the hernia externally, without surgery. I read about inducing secondary infection on the umbilical to create healing tissue that can close the hernia ring.
Bootleg has sores on the back of his ears. I've sprayed gentian violet and he feels better. He will need washing with hydrogen peroxide and a bit of borax in water. He might have mange. This means his pen will need cleaning up a bit too.
The piglets go back to their mother with no problems, they remember the way back and they don't get confused (by shorter distances to where they want to go) like cats or dogs do. Piglets stay in the pen at night, though, they don't dare venture out in the dark.
Since it is sunny, the piglets prefer to sleep next to the pen outside where there's a covered area where we slept. They like the cool places under the reading chair and the bench. Then Number 1 calls them for some milk and they all go back in. Then out again afterwards. :)
PS. Just treated Bootleg's sores and bathed him. His tumour is really large, like the size of two duck eggs. :( With such a large tumour at the prepuce I am not sure if he can still service the gilts. A boar like this would be culled immediately. But I love Bootleg!
The piglets' escape hatch was sealed today ... They were wandering off rather far at the boundaries of the garden. What is worrying is that they might encounter dogs or snakes. So sadly, a limit to their freedom needed to be imposed ...
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Another quiet overcast morning. All seems well in the pig pen.
Later in the day, the piglets managed to escape again -but stayed home in the evening.
Butlig didn't seem to like fresh turmeric -so Fatima chopped some up and mixed it with his feed. He alo ate some Guyabana (Soursop) skin and pulp eft over from lunch. Fatima also gave him another peroxide treatment for his skin.
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Fourth Week:
July 09:
Saturday -and piglets are three weeks old today! Mother's milk production is now at maximum -and will slowly decrease in the coming week.
The piglets are still managing to escape and are busy exploring the garden. Today, they were very fond of the area under the coconut tree in front of Butlig's pen.
Butlig's mange and tumour show little sign of reduction. Fatima is feeding him Guyabana and turmeric again today -and continuing to treat his skin with peroxide/borax.
July 10:
Butlig's ears are improving and his appetite is getting better. However, his tumour is still very large.
The sow and piglets are all ok. The piglets were shut up in their pen for protection (with a temporary cover over the escape hole). However, later they were released and they had another exciting session exploring the garden. They are eating more pre-weaning "crumble" now -and will, presumably, soon be fully weaned..
July 11:
The piglets escaped today, while we were out shopping -and were running about happily in the garden when we came home. They are also eating more solid food now.... "crumble" from a bowl (outside in the garden) but also stealing feed from their mother's trough.
Butlig's ears are open (the boils have burst). It looks messy but is probably a sign of improvement. Fatima sprayed the wounds with Gentian Violet wound spray. However, in general, Butlig's hide is looking much better. He had a nice mud bath in his pen today.
July 12:
Butlig keeps rubbing his ears on the fence and opening the wounds up again -but they are still getting better. He is also getting back to normal as far as energy and weight -and is eating small amounts more frequently.
The piglets are eating and drinking increasingly independently of their mother. Quite a lot of fighting among the siblings and some have small wounds on their faces. Fatima is giving them pro-biotic "Digestiaid" to help then with the weaning process -which seems to be proceeding quite naturally.
No.One's unused teats are apparently ceasing to function -which gives her a strange shape.
July 13:
A rainy start to the day -but sunny later.
Piglets kept in the pen all day -after Penny put a bamboo lat across the trough to prevent them escaping.
Butlig's ears are still open and bleeding as a result of scratching -but they are improving. Fatima is continuing treatment -and he had another bath in his pen today. His tumour is still very large.
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July 14:
Another "normal" day.
The piglets were kept in the pen most of the day -but let out for a quick forage in the garden in the evening. It seems they are now quite used to eating solid food -as well as drinking milk.
No.One has a small wound near one of the teats -presumably from a fighting piglet -but seems unconcerned.
Butlig's ears look pretty awful -but are getting better.
Both adult pigs were covered in mud today after wallowing in their pens after it had rained in the night.
July 15:
Piglets now apparently happy eating green vegetables -as well as "crumble" and mother's milk. One month old tomorrow!
Butlig's ear and tumour still look pretty bad -although the ear is obviously getting slowly better.
Both Butlig and No.One were taken out for baths in the garden today -as a special treat.
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Pig
keeping in the tropics
— Housing, breeding, reproduction, nutrition, healthcare, AD-1,
ISBN 90-77073-53-1, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
— Download here
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