Beans -Second Parity:

Thursday May 20:

Beans is Totally Exhausted -But Bravely Nursing

Images of exhausted tropical
backyard sow nursing her piglets

We Try to Comfort and Refresh Beans

She Slowly Recovers During the Day

Two Dead Piglets are Cooked for the Cats

Images of tropical backyard
piglets cooked for cat food after dying shortly after birth

We Rescue Three Piglets in the Night

We had 7 piglets born in the night -but two died shortly after birth

Beans is exhausted. We have given water by hand. After drinking she did eat a little green-stuff -but not much.

Even so, she is nursing her piglets.... All white this time....

They weren't expected (by Fatima) until Saturday -but I suspected yesterday that she would be early.

Beans didn't get up during the day, Initially she only drunk a little and would not really eat anything substantial.

However she did like water with sugar -and by the 3 PM feeding time was able to drink water from a dipper and eat several bananas (both skins and whole fruit) as well as some over-ripe papaya.

Around 7 PM -she got up -but fell over onto three of her piglets. Fatima saw it and was able to raise alarm. Luckily we had placed a shovel nearby and were able to use that to lever her up and free the three. All recovered within a few minutes. Later they were drinking milk with the others as if nothing had happened.

Beans ate another banana (our last) -but wouldn't drink from the trough. She did drink from a dipper. She then returned to her piglets -but lay against the wall of the pen -apparently to prevent further accidents.

Fatima cleaned the trough -and we left her with a rubber bowl with some water and some eggs in it.

Around 8 PM -after suckling her piglets she got up, ate one egg -but dropped the other. After she turned over the bowl with sugar water she was given fresh water -which she drunk -as well as eating some feed stuff..

The surviving piglets seem fine -although one seemed a little bit slow in the beginning but appeared to catch up later.

Rather than waste them, we cooked the dead piglets as food for the cats: One piglet had milk in its stomach -so presumably it died some time after being born. The other one had no milk inside -and so presumably died before or during birth -before it could even start suckling.

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Friday May 21:

Beans is Slowly Recovering

Excess Nesting material is Removed and Composted

Beans is Now Much More Active

Piglets and Mother Separate Safely After Nursing

Beans got up around 6.0 AM to eat and drink a little this morning. But soon laid down again.

By Lunch time she ate and drunk a little more and by evening was eating and drinking more normally -but not so voraciously as normal.

The excess nesting material was removed from the outside storage space (restaurant) so as to allow piglets to escape into the garden when ready.

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Saturday May 22:

Getting Back to Normal

Images of tropical backyard sow
with piglets

A Few Squeals in the Night

A couple of non-fatal crushing incidents in the night. We heard squeals but Beans reacted well and nobody got hurt....

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Sunday May 23:

Everybody is Present in the Morning

Images of tropical backyard sow
and piglets

...and Life Continues Normally During the Day

We Try to Make the Creep Space and Exit More Attractive

...and A Few Do Eventually Go Out

Beans seems more or less back to normal today. We didn't give her any antibiotic earlier -because she didn't seem to have a fever -and luckily, she appears to have recovered entirely on her own natural resources.

We dumped some (damp) soil in the creep space -to encourage the piglets to have a safe space there. Two even managed to get outside into the garden.

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Monday May 24:

Still Tired

Images of tropical backyard sow a
few days after farrowing

But More Active in the Afternoon

Everything seems back to normal. However the piglets are not very active -or adventurous. Although some have already discovered the exit to the garden, Nobody ventured outside today.

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Tuesday May 25:

A Lazy Morning for All

Images of tropical baxckyard sow
with piglets

But Later Eating

Suckling

Exploring

and then Sleeping

Things seems fairly normal again today. Some piglets have discovered the creep space and the exit -but the rest seem less adventurous than our usual litters. Perhaps a tired mother has provided poor nutrition -or maybe Large Whites are genetically less active.

Beans is still lethargic -but then its a hot, humid, day and the other pigs are lethargic too.

After some light rain in the afternoon, it became a little cooler -and by the afternoon feed, Beans seemed fairly active -but her body feels like she has a low grade fever -which she did not appear to have earlier.....

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Wednesday May 26:

All Systems Go?

Images of tropical backyard
piglets one week after the day they were born

Beans does have a slight temperature -and the kids do look a bit thin....
Otherwise she seems ok.. In fact, she became very playful after Fatima gave her some oral antibiotic.

We are giving her extra food... The piglets have also found the way out (at least a few) so hopefully, they'll soon get lots of exercise running round the garden and digging in the soil....

One did get a bit lost outside today. Hopefully they will not do too much damage.....