Piglet Reprieve

We weaned our last set up piglets this week.  We had 2 litters in November and then we bought a litter of large blacks over Thanksgiving so we had 3 litters going there for a while.  We keep the piglets with the sows for about 6-8 weeks and then I move them into a separate pen (the pit in the milk house where you use to stand to milk the cows) for a few weeks until they get use to being weaned and big enough to eat a pound or so of food in short order.  After 2-4 weeks I then move them out to the barn with all of the pigs we are raising for market.  It takes them a couple of days to adjust to their new surroundings and feel like outcasts to all of the other pigs, but after a few days they settle into the routine.  Matilda is the sow we purchased over Thanksgiving that had 1 of the litters and see was put in with the other pigs this week.  She is having a tough time adjusting to the other pigs and is still feeling pretty isolated.  She sleeps in a separate barn at the moment.  Because she is new it is going to take a little while to get acclimated and find her pecking order.  Right now the biggest problem is one of our Mulefoot pigs that is going to have a litter fairly soon, once I get her moved out it will probably make it a little easier for her to be with the other pigs.

We also received our shipment of Black Copper Maran and Pumpkin Hulsey chickens this week.  They are about 6 weeks old and got shipped from North Carolina.  The Black Copper Marans are very rare and lay one of the darkest eggs of any chickens.  Pumpkin Hulsey are gamefowl and we got them purely for looks.  They are a pumpkin color orange and very beautiful.