...are growing, slowly. Very slowly; it's really, really cold out, so they're using a lot of energy to stay warm rather than channel it into growth. But I noticed that they are a wee bit bigger today, so there's hope. Thankfully, they are in the barn where the wind isn't an issue, so it's just cold, not biting. Delilah is being an extra-good mama to the piglets, which is good. She's getting all the treats I can get her, whether it be produce scraps from the grocery store, leftovers from our fridge, whatever.
The problem, of course, is that we didn't separate the happy couple back in September, which is when they were old enough to recognize that there were differences between boars and sows, and began exploring those differences. Since pigs have a gestation period of 3-3-3 (3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days) that means that Samson got his freak on around mid-September. So, we get the joys of trying to raise six piglets in a cold winter in an unheated barn. Yay.
They aren't on solids yet, so they're just feeding off of Delilah for now. We'll work them up to drinking water and eating mash, but for now we're going to let Delilah do the Mama thing. Like I said, she's good at it. Thankfully.
Not much else to say today; the chickens are still laying lots of eggs, which is a nice bonus in the winter. The trick is figuring out where the heck they're laying, and finding them before they freeze and crack. Winter farming in PEI is no joke.
Hopefully, there will be more to talk about tomorrow, but it's late.
No comments:
Post a Comment