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The Best Christmas Present Ever - 6 Baby Pigs!

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susie_q

susie_q

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A small village near Glasgow, in rainy Scotland!
Well, today had been a horrible day. My car was broken into. :( So I came home, said my hellos to my piggies, and checked on my pregant foster girl Emily. I asked her if she was planning on having babies tonight.

So, I hear the squeaking that indicates dinner time, go to take the bowls over...and low and behold! Emily had her babies! 6 gorgeous little ones... So pleased! Immediatly took photos to share. My first babies born in this house! So pleased!

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(Yes there is one missing there - he was under mum at the other end of the hutch and thus impossible to photograph!)

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More photoes of the babies as they grow!

Six babies. I am expecting some losses...As it is such a big litter. Any advice is appreciated to help boost the chances of them all making it through.
 
Aww Susie they are gorgeous! So pleased it went well. Are they good weights? Anything over 100 I think is fab but of course with their being 6 that may be asking too much. Maybe assist in feeding if they are struggling. Hope someone can advise with that.

Good luck, I'm so excited! Mini pigs! Someone smack me! :))
 
What a nice surprise - they always choose the best time to give birth! They all look so small. Are they fairly active? They look pretty laid-back in the pictures. All you can do is give Mommypig plenty of vegetables - six babies to feed is hard work. The babies will benefit from plenty of fresh hay (which I can see they have) and if there's any that aren't thriving, try and give them some time alone with Mommypig from their littermates. Good luck with them, they're beautiful!
 
They're so tiny and cute. Mum looks absolutely worn out in that first picture, though. Six babies must be a lot of work. In the second to last picture... the little black baby... is that his foot? Or part of the one in front? I just can't tell.
 
Thank you everyone for the compiments! Unfortunatly I can't take any credit, that was all Emily's hard work!

They're about two hours old now, and they have little bursts of activty, although there is one I am worried about who seems to be having trouble moving. :S They are tiny wee babies, I haven't weighed any yet as I am trying not to interfear with mum and the babies tonight - tomorrow I am going to try getting some lactol and giving them a hand.

Tracyxx, I shall definatly try giving any that are doing as well as the others alone time with mum, thats sounds like a good idea. How often should it be done, do you think, a few times a day?


And pigglywink - them was exhuasted! She's also munched through her evening veg in superspeed today, must be starving after all that hard work! And for the picture...I'm not so sure! He definatly has a little golden/tanny foot though! He/she's a little stunner. :)
 
So cute! What a huge litter they are all totally stunning and will need xmas names...like holly and noel lol
 
How are they this morning? 6 is as lot, bless her! The smallest ones I've had born here were Pop's babies, she came in to rescue on a Saturday and had them that night, poor girl. Smallest (which was very wobbly on arrival and I thought wouldn't make it) was 67g and he was fine, he's still a bit smaller than the others but makes up for it in personality.

The babies are still wet in your photos so haven't been out long. I usually pick them up if the mum's ok, check both eyes open, check umbilical cord, give them a rub down and put them back.

They can suck lactol off of a cotton wool bud (like the ones you use for ears) or from bread. This way you won't have to worry about forcing any down, as they can't swallow and breathe at the same time so you can't syringe fluids down babies as they'll choke. They can lap it off a spoon as long as you angle it so it's not going right down them.

Hope they're ok, keep us posted! Mum looks gorgeous

Sophie
x
 
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww they are soooo cute! well done mummy pig! what a clever girl :)
 
OMG i'm so sorry about your car being broken into, rotten sods malletheadmallethead

but HUGE congratulations to you ans especially the awesome little mummy Emily what a herculean effort of hers xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx bless her
I do hope that all the little ones survive, maybe one or two might need some extra help...i wish you all the luck and super duper healing wheeeeeeeeks and loves to them and the rest of the little mini's xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>
 
Hey guys, thanks for the all the comments - poor them is a saint for putting up with six babies!

Well, they're all roughly 20 hours old now, and still quite wobbly on their wee legs. They do shake a lot when them leaves them (she sits on top of them a lot of the time like a mother hen!) or when something scary happens (like the hoover).

I've just weighed them, and taking Sophie's advice (thanks!) have fed them all from a cotton wool bud. Have resolved to help out them as much as possible and give babies a fighting chance - how often should I aim to supplement feed?

Here are the baby weights, and a few have me a little worried 52g & 53g at the bottom of the scale, then 57, 63 & 64, and then the biggest one (who I am not worried about!) at 76! These are still all quite small, aren't they?
 
Awww so cute! :)) well done!
aww i wish one of my two girls could get pregnant and have babies. (Though would be abit hard because we don't have a male piggie and my parents wouldn't be very happy) :))
 
Sorry you had your car broken in to but lovely bubs, congratulations!
 
Aww congratulations on mummy pig for being such a good mummy.
The babies are probably small because there's so many :)
I think your doing a job Hun.
Ton's of love for mummy pig and her babies
 
Aww they are so sweet, well done and good luck :))

Have a good christmas :)
 
Gosh they are small, I would put a bowel of milky bread in the cage (You can use puppy or kitten milk), the babies will munch on this and sometimes mum does too. You can also spoon feed them the milk on its own.
I found this really helped when one of the sows I had in the summer, littered to 7 babies.

IF possible try to give mum as much grass as possible as this is excellent for the milk she will produce. Her milk will not come in until 24 hours after the birth.

Keep an eye on them to check they are all feeding from mum, when they are a little older you can remove the bigger babies for 10mins at a time to give the little ones time to feed from mum, without competition.
 
susie_q said:
Thanks Missbonbon - I shall certainly do that overnight tonight. I had no idea her milk didn't come in for 24 hours.

Thanks for the advice - did all 7 survive?
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Unfortunately not, I lost 2. 1 at 3 days old (She was 50g at birth and dropped to 42g) and another at 6 days old (Mum struggled to deliver him, so I think maybe he was affected by the lengthy birth.

Hope all are ok
 
Aw, congratulations on the new arrivals. 6 babies - no wonder Emily is tired in the first picture. What a weight to carry around too.
 
Hels: Emily is a super star and a fantastic mum. Eating for britian though and I'm convinced sometimes she takes the runts away and lets them had alittle alone time with her.

I've seen the stronger babies nibbling on tasty veg now, so thats great news. However- whenever I go near the cage, some of the babies start shaking. It just seems to be the wee-er, more runty babies and it's got me a little worried. There is one in particular who seems to be trembling quite a lot. :S Is this common? I worry whether or not they're cold (although I dont see how as they are indoors and have piles and piles of hay to snuggle in).

Shall post more pictures of babies (all 6 are still with us) and call you tomorrow Helen.

And Miss BonBon, I am sorry to hear two bubbas died. :( But glad the other five made it. ~x~
 
Hels said:
2 have passed over now - spoke to Susie earlier. No doubt she will post soon.

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send her my love,i'm so sorry. did she name them so we can post goodbye posts? we're all thinking of her,momma pig, dadda pig, and bubba pigs. feel so upset about this 8...:0 but at least they had a very loving family for the time they were alive. RIP bubbas, sleep tight xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Hadn't named them yet, but thank you for your condolonces. :( They would've grown into gorgeous, gorgeous piggies.

Have had the others all at the vets today - turns out they all have respiritory infections. I suspect that is what pushed the wee tiny bubbas over the edge. :( When I was hand feeding them I was calling them Starshine and Lovely... So I suppose we could use them for goodbye posts. Fortunatly all the others have medication now, and here's hoping they'll all pull through. They're all alert and running aorund being cute, so I'm feeling positive. (Will post pictures tomorrow - today was stressful, cage clean out and the vets!)

I am upset by the loss, but I am glad, like you said Claire that they had a loving, loving home, and an excellent mother. Emily is such a fusser, and when I found the 2nd baby this morning he was all tucked up under her and being protected. =)

They're running with my old boy Jet who I lost last summer, I'm sure he's looking after them well. As are all the other piggies that have passed over.

Thank you everyone for your kind words. ~x~
 
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