It is truly heart-breaking to lose Brangwyn's dad (and half-brother) Barcud 'Red Kite' within less than 3 weeks of his youngest son.
I turned around from picking up Bran's body from the cage on Eclipse Day morning to notice that Barcud was not interested in food and looked very thin. Within the two days since cage clean he had managed to lose nearly 200g. My heart sank.
Amazingly, Barcud bounced back and stabilised pretty quickly so I thought it was just a heatwave related incident. Because he continued to be mugged for tasty morsels by his sister Millyn 'Sweet Violet' and mother Modron 'Mother Goddess', I decided to try an introduction to Brangwyn's widow Lleian 'Smew' after my first option for her hadn't worked out. Both parties signalled very quickly with body washes that they wanted to be friends and the bonding went perfectly well without much drama. Barks didn't push the mounting issue.
Sadly, not long after Barcud started losing weight very quickly again, despite prompt feeding support and eventually was unable to eat. There were no other symptoms and the vet I saw was as stumped as I.
Barks didn't show any interest in returning to his mum and sister after hitching up with Lleian apart from a slightly confused hello through the bars but shortly before his passing I found him lying by the divider and transferred him to his family's cage so he could make his journey to the Rainbow Bridge from the place where his true heart lay...
Anyway, Barcud is one of the original Cornish family that were found dumped and caught in dog walking wasteland by @Bill & Ted pretty much 4 years to the day of Barcud's passing. Both his mother and sister were pregnant by him. His mother must have been in season just a few days before their rescue while Millyn may have been starting to show and reason for them being dumped as she gave birth 6 weeks earlier, not that long after their arrival in rescue.
Here is the full and fascinating story of their capture, as it was playing out with not being quite as easy and straight forward as liked. We were all on tenterhooks and rooting for them: Three guinea pigs have been dumped near me
With the local rescue having a waiting list of over 100 piggies at the time, they accepted my offer to adopt the rescued trio with any resulting babies lock, stock and barrel from half across the country. Millyn gave birth to Merlin and Blodyn 'Flower' while still at the rescue whereas Modron (whose pregnancy was not obvious by then), delighted me with Brangwyn 'White Raven' and Baeddan 'Boar' just before the end of her pregnancy watch. Barcud had been neutered as soon as possible after his arrival in rescue. @Bill & Ted kindly provided the transport all the way from Cornwall to Coventry.
The little family upon arrival (Merlin's baby name was Boncath)
The complete family once Modron had given birth
Merlin - Barcud - Millyn - Blodyn - Brangwyn - Baeddan - Modron
Poor Barcud was separated and tasked with looking after his three baby sons once they needed separating from their mums; he was not best pleased - especially not with larger than life Brangwyn!
Barcud and Merlin (left) are meeting Brangwyn and Baeddan (right) for the first time
Personality and looks-wise, Baeddan is the son who comes most after his dad. There was actually quite a gentle and friendly soul hiding behind a lot of initial bluster and plenty of skittishness.
However, Barcud was definitely no longer willing to share his cage with any of his sons once he had done his baby boar sitting duty. So I have ended up with 4 separate Cornish cages and the need to find willing ladies for each of his sons...
It was a real relief when Barks could join Millyn and his mum again. They were all still very skittish after their ordeal and it took quite some time for them to relax. Barks and Millyn tended to squeeze up in a tunnel, when barging for cover. They were still very close and not yet fully grown.
Family dynamics have changed over time as Millyn has gradually taking over the leadership from her mum (although it was at times hotly contested) while Barcud ended firmly at the bottom of my Eastenders-style piggy family. Barks learned quickly when to stay out of reach of any flying handbags! But he nevertheless had the stability of a close-knit family unit for all his life.
I have laid Barcud to rest, face to face with his son (and cage neighbour) Brangwyn.
My hub wanted me to include one of the roses from the bouquet he had bought me (as I was not well and very down) because he admired Barks for his fighting spirit - a true survivor to the last.
The rosehips and honeysuckle berries are for my ultimate Tribe dad's fruitfulness...
I turned around from picking up Bran's body from the cage on Eclipse Day morning to notice that Barcud was not interested in food and looked very thin. Within the two days since cage clean he had managed to lose nearly 200g. My heart sank.
Amazingly, Barcud bounced back and stabilised pretty quickly so I thought it was just a heatwave related incident. Because he continued to be mugged for tasty morsels by his sister Millyn 'Sweet Violet' and mother Modron 'Mother Goddess', I decided to try an introduction to Brangwyn's widow Lleian 'Smew' after my first option for her hadn't worked out. Both parties signalled very quickly with body washes that they wanted to be friends and the bonding went perfectly well without much drama. Barks didn't push the mounting issue.
Sadly, not long after Barcud started losing weight very quickly again, despite prompt feeding support and eventually was unable to eat. There were no other symptoms and the vet I saw was as stumped as I.
Barks didn't show any interest in returning to his mum and sister after hitching up with Lleian apart from a slightly confused hello through the bars but shortly before his passing I found him lying by the divider and transferred him to his family's cage so he could make his journey to the Rainbow Bridge from the place where his true heart lay...
Anyway, Barcud is one of the original Cornish family that were found dumped and caught in dog walking wasteland by @Bill & Ted pretty much 4 years to the day of Barcud's passing. Both his mother and sister were pregnant by him. His mother must have been in season just a few days before their rescue while Millyn may have been starting to show and reason for them being dumped as she gave birth 6 weeks earlier, not that long after their arrival in rescue.
Here is the full and fascinating story of their capture, as it was playing out with not being quite as easy and straight forward as liked. We were all on tenterhooks and rooting for them: Three guinea pigs have been dumped near me
With the local rescue having a waiting list of over 100 piggies at the time, they accepted my offer to adopt the rescued trio with any resulting babies lock, stock and barrel from half across the country. Millyn gave birth to Merlin and Blodyn 'Flower' while still at the rescue whereas Modron (whose pregnancy was not obvious by then), delighted me with Brangwyn 'White Raven' and Baeddan 'Boar' just before the end of her pregnancy watch. Barcud had been neutered as soon as possible after his arrival in rescue. @Bill & Ted kindly provided the transport all the way from Cornwall to Coventry.
The little family upon arrival (Merlin's baby name was Boncath)
The complete family once Modron had given birth
Merlin - Barcud - Millyn - Blodyn - Brangwyn - Baeddan - Modron
Poor Barcud was separated and tasked with looking after his three baby sons once they needed separating from their mums; he was not best pleased - especially not with larger than life Brangwyn!
Barcud and Merlin (left) are meeting Brangwyn and Baeddan (right) for the first time
Personality and looks-wise, Baeddan is the son who comes most after his dad. There was actually quite a gentle and friendly soul hiding behind a lot of initial bluster and plenty of skittishness.
However, Barcud was definitely no longer willing to share his cage with any of his sons once he had done his baby boar sitting duty. So I have ended up with 4 separate Cornish cages and the need to find willing ladies for each of his sons...
It was a real relief when Barks could join Millyn and his mum again. They were all still very skittish after their ordeal and it took quite some time for them to relax. Barks and Millyn tended to squeeze up in a tunnel, when barging for cover. They were still very close and not yet fully grown.
Family dynamics have changed over time as Millyn has gradually taking over the leadership from her mum (although it was at times hotly contested) while Barcud ended firmly at the bottom of my Eastenders-style piggy family. Barks learned quickly when to stay out of reach of any flying handbags! But he nevertheless had the stability of a close-knit family unit for all his life.
I have laid Barcud to rest, face to face with his son (and cage neighbour) Brangwyn.
My hub wanted me to include one of the roses from the bouquet he had bought me (as I was not well and very down) because he admired Barks for his fighting spirit - a true survivor to the last.
The rosehips and honeysuckle berries are for my ultimate Tribe dad's fruitfulness...
️
sending you lots of love
