Back At It!

As predicted, we were busier than one armed paper hangers at  The Compound this weekend. 

We ended up building a "hospital"/staging area for the little boy piglets that ended up being cut.  Now they are affectionately called the Village People.  They were not happy, boy are they noisy, and it was a long time coming to get them taken care of.  And as with everything, it takes 10 additional steps to get to the one thing you really need to do.

In order for us to take care of the little boys, they needed an a dry clean area to heal up before being put back with the rest of the group.  That ended up being the remaining section of garden, we have neither the time or inclination at this point to use.  The Moose decided to add a section just off of the garden, utilizing the fencing and posts on two sides.

The only expense were the galvanized roof panels and the garden fence (which cost around $8.00 on the clearance rack at HD).  Everything else came from the free pallet materials picked up a few weeks back.  Nothing fancy, but definitely functional.

 

A hole was cut in the fence on Sunday to allow the boys access to the garden and their sisters. 

Since we were going to upset 5 boys to begin with, we removed all of the piglets that were 5-6 weeks old from their moms.  No one was happy!  Especially the Moms.  Our spotted sow actually made herself sick and vomited.  But it had to be done.  She was starting to look emaciated, and we actually did her a huge favor in the long run.  It'll take a few days and then they'll all get it figured out.

Since the sows were put back into general population;  let the fighting begin!  Everyone was trying to figure out their spot again.  We also had to move the last of our pregnant girls to the "nursery".  That was an effort for sure.  All the girls in general population tried to come to her rescue.  It was a sight to behold.  5 pigs 150 - 200 lb  all barking, snorting and even trying to bite Donnie (he drew the short straw) when he tried to get ahold of the girl.

By the end of the day, they were all more calmed down.  Except for the little boys.  They were not happy campers.

 

We have two runty piglets that we left with the other sow. We're hoping she'll let them latch on once and a while. 

 

 

Not to be outdone, we also upset the chickens.  We brought home 8 turkeys.  They were not pleased with the new residents.

We were supposed to only get 4 poults.  He ended up giving us 8 nearly full grown turkeys, because they were all raised together and prefer their family unit.  2 Toms and 6 hens.  All hand raised, and very healthy looking.  We set them up in a section of the coop that is too small for their numbers, and we just didn't have the time to clear out the larger area, so for now they'll have to make due.  They were eating (bananas, their favorite) and drinking water, so for now they seemed to be doing fine.   Now I'm learning as much as possible about turkeys. Did you know a group of domesticated turkeys is actually called a gang, or a rafter?  Not a flock or gaggle.

Question;  I've read that turkeys and chickens should not be housed together.  Any thoughts or experience you can offer?

They make some interesting little noises, and have huge eyes.  You just know they are taking in everything.  They seemed to have fun watching the piglets run around the garden.

The only thing we didn't upset this weekend were the rabbits and fish!  Just give us time, I'm sure we'll come up with something to set them off too!



Oh, and that wiggly thing that hangs off a Toms head/bill is called a snood.