So, as I'm sure you can tell from this picture, we've had to move the piglets in with the rabbits. This pen is totally fenced in and even has wire on the ground to keep the rabbits from digging. The wire on the ground is also attached to the wire on the sides of the pen. So there is no getting out of here. Unless they actually learn how to fly.
For anybody worried about the piglets being taken from their moms. It is a common practice to wean piglets at 4 weeks old. They were 5 weeks old yesterday. They are also eating and drinking on their own so they are ready.
So why separate them from their moms? Well, mostly because they were still getting into the chicken pen and eating all of the chicken food. Not only is this not fair to the chickens. But chicken feed can be fattening for pigs. And with American guinea hogs, keeping them from getting fat is a concern. Otherwise, I would have been totally fine with keeping them together until the babies were sold.
Of course, the breaking and entering of the chicken pen didn't stop there. Our biggest sow, Pippi, kept getting in. Apparently the electrical wire in their pen wasn't hitting hard enough to deter her from getting past it. And the welded wire around the chicken pen is nothing to her. She just puts her nose under it and pushes right through. One day she actually broke into the chicken pen and then broke out in another spot. She was actually running free in our back yard.
So I got fed up and bought a new fence charger that's supposed to be twice as strong, thinking there was something wrong with my current one. (Also got a great deal on it. Only $30 more than if I'd bought the same one I already had.) Still wasn't getting the charge in the pig pen that I used to be. So she still got through. I thought it might be a grounding issue so I bought more grounding rods and extended the whole grounding system about 50 ft. Still not getting the charge I should be.
At this point I figure there's something wrong with my wire somewhere. But not sure where. My next step is to rewire the whole system and make shorter 'pens' rather than trying to run the whole fence line as one continuous strand. That way with the shorter sections, the charge won't have to go as far and should hold better. My husband kind of explained it this way. Say you have a short water hose and you've got strong water pressure. Then if you extend that hose, you're going to lose water pressure because the water will have to go farther.
So for now I've got the smaller fence charger charging only the pig pen. She got zapped really good once and hasn't gotten into the chicken pen since. Of course, now that I say that..... Yeah, cross your fingers for me. I also let the sows back into the field with Boris and the sheep.
Yeah, the sheep are back on this side of the runoff for now. I saw a rattlesnake on the other side of the runoff and I don't want to risk me or the sheep to getting bit. Once the weather cools off enough that the grass and weeds slow way down, we're going to have that side of the property bush hogged. Maybe then I'll be able to get a significant amount of fencing done over there without having to fight the grass and weeds growing back so fast. Then next year we are really hoping to get some kind of riding mower or something to keep it cut down. 5 sheep just aren't enough to get it done.
I also have some ideas on how to fence in our property better so that the pigs and sheep will be better contained and safer as a whole. But that's going to take a lot of money and time so it will have to be done slowly.
Speaking of money and time, I've applied at the local big box feed store. I saw the other day (when getting the grounding rods) that they had a now hiring sign up. I spoke to the manager and told her I was interested. She asked if I'd applied online yet and I honestly thought I had. But once I realized that I had not, I immediately fixed that. So hopefully she will be looking for my name and will give me a chance. I really need a job. Money isn't getting any better here, not to mention all of the things that I need to get done around here. An employee discount at this store will go a long way in helping me to get some of these things done. And also lower my feed costs a little bit.
On a more positive note, the orpingtons and wyandottes are starting to lay. I'm not getting many eggs yet so I don't think they're all laying. But they've started. These eggs are also still pretty small. Common when they first start laying.
The squash laying there is the only one I got this year. All of my squash, zucchini and pumpkins were killed by vine borers. I've got ideas to deal with that next year too. The lemon cucumbers are producing really well though. More than we can eat all at once so I've been giving the extras to the pigs and chickens.
We also have more eggs than we can eat right now (filled one and a half of those 18 count containers, not counting the two dozen in our fridge) so I've been giving the pigs plenty of those too. I've also left some of the eggs in one of the nesting boxes, hoping one of the hens will go broody for me. I even left some eggs around the garden to try and attract black snakes since they eat rattlesnakes. I'd rather not have any snakes around my younger animals. But if I can keep the black snakes satisfied with extra eggs, then they can keep the rattlesnakes away too.
Ok, I'd better get to bed. It's late and I had a really early morning. Took hubby to the drs office to get a shot near his herniated disk to hopefully get it back to normal. If this doesn't work, he'll have to have surgery. NOT something we want to do so we're really hoping this shot works.
Alright, good night all and take care.
