Good morning. I have some adorable photos of piglets sleeping on their mothers head. But look at Boo Blue first. How did he slip into his tweens without us noticinng.
Something has gone wrong with my editing settings and the whole screen is in miniature so small that i cannot see it. I am hoping that this is legible for you.
All is well now though we had a fright from one of the piglets who somehow tore a great rent in his skin,
The wound though bloodless was like looking into an unzipping leather coat. Straight to his perfect muscle.
I brought him inside and he had a rip in his side about one and a half inches long. Which is a lot on the tiny thing. Thankfully John had just arrived home from work so he held him while I sewed the cut together, I had called around but could not fine a suture needle and nylon, we are miles from a store to get surgical glue, I did not bother calling a vet though it was a saturday anyway, they would have laughed at me, but it would have been too late anyway. The wound was recent and still clean though gaping like a ripped curtain. So with a sterilised normal needle and some black nylon thread from the sewing basket after swabbing with iodine. I put in ten very untidy stitches. buttoning his little coat back up.
Amazingly the little fella just lay there for the emergency operation. I had to get him back to the pen fast before his mother rejected him. But when I went to put him back in the pen his Mother was in a towering rage at his removal. The little piglet dived back in with his brothers and sisters.. I hoped he would burrow in and hide the iodine smell. But she made a run for me.
Charlotte went for the fast disappearing arm I still had in the pen as I released him and showing me her teeth, screaming at me, then chose instead to knock my hand back out. Though I was on my way out anyway! She shouted and growled through the fence and roared at her babies to stay in the corner.
She was pacy and upset for quite a while so i chose to leave her alone for the night and not check them again.
I tiptoed out early this morning and all nine were asleep cuddled in with her so they must have had a good night. And Nine is still alive. I guess it has a name now. Though his wee life may be short.. I say he but in my intense and then controlled deeply silent panic I forget to even look and see if it was a boy or a girl.
That is all for this morning as i must find a way to reset the font size,. I cannot see what i am doing. I hope this does not publish in miniature as well! But there is only one way to find out! But I have no idea how to fix this. Ah well.
Have a lovely day. I am off to feed the Mother beast!
your frustrated friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
75 responses to “A photo and a fright”
It all looks normal from here! Oh my what a fright, poor you and poor little nine – are you sure he’s not a cat using up his nine lives from the outset? What a brave little thing he was with the stitches, although I’m sure it must have been awful for you too. Hope he continues to recover well and that he is accepted by the gang despite his absence.
He will be slow, he seems accepted but it will depend on him catching up, and there is certainly no chance of me catching him today to check it. Already she is woofy.
Poor thing – and you stay safe. Mothers (as you well know!) will do anything to protect their little ones.
Whew glad ‘Nine’ git stitched up OK! Had me worried there for a minute. I am sure an angry mum pig is not something you want to face every day either!
I sometimes have problems with my font size, especially on FB. I found if you press the ctrl key and scroll at the same time it changes it, up or down which ever you want. Hope this helps. Have a great Sunday!!
OK good, i tried that but I am on a lap top, no scroll wheel, scrolling up and down did nothing except highlight everything, hmm, well we are getting closer! I know it is something simple! c
Press control and plus at the same time (the plus above enter) I often do it for blogs with ultra small print on a black background! Microsoft has just installed a load of updates willy nilly and all sorts of peculiar things are happening here.
Ah yes, thank you viv.. that worked beautifully, and I have learned something new and very useful!! c
A mother pig in a rage can be a terrifying thing! Glad the baby is okay and your arm and hand is intact. We’ve had raging Momma pigs and one sow who was as sweet as could be. Sorry Charlotte’s a grumpy one. She should return to normal when they’re weaned! Have a great day, Celi!
Morning Missy, now how do I get that little fella back out to check the stitches? At least the pen is big and still clean .. well we will have to see. c
I know that at the shows they have a board to keep the pigs separated so they don’t fight. A piece of plywood with a hole cut for a handle. Maybe someone can run interference with a board while you get Nine and check on it and then to take the stitches out.
the post looks perfectly fine on my end. you were very corageous to stitch up the piglet and gt it back to charlotte. i hope it blends in smoothly with the mob!
Good morning Celi ; Glad you didn’t get your arm ripped off. they can be a little grumpy about their babies. as for the font check the settings in wordpress if that is your provider and it came out perfect. Blue is growing up sooooo fast; He has grown into his skin Have a blessed day PS: don’t trust her any more an agressive hog is nothing to play with and probably won’t change. mike
“A stitch in time saves NINE” the Nuns always used to tell us! 🙂 Feeding possessive and jealous Charlotte may well be interesting for a while. Piggies are so cute. Laura
very cute. She just lay and watched me while I refilled her feed bowl (which has access from the outside) and seemed Ok as long as I go about my business quietly. I am on a learning curve again! c
Your post published fine on my screen. And it is such a delightful post! I just can’t get enough of piglet news. Celi, you’re a wonderful writer. Thank you so very much for sharing with us. You’re multi-talented to be able to stitch a pigskin. I hope little Nine survives.
Morning Julia, i do hope he survives too but his best chance is with his own mothers milk/ i considered adopting him but the change in diet would knock him back too fast. It is infection that we need to watch for now. That is if she lets me take him out to look at again..But he did survive the night and i always think this is a good sign.. c
Our next door neighbour is a specialist pig vet. I can ask her what you can do. But don’t mess with a bolshie Charlotte – you are too precious to us and to the whole of the farmy to risk being injures. So long as they have food and water, a little dirt won’t hurt. A sticky-out nail could be more of a problem, but make sure you have good strong company if you have to go in and remove anything. End of lesson. I’m so relieved that you are a resourceful farmer – and brave, too. What is astonishing is that Charlotte can count – probably up to 13!
Good Morning,
Poor you, baby pig and Charlotte. There is probably a nail, screw, rough piece of wood, even whatever you feed and water with that if you were not 8-inches tall it would never be a problem. They start off so delicate and turn into such tough big pigs. Saintsinaction is right, don’t trust Charlotte like you did before. You are happy that she is a caring mother and part of that is protecting those piglets. She has shown you that they are her priority. She will probably calm down as they grow, but you took away one of her new babies (even though it was for a very good reason) and she will not forget for a while. Pigs seem to have very good memories except when they choose not too. Talk to her, try not to reach into the pen near the piglets and above all keep both eyes on her when you do anything around her pen as she considers you a threat to those babies right now. Good luck and they are such cute little piggies.
Oh dear, how will I search the pen to find the sharp object. I could not see anything but You are right she won’t let me in there now. There is always a point when we just have to hope for the best I suppose. I hope those stitches hold but I cannot check. I will not be as familiar with her now. Point taken. c
You know she may let you touch the piglet in a day or so. She did trust you and obey you before. Don’t try to touch the injured one (or any of them for that matter) until you absolutely need to. Don’t be standoffish to Charlotte, talk to her, scratch her (and only her) if she will let you, just be watchful and aware of her power, Unless you would need to take the piglet away from her for his health I would just observe them for the time being. Especially if you can do it under the guise of paying attention to Charlotte or work you need to do near her. If you totally stay away it could send the wrong message to her, but flip side is if you hanging around looking at the babies really upsets her then I think she probably needs more time. As long as she takes care of him his chances are good. Now if he seperates from the litter or becomes lethargic, you will need to decide if it is worth the upset to remove him to doctor or let nature take its course.
As far as the object goes you may never figure it out. The piglet may of just gotten pushed up against something by its siblings. If another little piglet gets hurt then maybe it would be worth the disruption to Charlotte and her babies to do a pen inspection but for now I would chalk it up to just one of those mysterious things that happen despite all our planning.
The font looks fine from here. do you have a problem on other documents? If so you may have reduced the page by accident. Try clicking CTRL and + (plus) at the same time, You may need to do it a few times. CTRL and minus will reduce it if you have gone too far.
YAY!! I followed your instructions and it is fixed. I can see you now! Thank you so much grannymar! You fixed it! Without a scroll wheel i was at a loss! I cannot tell you how relieved I am.. c
Glad it worked. All these tricks, I learned from bloggie friends.
You are a woman of many talents! Hope little 9 is good and strong from here on in. That mother instinct of Charlotte’s is definitely not something to contend with! Stay safe, Celi!
That is amazing that Charlotte knew a baby was missing. They really are so intelligent. Glad you got your arm out unscathed. And I hope little nine recovers well.
Oh my! Epic goings-on. I am so glad you were able to stitch him up and hope for his complete recovery. Charlotte will forgive you. Eventually.
Celi, having grown up on a hog farm, in her defense what Charlotte did is very normal. Raging hormones and protective instincts and all. They can be fierce and yes, dangerous, even if they are your best pet. If you absolutely need to get the piglet out, consider “cornering” Charlotte briefly using a fairly large piece of plywood with a handle/hole cut in the top. Temporarily cutting off their vision of what you are doing might allow you to snatch Nine out. These “boards” are often used to move hogs around and direct them, as when exhibiting them, but…this takes skill…and strength as a full grown sow can fling a man (or woman) aside quite easily so if this can be done while standing outside the pen so much the better. But if everything lines up *perfectly* and you could ease her into a corner (feed pan?) , have someone slip the barrier down between her and Nine JUST long enough to reach into the pen and snatch him. She will still rage at you. On the other hand, while she is raging at you, someone else can slip Nine back into the pen on the other side of the pen. Yes, it’s frightening. They absolutely “roar” at you, and when piglets cry out, it’s an ear-piercing scream .
It’s been years since I’ve seen or helped with this and the people doing it were very experienced with hogs. Then again, our sows spent the first 3-4 days in a farrowing crate to prevent them mashing their babies and because the piglets needed vaccinations, ear tags, and various procedures in the first few days. Before anyone goes off on me, the sows did NOT live in these crates, they simply farrowed in them and allowed the piglets to get their earliest care safely, then everyone went “out”.
Oh, and also be forewarned…piglets are notorious escape artists. They will find any and all of the slightest weakness in your fencing and love running madly around…through the garden…through the flowers, with you gleefully in pursuit.
Be careful, Celi.
I will be careful and we have the vaccinations and so forth coming up very soon. The pen she is in has an outside door and my plan is to entice her out there with milk and then shut the door, then we can do all the piglets unmolested. I will start giving her her milk out there tonight so she gets used to it again. I hope we are successful but when we do all these and other procedures i will have a small team of very experienced hog people to help and teach.. c
HI Celi! You’ll be surprised at how quickly the wound heals!!! I told you about the first very traumatic castration…..absolutely awful….leaving a big gaping hole. It was healed up within days. So your piglet should be fine. Will the nylon thread decompose? You won’t have to pull those out will you? Speaking of castration….you might want to think of doing it by the end of the first week. They grow so fast, and get squirmier and squealier by the day!!! xo
Gosh, life is never dull on your farm. Glad Charlotte missed and wanted the wounded one back; and you escaped uninjured. Have a peaceful Sunday.