Molly is a nervous mother but holding her own. Very new and totally shocked at the sheer number of miniature pigs running around her feet. But if a piglet squeals she freezes and waits for the little ones to regroup before continuing. She is eating and drinking well and, as you can see, so are her eleven piglets. Number eleven is lying right on the far left – partially obscured by her mothers back leg. She is red. There are a few that are a bright red.
Molly is still on lock down in the back pen with the lights on all night so she can see where her piglets are but the big doors are shut. But she is pretty annoyed about not being able to go outside to use the toilet. I will open it up on Day Three. For the moment we are just consolidating and learning how to stay safe.
Molly’s feed bowl is permanently full now – she is on All you can Eat – firstly because this stops her jumping up hungrily when I approach but mostly because she is feeding ELEVEN very hungry babies. Her diet is very diverse now, heaps of dairy, sunflower seeds, molasses, sweetcorn, oats and greens. She gets to the best of all the table scraps now too.
The light was so low and I was giving Molly heaps of quiet to work things out – but I think this shot (above and way below ) says it all! I will get more today.
Next is Tahiti probably in another week or so.
The pigs are in the same barn as my milking room. So I am having to reroute the cows milking route so I can set up another private back pen for Tahiti.
I have to tweak my plan as I cannot have cows traipsing through next to her farrowing pen twice a day so hopefully I have time to train the cows to another door.
We did alright yesterday though Lady went and sulked in the chook house afterwards.
During milking time I turn my music up loud (I put my phone in a pot as I have not fancy speakers, it works) – Molly is used to this – this way Molly does not get frights from the milking noises.
Here is that shot again. Wonderful aren’t they. So far so good. Now I will go out and see how they fared in the night.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
47 responses to “One Day Old Piglets”
They are precious. Do they take turns on the teats? Just curious, as there are 11 of them and 6 teats per side (or so it seems) and they don’t seem big enough to reach the top row? Dear Molly…she may be nervous, but she looks like she’s doing her job brilliantly.
How amazing! I bet that lot will be a handful but very entertaining at the same time 🙂
Never seen quite as many like piggies and all the different colours too. Quite amazing!
Never seen quite as many little piggies and all the different colours too. Quite amazing!
Do table little piglets!
Adorable. Dang autocorrect!
Precious little poppets.
Have a lovely day C.
🙂 Mandy xo
So fabulous! Looks like Molly is going to be a wonderful mama!
That picture of Lady A sulking in the chook house is priceless and so funny – calendar worthy 🙂 11 for a first timer must be daunting, they all look so cute, looking forward to their adventures. Laura
I love the Milk Bar scene with eleven tiny piglets all in a row. I hope that Tahiti’s birthing goes as smoothly and that you have the extra towels ready and waiting.
Babies! *sigh*
11 piggies….. i’m still amazed and that photo is just amazing.
Wonderful photos – Well done Molly!
Had a good laugh at Sulky Lady 😀
An all night milk bar
That’s a wonderful collection of photos but then, you always have wonderful photos that make me so envious of the rich lifestyle you have. Funny, I would long for your lifestyle over someone living in a big fancy house and driving big fancy cars. Yours is rich in so many ways I can’t even count. Except for ZZZZ’s. You don’t have enough of those most of the time. 🙂 I do NOT envy the amount of work you have to put in to this extraordinary life of yours. Thank you so much for sharing all of this.
And I second those thanks for your sharing your days with us! I have learned so much, thanks to you. Much love, Your Gayle
Great pictures, and a timely reminder of why I love pigs. 😉