Tahiti gave birth to her piglets last night and has turned out to be the worst kind of mother. She had killed three by the time I even got to the barn. It was terrible. I managed to calm her so the babies could drink and we sat like that for a while but the moment I left the pen she reared up and killed two more. In all she killed five.
Molly was roaring from the other side and all her babies were screaming too.
In the end I gave up trying and shuffled the others into their creep and lifted them out to safety.
Now I have seven newborn piglets sleeping in the CloakRoom. In the absence of anything else I am feeding them tiny amounts of cows colostrum with an eye dropper. This morning I will find some sow replacer. They will be fed every two hours for the first few days and then every three to four hours after that. If all goes well and usually it does not.
You need to remember that hand rearing piglets is very hard, they do not do well as a rule. Some of them probably will not make it. Especially as they are starting on cows milk which is hard to digest but at least it is raw milk. And some may have internal injuries from their mothers attack, I don’t know. But they certainly would not have lived long with their mother hunting them down and killing them. It was awful.
Enough of that. We are focusing on raising this little brood now.
Let’s have a look at a good mother pig – while I get busy with the feeding. (I hope I can find some sow replacer close by so at least I know they are getting the right food).
Molly has recovered well and is being a good Mum though I hope there were no injuries in there from last nights disaster. I have not looked yet as it is still dark and they need peace now.
Naturally Tahiti will not be bred again and will leave the farm.
I can hear those piglets banging around in their emergency cardboard box. I hope they sleep soon – poor wee things. Next feed in 30 minutes! I need to get organised and set alarms on my phone.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
116 responses to “A disaster for Tahiti”
So sorry to hear of Tahini’s reaction. Best of luck to the little piglets, it will be a rough patch till they are older but animals can survive under the toughest conditions so hopefully they will do great. Praying for you and them all. XO
What a dreadful development.
My little piggy eyes are tearing up sweet friend. I know this has to be hard for you – it is for me! Some mom’s are meant to be moms – not only in the anipal world but the human world. I have hope for the little piglets. I was pushed off by my mom and was a runt. Mommy adopted me with the same advice as you that it usually doesn’t turn out well. Look at me now. I’m a piggy that writes and loves. Sending you extra, EXTRA hogs and snout kisses your way to everyone. XOXO – Bacon
What an unforseen disaster. Some things in life are beyond understanding. My heart goes out to you. I rememer as a child a simular situation. The piglets were brought into the kitchen and kept warm in the oven of the big black cast iron wood stove.. They too were fed cows milk. Some of them survived, and got big enough to race around underfoot in the house until they were banished to the outdoors.
Celi, if you can find some raw goat milk it might help, it’s easier to digest. Good luck, I’m so sad for you.
Oh dear, and poor you! That must of been so frightening and upsetting. I hope all goes well and the remaining piglets survive.
Pity I’m too far away to help.
I am so sorry! I wonder if Molly would help you raise them. We have an organization that rescues orphaned bears cubs. It is always preferable for them to be raised in the wild by their own kind. The volunteers find a nursing mother, sedate her, and then they put a little Vicks salve on all of the babies – the new ones and the old ones alike. When the mother cannot smell the difference, she raises all the babies.
I hope there’s a good outcome for your piglets. Such is nature – so unpredictable.
I am so sorry for all the loss and chaos even though you know nothing will be perfect on the farm. Since you are most often caring for all these animals by yourself , you must consider your own safety as well. i fear I would also remove Tahiti from the farm. it might just be safer for you and all the other animals.
I hope you have a much better day but no doubt exhausting keeping all these babies fed. Do you have more help arriving soon?
So sad and horrible for you, sorry. Laura
We hand raises a piglet on milk and nutridrench…there were rough times but she came out of it and grew to over 400 lbs
Celi–When I was growing up my Dad used beer to calm our sows. Give her lots, enough to make her sleep. Then let the little ones into feed. Keep the sow sleepy, but not drugged. In two days times the pain of birth is forgotten and the mother instinct can take hold. After that we had a wonderful Mother. Although, to be on the safe side Dad keep a creep very close for the little ones. I would think there is a shot of some sort that would work as well in today’s vet world.
Hope it all works out for the best!
Linda
Good heavens, what a disaster! I can only imagine how frightening it was to witness this… but as Anne Wheaton has suggested, perhaps it was the pain effect, maybe greater than normal or she was simply panicked by it, AND holy cow! (or, I guess more appropriately, holy pig) the idea of having to be awake around the clock to feed the remaining piggies every two hours is almost more than I can absorb even here so far away. How in the world you’ll do that is beyond my capacity to even imagine. With all else that needs doing on the farm, you need a night shift just to take care of feeding piggies for a few weeks. Might be well worth it, as also suggested, to pull an Ermintrude and find a supply of beer to get her started. Wish I could help out in some way but, alas, am too far away.
And btw…. I have no ‘like’ button available to me that I can see. Am I missing something here? I frequently get notified that someone has liked a reply I’ve made here and I’ve looked for the ‘like’ button but it eludes me.
Poor wee things. My heart is breaking.
Oh my God! Those poor babies! I am so sorry for your troubles and hope those wee ones can survive with your help. Such a shame that the mothering instinct can go awry.
I hope you can survive the exhausting schedule and manage to get what they need.🙏🏻