Pigs in the Parlor
(Page 3 of 4)
The piglet will struggle and spill a lot, but be
persistent. Feed it a bit every hour at first, and
gradually space out the meals. After each feeding, simply
wipe off the pig's face and put the baby in a box to sleep.
The small creature has a built-in alarm and will soon begin
to let you know when it's hungry. Early on, however,
especially if the baby is weak, you'll have to do its
thinking.
RELATED CONTENT
We simply weren't able to resist printing this lighthearted submission from a young reader....
Where's the beef? Pork, bacon, ham _ despite 'swine' flu fears, the edible pig is everywhere...
Where's the beef? Pork, bacon, ham _ despite 'swine' flu fears, the edible pig is everywhere...
Whether you'd like to hoast a pig roast in your backyard or start catering business, this spit roas...
Here's more information on Jim Murphy and John Feyen's commonsense approach to "sun energy" technol...
As your little boarder learns to eat, graduate
him or her to a tablespoon and then—as quickly as
possible—to a teacup. Within a day or two, you can
soften a few baby-pig pellets in the formula, and increase
the quantity day by day to thicken the gruel. Before you
know it, your pig will be running to you when it's hungry,
and eating from a longhandled dipper or fruit ladle.
At
this point, you'll want to plan for the time (within two or
three weeks) when the piglet will be out of the house and
more or less on its own. We've built an orphanage just
outside our kitchen door. It's a small pen with a discarded
birdfeeder for shelter, and a self-feeder that I keep
stocked with pellets and leafy greens . . . to encourage
the little porker to broaden its eating horizons. This
setup saves me a million steps, since I can just pop out
with a dipper and feed the current occupant. The whole pen
is portable, too, which makes each orphan's eventual
transfer to the regular pigpen an easy task.
A LITTER BIT MORE
One pig can be a pet . . . but
eight pigs are simply eight little hogs. One is always
hungry ahead of the rest . . . that one will unfailingly
awaken the entire crew . . . and feedings can get downright
complicated.
So when I find myself with a whole orphaned
litter to care for, I generally resort to using big
softdrink bottles, fitted with lamb nipples, at feeding
time. These groups of little ones live in a huge furniture
box spread with lots of newspaper and a layer of straw.
Beside it, I keep a big straw-filled "dining room" tub. The
solid footing provided by the straw helps the piglets feel
secure while they have their meals . . . and I've also
found that they eat better if their heads are higher than
their tails.
A second sleep box is always kept clean and
ready. Then each pig in turn is put in the diner, given its
bottle, cleaned, and transferred to the new box. This way,
none of the animals is slighted, and the first "dormitory"
can be immediately cleaned and made ready for the next
goround. (Once, when a litter managed to tip over the
sleeping box and get out, all eight of the little pigs
instantly rushed to the tub and stood on their hind feet,
hanging onto the only "mother" they knew in hopes of a
handout.)
