As perhaps implied in the previous post, the week started off crazy! A late night visit to the ER for Dilly really set the tone. But there was no quiet recuperation period, because that same day I realized the sow was finally starting to show signs of imminent birth! Now we had put her and the boar together in November, so I was honestly expecting her to have her piggies in mid to late February. And because he's a jerk, I had scheduled him to go to the butcher in mid December; I wasn't going to risk having an angry 600 pound boar to deal with while Ben was away. But fortunately, as has always been my practice, I left the boar and sow together for 3 weeks. This is because sows go into heat every three weeks, and my reasoning is that if he somehow didn't get her pregnant on the first heat, he would catch the next one. Which apparently is exactly what happened! Honestly I'm ok with this timing; having tiny pigs be born in the middle of February is great to catch the April and May rush on piglets, but it's really hard to keep them warm and cozy if it dips down below zero.
Anyhow: speaking of warm and cozy, I've known since before Dad left that if the sow was pregnant, she was going to need a new house. The interim shelter was a 4x4x8 box of plywood and 2x4s, which Dad built a few seasons ago for some grower pigs. It was starting to fall apart (ok, actually, be eaten by the sow), and it wasn't good dimensions for a birthing place--sows without enough room to turn around end up stepping on their babies. When it didn't look like she was pregnant it still wasn't a great shelter, but it kept the weather off. But with babies coming.... yeah no. Project time.
So began "Operation House that Sow!" The first thing I did Monday was hit Lowes for some 10' 4x4s and 4x4 joist hangers. They would be affixed to the beams of her (moveable) pen, giving her a floor up out of the water that tends to collect on her concrete pad. I also went grocery shopping. Yes, I broke my own ban. I knew this week was going to be super hard, and while I try to avoid crutches when I don't actually need them--sometimes I really do need them! So I got chicken patties and kielbasa and day old bread, plus some soda. Chores and a nap (bless Tea Rose's soul) filled out the rest of Monday, and Tuesday I got ahead on things like filling the water trough and cleaning out pig pens so those things wouldn't get in my way the rest of the week. I also went to the chiropractor! This was a really big deal. It was a fill-in, not my normal chiropractor, who is still hospitalized with some kind of infection. But he definitely made my neck and shoulders feel better. After that I made a Home Depot run (because no project is really underway until you've been to the hardware store at least twice, amiright?) for a tape measure and some fasteners.
Wednesday I had to disassemble the old shed before I could start installing the new. With three months worth of poopy bedding hay, it was hard going to get it out. Dad would have just picked it up and thrown it (I've seen him do it, and up to his knees in mud), but I tore off all the plywood and rocked loose all the 2x4s and basically took it completely apart because I'm not a beast like him. Once it was out I shoveled out most of what remained in the pen, leaving the cleanest hay so she'd have something to lay on until her floor was finished. All that before lunch!
After lunch I hung the joists, then had to take several pieces of 1" rough cut lumber and use the circular saw to cut 5' pieces; these formed the floor on top of my joists. I put a 2x4 along the front edge, so I would have something to which to afix the vertical front wall of the shed. By this time I had to go in and make dinner, so that was it for Wednesday (except, of course, chores and dishes and all that.)
So that gets us to today, when I took Dilly to urgent care to get her stitches out, then went to Home Depot *again* to get some 2x4x12s cut down to 7 and 5 footers. Once home, I had lunch, then finished the structure for the front wall, used all the appropriately sized offcuts from the floor to clad the front wall, made a little creep area at one end where I can keep a heat lamp so the little piggers have somewhere warm to go where they won't get stepped on, then put on the roof! It was a beautiful, sunny day, and I put in my earbuds and listened to Enya and Steeleye Span so I wouldn't have to hear the little pigs yelling at me... they always figure if I'm outside it's time to eat. Dern pigs.
I finished just in time to make dinner. At chore time I gave momma another big chunk of dry hay for her nest. Then I came in and read a whole pile of letters from Dad with the kids! One of them was dated February second--I guess he forgot to send it at the time. It didn't matter, everyone was happy to hear what he had to say. In the most recent letter he wrote that he got multiple nominations from his flight for a Best Wingman award, but they were told that he couldn't be the best wingman because he was already getting an award for having the best score in the flight on his EOC test! He's doing really well (except for his marching haha) and we're all very proud of him.
So tomorrow I might rest! Maybe! ;) I want to put some sort of door on mamma's house so I can lock her in when I need to remove piggies for castration, sale or other treatments. Annnnd pig doors are really hard to get right, they're torque machines--if they can get their snoot under it it's basically doomed! But for now, I feel so much better knowing that if the babies come, they'll have a snug home with plenty of dry bedding. Honestly this is the best prepared I've ever been for animal births on the homestead. I pray all the hard work pays off with a nice, big litter and very few losses. Also--that mama will feel less lonely and crabby once she has babies to keep her company! We'll see...
Anyhow: speaking of warm and cozy, I've known since before Dad left that if the sow was pregnant, she was going to need a new house. The interim shelter was a 4x4x8 box of plywood and 2x4s, which Dad built a few seasons ago for some grower pigs. It was starting to fall apart (ok, actually, be eaten by the sow), and it wasn't good dimensions for a birthing place--sows without enough room to turn around end up stepping on their babies. When it didn't look like she was pregnant it still wasn't a great shelter, but it kept the weather off. But with babies coming.... yeah no. Project time.
So began "Operation House that Sow!" The first thing I did Monday was hit Lowes for some 10' 4x4s and 4x4 joist hangers. They would be affixed to the beams of her (moveable) pen, giving her a floor up out of the water that tends to collect on her concrete pad. I also went grocery shopping. Yes, I broke my own ban. I knew this week was going to be super hard, and while I try to avoid crutches when I don't actually need them--sometimes I really do need them! So I got chicken patties and kielbasa and day old bread, plus some soda. Chores and a nap (bless Tea Rose's soul) filled out the rest of Monday, and Tuesday I got ahead on things like filling the water trough and cleaning out pig pens so those things wouldn't get in my way the rest of the week. I also went to the chiropractor! This was a really big deal. It was a fill-in, not my normal chiropractor, who is still hospitalized with some kind of infection. But he definitely made my neck and shoulders feel better. After that I made a Home Depot run (because no project is really underway until you've been to the hardware store at least twice, amiright?) for a tape measure and some fasteners.
Wednesday I had to disassemble the old shed before I could start installing the new. With three months worth of poopy bedding hay, it was hard going to get it out. Dad would have just picked it up and thrown it (I've seen him do it, and up to his knees in mud), but I tore off all the plywood and rocked loose all the 2x4s and basically took it completely apart because I'm not a beast like him. Once it was out I shoveled out most of what remained in the pen, leaving the cleanest hay so she'd have something to lay on until her floor was finished. All that before lunch!
After lunch I hung the joists, then had to take several pieces of 1" rough cut lumber and use the circular saw to cut 5' pieces; these formed the floor on top of my joists. I put a 2x4 along the front edge, so I would have something to which to afix the vertical front wall of the shed. By this time I had to go in and make dinner, so that was it for Wednesday (except, of course, chores and dishes and all that.)
So that gets us to today, when I took Dilly to urgent care to get her stitches out, then went to Home Depot *again* to get some 2x4x12s cut down to 7 and 5 footers. Once home, I had lunch, then finished the structure for the front wall, used all the appropriately sized offcuts from the floor to clad the front wall, made a little creep area at one end where I can keep a heat lamp so the little piggers have somewhere warm to go where they won't get stepped on, then put on the roof! It was a beautiful, sunny day, and I put in my earbuds and listened to Enya and Steeleye Span so I wouldn't have to hear the little pigs yelling at me... they always figure if I'm outside it's time to eat. Dern pigs.
I finished just in time to make dinner. At chore time I gave momma another big chunk of dry hay for her nest. Then I came in and read a whole pile of letters from Dad with the kids! One of them was dated February second--I guess he forgot to send it at the time. It didn't matter, everyone was happy to hear what he had to say. In the most recent letter he wrote that he got multiple nominations from his flight for a Best Wingman award, but they were told that he couldn't be the best wingman because he was already getting an award for having the best score in the flight on his EOC test! He's doing really well (except for his marching haha) and we're all very proud of him.
So tomorrow I might rest! Maybe! ;) I want to put some sort of door on mamma's house so I can lock her in when I need to remove piggies for castration, sale or other treatments. Annnnd pig doors are really hard to get right, they're torque machines--if they can get their snoot under it it's basically doomed! But for now, I feel so much better knowing that if the babies come, they'll have a snug home with plenty of dry bedding. Honestly this is the best prepared I've ever been for animal births on the homestead. I pray all the hard work pays off with a nice, big litter and very few losses. Also--that mama will feel less lonely and crabby once she has babies to keep her company! We'll see...
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