Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[ozexpat]

We have piglets !!!

4 girls 1 boy 1 stillborn dead a week 1 stillborn dead 3 weeks.

Not over yet.....

 

[vehve]

Oz, congrats! Sorry about the stillborn ones, but seems to be quite a load of little ones you're getting.

 

[perchie.girl]

Woo hoo OZ.... they usually have around six right?


deb

 

[ozexpat]

Final count was 8 but last one stillborn and dead a week.

8 is a good number for a gilt but losing 3 along the way was disappointing. Still, given that we learnt how to AI from YouTube we have to say 5 was a good result.

The plan is to keep the best three girls until near hog market weight then just keep the single best gilt to breed the next generation of improved sows.

Papa is a high quality pure landrace. Her two sisters were sired by a different pure landrace and a peitrains/Duroc.

 

[perchie.girl]

Final count was 8 but last one stillborn and dead a week.

8 is a good number for a gilt but losing 3 along the way was disappointing. Still, given that we learnt how to AI from YouTube we have to say 5 was a good result.

The plan is to keep the best three girls until near hog market weight then just keep the single best gilt to breed the next generation of improved sows.

Papa is a high quality pure landrace. Her two sisters were sired by a different pure landrace and a peitrains/Duroc.

first time momma sounds like she did a good job.

Congrats Oz.

deb

 

[ozexpat]

Thanks.

The piglets and mamma are doing well.

Average piglet size just under 3lbs

Castration, tails docked, ears notched, tetanus vaccinations, penicillin and iron injections as well as weights done.

They get their other vaccinations over the next five days.

I am happy with the farrowing pens I designed and built after studying hundreds on the web.

I went to bed around 2am. Bernie was up all night. He slept a bit today.

We have had septic issues. I am converting the single baffled tank into a double baffle by adding a third compartment. The fence guys were diverted.

Tomorrow will be a busy day.

Photos on Sunday. I promise!!

 

[ramirezframing]

Congrats on your new bacon bits.

 

[LindaB220]

Way to go on the piglets. A very good start.

 

[ozexpat]

It's another beautiful day.

We are building a brooder today. Five levels 40"*88 for older chicks.

The piglets are doing great. Mamma pig is eating well.

The next pig to deliver will get her Pill Shield vaccination today.

We had a ton of rice bran delivered yesterday along with fish meal and a doz 12" chick feeders. The feed room is well stocked for a month.

The kids seen to be doing well in their exams. Inday is catching the bus back to Bacolod today as they have had fevers.

Lunch and dinner on my own. It will be chicken and pork adobo twice. Breakfast was bacon and Sunnyside up eggs on toasted chiabatta rolls.

Mangoes are out of season and are $1 per pound so we are eating bananas and papaya at 25-30cents a pound.

 

[ozexpat]

The morning was so beautiful but really hot with the cloudless sky. We used the spare stalls in the piggery as a work shop to cut plywood for the brooders. I was one sheet short and it was to be the parts that hold it together so we changed directions and finally got to work sorting the garage.

I need to put in a set of shelves to get a lot of storage bins of the floor.
I will have to go to kabankalan tomorrow to pick up the kids and inday so I will take the trailer and load it with plywood.