*Sniffle..Sniffle*

[redhen]

Quote:
Oh! How can you stand to see them beg like that?

Don't fall for it. My little ones were doing the same thing and I felt so bad. So, I started letting them inside. It turned out that they weren't looking for a warm place to sleep. They were looking for the dog's food. Once they ate up the food and vacuumed up the kitchen floor of crumbs they were ready to head back for the barn!

Once I started picking up the dog's food bowls before I let them inside they stopping coming up to the back door. Pigs are smart! Smarter than I am most of the time.

I have a pen inside of the barn that I put dog earred fence around then I lined it on three sides with bales of straw and broke open a few bales in the center for them to nest in. I just add a new bale of straw every week or so and they are happy campers. I keep the door to the pen open so they can potty outside of their sleeping area. I have adult pots along with the younger ones and they keep each other warm.
If you just have the younger pots you might want to give them a calf hut or plastic dog house filled with straw. That will help to hold their body heat in. Definetly use straw to keep them warm and dry. It works a lot better than hay and breaks down so it is lighter to clean up too.

Thanks for the info! Their little barn is only 8x8.. so i dont know what all i can fit in there for them...
My other worry is that its not insulated.. Dumb! Dumb! Of us..

I was thinking of getting straw bales and lining the outside of the barn with them 2 high.... to help break any wind getting through at them?
I dont know...

They survived last winter..but they looked real rough come spring time..

 

[redhen]

Quote:
I know.. it was warmer today... but i still think they are cold. I know i am..

They used to sleep on blankets..but i found that they would get wet and dirty and made them colder...So i took the blankets away.

I do have a LOT of hay and straw in their barn though... but still..when i go inside there its STILL feels freezing to me. I keep a thermometer in there and it always says its about the same temp as it is outside.. THats what worries me so much!

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:
That sounds just like my wife! But they are piggys.. really, they are.

We have a large dog house our potbellies use. It's stuffed with straw and hay and they seem to be happy.

Redhen... surely those aren't the only pictures you have... hint hint

 

[Skyesrocket]

What about making a shorter ceiling for them inside of the shed? Just attach some 2x4's to the inside walls and lay some sheets of plywood or pressed wood acrossed the 2x4's? Then you could put loose straw or a tarp on top of the plywood to insulate it? It's suprising just how much heat they can generate in an enclosed area.
My friend keeps hers in an outside pen with a calf hut and the pigs go inside and push straw against the opening. She said that in the morning when they come out of the hut that steam rises from inside of it. lol

 

[Brindlebtch]

Little piggie sweaters? Little piggie horse blankets?

 

[gritsar]

Betcha if you heated up the oven and stuck them in there, one at a time....

 

[redhen]

Quote:

Bad!! **spank..spank!**
You sound like Hubby...

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:

just sooo wrong, but funny nonetheless!

 

[redhen]

Okay..heres their dirty house..

See how the walls are thin and have no insulation.. (..Any ideas for cheap insulation?..We're broke..as usual ) although..they will eat/tear down anything that they can get at..including insulation.....

And the flooring is concrete pavers with rubber matting..with straw over that. Thats another thing i worry about... i want them up OFF of the ground more. Pallets?
Even my mother says i'm mean

.. and i need to bring them down cellar or something for the winter time cause it gets too cold for them outside here in New England...
The cellar idea wont work.. so i need to figure out how to make the house they have warm enough so they wont be suffering outside this winter..

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Jeez, they got a chicken thermometer, what more do they need?