Piiigs Iiin Spaaaace...

"Piiigs Iiin Spaaaace..."

It was the springtime of 2009 when we saw a card on the notice board of the Crofters: "Gloucester Old Spot X piglets, £45 each. Ring 880123" We had been dreaming for a while of getting something a little more involving than the chickens and decided that now was the time.
When we spoke to the owners, it turned out they were family of our neighbour - as if often the way on the island. He only had 2 piglets left, one of them was the runt of the litter, but if we didn't mind growing a slightly smaller pig he would let us have them both for £60.  Of course we didn't mind, this must be the nicest bargain we'd ever had!

Mark went get them in the van. He penned off an area in the back to keep them contained and 5 minutes after collection, was happy to have one of the piglets join him on the drivers seat.  The pen was not quite up to it and he spent the rest of the journey home trying to remove one or other of the piglets from his lap, under his seat, or down by the pedals.  Figuring by now that they were pretty wriggly squirmy little creatures, he realised why the crofter he'd collected them from, brought them out to his van in a large bucket.

Knowing the perfect instrument for the job, as soon as he was home he contained them at last in a broken water butt we had rescued from the community skip.

Ying & Yang piglets

 Austin and Morris had helped get a small area in the old blackhouse ready for them the previous day.  With a cozy depth of straw and the familairity of their bucket, we moved them in and were able to get a proper look at them.

Gloucester old spot cross piglets

  A sister and brother team, she was the bigger but it took a while to tell the difference between them.  We set up a viewing gallery and the eager audience moved in.

Pig installation

First activity, feeding time.  For some reason we hadn't yet bought any bags of pig nuts, so made a hearty porridge of scraps as this is what they'd been used to in their old home.  With a little coaxing of 'here piggy piggy..'

 

Here piggy piggy...

We were relieved to see that after their first meal in a new home, they managed to let their bellies rule their heads and settled down for a little nap.  Just like with a new baby, it was hard not to keep bothering them or waking them up again just to remind ourselves of how cute they were.  But we managed to tear ourselves away...for just a little while.

Over the next week or so we all had a lot of fun getting to know each other.

But there was work to be done. They wouldn't want to stay in their small home for very long so Mark and his Dad got to work on reconstructing an old sheep enclosure at the back of the blackhouse.

We made a partition wall and put down an insulating layer of polystyrene under a concrete floor.  There was a small drain at one corner to let any water run out.  It seemed sturdy enough for 2 pigs, no matter how large they would get, but as we discovered later on, they got very interested in the little drainage hole in the corner. I think they could smell air through it, and what started out to be a little bit of snout-ey investigating, soon turned into them eating large sections of the floor, polystyrene and all.  I had noticed that there were little white balls in their field and had assumed it to be something that was put in their feed.  Then when I realised they were eating the floor, it dawned on me that it was polystyrene balls, coming through their digestive systems completely in tact!

We made a roof from pallets, a freely available resource on the island as everything arrives on a pallet. There are plenty of haulagers in town who let people take them away for free, it is endless and welcome and only costs you in petrol to collect them.

Mark used off cuts of pallets to make a doorway and suddenly the place was looking more like a holiday cabin than a pig shed.

After securing their outdoor area, we sent the boys in to 'plump up the cushions; of this special piggy den.

Yep super cozy. Just as well because the piglets knew something was going on..

Let us out!

At last it was back in the bucket for them - they'd already grown enough that only one was allowed in at a time so the sheer joy of being in a bigger space was obvious with all their little skippety jumps and spins.  Mostly however, they once again settled into their new home by filling their bellies and taking a nap :@P