Monday, April 28, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Millie lost her tail
A week ago I got home from work and noticed that Millie was not feeling very well, I tried to take a look at her but she would have nothing to do with me, and ran and hid in her kennel. So I thought that she might just have had an upsetting day and left her alone.
She soon appeared to come right, and on Friday when I went to let her and Mabel out of the kennel for the day, I noticed that she was not wagging her tail, and then on looking realised that she did not have a tail to wag anymore, it was gone, I searched high and low for the tail but could not find it anywhere, not undr her blankets, or in their run, how on earth could she have lost her tail I really dont know, I thought of blaming Luke the little terror dog, but my land lord who is a farmer, says that the dog did not do it, he suspects it was Mabel, in a fit of anger against her sister, she bit off her tail. Poor Millie, well she will just have to get used to it, I eventually found it lying in the grass in the garden, maybe I could stick it back on?
Yesterday I went out to call the pigs for supper and could not find Mille anywhere, I called and called, but she did not come, so I went to check her kennel to see if she was there, oh yes there she was, making her bed, she had taken all the old food bags I had on the veranda up to her kennel and had laid them out over her duvet, all nice and warm and comfy. How says pigs are stupid, not these two.
She soon appeared to come right, and on Friday when I went to let her and Mabel out of the kennel for the day, I noticed that she was not wagging her tail, and then on looking realised that she did not have a tail to wag anymore, it was gone, I searched high and low for the tail but could not find it anywhere, not undr her blankets, or in their run, how on earth could she have lost her tail I really dont know, I thought of blaming Luke the little terror dog, but my land lord who is a farmer, says that the dog did not do it, he suspects it was Mabel, in a fit of anger against her sister, she bit off her tail. Poor Millie, well she will just have to get used to it, I eventually found it lying in the grass in the garden, maybe I could stick it back on?
Yesterday I went out to call the pigs for supper and could not find Mille anywhere, I called and called, but she did not come, so I went to check her kennel to see if she was there, oh yes there she was, making her bed, she had taken all the old food bags I had on the veranda up to her kennel and had laid them out over her duvet, all nice and warm and comfy. How says pigs are stupid, not these two.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Millie and Mabel have a new kennel
Millie and Mabel have a new Kennel
It was during December that I decided after Denim my Chow had been killed by a black Mamba up in the kennels that I would bring the other chows down to the house and put the pigs into their kennels, These kennels were originally Pig Sties that we converted for the dogs, as they were well covered out of the rain and very secure, never thinking that we would loose any of them to snake bite, but of course when we moved here we had 17 dogs. And the kennels were ideal for them, with a yard to run in and what we thought very safe.
Well now I was going to introduce the two pot bellied pigs to their new home, but how was I going to do this, as they were used to living in their run next to my bedroom, they were now 2 years old, and not tiny babies any more, so early one morning I got their food into their bowls and shaking it to entice them to follow me I led them down the cement path to their new home, of course they were very cautious going in through the gate, and stubbornly refused to follow me, I place their food bowls just inside the gate and called them in, slowly Mabel followed me, and seeing that there was a treat for being a good girl, she started to gobble up her food, and then started on Millie’s food, Millie was not having any of that and rushed in to get what was left over in her bowl, I made my escape and closed the gate on them,
They then started to explore their new surroundings, with grunts of hopefully appreciation, they went into the first kennel and looked around, nothing exciting in there, just two wooden kennels to sleep in, Now they have always shared a kennel so suddenly having a choice of two they of course did not know which one to choose, So after a few minutes of sniffing and grunting, the went into the next kennel here was only one wooden kennel but much smaller then the others they looked and did not like, and made their way to the third kennel, Now this was fun, Robin had put a box of all his old computer parts into this area, and as pigs are very inquisitive, they had to see just what was in this big cardboard box, they ripped it open and with absolute glee, squeaking and talking to each other on the discovery they had found, proceeded to scatter all the parts all over the kennel, this was fun, Mabel found an old black cokie pen, and guess what happened, she started to chew it up, must have tasted really nice, but it turned her tongue black and she started to foam at the mouth, black ink, she looked really stupid, I got her and made her wash her mouth out to get rid of the ink, thank heavens it was not poisonous. Once they had explored every content of the box, they decided to try the last kennel, but this one I had locked off with a strong gate, as we had the lawn mower and some garden tools now stored in there as well as a large fish tank that I was not using anymore. Realizing they could not get in there, they made there way to the garden, dug themselves a rather large hole and had a sand bath.
Once the day was over I fed them and then locked them up in the first kennel gave them their duvet to sleep on and put them to bed.
The following morning when I went to wake them up, for their breakfast I could not get through their gate, They had demolished one of the kennels completely, and stacked it up next to the gate, I had to climb over it, to remove the pieces of wood, so that I could allow them out, into the run, the other kennel they had left alone, and it appeared that they had slept in it, as they had put their duvets in and made it all comfy.
Once I had fed them, I allowed them out, and as it was the weekend I decided to allow them the freedom of the farm.
This they loved, discovering so many new sights and sounds, and smells, and wonderful weeds that they could eat, and of course my lovely sweet potatoes, well when you have pigs, you don’t have a vegetable garden.
Some time later, while I was in the house, playing on my computer, I heard what I thought were the duck and geese playing in their pools, I have 3 plastic pools for them to swim in. I went out to see what the commotion was, and there to my surprise and joy, were the pigs, they had finished exploring the farm and had decided to come home, discovering the pools, they had turned two of them upside down and were wallowing in the mud, this they had never done before and they were having so much fun, Wet, muddy and covered in sand, but two very happy little piggies.
It was during December that I decided after Denim my Chow had been killed by a black Mamba up in the kennels that I would bring the other chows down to the house and put the pigs into their kennels, These kennels were originally Pig Sties that we converted for the dogs, as they were well covered out of the rain and very secure, never thinking that we would loose any of them to snake bite, but of course when we moved here we had 17 dogs. And the kennels were ideal for them, with a yard to run in and what we thought very safe.
Well now I was going to introduce the two pot bellied pigs to their new home, but how was I going to do this, as they were used to living in their run next to my bedroom, they were now 2 years old, and not tiny babies any more, so early one morning I got their food into their bowls and shaking it to entice them to follow me I led them down the cement path to their new home, of course they were very cautious going in through the gate, and stubbornly refused to follow me, I place their food bowls just inside the gate and called them in, slowly Mabel followed me, and seeing that there was a treat for being a good girl, she started to gobble up her food, and then started on Millie’s food, Millie was not having any of that and rushed in to get what was left over in her bowl, I made my escape and closed the gate on them,
They then started to explore their new surroundings, with grunts of hopefully appreciation, they went into the first kennel and looked around, nothing exciting in there, just two wooden kennels to sleep in, Now they have always shared a kennel so suddenly having a choice of two they of course did not know which one to choose, So after a few minutes of sniffing and grunting, the went into the next kennel here was only one wooden kennel but much smaller then the others they looked and did not like, and made their way to the third kennel, Now this was fun, Robin had put a box of all his old computer parts into this area, and as pigs are very inquisitive, they had to see just what was in this big cardboard box, they ripped it open and with absolute glee, squeaking and talking to each other on the discovery they had found, proceeded to scatter all the parts all over the kennel, this was fun, Mabel found an old black cokie pen, and guess what happened, she started to chew it up, must have tasted really nice, but it turned her tongue black and she started to foam at the mouth, black ink, she looked really stupid, I got her and made her wash her mouth out to get rid of the ink, thank heavens it was not poisonous. Once they had explored every content of the box, they decided to try the last kennel, but this one I had locked off with a strong gate, as we had the lawn mower and some garden tools now stored in there as well as a large fish tank that I was not using anymore. Realizing they could not get in there, they made there way to the garden, dug themselves a rather large hole and had a sand bath.
Once the day was over I fed them and then locked them up in the first kennel gave them their duvet to sleep on and put them to bed.
The following morning when I went to wake them up, for their breakfast I could not get through their gate, They had demolished one of the kennels completely, and stacked it up next to the gate, I had to climb over it, to remove the pieces of wood, so that I could allow them out, into the run, the other kennel they had left alone, and it appeared that they had slept in it, as they had put their duvets in and made it all comfy.
Once I had fed them, I allowed them out, and as it was the weekend I decided to allow them the freedom of the farm.
This they loved, discovering so many new sights and sounds, and smells, and wonderful weeds that they could eat, and of course my lovely sweet potatoes, well when you have pigs, you don’t have a vegetable garden.
Some time later, while I was in the house, playing on my computer, I heard what I thought were the duck and geese playing in their pools, I have 3 plastic pools for them to swim in. I went out to see what the commotion was, and there to my surprise and joy, were the pigs, they had finished exploring the farm and had decided to come home, discovering the pools, they had turned two of them upside down and were wallowing in the mud, this they had never done before and they were having so much fun, Wet, muddy and covered in sand, but two very happy little piggies.
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