Moving Da Pigs

We got quite a bit done yesterday! Mainly, setting up the first outdoor run for the piglets, then getting them all moved out there.

How do you move 6 pigs easily? Oh, who knows?? We don't think it's that easy to make a pig go where YOU want it to go....We thought about it for awhile, then decided to basically build a chute.

We needed to move the pigs from the large room in the barn. We needed them to end up in the outdoor run, so we nailed some pieces of OSB down the aisleway of the barn.

(The pigs were living behind that door)

Then we pounded in some T posts, and ran boards (attached with wire) to the T posts.....

At the other end was the open gate to the first outdoor run....

But before we did that, we put up T posts and insulators, making a run out of part of the Animal Garden. We can't move the piggys down below the Garden yet, as the field is still way too wet....

You can see the run we made for them, inside the white tape. You can't see the pig house, as it is behind that tree....

Then we doublechecked everything, and went to open the door to the barn room. First one piggy stepped out (it took him a bit to work up his courage)

Once one went out, two others followed....the last 2 took quite awhile before they were willing to leave the barn room. But eventually, they too started down the aisle.

Here you can see the chute we made....the Gman had already started to take it apart before I could get a picture of it all done up.

And here...the end result! 6 Piggys, in their new home....didn't take them long to start rooting away and playing in the dirt.

We left them alone for awhile....later we fed them and began to wonder how we were going to get them to go into the pig house.

In the past, we brought the piggies right INTO their house, so that they would know where they would sleep and get out of the weather. This time, we couldn't easily do that as the pigs are quite a bit bigger. It's hard to pick up a pig!! They run fast and they squirm like crazy, trying to get out of your arms....

In the end, the Gman caught one pig and managed to put it in the house. We had already put lots of hay down for their bedding. I grabbed a partial can of grain and the Gman sprinkled some out in front of the piggy. Finally, the piggy settled down and started eating the grain. (Gman had put the grain in the doorway so the other piggys could see the one guy eating away) Then we went back up to the house and watched....

Finally! After some time, the Gman said "There's 5 piggys in the house!" One little straggler was afraid to go in. We watched and watched and finally, in it went.

So first thing this morning, I looked out and there were no piggys Out at all! Well, until the sun came out and they started wondering where their breakfast was!

Now, they are out there running around chasing each other.....thank goodness the move is over with and it went very smoothly!

We've got the room in the barn airing out...propped open all the doors. Today, we are going to move the greenhouse that is propped up against the double doors to that room. Once we move the greenhouse pieces, we can open up the double doors and the room will air out quickly.

In a few days, we'll clean out all the bedding in that room, and then let it air out for a few more weeks. We'll be needing the room in mid-May for when our chicks arrive!

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