First off I'd like to talk about what we have had to do with the new piglets. Once I noticed that we had two new piglets I started phoning everybody I know as well as researching online for what I needed to get done. First off you have to give piglets a shot (needle) of Iron (one milligramme per piglet) in their rump and into the muscle tissue. This stops them from becoming anaemic. Secondly, you have to clip their teeth (both top and bottom) right at the gum line (or just above) or else they will cut the mother when they are nursing. Obviously, if they are males then they need to be castrated as well. I have two little girls so I won't be having to deal with that. Also a big concern is the mother crushing the piglets by accident. My girl makes a big nest out of straw and the babies hide in it to keep warm so I see where that could be a concern since 9 times of out 10 I go out there and can't even see the babies. If she had more then two I would be concerned she would lose track of them and kill one but she seems to be pretty good with checking where they are. If she would have had more I likely would have had to build an area that they babies can get into and sleep that she can't access.
Also today we lost a button quail and now I just came home to my last button quail girl very very beat up. What has happened is my coturnix male (coturnix are bigger then the button quail) has become very aggressive in his.....mating. The coturnix quail females have now learned to tell him off and he's better with them which is maybe why he has turned his attention to the littler button quails to pick on. I didn't see any signs of trauma on the button quail I found dead this morning so it very well could have been a natural death but he is definitely responsible for her state today. On a side note, if a bird starts getting pecked at and starts bleeding everybody else in the flock will start to go after them and possibly kill them. The best is to either remove the aggressive bird into a different cage (where he can still see and interact with the flock but can't touch them) or take the damaged bird out, clean them up and put either polysporine or bag balm on their cuts to mask the smell of blood and deter the birds from pecking at them again. So therefore, I am moving my button quail to a friends house so she can be with other buttons!
Lastly, my horses eye has become very bad again. I had another vet today look at him and has recommend we start back up on antibiotics and medication for the pain and just give him some time off. He just hasn't completely healed from the injury of having the piece of hay in his eye and just needs more time. I'll be giving him the next week off and hopefully we start to see some improvement. Such a shame, I felt like I was making such great progress with him, but his health is the most important.
My cousins and their kids are coming this weekend to see the baby piggies! Hopefully they will be able to get quite close and see them but mumma pig hasn't been as warm and fuzzy since I took them out and gave them their shots and clipped their teeth.
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