Little help please

[Mouse14]

 

[Mouse14]

So for a pig right under a year and 30-40 lbs does 2/3 a cup 3x a day seem enough or excessive? She looks a tad thin but not too bad. It's all droopy towards her feet? She still looks like she did pregnant, just no so round

 

[Mouse14]

I was only giving it to her 2x a day when pregnant t but added one more feed in since she would stand at the gate grunting until I assisted her

 

[Mouse14]

They are either moving too much or sleeping lol

 

[Mouse14]

My main concern at this point is the constipation. If it's normal in babies. Momma is still going like it's nothing at all. Momma has been eating their poop so idk what their stool looks like at this point. What age can I introduce a little pumpkin? Maybe help things along? Or is that closer to 3-4 weeks? There's only so much research on what to expect with piglets

 

[mysunwolf]

Our piglets were eating little bits of their environment from a few days old, which included grass, weeds, hay, dirt, and feed. I would not worry about smearing a small amount of pumpkin on their tongues but I am no expert...

Some advice on feeding smaller lard sows: when lactating, place free choice feed in front of her, see how much she will eat in 10 mins. Feed that 2-3x per day. We use this rule for feeding our guinea hogs, I know others that use it for potbellies as well.

 

[Mouse14]

She finishes eating what I give her in as little as 5 mins. She doesnt get to graze like usual so that's why I upped her feed. She won't go farther than the kitchen so I haven't been able to get her to consider going outside. I guess I'll buy a little bit of pumpkin puree and see how it goes

 

[Mouse14]

Is their poop supposed to solidify before solids? I thought they'd have breast milk poop for a while. They're all struggling st this point. Getting pumpkin this evening. Shouldn't be hard to get them to eat it. They've been hooked on smelling me they're trying to bite. Nipping that real quick! Nothing worse than a biting pig!

 

[mysunwolf]

I would consider removing the heat pad/blanket at this point, they may be getting dehydrated being too hot--we have had this happen with heat lamps on bottle babies. You're right that their poop should have the consistency of peanut butter (sorry, best way to describe it ), and not hard pellets.

 

[Mouse14]

The blanket hasn't been on in days. Either it's on a timer or mom managed to cut it off. I'd remove it all together but they all cuddle in it. I did try to get them to eat some pumpkin. Hopefully they got enough to help things along. Their poop is little hard yellow balls idk why they're constipated. I would try an enema, but at this point I don't feel like it'd do much if they keep being backed up. Someone's poop was brown but lots of clumps together. The only thing other than milk they've had is dirt and that bit of pumpkin