Weight in with, well, trust me, you don't want to know how many piggies... :P

[Happy 5th Birthday to Custard!!! - this is her as a newborn, approx 3 hours old)

The weigh in for Saturday the 14th Jan 2012:


*** Liam's Love Shack ***
Liam is 8800g (lost 50g) - 40wks (9.5m)
Tigerlily is 620g (loss 5g) - 16wks (4m)
Isla is 650g (first weigh in) - 19wks (4.5m)
Indigo is 610g (first weigh in) - 19wks (4.5m)


*** Romeo's Roost ***
Romeo is 670g (same) - 15wks (3.5m)
Lavender Mist is 735g (loss 20g) - 22wks (5m)
Zinnia is 660g (same) - 16wks (4m)


*** Malakai's Quarters ***
Malakai is 845g (gain 15g) - 23wks (5.5m)
Galaxy is 1040g (gain 25g)- 1 year old! Happy 'approximate' first birthday to you too Galaxy! :P


*** Mr Tex ***
Tex is 985g (first weigh in) - 2.5yrs


*** Girl's Mansion ***
Alice is 1175g (gain 140g) - 49wks (11m)- (Pregnant, due approx 27/1/12)
Bella-Donna is 500g (gain 35g) - 7wks (1.5m)
Chloe is 605g (gain 20g) - 15wks (3.5m)
Crumble is 1260g (same) - 1yr - (pregnant, due approx 4th Feb 2012)
Custard is 980g (gain 25g) - 5yrs
Delilah is 885g (gain 25g) - approx 1yr
Elodie is 935g (gain 75g) - 24wks (5.5m)- (pregnant, due approx 16/2/12)
Ginger is 1030g (gain 35g)- 43wks (10m)
Ivy is 700g (loss 5g) - 16wks (4m)
Jasmine is 585g (gain 10g) - 17wks (4m)
Lacey is 290g (first weigh in) - 4 weeks (1m)
Lotus is 685g (gained 15g) - 16wks (4m)
Molly is 845g (gain 50g) - 22wks (5m)
Nixie is 490g (gained 30g) - 9wks (2m)
Phoebe is now 875g (gain 30g) - 39wks (9m)
Pollyanna is now 545g (gained 30g) - 10wks (2.5m)
Ruby is 1160g (gain 80g) - 43wks (10m)
Savannah is 930g (first weigh in) - 1.5yrs
Sparrow is 1220g (gain 80g) - 40wks (9m) - (Pregnant, due 22/1/12)
Subi is 1145g (loss 35g) - 2.5yrs
Tabitha is 520g (gain 20g) - 11wks (2.5m)
Twizzle is 730g (same) - 16wks (4m)
Xeraphina is 650g (gain 10g) 14wks (3m)
Yeti is 1060g (gain 30g) - 32wks (7.5m) - (Pregnant, due approx 22/1/12)



***New Mums***

Millicent is 740g - 23wks (5.5m)- (gave birth, nursing)
Whisper is 95g (newborn)
Willow is 90g (newborn)
Winter is 105g (newborn)


Violet is now 645g (loss 5g) - 26wks (6m) - (nursing)
Henry is 125g (gain 25g) - 1wk
Hamlet is 110g (gain 20g) - 1wk

(one-week update pic)



Peppa is 1005g (lost 45g) - 1yr - (nursing Leilani's bubs)
Leilani is 765g (gained 5g) - 30wks (7m)- (nursing)
Pudding is 195g (gain 50g) - 2wks
Puddles is 200g (gain 45g) - 2wks
Promise is 200g (gained 50g) - 2wks
Peanut is 115g (gained 30g) - 2wks
Panda is 215g (gained 45g) - 2wks

(looks like Leilani has been letting Peppa do all the feeding! She's gained... 5g! While poor Peppa's burning off the calories!)


[Romeo is currently one of the pigs looking for his new home]

You might have noticed some new names on the list... now stretching out our numbers to nearly 50! I got incredibly lucky after a years worth of searching for new pedigree texel lines in the right colours/quality - and was offered some recently. (more on the new texel's in a new post). This means that some of our pet-piggies will need to find awesome new homes. As much as it breaks my heart, ultimately I planned to work with the pedigree texels, and have been given an opportunity too. This just means that some new families get to experience the joy of having one of our pet-piggies in their homes... rather than us hogging them all! lol. (Visit the Available page for more information on who is adoptable currently).




Thought I'd quickly share this pic of Puddles (now 2 weeks old) with Whisper (2 days old)... half-brothers with the same dad. Isn't it amazing how much the coat grows in 2 weeks!

Leilani's Litter - 1 week old

Updated pics of Leilani's litter as promised! In fact, here is 'Promise' at just over 1 week old. These guys are going to be FLUFFY!


Peanut at 1 week old - doing so well! So strong and so active. You'd never know he was born so twisted up!


My favourite (if I'm allowed a fav!?) - Puddles. This little boy is going to be a heart breaker.



First-born Pudding. The fatty-boom-ba of the group - and with such a gorgeous density to that colourful coat.



And lastly, Miss Panda. As the hair grows, her crest becomes even more funky! Such a pretty little lady.

Leilani's Litter

After endlessly checking on Miss Leilani for the last 6 days that I've thought 'it could be any day now' - she finally had her babies this afternoon. (and after much deliberation/genetic researching, I've concluded that the babies MUST be Malakai's. Three of the five have rosettes, which are dominant, so most definitely could not have come from a pedigree texel. Plus, there is a distinct lack of agouti - which Liam has produced in All of his offspring!).

It was exactly 1pm when I walked in and found her quite obviously in labour. I watched her for a few minutes while she had contractions, but no resulting baby. I quickly washed my hands and grabbed some paper towels and came back to gently lift her up to see what was happening. There was a baby's face out (and mouth moving), but it was stuck at the broad part of the head/ears. With each contraction I helped gently ease his big head out, and put her back down to finish the rest herself with another contraction. She got straight into cleaning him up, and then about 5 mins later baby no. 2 arrived. The photo above is her cleaning him up while baby no. 1 helped! (Yes, the first born was actually helping lick his brother! So incredible!).


Then after another 5mins or so, baby no 3 arrived. I was still very worried that more might get stuck, but second and third came out perfectly, and Leilani gave each baby appropriate attention going right to the faces of each new arrival to clear away the membrane. Here she's eating off baby no. 3's sack.

It stayed like this for another 10-15mins, while I wondered if this was it, or if there were more. As she moved around I could see another lump, so knew there was a no. 4 on the way. She laboured for a little while to get him out though, and I wonder if he got a bit stuck in the birth canal? Once baby no. 4 arrived, baby no. 5 was born almost on top of him. I grabbed no. 4 and let Leilani deal with no. 5. I knew immediately that something was wrong with no. 4. He was tiny, and wouldn't sit straight in my hand....



These are Leilani's five beautiful babies at 4 hours old. In order of birth: Pudding, Puddles, Promise, Peanut and Panda. Peanut is the runt, weighing about half that of his 4 siblings, and with what appears to be a head-tilt.

When he was first born he couldn't even hold his head up. From what I've read, it appears that this is either a result of being oxygen deprived during birth (from being stuck for a little while) or from being crushed while growing in the womb (which is also quite likely considering he was stuck somewhere in amongst 4 much much bigger siblings).






'Pudding':


This is the first-born 'Pudding'. He's a big healthy boy in a tri-colour mix of white, slate and cream. He will grow up to look just like a sheltie. He weighed in at a very decent 100g. (Pudding is ON HOLD)





'Puddles':


Puddles is GORGEOUS! He is the second born, and he too is a tri-colour mix of slate, cream and white. But he will end up with the Sheba coat of his daddy Malakai. He has a stunning big broad nose and beautiful colouring. He weighed in at 90g.





'Promise':


Promise was third-born and is also a stunner! She is a tri-colour mix of chocolate, cream and white with a gorgeous rosetted coat that will grow very long, and give her a Sheba-Mini-Yak look. She weighed in at 90g. (Promise is on HOLD)






'Peanut':


Fourth born - little Peanut. He has gorgeous colouring with a mix of ginger, chocolate and white. And a stunning rosetted coat that will grow to look Sheba-ish as well, if he can pull through... he does seem to be getting better and better as the hours go by. I think it's going to be a long night, but he seems to have a fighting spirit! He weighed a very petite 55g.





'Panda':


And the fifth-born baby Panda. She is going to grow up to look just like a coronet (like her mum). She is a tri-colour as well, but mostly slate and white. She has the tiniest hint of cream by her jaw line! She weighed a whopping 100g!