Setting up birthing pen. Help!

So I am setting up a pen for my pig to givebirth birth. I saw online it's best to have a separate space for the babies so I am trying to make one. How big should the space be? She is giving birth in her pen outside. I sectioned off a 4×6 space for just her to farrow and I am opening the door a little and wedgeing a small kennel in the opening that she can't get in. I put a bit of wire fencing about 8 inches off the ground so she cant get out of the door into the opening where the kennel and heat lamp are.The space is about 2×3 including the door space and the kennel. I put a heat lamp about 20 inches from the ground hanging on the door and a heat pad in the kennel and I am tarping from the door entrance over the kennel. Will the babies come back into the pen when they are hungry? Do I need to tarp over the pen to keep it warm? I'm worried about them freezing when they feed. It is getting into the 60° at night here. They have about 4 or 5 inches of grass and straw in the pen but do I need to make that area warm too?

Greetings and welcome to BYH! We have a pretty decent group of hog enthusiasts here. I'm a big fan of pork products myself, but haven't got to the point of raising my own quite yet. I'll "tag" a couple of folks who might be able to help with your questions. Mean time, browse around in the pig section as there's quite a bit of info and experience shared there. Make yourself at home and join in discussions as you feel ready. If you have questions, don't hesitate to post them. Generally someone will jump in to help in short order.

@misfitmorgan @farmerjan @purplequeenvt @Ferguson K and there are many others! Sorry but I can't remember them all

Fortheloveofhen said:

So I am setting up a pen for my pig to givebirth birth. I saw online it's best to have a separate space for the babies so I am trying to make one. How big should the space be? She is giving birth in her pen outside. I sectioned off a 4×6 space for just her to farrow and I am opening the door a little and wedgeing a small kennel in the opening that she can't get in. I put a bit of wire fencing about 8 inches off the ground so she cant get out of the door into the opening where the kennel and heat lamp are.The space is about 2×3 including the door space and the kennel. I put a heat lamp about 20 inches from the ground hanging on the door and a heat pad in the kennel and I am tarping from the door entrance over the kennel. Will the babies come back into the pen when they are hungry? Do I need to tarp over the pen to keep it warm? I'm worried about them freezing when they feed. It is getting into the 60° at night here. They have about 4 or 5 inches of grass and straw in the pen but do I need to make that area warm too?

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Do you happen to have a picture of your set up, the description is a little hard to follow. Things i will atm assume....
1. Your sow/gilt has a shelter of some kind
2. Your sow-gilt is due to farrow soon
3. The kennel your using is of a metal wire variety not plastic
4. You have thought of a way to secure the heat lamp to make it all but impossible for it to fall down while being on/hot.

If any of those assumptions are wrong let me know please.

The area depends on the number of piglets and your available space/resources.I t could be as small as one foot by 2 feet or as large as 2 feet by 6 feet. If you had a litter of say 8 piglets i would not go any smaller then 2 feet by 4 feet so they have some growing room. As far as freezing when they nurse..i would not worry to much the sow/gilt tends ot be pretty warm and the siblings will help keep it warm in the nursing area too. The piglets will come out on their own when they are hungry or when the sow/gilt calls them to come eat. To make sure they know where to go we always section off our warm area with straw or hay bales to make it as small as possible while keeping them under the heat lamp for the first day or two and we make sure we section it off towards the opening where mom is. So our piglets basically could fall off the piglets pile and roll out to find mom without an issue. Typically pigs are smart and more mobile then other new borns. If you can keep them reasonably warm they will thrive. Piglets want it about 90F but i can tell you we have raised many in around 60degrees in the daytime and colder at night. If they make it the first week you should be good.

She has a shaded area but i am planning on closeing the whole area she is in. i beleave she is due before the end of the month. She has a milk line but her teats are not hard yet and her vulva is redish and slightly larger than 2 days ago when i checked it. The kennel is heavy plastic like a doggloo amd keep heat well but if it wont work i can make a new one or use a metal kennel. I just thought it would be warmer than metal. The lamp has a clamp and will be screwed in when i know exactly where it will be.

For some reason my photos uploaded a few times. I got her a few months ago when she needed a home. Her old owner ditched her because she had a litter and let them die. Im guessing he knew she was pregnant again. she is almost 4 and very small. When i got her she was maybe 40 lbs tops and now she looks like she can hardly walk but i have been trying to let her get as big as she needs to be. She has always had a fat face so i dont think she was underfed, but she is very small.and she looks like she is about to pop.
Do you know anything about selling piglets? Since they will probiably be small i am guessing that people will take them as pets. How much dose it cost to fix piglets on average? I know i need to give them iron and i bought goats milk and milk replacer incase she rejects them, is there anything else i need if she dose. Do you know how to cut there teeth and should i cut them?Is there anything i can do to help insure they find better homes?
i have been doing a ton of research but there is so much conflicting info. i plan on haveing contracts to make sure they come back to me if there owners cant keep them and handeling them so they are socialized but im worried about finding them good homes.
Also is there anything i need to keep handy for my mama pig? I heard its good to worm them before birth but i dont know if its too late now.how would i worm her? I use DE for my chickens, will that work for her.
Im sorry i have so many questions!

Fortheloveofhen said:

She has a shaded area but i am planning on closeing the whole area she is in. i beleave she is due before the end of the month. She has a milk line but her teats are not hard yet and her vulva is redish and slightly larger than 2 days ago when i checked it. The kennel is heavy plastic like a doggloo amd keep heat well but if it wont work i can make a new one or use a metal kennel. I just thought it would be warmer than metal. The lamp has a clamp and will be screwed in when i know exactly where it will be.View attachment 23220View attachment 23221View attachment 23222View attachment 23223View attachment 23224View attachment 23224 View attachment 23224View attachment 23220 View attachment 23221 View attachment 23222 View attachment 23223 View attachment 23224

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She looks like she will have them any day now, her teats are pointing out. Most of my experience is with full size pigs so keep that in mind. This setup looks like it will work out fine, i would highly suggest you use a rope or a chain or a string or something and tie thru the clamp portion of the light and to the (looks like) pallet you have it clamped too. The clamps can and do fail once in a while as well as the piglets may knock it down so tie either the clamp part up or tie the cord up so the lamp cant touch the floor if it falls. The piglets will be very very small when born so keep that in mind...think hamster size maybe.

Fortheloveofhen said:

For some reason my photos uploaded a few times. I got her a few months ago when she needed a home. Her old owner ditched her because she had a litter and let them die. Im guessing he knew she was pregnant again. she is almost 4 and very small. When i got her she was maybe 40 lbs tops and now she looks like she can hardly walk but i have been trying to let her get as big as she needs to be. She has always had a fat face so i dont think she was underfed, but she is very small.and she looks like she is about to pop.
Do you know anything about selling piglets? Since they will probiably be small i am guessing that people will take them as pets. How much dose it cost to fix piglets on average? I know i need to give them iron and i bought goats milk and milk replacer incase she rejects them, is there anything else i need if she dose. Do you know how to cut there teeth and should i cut them?Is there anything i can do to help insure they find better homes?
i have been doing a ton of research but there is so much conflicting info. i plan on haveing contracts to make sure they come back to me if there owners cant keep them and handeling them so they are socialized but im worried about finding them good homes.
Also is there anything i need to keep handy for my mama pig? I heard its good to worm them before birth but i dont know if its too late now.how would i worm her? I use DE for my chickens, will that work for her.
Im sorry i have so many questions!

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Don't worry about the photo uploads it happens, even those of us who have been here awhile do it still.

Not to nice of the old owner, a lot of people get pet pigs to breed them and make fast money or to have them as "cute" pets but typically it doesnt work out like they thought it would so they get rid of them.

Being 4yrs old and 40bs i would suspect she is a juliana pig...we have a juliana boar and he is 40lbs tops at over 2yrs old. Dont worry to much about her weight because she is having them piglets soon and if she nurses them she will lose weight pretty fast and slim back down.

We only sell full size breed piglets so i dont know much about selling mini's i would look at your local craigslist and see what other people are selling their mini/small piglets for and what they are doing for the pet market and decide from there.

Cost to fix a piglet by vet would vary by vet, farmers will often cut them for you for $5-10 each if you could find a pig farmer locally. Cutting them does not use pain killer or sedate them, they simply use a scalpel make two small slits on their back end and pull out the testes and then they are done.

Yes they will need iron generally. You need something to feed them milk out of. We used the kitten/animal bottle kit they sell at TSC, comes with several different nipples. Some people have used syringes with success.

We do not clip our piglets teeth anymore but we used too. They sell teeth clippers but you can also use wire cutters if you cant find teeth clippers locally. You just clip the milk teeth down to a bit so they are less sharp. The piglets will have 4 pairs on milk teeth similar to incisors on other animals.

I'm sure you will do fine finding them good homes. Make sure they are people friendly as possible that will help a great deal in the pet market.

Thank you so much for the help! I feel a little more prepared now. She is useing her rest corner every 5 minutes today and breathing heavy so maybe she will have them soon. I think i have this handled. If she decides to keep them all will be well. If not i have a ton of replacement milk and bottles. If she decides to abandon them i will have to figure out a place inside for them but i hope not!

Fortheloveofhen said:

Thank you so much for the help! I feel a little more prepared now. She is useing her rest corner every 5 minutes today and breathing heavy so maybe she will have them soon. I think i have this handled. If she decides to keep them all will be well. If not i have a ton of replacement milk and bottles. If she decides to abandon them i will have to figure out a place inside for them but i hope not!

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Always happy to help, if you have any other questions let us know! Also come back and let us know how many she had!!