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Author Topic: DIY Housing size  (Read 8031 times)

FiB

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Bala, North Wales
    • Facebook
DIY Housing size
« on: September 29, 2011, 10:15:49 am »
Hi - 4 weaners coming on Saturday and , inspired by the re-use of an old water storage tank we saw at the breeders, we looked around for something similar.  A friend was able to get a couple of IBC's (Large square plastic tanks) that have had nothing noxious in them, but now the tanks are here I'm worried they seem too small - compared to pig arcs that you buy.  Ive read the forum threads on housing that I can find and also various books, which just say 'big enough to turn around in' - not helping me!  We are having 4 saddlebacks, 8 weeks old - 2 boys for the freezer and 2 girls for potentially breeding from.  The tank is about 4 foot square - will this suffice for the 4 until after Christmas and the remaining 2 until we think about farrowing?  Hoping so, because once we cut a door and insert a non slip floor surface it would be draught proof and cosy!  They will have the run of lots of pasture.  Also Ive been thinking about food troughs, but also reading that they enjoy it better if they have to root around  - is a food trough worth bothering with?  Many thanks piggy gurus and passionatas!
« Last Edit: September 29, 2011, 10:29:13 am by FiB »

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2011, 10:50:04 am »
Hiya,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think they'll be big enough  :-\ You might get away with it at a push, but not for long  ;)
I have a big old oil tank of 6x4 size and it's fine for 3 Kune Kunes - Saddlebacks are much bigger though and certainly by the time you're breeding you'll need an 8x6 arc, minimum (better with 8x8) for each gilt & litter.
For troughs - I don't use them in the sumer when it's dry, but in the winter when the ground gets mucky I do prefer to use them - though it's a pain trying to keep them clean  ::)
HTH
Karen  :wave:

Berkshire Boy

  • Joined May 2011
  • Presteigne, Powys
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2011, 11:52:03 am »
Agree with Karen, nowhere near big enough. I always build my arks and usually do them 8' x 8'. An adult pig will be about 5' long so they need a reasonable size to turn in,they do like to snuggle up together though.
Again with Karen on the troughs don't bother when the ground is dry but too wasteful in the mud with feed prices as they are. I think it's back to the drawing board  :wave:
Everyone makes mistakes as the Dalek said climbing off the dustbin.

Fowgill Farm

  • Joined Feb 2009
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2011, 12:49:25 pm »
At best you'd get away with using them for about a week as piglets particularly sadddlebacks, GOS etc do grow very fast, theres no way 4 could live in there until Xmas! Don't you think you should have thought this one thro a bit earlier given your pigs are coming this weekend!!! ::)
Until you can get suitable housing (asap) have you a stabel to use for them or a hen house perhaps.
Failing that we have a RAF house as a temp measure which is made from 4 posts with a garage door on top and 3 sides closed up with solid topped pallets and we use sacking to roll down at night on open side.
I'm sure you'll be able to sort soemthing out for them.
We feed all year in troughs, trugs & washing up bowls HTH
best of luck
Mandy  :pig:

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2011, 02:06:21 pm »
best thing you can do is make a straw house  with a roof  a lot cheaper than an ark
on the feeding depends on what part of the country you are in weather wise and if your field is free draining :farmer:

FiB

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Bala, North Wales
    • Facebook
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2011, 02:46:55 pm »
At best you'd get away with using them for about a week as piglets particularly sadddlebacks, GOS etc do grow very fast, theres no way 4 could live in there until Xmas! Don't you think you should have thought this one thro a bit earlier given your pigs are coming this weekend!!! ::)
Until you can get suitable housing (asap) have you a stabel to use for them or a hen house perhaps.
Failing that we have a RAF house as a temp measure which is made from 4 posts with a garage door on top and 3 sides closed up with solid topped pallets and we use sacking to roll down at night on open side.
I'm sure you'll be able to sort soemthing out for them.
We feed all year in troughs, trugs & washing up bowls HTH
best of luck
Mandy  :pig:

LOL (re last minute!) - Back to plan A -  pallets, screws, insulation and corrugated iron on standby - shame as the lazy plan B offer was very attractive to us, if not the pigs!  Many thanks all

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2011, 06:55:41 pm »
With my tremendous experience of two pigs...   ;) :D  :pig:  But as a newbie myself, you might like to know my perspectives.

I bought two OSB gilts, intending to breed, last August.  We decided not to breed from the one and she went in January.  The other has just had her first litter.

At the beginning they shared a big oil drum as a bed.  They soon outgrew that (maybe two weeks), but continued to sleep in a cobbled-together-from-pallets-etc bed the size you describe for another couple of months.  In fact, they slept together in a space this size, but open on two sides (like an L) and indoors so not needing to protect them from weather, until Gaby went away (at 7 months old.)  By then you could see that Meg was pleased to not be sharing that bed space any longer.

By October we had arranged to get a secondhand 9' x 7' ark.  It seemed absurdly huge, I was even worried it would be so overlarge they'd be cold in the cavernous space, and was certainly worried they'd poo and pee in it as well as sleep in (less than half of) it.

The ark finally arrived in March (long story...), and still seemed ludicrously large for Meg (now 10 months old.)  She liked it at first but didn't like the water coming up from the ground, so carried on sleeping in the chicken house we'd put at her disposal while we waited for the ark to appear.  The calves who shared the field with her thought the ark was great and they used it, which was good as I didn't like them going in the chicken shed with Meg...  ::)  (Because calves aren't careful about being clean in their bedrooms, being the main reason I didn't like them sleeping with Meg.)

I finally managed to get the ark floored in time for my now heavily pregnant gilt to move in at the beginning of September.  It no longer seemed over large at all, in fact I began to wonder whether it would be big enough if she had a large litter and felt that if I installed farrowing rails along one (long) side she would not be comfortable turning around widthways.

Thankfully she's just had 5 beautiful Saddleback x piglets, and the family has ample room in the ark (which BH describes as the Pig Palace.)  But no way is it over-large for one OSB sow and her litter.  Any smaller and you could see that avoiding the babies (especially if there were more of them) when lying down would be very difficult.  I am glad I have not had to install farrowing rails along the long side - she is very very careful to find them all and warn them before she lies down, but I think if she had 12 or so, it would not be surprising if one got squished in the first day or so, while they learn how to listen to Mum.  So for her next litter I am thinking maybe I would try somehow to put farrowing rails across the top (short side) so there is still plenty of room for her to mooch about and lie down any way she chooses.

How exciting to be starting your adventures with pigs this weekend!   :pig:  Please tell us all about it - and of course let us see some pggie piccies  ;D
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Fowgill Farm

  • Joined Feb 2009
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2011, 10:54:48 am »
shame as the lazy plan B offer was very attractive to us

There are no lazy ways with pigs and if lazy ways appeal to you then you're sure gonna have your work cut out with pigs!!! Enjoy your pigs but don't take shortcuts with their wellbeing, what might be beneficial for keeper may not neccessarily be so for your pigs.

Pig keeping is hardwork, can be expensive, can be heartbreaking BUT it is also addictive, fun and rewarding.

I hope all goes well with your weaners and you've done your homework, people on this piggy forum are always here to help and advise if they can.
Have a good weekend, looks like the this good weather is going to hold out.
Best Mandy  :pig:

DeeDee

  • Joined Jan 2010
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2011, 12:33:58 pm »
Hi

We're still newbies in the art of pig keeping but thought I'd share our experiences.

We got our first two weaners in April last year, built an 8' x 6' ark for them and provided a feed trough. Got our two boys home and they looked lost in the corner of the ark, huddled amongst the straw. Not only that, they much preferred to eat from the ground so their trough sat abandoned and unused. Hmm, we thought, is the ark too big and do we need feed troughs?

Move the story on a few months and what a difference - these two boys were making best attempts to fill the ark as they grew!

They are long gone now, but we've since expanded our pig keeping enterprise (as Mandy says, pig keeping is addictive) and most of the arks we build now are 8' x 8'. A friend of our calls them pig hotels, but they serve their purpose well and we're pleased we took the advice offered and made the decision to go for bigger arks, particularly as we've now ventured into breeding meat pigs ourselves and can see just how enormous some of our breeding stock have got (and how quickly piglets can grow)!

Back to the troughs, wait till wet weather hits and you'll be VERY grateful you have feed troughs at the ready so that your precious pig feed goes into your pigs bellies rather than trampled into the mud.

And try looking at the post in the pig forum entitled "Bee Gee's......How Deep Is Your Mud??" from February this year. Ah, it brings it all back!

Good luck in your pig keeping adventures, look after your pigs well, keep them happy and healthy and enjoy the experience, as they really are fantastic creatures.

All the best

Dee

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2011, 12:57:56 pm »
That Bee Gee's topic is here:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=13005.msg126596#msg126596

And here's pic from this morning of Meg with her 5 (out for the first time at 1 week old) outside the Pig Palace (not so large now...)

Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Miss Piggy

  • Joined Mar 2011
  • Cardigan Bay, Ceredigion
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2011, 10:24:11 pm »
Hee hee, lovely Sally, they have certainly grown in a week, bet they are enjoying this warm weather that seems to have swept the country.  :pig:

Blonde

  • Joined Mar 2011
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #11 on: October 01, 2011, 09:44:03 am »
At best you'd get away with using them for about a week as piglets particularly sadddlebacks, GOS etc do grow very fast, theres no way 4 could live in there until Xmas! Don't you think you should have thought this one thro a bit earlier given your pigs are coming this weekend!!! ::)
Until you can get suitable housing (asap) have you a stabel to use for them or a hen house perhaps.
Failing that we have a RAF house as a temp measure which is made from 4 posts with a garage door on top and 3 sides closed up with solid topped pallets and we use sacking to roll down at night on open side.
I'm sure you'll be able to sort soemthing out for them.
We feed all year in troughs, trugs & washing up bowls HTH
best of luck
Mandy  :pig:

LOL (re last minute!) - Back to plan A -  pallets, screws, insulation and corrugated iron on standby - shame as the lazy plan B offer was very attractive to us, if not the pigs!  Many thanks all
I think pallets are a fabulous Idea, make them as big or as small as you wish.   Two pallets wide and two or three pallets long.  I use them for weaner sheds some being 10 pallets long and one large pallet  and a small one wide. Line them with tin on the inside ( to stop them chewing the wood)  and outside to keep the weather out.  Raise one side to make the roof slope and allow the water to run off.  Put pallets the full length on the ground and fill  them with extra soil and then throw some straw in on top and put a plank sideways to keep the level at the front of the hut and stop them digging out the pallets.  Each batch requires new straw .  You can put a door on the front  Just put 2 pallets ut about 4 foot from the front of the house and line this with tin, they will go around it to get to the inside.  Short of that  add a piece to it and line it also and attach to the basic structure,   I get my pallets for next to nothing, and call it recycling!!!   Line them with corrugated tin, or any thing that is flat that you can  use tech screws  and use wood tech screws in to the wood of the pallet.  I also put two or  three together to farrow in,    doors on each of them...... Brilliant... 
« Last Edit: October 01, 2011, 09:47:09 am by Blonde »

FiB

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Bala, North Wales
    • Facebook
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #12 on: October 01, 2011, 08:33:52 pm »
Wow, they are fab, much smaller than I was expecting( I know they will grow massively week by week based on all the comments above)!  Had a bit of pig catching this morning until they (hopefully, touch wood etc etc) got the hang of the electric fence, but they are awesome little beauties!  Pics tomorrow, but too knackered to get the camera lead after a hard day of nervous pig watching (they are all fine having rooted for wales all afternoon.  They dont seem so interested in the pig nuts so far)!!

Many thanks for all the positive support and comments offered here.

harry

  • Joined Mar 2009
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #13 on: October 01, 2011, 09:03:12 pm »
i had a toyota hi ace pick up, scrapped it but the pick up fibreglass top was left behind... now useing it for my 4 kunes with the rear door removed...... almost unbreakable.... will look out for another one.

ballingall

  • Joined Sep 2008
  • Avonbridge, Falkirk
Re: DIY Housing size
« Reply #14 on: October 01, 2011, 09:44:50 pm »
I think pallets are a fabulous Idea, make them as big or as small as you wish.   Two pallets wide and two or three pallets long.  I use them for weaner sheds some being 10 pallets long and one large pallet  and a small one wide. Line them with tin on the inside ( to stop them chewing the wood)  and outside to keep the weather out.  Raise one side to make the roof slope and allow the water to run off.  Put pallets the full length on the ground and fill  them with extra soil and then throw some straw in on top and put a plank sideways to keep the level at the front of the hut and stop them digging out the pallets.  Each batch requires new straw .  You can put a door on the front  Just put 2 pallets ut about 4 foot from the front of the house and line this with tin, they will go around it to get to the inside.  Short of that  add a piece to it and line it also and attach to the basic structure,   I get my pallets for next to nothing, and call it recycling!!!   Line them with corrugated tin, or any thing that is flat that you can  use tech screws  and use wood tech screws in to the wood of the pallet.  I also put two or  three together to farrow in,    doors on each of them...... Brilliant...

Some great tips in there- love the idea for the floor- I suppose if you purt rubber matting over the top of the pallets filled with earth it would really well too. I might just try that!


Beth

 

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