[greenbeast]

John,
I am on my third set of weaners, due to go off at the begining of next month, and all have kept their home spotless.
This time I have cleaned it once but thats because the weather has been soooo wet that naturally the straw has got wet with them going in and out. Other than that its been as sweet smelling as they day they arrived. I have never known any of them to wee or poo in their ark 

pigs are good. love 'em

[Buffy the eggs layer]

They do indeed keep their nest clean but I often here people refer to them making a toilet area? In all the time I cared for rare breed pigs kept in stys None of them made a loo but simply wandered about poohing at will. My ranging Kunes do it anywhere and everywhere too so whats the "toilet story"

[john and helen]

ours seem to poo at one end of their run,

[Bionic]

for the first couple of months ours were pooing in one place, on a stony bit, making it easy for us to pick it up.
Since we have had all the rain and the other end of their pen has turned into a swamp they have decided to poo there instead. Poo picking is a nightmare now, trying to pick the lumps out of a mud soup. YUK

[Buffy the eggs layer]

Right,


   I will have a word with my boys about the random poohing

[greenbeast]

ha ha, poo-picking for pigs. Some people have too much time on their hands....

Out of itnerest our arks have no floors. They did when bought by their previous owner but i've been dismantling and moving them from a well developed woodland (it has grown up around the arks) and the floors are either staying or a job for another time entirely.
But we haven't gone throuh a winter yet.
My OH is talking about putting heavy slabs down but i think this might be too cold.

[Bionic]

ha ha, poo-picking for pigs. Some people have too much time on their hands....

Out of itnerest our arks have no floors. They did when bought by their previous owner but i've been dismantling and moving them from a well developed woodland (it has grown up around the arks) and the floors are either staying or a job for another time entirely.
But we haven't gone throuh a winter yet.
My OH is talking about putting heavy slabs down but i think this might be too cold.

Just a word of warning on the heavy slabs. It doesn't seem to matter how heavy they are the pigs manage to destroy them. On top of that we had only had this set of weaners about a month when one had a rectal prolapse (not nice at all but luckily she has recovered well) and we think it was because she was straining to move the slabs around. 

[greenbeast]

we think it was because she was straining to move the slabs around. 

ha ha, pigs you gotta love them.
Yeah i'm, not keen on moving them myself.

I might see about getting the floors from their current woodland home. Will be able to stack them several high on the trailer if we can lift and carry them out of woods.

[Bobforrangerpigs]

Hi, we are not talking wooden slats, but solid floor, preferred wood, at least 25mm thick (planks or plywood)

Bob Dean

[Cosmore]

ha ha, pigs you gotta love them.
Yeah i'm, not keen on moving them myself.
y
Yes indeed - mine found some full size concrete blocks whilst rooting - they tossed them aside like they were made of Balsa wood!
Ark floor here is 18mm ply supported on joists.

[shygirl]

a base is an advantage to the pig in winter to stop the damp rising into their bedding. you would want the ground underneath to be flat as a heavy pig could damage the base where it joins the sty in the ground is uneven. we had a floor-less arks with rubber matting but if I had the choice a base of some sort is a must during wet windy winters.

[Bionic]

a base is an advantage to the pig in winter to stop the damp rising into their bedding. you would want the ground underneath to be flat as a heavy pig could damage the base where it joins the sty in the ground is uneven. we had a floor-less arks with rubber matting but if I had the choice a base of some sort is a must during wet windy winters.

Or in fact wet windy summers 

[artscott]

Definitely go for a floor.  We only have weaners  for the summer and the last two years they have been OK without a floor.  This year with the rubbish summer up in Aberdeenshire the ark has flooded and turned to mud inside.  The paddock has dried out but the ark is still sloppy mud due to compaction by their feet, I’ll need to move it and fit a floor.
[/size] Meanwhile the pigs are happily sleeping in a livestock trailer.
[/size]
[/size] Speaking of pooing in their housing , our first two weaners did this, I think because they had too much space.  I reduced the space by adding some straw bales and this to stoped it.  Over time the pigs broke the bales down and they ended up making their own beds[/size][size=78%].[/size]

[pharnorth]

Love those pigs   I put some new straw in my floor less ark last night as it is getting a bit colder.   The delightful adolescents sauntered out of bed at about 9.45 this morning, clearly only breakfast forced them out of their comfortable new beds. 

[Daleswoman]

Our ark is built as a lean-to in a corner made by 2 stone walls, and the floor is outdoor grade plywood fixed on top of 2 pallets. The soil here is heavy clay and holds a lot of surface water when it rains, so I thought a raised floor was essential to keep them dry and warm.

We got our 2 piggies as weaners and they've kept their bed spotless, I've been in to check a few times and I could honestly sleep in there myself! I've given them extra straw from time to time but quite often they chuck it out, as if they think there's already plenty in there.  They've made a toilet area in part of the pen furthest from their ark and I've not poo-picked, but will clean it up after they've gone.

Overall, I've found them to be the least trouble of all our livestock (sheep, poultry and ponies!).