Phew, our newborn piglets have at least survived the first night outside; in the end it was reasonably warm and completely still. Liz's straw bale windbreak was a brilliant idea and made the outside area much cosier and ideal now that the wind has got up again. 10 alive, 2 of them very small, and sadly 3 stillbirths. Apart from the coldness, it is an awful muddle pigs having outdoor nests. Unlike the nice, smooth, flat floor inside the ark, it is great mountains of (by the morning) soggy straw with miniscule piglets scrambling up the hillsides then rolling down to the bottom just when Mum is about to lie down again. There were several near misses on squashing last night, but this morning they are a bit more spritely and squeaking very loudly if sat on.
Another fascinating thing I learned last night. The two born last, 3.5 and 4 hours after the start, both survived unlike the three before that had drowned during delivery and had no heartbeat or chance of restarting them when they came out. The difference in the last two was that they were both fully encased in unpunctured afterbirth, and that must have been what allowed those to come out fully functioning, unlike the three before with only a thinnish membrane round them.
Well at least birthing outdoors gives much better photo opportunities. Three pics from this morning, at approx 12 hours old, attached. Many thanks for the two replies; as a result I decided not to lift or force them indoors, but have re-strawed the ark floor as Liz suggested, and just hope they will go back in sometime. Tamsaddle