[The Woodsiders]

Hi all

My two 5 month old piggies are moving around in liquid mud at the moment, as I am sure a lot of other folks pigs are the same, I have no more space to put them so they are having to stay where they are, they seem quite happy and are eating well, my puzzle is this, why when I clean their arc each week and put in loads of straw do they insist on pushing it all out again? you would think that they would be happy to have a nice clean bed, put straw in yesterday, went down this morning very little left apart from mud. They are due for their final journey in early January.
Anyone have the same problem with the straw ( not the mud )

[Fowgill Farm]

Its just a pig thing, leave some of the old stuff in the ark when you clean it out and mix in the new, they like their own smell if you know what i mean so they shuffle and snuffle it about to get their smell on it and some comes out the door as they rootle about. Mine do it too, i just keep topping them up according to the weather, my 3 go in two weeks time and until recently they had been sleeping in the sun shelter! but as its got wetter and colder they've moved into the ark. make sure theres a good wadge of straw outside the door to use as a doormat or laying area, you can use the old mucked out straw if its not too bad.
HTH
mandy 

[The Woodsiders]

Thanks Mandy for your reply, thought they me be like me and like nice clean sheets, my wife said that in future she will leave the bottom sheet on for a few weeks if it would make me more comfortable!!!!!

I do tip the straw out into their doorway, soon gets trodden in though.

[welshlass181]

Mine are kept out doors in a field that is a mud quagmire too lol my arks are on hard standing tho and i just top up the straw so there is a nice thick bed of it.  They don't mess in it but they do drag mud into it which makes it a bit wet and when it does get like this i tend to put a layer of shavings down before i chuck loads more straw in.  I'll move the arks brfore the hard weather sets in and keep them there until the weather settles down again.

[SallyintNorth]

I've been through a bit of a learning on this one, too.  The other thing about the old straw, as well as their smell, is it begins to compost and gives off warmth, so they'll be warmer if some or most of the old straw is left in and just topped up.

The other tip, which I learned the hard way, is that when it's wet and cold outside they pretty soon get the straw inside wet and cold with all their dripping comings and goings.  So check the straw with your bare hands every day or two and be prepared to put in some new dry straw more frequently to give them a dry bed.

[JulieS]

It is surprising how quickly the straw becomes damp after their trips in and out of the ark.

I find that this time of year they have some clean straw every evening.

[robert waddell]

sally has hit the nail on the head    the old straw is there electric blanket  by deep cleaning you are upsetting the pigs natural housekeeping

[FiB]

you wonderful people you!!  I came on here to search on this very thing!  Mine are now up the their 'knees' by their hut entrance and I was starting to worry about piggy trench foot if there is such a thing.  Will keep chucking in the straw.

[Sylvia]

I notice that the pigs that use the "pallet" house, with a floor leave their bedding intact (I do put straw down in front of it) but the youngsters who use the floorless ark in which I put a cow mat shove all their bedding outside and sleep on the cow mat.

[oaklandspigs]

We put pallets outside the arks to act as doormats.  These are made from taking the slats of one pallet and using these to castle board over the gaps in the slats of another - any industrial estate will throw pallets at you for free.  The castle boarding provides grip - so the pallet looks like -_-_-_-_- when viewed edge on.

Not only does this help the pigs get in and out, but also stops a hollow being created immediately outside teh ark that fills up with water, and also helps some (by no means all!) mud drop off outside before they get in.

[The Woodsiders]

Thanks everyone for your responses, certainly going to give the pallets a try Robin, may have to put flotation collars on the pigs soon.

[Fowgill Farm]

Our mud is frozen this morning so the piggies are tottering about on it, water troughs had to be thawed out with watering cans of hot water and fresh water from the polytunnel tap as the outside one had seized up.
Babies go a week on monday and their paddock is all but trashed.
Mandy 

[ambriel]

Good idea about the pallet doormat. I'm going to make one up tomorrow.

[Miss Piggy]

Showed OH the tip re pallet doormat last night and hey presto he made the piggies one today. Floating like a raft on the liquid mud tonight..... Not quite but almost. Thanks for the tip doing a great job so far. 5 very happy pigs. 

[doganjo]

Thanks, you wonderful people, you just gave me an idea for my duck pen which is in exactly the same condition as your pig pens.  They love it, but I don't fancy slithering to a halt and going T O A in duck sh--y mud!  Haven't put fresh bedding or collected eggs for three days because I was scared to go in there.  Allez managed to get in the other day and slithered about trying to retrieve Jack and his ladies, without much success as they can cope with it better than a dog - came out looking sheepish - a Hebridean coloured sheep!