Labour suites

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Spishkey

Spishkey

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does anybody have a 'labour suite' for birthing mummies? or do you just let them give birth in their cages/hutches?
do you have a 'nursery' for mums and babies, away from cage mates? what do you have in there? how big is it? I'm just trying to get prepared for the upcoming population explosion here and thought it may be an idea to set up a sort of labour ward here!
 
You could PM sophiew - she had a few guinea 'maternity suites' back in January and she's getting them ready again I believe. :))
 
If I have a mum on her own, I use a Nero 2 with fleeces. The mums to be can be in this for a while though as we never get any specific dates. And usually they have never been with a boar either! My preggie one at the moment (who has not been with a boar?) is in a Nero 3 with her little pal, I will leave in this cage, but nearer the time, use fleece in the bed area, and clean out daily as I don't like to clean out for a couple of days after the birth. x
 
I use Nero 2 as well for mums to be, it's good to keep them in something smaller so they're always near to the babies.

I keep mums to be in a separate room as I like them to be indoors (the bulk of my piggies are in the shed) so I can check them frequently. I usually give them a towel or fleece too so it's all comfy.

Sophie
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I've read that pregnant sows are at lower risk for toxicosis if they have a larger cage so they can move more. I'm no piggie pro though...

There has been lot's of babies at "my" rescue (the one I adopted from). One of the mums gave birth to a dead pup and she is housed with one of the mums who gave birth to four and they are helping with feeding and general care... I just started crying when I read that.
 
ah ok. i have here the choices of 80cm hutch, 101cm hutch, 1m cage, 80cm cage or 150cm cage? how many cm in a foot?

edit ah ok 3ft is roughly 1m , 80cm is roughly 2 and a half foot...?
 
I think about 30 cm to a foot. You've certainly been long enough in Belgium if you've forgotten the complicated UK system :). I often use google. You can type in "3ft in cm" and they will give you the conversion!
 
Yep I think my little cages are 70-80cm. They are moved to larger cages once the babies are active and eating!

They seem to prefer being by themselves to give birth, I've only had 2 that stayed together as they were so closely bonded and unfortunately both went into labour at the same time, which was a) confusing knowing who had which babies and b) not good for one of the litters which was born prematurely and I had to hand-rear the two survivors.

I usually give the sow a log bridge to hide under - it means you can peer right through it and see if there are babies without disturbing her i.e if it was a box or igloo.

I also supplement any pregnant ones with Raspberry leaf dried herbs, it's supposed to help!

Sophie
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