just over a week ago one of my boars escaped into the enclosure with my two girls. He wasn’t in there in the morning, I went out for the day then when I went in around late evening I found him in there so I don’t know how long he was with them.
The girls are both nearly 2 years old and I weighed them last week and yesterday and one has gained 30g and one 25g which I think is a lot for two slightly older piggies. What are the chances of them being pregnant?
My boar somehow got over the c&c grid into their cage. The cages are now no longer next to each other and extra grids are on to prevent further escape.
Hi! Please take the time to read our guides. They have been specifically written for inexperienced owners and cover the whole period. We have made them as practical and detailed as possible.
Pregnancy & Baby Care Guide
Make sure that your girls are not exposed to too much warmth during heat spikes, especially not in two weeks before and after giving birth (small risk of pregnancy toxaemia).
Hot Weather Management And Heat Strokes
Diet is the most important preparation - and overall balanced hay based diet so your girls are as fit as can be with some little tweaks in 6 weeks' time if you notice signs of a pregnancy by then. The fitter your moms, the better the over all survival chances for any babies. Please DO NOT overdo a pregnancy diet. Any extra amounts are very small. You are aiming for ideal sized babies for a smooth birth, not whoppers getting stuck at birth!
Please don't panic - a pregnancy lasts around 10 week and you won't see anything until about 6-7 weeks into the bargain. You may not even see anything until birth depending on the size of the litter. When my surprise baby Tegan was born (from a newly arrived sow), her mother Tesni only gained 30g in the last week, but Tegan was a perfect 100g despite not showing at all.
30-40g is the daily weight variance between a full/empty tummy and bladder, by the way. If you want to have a more comparable weight chart, I would strongly recommend to always weigh either before their dinner or breakfast so you can exclude the daily swings as much as possible.
With luck both your girls or at least one of them has escaped. Sows come into season around roughly every two weeks. They can come into season spontaneously when in contact with male pheromones, but only if they are coming up to it. However, boars are usually especially athletic, incentive and persistent when they are lured by pheromones from a sow in season.
If you wish, you can have a scan at the vets at around 7 weeks. By then mum's internal organs are no long in danger to be mistaken for babies because they will be advanced enough to show up clearly on either a scan or x-ray with calcium in their skeletons. Otherwise you will have to sit it out.
Please do not panic over the pelvic bones seizing up. It is a very gradual process. At that age odds are still very much in favour for a problem-free birth as long as you go easy on the pellets (10g per day per piggy) and don't overdo any fattening alfalfa hay (which is a legume and not a grass) so your babies are an ideal 70-100g to come out easily. One handful per sow per day in the last third of the pregnancy in addition of her normal hay is perfectly enough!
Please use this specially monitored guide for any further questions once you have read our guides and any updates in the coming weeks. Being able to keep all information together will help us to give you the best advice for your individual situation. You can set your own alerts by making use of the 'watch thread' option yourself to choose in which way you want to receive your own alerts.
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