Wiebke's Tribe: Sows and the City Boars

Such a bitter sweet year for you Wiebke :hug:I’m so sorry you lost so many beautiful piggies. I’m so glad the little Cornish family have brought you joy and you have secured a happy and bright future for them all x
 
I hope 2023 is a good year for you. I’m sorry you’ve had so many losses this year, but that Cornish family are sooooo sweet. Happy 2023 @Wiebke. All of your piggies have wonderful lives with you.
 
I am so sorry for your losses but glad your little Cornish family have brought you some comfort. May 2023 bring you a far better year with much happiness and many smiles.
 
Dear Wiebke it’s been a very tough time for you . We all support you with love.
When you think of the ages of the piggies that travelled to RB ….it is amazing
I’m not sure without coming to you ,without your love and care and nursing that they would have reached the ages they did, so that is quite wonderful.
The broken heart we have each time we lose a piggy is because of the love we have for that piggy.
Missing out on the love, comfort, fun and joy they give us in their little ways would be sad.
You know the enrichment they all gave/give you and your family.
I’m hoping 2023 will be a more settled year for you and your family.
Thank you as always for what you do in the world of guinea pigs ❤️
 
Dear Wiebke it’s been a very tough time for you . We all support you with love.
When you think of the ages of the piggies that travelled to RB ….it is amazing
I’m not sure without coming to you ,without your love and care and nursing that they would have reached the ages they did, so that is quite wonderful.
The broken heart we have each time we lose a piggy is because of the love we have for that piggy.
Missing out on the love, comfort, fun and joy they give us in their little ways would be sad.
You know the enrichment they all gave/give you and your family.
I’m hoping 2023 will be a more settled year for you and your family.
Thank you as always for what you do in the world of guinea pigs ❤️
Thank you.
 
And yet more goodbyes... :(


Llawen has sadly made her journey to the Rainbow Bridge in the small hours of yesterday after being in decline since Sunday when old age was taking over and needing round the clock care.

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Considering that Llawen 'Merry' and her sister Hapus 'Happy' (who is still with me) were rescued babies coming out of the Bracknell hellhole in Spring 2016, it is a bit of a minor miracle to seeing them both live to within spitting distance of their 7th birthday sometime in March.
I adopted the sisters as stuck in rescue piggies from then Little Pip's Rehoming on the Devon coast in October 2016. @furryfriends (TEAS) kindly made a little rescue detour on her holiday to bring them to up to the Midlands for me on her way home.

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Her sad and stressful origins have persistently dogged Llawen's social life, not least because she and Hapus had to likely fight for their mother's scant milk resources right from the start and because Llawen never accepted another piggy she had not been bonded with before the age of 6 months.

I had to repeatedly shift her between Carwyn/Heini's and Barri/Briallen's groups (or increasingly the remains of as time went on) but she always had stable company with the exception of a couple of months after Barri's sudden death (who was the last of the piggies she tolerated) at the end of April 2022. During the interim she enjoyed a feud through the bars with fellow single old Morwenna, who had the same social issues as her.

After Morwenna's passing, Llawen and her sister Hapus thankfully decided to finally bury their hatches as no longer worth it after living apart for several years and to move back together, temporarily joined by similarly aged widowed Hyfryd in a shortlived Golden Oldies group.

It may have taken Llawen a life time to move out from underneath the long shadow of her birthplace but I have hopefully been able to give her the best possible life in a socially stable environment.

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Right in the middle of an usually frosty winter there is sadly very little in terms of flowers bar some injudicious early Spring clematis clinging on (literally) but evergreen shrubs are probably a rather suitable symbol for the life of a Survivor, anyway.

Just Hapus left now of all my many oldies... :(
 
I’m sorry to hear about Llawen - she was living her best life with you and Wiebke’s tribe. To reach the grand age of nearly 7 is just amazing. I doubt she would have if not for your devotion and love and care.
It’s another tough time for you Wiebke - please look after yourself ❤️
Popcorn freely at RB lovely Llawen
 
I am so sorry you have had to say goodbye to Llawen. Sending you hugs and many best wishes at such a sad time.
 
So sorry that you have lost Llawen.
Given her awful start in life the fact that she reached nearly 7 is a real tribute to you and the wonderful home you gave her.
Hugs 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
 
I’m so sorry you have lost beautiful Llawen. You gave her a wonderful life ❤️
 
So sorry for your loss of Llawen. She was so lucky to get that time with you and have a human who really cared about helping her hard-to-suit personality. She was a very pretty piggy. I'm sure she will be sorely missed 🌈
 
I'm so sorry to hear of another loss. I was hoping you'd have a break from it all, I'd be in pieces of it happened to me. Hope you are ok. Run free Llawen. 🌈
 
I'm so sorry to hear of another loss. I was hoping you'd have a break from it all, I'd be in pieces of it happened to me. Hope you are ok. Run free Llawen. 🌈

It's been very much a toss up between Hyfryd, Llawen and Hapus as to which of them would go first; they have all had their ups and downs in turn over the last few months but with all of them I have the satisfaction that they have had a long and good life and are basically dying from old age. And they have done me a great favour by not passing away during the festice season. I have had time to brace for this.

Hapus is back with her long time best friend Heilin and has had a little popcorning and play session with her this morning. It's definitely perked her up! It would have been much more difficult for me had Hapus preceded Llawen.
Tudur has still got widows Carys and Tegeirian to keep him company until Heilin is going to return to the group after Hapus' passing - whenever that is. Since Heilin didn't leave under a cloud, she is going to just fit in again, like she fitted back with Hapus as if they had never been apart.
I call my piggies that can work with different piggies and help me out with difficult personalities or tricky situations my 'social enablers'. Heilin loves both Hapus and Tudur but Tudur has become too much for Hapus a while ago after the trio did work well over the summer months.
 
So sorry you have had to say goodbye to another piggy. She reached an amazing age, thanks to your love and care. May she now rest in piece.
Sending hugs x
 
With another tough month in terms of losses, a Christmas tree in the way and a busy start to the New Year, I haven't taken as many pictures as I would have liked but here are some new ones of Barcud (who has now passed the 900g mark) and his two sons.
Bronrhyddyn is doing his best to catch up his dad as quickly as he can; he is already well over 700g before his 3 months anniversary and Barcud is starting to assert his dominance more strongly.
Feisty Brangwyn is not growing quite as quickly and is likely never to grow into a large boar (even though his presence and temperament punches around the 2 kg mark, figuratively). I had to separate him in December as he wasn't getting along with the other two boys anymore. He lives alongside my two sow groups/pair that do not have a husboar in the hope that one party will accept him once he is neutered and has sat out his safety wait, having watched him growing up.

I have reunited the three boys for a quick photo shoot, which went without any hitch.

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Brangwyn (White Raven), dad Barcud (Red Kite) and Bronrhyddyn (Robin)

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Barcud and Bronrhyddyn (who are still living together)

Brothers Bran and Bron
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With another tough month in terms of losses, a Christmas tree in the way and a busy start to the New Year, I haven't taken as many pictures as I would have liked but here are some new ones of Barcud (who has now passed the 900g mark) and his two sons.
Bronrhyddyn is doing his best to catch up his dad as quickly as he can; he is already well over 700g before his 3 months anniversary and Barcud is starting to assert his dominance more strongly.
Feisty Brangwyn is not growing quite as quickly and is likely never to grow into a large boar (even though his presence and temperament punches around the 2 kg mark, figuratively). I had to separate him in December as he wasn't getting along with the other two boys anymore. He lives alongside my two sow groups/pair that do not have a husboar in the hope that one party will accept him once he is neutered and has sat out his safety wait, having watched him growing up.

I have reunited the three boys for a quick photo shoot, which went without any hitch.

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Brangwyn (White Raven), dad Barcud (Red Kite) and Bronrhyddyn (Robin)

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Barcud and Bronrhyddyn (who are still living together)

Brothers Bran and Bron
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What handsome boars. They grow up so quickly!
 
Those are never the same babies from Cornwall!? 😍 They do grow up ever so quickly don't they. Handsome piggies. Brangwyn does look like a trouble maker though. 😅
 
I am so sorry you have lost all Llawen @Wiebke been away for a long weekend and just catching up. You gave her the best of lives, like all your piggies, sending hugs x

Sleep tight little lady 🌈
 
Oh wow! Look at those boys, they all look amazing. Such handsome dudes. Have you got them booked in the uncle Simon yet?
 
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Beautiful and lovely to see them thriving …..which will they be with such devotion ❤️
 
Those are never the same babies from Cornwall!? 😍 They do grow up ever so quickly don't they. Handsome piggies. Brangwyn does look like a trouble maker though. 😅
They are Modron's two babies born here on 29th October - as hard as it is to believe... :)

Brangwyn is indeed trouble on four paws and then some! :D
 
Super! Amazing weights, they have done so well with all your care

Modron (and through her, her two baby boys) had a massive advantage due to being rescued by you in the very early stages of her pregnancy. This means that she and her babies had the benefit of good care pretty much right from the start, first in rescue and then here before the babies reached a size where they were starting to draw on their mother's bodily resources.

It has made a huge difference to them compared to poor Millyn and her babies suffering the worst of neglect right in the middle of her pregnancy and likely already before but certainly during the time they were dumped. The babies' growth was already impacting on Millyn's low resources without any time for her to catch up until some time after weaning by the time she was rescue When Millyn had her pups at Maria's Animal Shelter, she had not yet had time to recover from her ordeal which resulted in much smaller newborns, reduced milk flow and her drying up early. :(
 
Modron (and through her, her two baby boys) had a massive advantage due to being rescued by you in the very early stages of her pregnancy. This means that she and her babies had the benefit of good care pretty much right from the start, first in rescue and then here before the babies reached a size where they were starting to draw on their mother's bodily resources.
It has made a huge difference to them compared to poor Millyn and her babies suffering the worst right of neglect in the middle of her pregnancy likely already before but certainly during the time they were dumped and the babies already impacting on Millyn's low resources without any time for her to catch up until some time after weaning.
When Millyn had her pups at Maria's Animal Shelter, she had not yet had time to recover from her ordeal which resulted in much smaller newborns, reduced milk flow and her drying up early.
yes poor Millyn had little milk when we brought her up to you and the babies were quite small for their age especially as there was only two of them. You could have expected that if they had been a large litter. It shows how good care can make such a difference, those two sets of mother and babies clearly shows that
 
With another tough month in terms of losses, a Christmas tree in the way and a busy start to the New Year, I haven't taken as many pictures as I would have liked but here are some new ones of Barcud (who has now passed the 900g mark) and his two sons.
Bronrhyddyn is doing his best to catch up his dad as quickly as he can; he is already well over 700g before his 3 months anniversary and Barcud is starting to assert his dominance more strongly.
Feisty Brangwyn is not growing quite as quickly and is likely never to grow into a large boar (even though his presence and temperament punches around the 2 kg mark, figuratively). I had to separate him in December as he wasn't getting along with the other two boys anymore. He lives alongside my two sow groups/pair that do not have a husboar in the hope that one party will accept him once he is neutered and has sat out his safety wait, having watched him growing up.

I have reunited the three boys for a quick photo shoot, which went without any hitch.

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Brangwyn (White Raven), dad Barcud (Red Kite) and Bronrhyddyn (Robin)

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Barcud and Bronrhyddyn (who are still living together)

Brothers Bran and Bron
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Beautiful 😍
 
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