I knew immediately when I saw the title, who was going to pop up in a picture. Years ago, I was reading an article about a contest for naming a pig. The winner was A. Cunningham. LOL. I laugh when you talk about Porkahontas. Another excellent pig name.

And once again, you've brought a smile when it was badly needed. I love those little piggy whiskers.
And I know they got that cookie....how could you not??

Adorable, as usual. They look like so much fun and are also very cute!

Hey Nina, would it be possible to litter box train the piggies? I know people do it with potbellied pigs. I mean, from what I have read, pigs are really clean animals and also extremely smart.

I know cleaning up is part of having pets, but I wouldn't be crazy about cleaning up all that poo. And, yes, I realize that the poo in the litter box would have to be cleaned, too. But that would be easier.. just emptying the litter.

Anyway, just wondering.

Sea

Just love looking at them.

A Cunningham, that's hilarious!!!

sea, yes they can be litter trained. when i brought arnold home as an 8 week old baby, i kept him separate from porkahontas until i could get him neutered. i put a big pan of shavings in one corner of the little barn and he used that without any training from me. since lilly was a house pig for 3 years, she is also litter trained.

pigs are actually very clean and very persnickety about their living quarters. they NEVER do their business anywhere near where they eat or sleep. they have 3 or 4 spots where they poop so cleaning up after them in a breeze. and since we live on sand, their pee just soaks into the ground.

now, i will say that they will (and i have seen them do it often) pee in their pools and then lay down and stretch out in the water! go figure!! LOL

Hi Nina:
I always love seeing your pictures.
Since I know pretty much nothing about pigs......what are their cookies?
also, how do they handle the winter weather? would seem they have good insulation......

Katie

lol that is too funny thank you for sharing your pictures.

No muddy pigs today; it must have cooled down some! They are a riot - love piggy pics!

thanks, katie (and everybody). :)

katie, cookies are sort of a generic term around here. most times they are little puppy biscuits but other times i use seedless grapes or miniature marshmallows or pieces of apples for treats. i'd have to say, the marshmallows are probably their favorite! i did find out this week that lilly is crazy for cauliflower. i have been trying out different low cal treats for her since she could stand to lose some more weight.

last winter was my first winter with piggies. it was such a super mild winter, they did fine with a thick bed of straw under their camper shell where they like to sleep. this winter, i am putting the shell up on 2 layers of concrete blocks so that i can put a small heat lamp in the top for them. hopefully, they won't need it but if it gets really cold, they'll have it. they do have a pretty good layer of insulation but no fur to speak of.

Howdy Nina! Love these guys! How nice of them to pose for you! LOL Do you still have the goats?

You may consider using straw/hale bales around the camper shell, and maybe even on top of it, like a vegetative igloo. It's just an excellent insulator and their body hear should really help to keep the insulated shell more comfortable.

calliope, i have been thinking that maybe i'll put the camper shell up on some straw bales. lilly barely fits under it and that would give her much more head room as well as good insulation for winter.

lisa, i re-homed all of my goats a few months ago. after my back surgery, it just got to be too much for me to take care of. they went to a friend of mine who has them on 30 acres of pasture. they are doing great! :)

Just keep a lookout for moisture inside. I have a chicken flock and of course hay/straw their concrete floor coop down heavily in winter, because it can get plenty cold here, so cold the roos combs could freeze. If there is any moisture accumulated in the grasses, it can set up mold situations and is not healty for respiratory systems. When I find a clump like that, it's off to the garden for compost. Your nose is a good indicator. I know piggies are actually clean animals and might also resent it.

good warning, calliope. unless it gets bitter cold, i will likely use pine shavings for bedding. it's a small enough area that the body heat from 3 pigs should be plenty sufficient at normal winter temps. the camper shell has functional sliding windows on both sides, with screens, that i can leave open a crack for ventilation. it is all inside the big barn so it out of the wind and weather. also, the winter sun shines in there all day long. :)

Geesh..........it sounds so comfortable, I could live there. LOL. In fact, speaking of animal creature comforts. I look at my nice, full-sized chicken coop and think it is larger and as plush as the little flat I had perched up over a stall of garages, when I was first married.

LOL! isn't it funny how WE can lay on the hard floor with just a pillow so that our dogs can take up the entire couch? of course, *I* wouldn't know anything about THAT! ;)

when we moved to the farm and gary (God rest his soul) built the barn, it was for my horses. he intentionally built it so that in the winter, the sun would shine in there all day. it's perfect for the oinkers and they do spend a lot of time in there. that silly arnold has even been spotted sleeping under the camper shell on the hottest days. go figure! i would think it would be terribly hot but apparently, he's quite comfortable and i would also imagine the bugs don't follow him in there.

LOL! isn't it funny how WE can lay on the hard floor with just a pillow so that our dogs can take up the entire couch? of course, *I* wouldn't know anything about THAT! ;)

I am happy to see someone else has done that, and I'm not as eccentric as some people think. Or perhaps I am and you are too. LOL. I have spent more than one night, laying on a ceramin tile floor, or the bricks of my solarium next to an ill animal to comfort them, when that is where they chose to lay. It's a given, in bed, my little dog choses where he wants to lay (always smack dab in the center) and I have to find my spot at the periphery. I've even fallen out of bed when he pushes me to the edge and he only weighs eighteen pounds. My daughter slept a night in my chicken coop when we got our very first flock of chicks to make sure they were ok after they left the brooder. Thank God is was a clean, sanitary concrete floor, fresh hay, and new chickens who hadn't yet had a chance to show their plumbing off. The last chickens in that coop had been at least 35 years previous. The hogs in there, at least fifteen.

i don't call it eccentric, callipe, i call it lovin's. i do remember trying to sleep on a queen sized bed with 3 great danes. it just wasn't working for me so i gave the bed away and got a couple of full sized innerspring mattresses for the floor. even with all of that room, all 3 of them had to be touching me. LOL

i have spent the night in a barn sitting in the straw with a sick horse and i have spent the night curled up next to my senior dane when she was having difficulty getting up and needed help. i spent a couple of hours in the little barn with arnold the night of the day i brought him home because i knew he would be lonely without his littermates. have you ever tried to sleep with a playful 8 week old pig? that's why i only lasted a couple of hours!

ok, yeah...maybe i AM just a teensy weensy bit eccentric! LOL