My Crib: Agent Minty gives a tour of Piggyfriends.
Here I am, Agent Minty, in my pen. This is typical of the pens at Piggyfriends, which have been made by our Slave. You can see that it is made out of wire panels and this is how it is set up. First of all, Slave puts a double piece of heavy gauge plastic on the floor to protect her carpets. She buys this from a garden centre and uses a lot of it in her work. It comes on a big roll and can be cut to shape with scissors.
On top of the plastic, she places rows of thick newspapers. These extend beyond the space that the pen will occupy so that we piggies cannot nibble the plastic. On top of this goes our pen. The pens are made from galvanised wire panels, one yard square, that she bought from the garden centre years ago. These last forever and can be cut to size with secateurs to fit the available space. The one that I share with my friend Copper is half the height of the original panel and this way Slave made two pens out of four wire panels.
When she has placed the pen on top of the newspapers, she puts another set of paper on top. This is for us to mess up and is changed daily but the underneath paper lasts a long time before the whole set up needs to be cleaned. The pen can then be folded and taken outside for a good brush.
You can see in the pigture how the panels are "sewn" together at the corners. Slave uses soft garden wire, which she threads through the corner squares from bottom to top. The wire ends are folded over and tucked in so that they are not sharp. It is easy for her to undo if she needs to extend a pen or change its shape.
Slave puts cardboard boxes in the pens. She gets these big ones from her farmer friend and, lined with more paper and hay, they last quite a long time before we tear them up too much. Then Slave finishes the tearing and they go in the garden compost bins with our considerable piles of poos to make new compost for growing even more veggies. Us piggies enjoy recycling boxes for such a good cause.
Here you can see Copper and me in our sleeping box. Slave asked us not to mess up our cage while she went to get new batteries for her camera but she was too slow.
You can see another pen next door. There are pens all around two rooms and we all have neighbours with whom to chat. You might notice the extra high panel between our pen and the right hand one. This is because sows live in that one and Slave thinks that we might jump over. Chance would be a fine thing. Have you seen the size of us? Jumping is the last thing on our minds.
Here is another view of the Piggyfriends' pens. The one next to us ( you can just see us in our box ) is really a poultry crate. Slave used to put it on her table when she did the RSPCA Pet Days as it has a secure lid and kept prying hands from grabbing piggies but it makes a lovely crib too. The lid is folded back and is set up just like our other pens.
We all love our cardboard boxes and here is another demonstration of their use from Agent Thorntons and Agent Venezia. They will soon need a new one.
Now we are in the second piggy room, which is really Slave's dining room but, as it is a big L shaped room, piggies have taken over half the space. Two of the pens in here are made with wooden frames to the wire panels. These are bigger pens with hinged sides and can be folded flat for taking outside in the summer as exercise pens. They have folding lids but these are only used outside to keep the sun off. They are set up in exactly the same way. Slave has just cleaned them out and the black pipes are still on the carpet waiting to put back for piggies to run through. We also enjoy tearing up the cardboard middles of kitchen rolls. Slave puts hay in these just like we have seen chez Ghost and the Hamster.
You can see our carriers stacked up in the background.
This pigture shows a freshly cleaned out pen. That's Agent Big Red having a nap in a box. Slave collects wine and spirit boxes from the supermarket and these make excellent places for sleeping, jumping on and tearing up. She follows the person putting out wine bottles on the shelves and begs for the empty boxes. They know that she is eccentric. This pen also has one of our plastic stools for hiding in. We like these as they have four holes to run through.
And here is the same pen full of hungry piggies.
Some of us have pigloos. Here is Elliott in his.
We also have a smaller home. This cage is too small as a piggy home. It was given to Slave by a client and she keeps it as a quarantine cage for a newcomer or if one of us is ill and needs to be kept in another room. Dorian is demonstrating it and has a little stool as a hidey.
What views do we have? We can all see the piggies on either side of us and those across the rooms. My room has a view of the garden where we can see the Piggyfriends' flag and the greenhouses where Copper's and my favourite tomatoes grow. We can also see the kitchen where the veggies are washed. The piggies in the dining room get the first view of Slave in the morning so can start the wheeking before us. Their windows face the road so they can see Slave's car pulling up.
I hope that you have enjoyed this tour of Piggyfrends. From Agent Minty on behalf of the Piggyfriends herd.
