Try taking a selfie with a pig...

First off, I would just like to say that I have no idea what happened to this week. Yeesh.

And now...pig selfies!

NOT EASY!

And rescue hen LeMay was fascinated with my iPhone...

Totally photo-bombing my pig portrait!

Let's try another pig selfie..

I used part of an apple as enticement. Ha!

Isn't LeMay a pretty girl?

She is one of our five new rescue hens from the OSPCA. The five of them are super sweet, very friendly, nice birds. Bonnie lets me pick her up and cuddle her!

How about another pig selfie?

I do need to wash Ophelia's filthy face! The pig vet came yesterday and said Ophelia is doing great. Apparently pigs tend to have runny eyes, particularly a barn pig who's always burrowing into straw. I will take a warm washcloth down sometime and spruce her up. Her hooves are a little long but the vet thought they would wear down on the concrete floor of the barn. If not, we'll do a trim! Her weight is good and she only needs deworming around the start of May.

The vet is used to looking after large herds of pigs on bigger farms than ours. He seemed quite pleased to see our happy, spoiled swine. He said her pen is palatial, a veritable "piggy heaven." I got the sense that he really likes pigs and was chuffed to see one living the good life.

When the vet arrived, Ophelia was completely buried in straw, so he put his hand under it and gave her a scratch until she poked her head out. He wasn't going to disturb her (it is really cold right now!) but all of a sudden she popped up out of her nest. He felt her over and said her weight is just fine, and that we are feeding her the correct amount of miniature pig chow. He thought she weighed about 70 lbs.

I really liked the vet! He's living a James Herriott sort of life, doing his farm rounds. It's a relief to know that he's there should Ophelia ever have a problem.

It is super cute the way Ophelia completely buries herself in straw when she sleeps. We are having another cold spell (already -20C here at suppertime) and I always worry about the animals when it's like this, but she seems cozy in her pen, with her straw and blanket.

Pigs, as I've heard, are very clean animals. Ophelia only does her business in one corner of the pen, which we clean out every day.

The vet told me that she'd be better than a rototiller in my vegetable garden, and that I could set her up in there with a "hot wire" (one strand of electric fencing) and a little shelter and let her go at it. (They can and do dig right under fences.)

I'm looking forward to spring now and warmer weather. I think all the animals will be happy to spend more time outdoors!

Meanwhile, in the barn...

LeMay and Ophelia eat some spilled grain together. It is so cute the way the five rescue hens seem to remember their friend Ophelia, and happily hang out with her. She seems to like them too!

The guinea fowl are not as impressed. There has been a lot of their screeching going on lately!

The two fluffy butts in the front are LeMay and Debbie. The two in the back are Bonnie and Carol. I named all five of the new hens after women who work at our OSPCA shelter. :)

Let's try another selfie!

I just love this pig! Whenever I come in the barn, she grunts hello (or she might be saying "WHERE'S THE FOOD?!") As the vet said, if you gave a pig a mountain of food, she'd stand on it and eat it all. They really are completely obsessed with eating.

Case in point...

Helping Debbie and Carol clean up some feed!

ANd cutie LeMay!

This one cracked me up.

Have a great weekend!