I Need Advice On My Pigs!! HELP!!!

I'm kinda new to pigs myself but the way I understand it is that pigs are omnivors(sp?). They will eat mice, chickens and other small birds. I don't think your pigs are mean. In my opinion though they are dangerous in the same way that a horse or tame cow is dangerous. They are bigger than you and don't realize their strength. Make sure to that the kids know not to put their fingers near the pigs' faces because a pig will bite them.

 

Kimberly, I was raised on a small pig & beef farm way back in the 50's. Even back then I remember my father Never letting us kids go near the pig pens. His pigs were quite tame but as he always told us-"never trust a 200+# pig, they can & will eat anything they can corner".
We were only allowed near but never in the pens when my father was present.

Fast forward to the last 20 yrs. We've raised many pigs and I have never had any actually attack me outright but I have had them bite at my thighs, ankles and hands while I'm doing chores. We have always had ours within a fenced pasture so their aggressiveness wasn't due to overcrowding.
I have never had any of my chickens eaten but I do know others who have.
I have been told that if a person were to fall or get injured while in the pen, the pigs would be more likely to attack, especially if they are aggressive to start with.

As for the kids, please play it safe and keep them far away from the pig enclosure. Pigs are very intelligent, interesting creatures but they are still after all an omnivore and if they will kill and eat a chicken, who's to say they wouldn't go after a small child.

I always thought 'my pigs wouldn't be mean or bite' but I've since learned even giving them the best care with the best food is no guarantee that a full size pig won't turn on you without provacation.

My last three were shipped to the processor in Jan, and I have to say I felt no sadness when they were gone. I was bruised and battered by the time these three got to 300# each.

Good Luck,
Kathy

 

before i got out of pigs mine wiped out all of my shickens, and they never seemed agitated towards people, the pigs were my fathers pets .imagine a 70 yr old man having a pen full of pigs for pets ,and they loved to be petted were talking sows and a stud boar, the only thing they ever bit was the chickens.

 

I've had the same issue come up - and have found that pigs won't attack and kill chickens - a few of ours lived in the pig pen with the pigs for about two months. They will eat a dead chicken, or if it gets sick, they'll nibble at it until it's dead and then eat it. They aren't "dangerous" in the way a bobcat is. They aren't predatory.

I suspect that the biggest reason that kids throughout history have been told to stay away from the pig pen is because of the incredible potency of the manure. Yech.

 

I have raised steers, pigs, horses, chickens, egg layers as well as broilers. My best advice is to remember animals are animals. They were not created to be on the same level of intellegence as we are. Pigs can be calm or spastic. Those animals that are around humans will tend to be better animals if treated humanly. Those that are ignored or abused react defensively. I would not get rid of your pigs because they ate a few chickens, this doesn't make them killer pigs. I also would not trust my children in the pen alone. Caution is always best around livestock. Even nice young roosters grow up to be aggressive. Keep your pigs teach your children do's and don'ts and go buy a few more chickens. This is a great way to live our lives don't give up do to a couple of poultry.

 

If you want pork, and have safety concerns, you could consider potbellies. They are safer than the full sized but I still wouldn't take a nap in the pig pen. free range potbellied pork is lean. I bred out their aggressiveness by eating the mean ones first. but a pig is a pig and they will eat what they can get to. Mine will eat carrion, but dont seem to hunt. They eat the coyotes that the dog kills. if you are interested, I have more information on my website www.windridgefarm.us there is a link there to another site about potbellied pork

 

Pigs and chickens can live together until the pig finds out what raw chicken tastes like. This happens most often when the chicken is trying to steal food from the pig. The pig snaps at the chicken just as it would snap at another pig. Sooner or later the pig is going to get a mouth full of tasty chicken. From then on chickens are meat on the table to the pigs. If the hogs are eating out of a self feeder, they very seldom start killing chickens. If the hogs are fed in a trough, and are anxious to gobble up what is given them, the chickens are in danger. Hogs that are in pens that don't have feed available 24/7 don't want to share. The most common chicken killers are sows nursing a litter of pigs. They are always hungry, and sometimes run down from giving lots of milk. They will lose weight with the best of care. When the hogs and chickens are all running in a large field it would be rare to have one kill chickens unless you feed them on a schudule instead of full time.
The only time hogs should be limited on feed intake is after sows are bred until they farrow.
A big fat sow is a much poorer mother than a healthy trim one.
Kids should be taught to never put their fingers in ANY animals mouth. The worst scare I get is seeing a parent let a little kid mess around a strange horse or donkeys mouth, or just get within grabbing distance of one. A horse bite is worse than a snake bite. The horse takes out a lot more meat.

 

I SAW a pig kill and eat a chicken - IT Happens!!!!

 

and Chuck - pigs do get mean. They are FARM animals and never should you trust your children with them. My Pop had a hand raised sow and she had piglets. She turned mena and never got better. 300 lbs is nothing to sneeze at around kids. Period.

 

yep...pigs are not little sweet things. Have had them go after chickens; know of someone who had a barbados lamb killed and ate. Old farmers used to tell of having a farm horse die and it'd be dragged into the pig pen for "disposal". I wouldn't say they're killers...but if it's smaller and slower it's fair game.

 

Bullrunner makes a lot of sense.

If you stop to think about a working farm; there are all kinds of dangers, from mothers protecting their young (be it a cow or a sow), to breeding age males (bulls, boars, bucks) to farm equipment and machinery. That's the nature of the business, but we try to be as safe as possible.

You need to and should take the time to educate your kids about these risks/dangers, just as you would talk to them about operating a push lawnmower.

One of the things that you should teach your kids is that farm animals are not pets, at least not like a kitten or hamster. Most farm animals are large enough to have the potential to do you serious bodily harm, even if they are not what people think of as aggressive. Farm animals with young, cow with a just-born calf, a sow with a new litter of pigs are extremely territorial and will do anything to protect their young. Breeding age males should never be trusted and I would never let a kid into any pen, lot or enclosure that had a breeding age male, no matter how "friendly" and "gentle" one might say the animal is. Just ask an old farmer how many people have been taken by a bull or bit up bad by a boar.

With pigs, we aren't talking about a 40-lb. feeder pig going for your jugular, but imagine a feedling floor with 100 feeder or larger pigs on it. Ask anyone who has gone in to check the feeders or waterers, and they'll tell you that the pigs will nibble on your work boots, tug on your pants, etc. Now, imagine a small child in that pen and suppose the pigs knocked her or him down and then the nibbling began. Same thing could happen to an adult. Suppose you slipped and hit your head, got knocked unconscious.

Yes, we are supposed to be smarter than farm animals, but if this "higher" human intelligence clings on to "but he's so cute" and "he is always gentle" pet-type beliefs and doesn't have a healthy respect for the power of livestock and the potential dangers in handling them, then we are not using our intelligence wisely.

 

Unfortunately, that turns out not to be the case.

Pigs are omnivorous, big, strong, fast, hungry, intelligent and amoral animals. You need to always treat them with the respect due an animal which can kill and eat you, or members of your family, or visitors, or livestock. Chuck, if you have not been doing that, and your young children have not suffered for it, then the experience is not uncommon, but the danger is always there. I really would strongly recommend you rethink your attitude. They used to say of old-time (non-confinement) operations, that you could always tell a pig farmer because he was the one missing fingers. That wasn't really ALWAYS true, but it was true uncomfortably often.

In Australia, feral pigs are one of the top-three predators of livestock, along with foxes and feral dogs. They ARE predatory, they WILL kill, anyone who has not had that experience has been lucky - SO FAR. Don't push the luck.

Doesn't mean you can't keep them as livestock. Just means you have to recognise the risks and deal with them. Strong fences, gates that can't be fiddled by an intelligent animal, ways to keep vulnerable people away from the pigs.

 

Well this has put my mind a bit to rest. I had assumed if a chicken flew in the pig pen it would be certain death. One of my chickens flew over the fence last week when I startled her. I my panicked, rushed in the pen and launched myself at her as she passed. My poor hen was shocked, the pigs hardly got a chance to move before I was out the pen again & probably wondered what on earth I was doing. I guess my actions may have been a little excessive considering my two piglets are only about 50lbs!!

Well I would prefer that way round than too relaxed and a dead chicken!

 

I have two potbelly/hamshire cross pigs (so they are small) they free range, they will follow me anywhere, I can get them to walk up a ramp into a trailer, they come when called, but don't like to be touched and they have scraped their teeth across my legs and hands, and left marks in footwear. As far as I know they have never eaten raw meat [to avoid starting them on hunting for their own] I have seen them bite our lamb but his wool protected him as they where not trying to kill him, they will fight with the dogs and run the goats away from food only the buck with horns and the horse will stand up to them.

Even though they are small I know they could kill chickens if the bird didn't get away fast enough, I think they would try to eat any newborn if they go a chance at one or the afterbirth.