Chickens and pigs

[reddirtbirds]

Alright I’m wanting to up my pen/coop game in the spring. I plan on planting a TON more plants in my run. Honeysuckle, more herbs, and hopefully more ornamental grasses. ANYWAYS with all those plants I’m thinking I’ll have to add little areas in the run that are just dirt. And then I got to thinking! I’m wondering if keeping a pig in my run (which is more than large enough) to root up the ground for the girls to have soft dirt to scratch through would be an effective economical thing. I usually til up parts of my run for the birds but that job could I guess be done by a pig. I know lots of people worry about pigs eating their birds but I’m wanting to know if there’s any breeds anyone knows of that don’t have those tendencies. Or any tips anyone has on introducing pigs and chickens?

 

[50-45-1]

I have had pigs at the same time as chickens but not confined together. If your run confines the chickens and pigs together I would expect in no time at all every trace of vegetation will be uprooted and scratched up.
Then when boredom sets in is when the pigs might? explore eating chickens. Dont know, but boredom and tight confinement are leading causes of canabilistic chickens along with dietary deficiencies.

 

[Mrs. K]

All pigs are meat eaters, I would think they would eat the chickens.

 

[Webba808]

I have a pet pot belly pig. He has no interest in eating animals. Freaks out at the sight of a dead lizard on the ground. I think it would depend on how they were raised? If raised outside, detached, not socialized, etc, I would imagine the likelihood of them eating the chickens would be greater. But if they were raised as your pets, raised around the chickens, given good food, loved and nurtured, I don't see them wanting to bother the chickens.

 

[3KillerBs]

Pigs, like chickens, are omnivores, which eat anything that does eat them first. That will include any chickens they can catch.

Chickens are quite capable of digging up the ground on their own (and absolutely love doing it. ).