July Hatch-a-Long (including 4th of July hatch-a-long)

[TheBajan]

Not too different from auto sexing in crested cream legbars!

So our recent hatch (6 days old) consisted of both Biele's and Cream Legbars. They look just the same. I would say that overall the Legbars are tinier than the Biele's. I had to use nail polish to tell them apart.

 

[Sydney65]

Somewhere in there. Photos of ones he's hatched were pretty. Was curious of one that was all white w/just a spot of tan on it's throat, wondered what it grew up to look like. But Nugget gets into dust bathing so much that he rarely looks like a lavender, so-

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Cutie wootie piggy wiggy!!

I looked into pigs at one point, including KuneKunes. A friend, who decided to start with Guinea Hogs, and I took a weekend road trip to pick them up and after that I was fairly involved with hers. I like the smaller pigs and the color varieties of the KuneKune are a draw for me if I ever get pigs of my own.

KuneKunes are very fun pig to be around. Gentle, easy to handle. If you're ok with their slow growth rate they're a top notch swine choice. We got our 3 last fall. If everything goes according to plan we should have piglets by the end of the year.

Before these Kunes we had Berkshire, Mulefoot, Gloucester Old Spot, and Mangalitsa (the current grow out). If I could have found an Old Spot I would have jumped on that in a heartbeat.

I don't know very much about AGH but I hope your friends program is everything they hoped it would be. The right pigs on a farm are a complete asset. The wrong ones, yikes! Ask me how I know...

 

[FortCluck]

KuneKunes are very fun pig to be around. Gentle, easy to handle. If you're ok with their slow growth rate they're a top notch swine choice. We got our 3 last fall. If everything goes according to plan we should have piglets by the end of the year.

Before these Kunes we had Berkshire, Mulefoot, Gloucester Old Spot, and Mangalitsa (the current grow out). If I could have found an Old Spot I would have jumped on that in a heartbeat.

I don't know very much about AGH but I hope your friends program is everything they hoped it would be. The right pigs on a farm are a complete asset. The wrong ones, yikes! Ask me how I know...

How are they an asset?

We want to do pigs, but I never knew there were pros about them besides meat.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

How are they an asset?

We want to do pigs, but I never knew there were pros about them besides meat.

That's a big one, meat. However they also offer a ton of personality. If you like having dogs you'll like having pigs around. You can use them as part of your pasture management and rotationally grazing. Sell offspring for extra income. The piglets could be pets or meat depending on your program and seed stock. They eat anything! Nothing goes to waste with pigs around. Innards from when we process poultry, raw milk past it's prime, extra eggs, garden/orchard surplus and anything in the fridge that got away from you (except pork or items people have eaten off of).

 

[CindyinSD]

That's a big one, meat. However they also offer a ton of personality. If you like having dogs you'll like having pigs around. You can use them as part of your pasture management and rotationally grazing. Sell offspring for extra income. The piglets could be pets or meat depending on your program and seed stock. They eat anything! Nothing goes to waste with pigs around. Innards from when we process poultry, raw milk past it's prime, extra eggs, garden/orchard surplus and anything in the fridge that got away from you (except pork or items people have eaten off of).

Some people use them to clean out a deep bedded barn once the winter residents have gone to spring pastures. They periodically toss in dried corn through the winter when they add bedding. By spring it's nicely fermented and the feeder pigs tear it all up looking for the corn. Composting machines.

Corn in a new pond or a leaking pond and they (reputedly) roll around in the mud playing as they seek out the corn, compacting the bed & sealing the pond.

I've seen others use the pigs for breaking up the forest floor or a new crop/garden area. (I may watch too many Youtube homesteading videos...) I really want to raise a couple feeder pigs one year, but DH is certain he would hate them. He grew up within smell of pig factories.

 

[kelseyk]

I had to cull the Salmon Faverolle chick that I assisted. I had worked with it quite a bit as it could not walk well and kept flipping over on it's back. It was doing so much better yesterday and I thought it was going to pull through. But when I went out this morning, I found it on it's back and almost dead. I tried to give it some nutri-drench and put it back in the cup, but it just was not coming out of it.

On a good note, I came home from town to loud cheeping. One of my Speckled Sussex chicks had hatched!

 

[jolenesdad]

This is a new one for me. I kept one chick from my end of April hatch a long. Mom has never really separated from the chick who is 9 weeks old.

That chick spends half her time in a box with her mom who is broody.

 

[Perris]

how sweet - mummy's little girl! Has mum even tried to drive her away to independence?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

This is a new one for me. I kept one chick from my end of April hatch a long. Mom has never really separated from the chick who is 9 weeks old.

That chick spends half her time in a box with her mom who is broody.

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Wow! That’s quite the picture! I loved how gentle Susan the Silkie was with her chicks last year. We picked those chicks as ones that might stay with her and be her flock friends after her showgirl BFF died, and that’s what happened. Susan never did chase the chicks away and they would just hang out next to her while she laid her eggs in the nest box. Even as adults they would flock with her and roost with her. I’m so glad that we got her those chicks and gave her a wonderful year before she passed away from Marek’s.