Pot Bellied Pigs with Chickens??

[LovinMyHensInNC!]

I couldn't resist when I saw an ad for a free pot-bellied pig in our area. Has anyone housed a pig with their chickens? She will not have access to their coop but will share their run, along with our goats and Pyrenees dogs. Will this work? So far, the chickens don't seem to mind her.

 

[JimWWhite]

Well, if they're like my Gold Comet pullets it would be like putting a pot-bellied pig in with 19 other pigs with feathers...

 

[bargain]

Please don't do this!!!!

Although pot bellied pigs are more gentle than "eating" pigs, they are pigs..... We have pigs and also birds and do keep them separately.

Should your poultry get a cut or injury, the pig would definitely try to eat them. And this wouldn't be healthy for the bird to dry out of the watering trough, etc., as it could drown.

Hope this was helpful.

 

[T-Rexxx]

ours live together,no problems except a fat pig

 

[Andi]

I've owned a pot belly and I agree with bargain. Mine was even a potty trained house pig.

Pigs are smart. Pigs are also almost completely food motivated. They will eat anything that might be thought of as food. Your chickens are no exception, or the eggs. Although the pig probably wouldn't bother them as long as they are healthy, I'm not so sure the chickens would survive if they got a wound. You can not teach a pig to resist the urge to eat. The food and water would have to be separate anyway.

Learn as much as you can about caring for your pot belly! There's a lot I didn't know. You'll have to trim their hooves, protect their delicate skin, provide a diet so they don't get too big, consider having the eye teeth removed to prevent your legs, as well as pets from getting slashed open once the pig is older, and provide a pig safe environment.

I miss my Rosie, but she was a lot of work! Pigs are social creatures and don't like being alone. When they are alone they get into trouble easier because they are bored. Train as much as you can while its little because they are stubborn as adults, not to mention solid and heavy bundles of muscle.

Enjoy your pot belly. Oh, and post some pics!

 

[cameldairy]

I had a pot bellied pig make friends with one of my big rabbits, I thought it was SOO cute to see the rabbit all snuggled up to the pig until one day I walked up on the pig just as he was finishing up the last of that poor rabbit. That was ABSOLUTELY the last time he accepted a dinner invitation!

 

[TarzantheChickenMan]

ive got both a pot bellied pig and a goat in a pen right next to the chickens the pig has shown no interest in eating chickens
in fact the every morning the chicken follow me to feed the pig
the poor pig has to keep the chickens out of her food just dont allow the pig access to the chicken feed
so long as the pig is not dieing of hunger the chickens will be fine

i kept food pigs last year as well the chicken hopped in their pen too the pigs again showed no interest in them so long as they were fed never let them get too hungry

but on the note of pigs eating anything its true my uncle used to raise sled dogs when i was a kid he had a young little of puppies go into his pig pen, pigs where domestic pig / wild boar cross needless to say no more puppies

so good luck

 

[JimWWhite]

Ever heard of H1N1? It starts in birds (chickens, ducks, geese) and moves thru pigs and then on to humans. It may take many trips through. Lets say you get the flu one day and you're out feeding your chickens or gathering eggs before you get too sick to be outside. Mr. virus falls off you and onto something Ms. Pullet eats. It may not even affect her or she may just get a case of the runs or something like that. Then 'Mr. This Little Piggy' comes along and consumes something that comes out of Ms. Pullet's hind end. Well around and around it goes kind of like a big combination lock up in the sky, only much bigger and moving very fast. Somewhere along the way a tumbler falls into place. Click! And the combination wheel turns back the other way and goes around and around many, many times and lo and behold another tumbler falls into place. Click!! Oh, we now have two out of the three numbers we need to open the lock. And back the other way until 'Click!!!', Pandora's Box pops open.

Seriously, influenza comes mostly from Southeast Asia where it's common to raise fowl and swine together. Basically this is how the various strains of flu develop. Add a person or two billion, plus some chickens, and some pigs and you might get something you don't want. I wouldn't want to do it.

 

[Barred Rockstar]

When I was a kid we had some ducklings that lost their mother and decided our pot belly pig Priscilla would be a suitable surrogate. She absolutely hated them, snapped at them a couple times, but they followed her around anyway. Eventually she gave up and let the ducks have their way with her. I remember she looked pretty miserable covered in duck poop, trying to sleep with ducklings crawling all over her!

 

[Barred Rockstar]

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