The Quack Shack

[Duck_life]

Don’t nudge him away hold him down just like another drake would show dominance to him. You will have to reinforce this many times but he’ll get the message if your consistent.

I tried that a while ago but he slings his neck up like he's going to break it so I've been afraid to do that. Is there a certain way to hold him down? I put my hand around the lower half of his neck, hold it down, and put my other hand on his back.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are strong so I put my knee over mines back or straddle him not putting all my weight on him of course but putting enough so he can’t get up,place you hand on his neck where it keeps his head down to the ground and he can’t move it. Once he’s not fighting count to 10 then let him up facing away from you. If he comes at you again hold him down again. They are stubborn for sure. But honestly if you work with him consistently he’ll get the idea. My drake will be 9 in June and I rarely have to hold him down more than once now. I kid about him going after my boots which he loves to chew on but I never let him get away with biting me. He follows me around wanting attention and snuggles.

 

[Duck_life]

They are strong so I put my knee over mines back or straddle him not putting all my weight on him of course but putting enough so he can’t get up,place you hand on his neck where it keeps his head down to the ground and he can’t move it. Once he’s not fighting count to 10 then let him up facing away from you. If he comes at you again hold him down again. They are stubborn for sure. But honestly if you work with him consistently he’ll get the idea. My drake will be 9 in June and I rarely have to hold him down more than once now. I kid about him going after my boots which he loves to chew on but I never let him get away with biting me. He follows me around wanting attention and snuggles.

My boy is very friendly, he is a big attention boy, but he does love to go after me to. Thanks for that! Hopefully he won't be a big baby about it and act like I'm killing him.

 

[rjohns39]

Anyone here own pigs, or did? We're starting out a plan or the pen. They're just going to be for meat, so nothing special. I just have 3 questions

1) Will predators go after them when they're babies, and when they have piglets?(And adults, they will be bred, the babies will be used for meat)

2) Will they go after my chickens/ducks, my dad owned pigs and told me if they had the chance, they'd break out and kill them. Just want to see if this is true.

3) Will electric fence hold them in.

Thanks, lol. I'm just asking because I don't want to lose any pigs or lose any animals to a pig..

Kendra, Keep in mind I consider myself a pig failure...

1) yes when they are too small to defend themselves, but mama should protect them at that age, once they are fully weened there are few predators that present an issue.

2) Mine didn't bother with the chickens or ducks. Didn't even mind the chickens standing on them. When the chickens would get into their food, they would goose them with their snout.

3) Yes, but you have to train them early to the wire. AND you have to have at least a 2 joule energizer, bigger is better. This is the area I failed the worst. My friend uses steal wire with a big spring to train them to the wire. The first time they get shocked they'll attack the wire, if they win, you lose.

4) if you're going to let them breed, separate the boar as soon as the sow farrows. At three months, the boar will be going after the little girls. Also have a plan on what you will do with any males that are born as they'll be frisky by about three months.

5) Fencing. Hog panels are great, but line the inside with cinder blocks, railroad ties, etc. Otherwise they'll get their nose under the fence and bend it up. Hot wire about a foot inside the fence and nose height works if they've bee properly trained and it's really hot. My friend actually just uses a single wire to keep them contained in his forest, but they get rigorous training before transitioning.

 

[Duck_life]

Kendra, Keep in mind I consider myself a pig failure...

1) yes when they are too small to defend themselves, but mama should protect them at that age, once they are fully weened there are few predators that present an issue.

2) Mine didn't bother with the chickens or ducks. Didn't even mind the chickens standing on them. When the chickens would get into their food, they would goose them with their snout.

3) Yes, but you have to train them early to the wire. AND you have to have at least a 2 joule energizer, bigger is better. This is the area I failed the worst. My friend uses steal wire with a big spring to train them to the wire. The first time they get shocked they'll attack the wire, if they win, you lose.

4) if you're going to let them breed, separate the boar as soon as the sow farrows. At three months, the boar will be going after the little girls. Also have a plan on what you will do with any males that are born as they'll be frisky by about three months.

5) Fencing. Hog panels are great, but line the inside with cinder blocks, railroad ties, etc. Otherwise they'll get their nose under the fence and bend it up. Hot wire about a foot inside the fence and nose height works if they've bee properly trained and it's really hot. My friend actually just uses a single wire to keep them contained in his forest, but they get rigorous training before transitioning.

Thank you. This is pretty useful

I didn't know you had to separate the boar.. We would probably end up selling the boar by that time, at 6 months my father said is when you "kill" the babies to prepare ating them, etc. (I don't know any terms lol) Or is that not true? Breed we're looking into getting is Yorkshire.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like a lot of work keeping hogs.

 

[Trimurtisan]

Does anybody here own any Rock Island Armory firearms? I'd love to hear your opinion on them if you do.

 

[Trimurtisan]

I ended up putting Annie's remaining chick in with the new hatchlings. I hate to separated it from momma but when I did the feeding this morning the poor thing was getting kicked around. The LF chicks are just growing to fast too keep them together.

 

[rjohns39]

Thank you. This is pretty useful

I didn't know you had to separate the boar.. We would probably end up selling the boar by that time, at 6 months my father said is when you "kill" the babies to prepare ating them, etc. (I don't know any terms lol) Or is that not true? Breed we're looking into getting is Yorkshire.

It all depends on the breed and the farmer. Some harvest at 6 months, some at 18 and anywhere in between. I didn't separate the boar, I wish I had.

 

[DiYMama540]

We don't own any Rock Island personally Trim, but I have heard my husband comment that they seem like a pretty quality weapon for the price.