Will Pigs Eat Chickens?

[cassie]

I grew up with pigs and free ranging chickens. We never had an issue. A well fed pig isn’t all that fast, not like a wild boar… and they tend to just not want to work that hard to get food when there’s plenty of feed. Theoretically possible but unlikely to actually be an issue.

It isn't an issue unless it is. It depends on the pig.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

my cousins have a massive Berkshire boar and a 7 year old sow and the ducks/geese/chickens etc all have access to the pigpen. but it's a big barn and yard so there are usually other more interesting places to be for the birds (unless the geese are screaming at my when I want to pet the pigs!)

 

[Amer]

Pigs are omnivores and will eat anything. Pigs are predators/carnivores by both choice and skill. They are, when it comes to diet and nature, the 4 legged equivalent to humans, and can be just about as bad natured, but without the opposable thumb (thank goodness!).
I've been around pigs most of my 68 years and I would not allow your pigs to free roam unless you have some SERIOUS fencing and a way to keep all small animals (Including children) completely away from them. The only thing more bloodthirsty than a pig is a lawyer. Especially one who smells lawsuit over dead or injured child or animal due to careless pig keeping.
If you really need a four-legged blackberry control? Get goats.

There’s a reason pigs were the antagonists in Animal Farm.
To be fair, chickens would be the same way if they were big enough and had teeth.

 

[Birdinhand]

There’s a reason pigs were the antagonists in Animal Farm.
To be fair, chickens would be the same way if they were big enough and had teeth.

Let’s be clear, the only thing stopping chickens from eating us is size. that YouTube video of the “backyard mouser” comes to mind, that hen that runs down a mouse that scurried out into the open, she flips it up in the air and downs it whole.

 

[RT2000]

Your chickens will smell like a pig if housed with pigs and will be high risk of being eaten

Yes pigs will eat chickens. A man I know kept finding chicken feathers and what was left of their carcass in the pig pen in the morning. He didn't let the chickens into the pig pen and couldn't figure out how the pigs were getting the chickens at night so he set up a game camera. The chickens would roost on top of the pig pen fence. A hog would bump the fence with his butt and cause the chickens to fall into the pig pen so he could get them. I don't have pigs but if I did I wouldn't let the chickens in with them.

 

[SmotherHen]

The pigs will be out of their yard most of the day eating blackberries, which we have an infestation of. I was planning to shut the chickens out of the pig pen at night. I have twenty-one chickens and a large yard for them. I just think they would enjoy the extra space.

After reading all the pro's and con's, IMHO I don't think it's worth the risk. Especially if they are able to pass parasites between each species, which they could by sharing/using/moving in the same turf.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

I free range my chickens, and don't let my pigs roam. I know for a fact, a chicken hopped their fence and got gobbled up...

I am missing 2...the one I know got eaten, and the one I am sure has gotten eaten, and the pigs have constant access to food and water....

It's an opportunity...and they have taken it.

I would not let the pigs free roam ever...and I would not encourage my chickens to go into the pig pen....

 

[rayed]

Pigs have a strong rooting instinct, and they can be competitive eaters. If you provide food for both pigs and chickens, make sure there is enough space and separate feeding areas to prevent aggression or competition for resources.

 

[K0k0shka]

I lived on a farm for part of my life when I was younger. We had chickens and pigs, and housed them separately. In the rare instances when a chicken managed to somehow get into the pig's space, it got eaten. I would absolutely not trust pigs around chickens. Maybe some of them could be safe and wouldn't do anything, but all it takes is that one pig that develops a taste for chicken, and you have disaster on your hands.

Let’s be clear, the only thing stopping chickens from eating us is size.

Absolutely! And they may still try, despite their size! Without meaning to, too. One time a few years ago I was sitting with my small handful of pet chickens, it was summer and I had shorts on. My attention was on the chicken in my lap, so I didn't see that another chicken had taken an interest in something on my leg. I was vaguely aware of her pecking my leg, but chickens peck things out of curiosity, and it didn't really hurt, so I ignored her. Sometime later it started to sting a little, so I looked down to find the chicken's beak covered in blood, a trickle of blood running down my calf, and a pretty sizable hole developing into my skin where she was pecking!!! I'd nicked myself earlier and had a small scab there, and apparently she started investigating the scab by pecking, pecked it off and saw blood, then went all savage on me, but the tough leg skin in that area isn't sensitive enough for me to have felt much until it started looking quite gruesome. She was going for meat at that point and if I hadn't stopped her and walked away to patch up my hole, I bet she would've kept going until she was ripping hunks of meat off! Chickens have been known to cannibalize each other like this, or anything else they can get their beaks on. It's like something in their brain flips when they see blood. That thing with the bull seeing red? It's not the bull, it's the chicken!

 

[chicken mama 0908]

I lived on a farm for part of my life when I was younger. We had chickens and pigs, and housed them separately. In the rare instances when a chicken managed to somehow get into the pig's space, it got eaten. I would absolutely not trust pigs around chickens. Maybe some of them could be safe and wouldn't do anything, but all it takes is that one pig that develops a taste for chicken, and you have disaster on your hands.


Absolutely! And they may still try, despite their size! Without meaning to, too. One time a few years ago I was sitting with my small handful of pet chickens, it was summer and I had shorts on. My attention was on the chicken in my lap, so I didn't see that another chicken had taken an interest in something on my leg. I was vaguely aware of her pecking my leg, but chickens peck things out of curiosity, and it didn't really hurt, so I ignored her. Sometime later it started to sting a little, so I looked down to find the chicken's beak covered in blood, a trickle of blood running down my calf, and a pretty sizable hole developing into my skin where she was pecking!!! I'd nicked myself earlier and had a small scab there, and apparently she started investigating the scab by pecking, pecked it off and saw blood, then went all savage on me, but the tough leg skin in that area isn't sensitive enough for me to have felt much until it started looking quite gruesome. She was going for meat at that point and if I hadn't stopped her and walked away to patch up my hole, I bet she would've kept going until she was ripping hunks of meat off! Chickens have been known to cannibalize each other like this, or anything else they can get their beaks on. It's like something in their brain flips when they see blood. That thing with the bull seeing red? It's not the bull, it's the chicken!

Gross!