Will Pigs Eat Chickens?

[LuciferRoo]

I want to let my chickens have access to the pigpen so they can have more room. Will a pig eat the chickens? We do not have the pigs yet, but I want the chickens to have access to the area the pigs will use and am wondering if I can safely let the hens into the pigpen after it is occupied by pigs.

Yes. Pigs will eat chickens.
If a chicken falls into a pig enclosure at night, it will be eaten.

 

[K0k0shka]

Gross!

Yep. Chickens are savage psychopaths and don't give a cluck. They would eat their own flock member alive, while it's screaming for help, and they don't even have to be starving to do that! How many animals would do that to their own, at the mere sight of a speck of blood? (again, without being under imminent threat of death from starvation)

 

[Amer]

Yep. Chickens are savage psychopaths and don't give a cluck. They would eat their own flock member alive, while it's screaming for help, and they don't even have to be starving to do that! How many animals would do that to their own, at the mere sight of a speck of blood? (again, without being under imminent threat of death from starvation)

A lot if they were raised in the same conditions. Red jungle fowl wouldn’t do that because their week members are eaten by Nature herself.

 

[K0k0shka]

A lot if they were raised in the same conditions. Red jungle fowl wouldn’t do that because their week members are eaten by Nature herself.

You mean the conditions that my pet chickens are raised in? They have all their needs met and never go hungry, so I doubt a normal animal would eat their own family members under those conditions. But chickens aren't normal animals, as far as nature is concerned, and are a very far cry from the jungle fowl that they descended from. Like all domestic animals, they have been shaped by humans over thousands of years, and have departed greatly from what nature intended, both in terms of looks and in behavior. So, all domestic animals diverge from their natural counterparts in significant ways, but not all show such brutal, cannibalistic tendencies even when raised under favorable conditions. So my question is, why chickens? Dogs endure all kinds of neglect and abuse worldwide, but even when crammed in cages on top of each other on their way to the meat market in Asia, covered in wounds and half-dead from starvation, they still don't eat each other alive. There's something uniquely savage about chickens, and I can't quite figure out what. Maybe it's their inner dinosaur coming through

 

[ViggoRoo]

My chickens run with my pigs, and the feral cats and my (5) Pit Mix dogs. Yeah, we are not the norm, but maybe my own "live and let live" philosophy has spread. Try it out and see if the pigs pay any attention to the chickens. My chickens actually steal the pig food while piggers are eating! No answer is set in stone.

 

[Amer]

You mean the conditions that my pet chickens are raised in? They have all their needs met and never go hungry, so I doubt a normal animal would eat their own family members under those conditions. But chickens aren't normal animals, as far as nature is concerned, and are a very far cry from the jungle fowl that they descended from. Like all domestic animals, they have been shaped by humans over thousands of years, and have departed greatly from what nature intended, both in terms of looks and in behavior. So, all domestic animals diverge from their natural counterparts in significant ways, but not all show such brutal, cannibalistic tendencies even when raised under favorable conditions. So my question is, why chickens? Dogs endure all kinds of neglect and abuse worldwide, but even when crammed in cages on top of each other on their way to the meat market in Asia, covered in wounds and half-dead from starvation, they still don't eat each other alive. There's something uniquely savage about chickens, and I can't quite figure out what. Maybe it's their inner dinosaur coming through

Domestic chickens are not necessarily raised in bad conditions but they are confined. They are social animals with an established heirarchy. In the wild, birds can find space and they can relieve conflicts. If there is a bird one flock doesn’t like it can just leave.
In confinement they turn on it.
Also, the first use for domestic chickens was cockfighting, so human interference has definitely changed their personality. I wonder if there are any domestic chickens that don’t have Game in them.
Turkeys are the same way, heirarchal omnivores. In the wild, they are peaceful with one of the most complex social structures in the animal kingdom but the flock dynamic is totally messed up when they are confinement, which is why desnooding is a thing for commercial turkeys.
That said, some animals behave this way even in the wild
Chimpanzees in the wild are known for homicides and even cannibalism.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29237276.amp
And one in five meerkats are killed by another meerkat.
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/an...-the-worlds-most-murderous-mammal-the-meerkat

 

[K0k0shka]

Also, the first use for domestic chickens was cockfighting, so human interference has definitely changed their personality. I wonder if there are any domestic chickens that don’t have Game in them.

This is probably a key factor actually, because they seem to have an instinct about it that's more than a product of current conditions. Cannibalism as a stress reaction to confinement makes sense for actual confinement and actual stress, but "confinement" here is a stretchy term. Some people seem to think chickens are entitled to complete and total freedom, and any restriction on that freedom counts as confinement, which is too extreme. Pet dogs who live indoors in houses/apartments and only go outside for walks experience more confinement than chickens who have all day access to a spacious run, or better yet, chickens that free range on acres, and yet those free ranging, well fed chickens are still more likely to cannibalize their own for no good reason than the sight of blood, than the pet dog will ever be. So the confinement argument only goes so far. The cockfighting ancestry makes a lot more sense. And it would make sense that it's still showing up to this day, if nobody has explicitly bed against it, because chickens don't pose a real threat to humans, so who cares. As opposed to dogs, where the aggressive ones either get put down, or dumped, or not allowed to breed etc. and eventually such tendencies are diminished overall.

 

[Amer]

This is probably a key factor actually, because they seem to have an instinct about it that's more than a product of current conditions. Cannibalism as a stress reaction to confinement makes sense for actual confinement and actual stress, but "confinement" here is a stretchy term. Some people seem to think chickens are entitled to complete and total freedom, and any restriction on that freedom counts as confinement, which is too extreme. Pet dogs who live indoors in houses/apartments and only go outside for walks experience more confinement than chickens who have all day access to a spacious run, or better yet, chickens that free range on acres, and yet those free ranging, well fed chickens are still more likely to cannibalize their own for no good reason than the sight of blood, than the pet dog will ever be. So the confinement argument only goes so far. The cockfighting ancestry makes a lot more sense. And it would make sense that it's still showing up to this day, if nobody has explicitly bed against it, because chickens don't pose a real threat to humans, so who cares. As opposed to dogs, where the aggressive ones either get put down, or dumped, or not allowed to breed etc. and eventually such tendencies are diminished overall.

I had Ameraucana cockerels free range once and they started killing each other. So to separate them I put one in a cage. Big mistake. The other one killed him through the bars.
So yeah, cockfighting instincts still run deep.

 

[Goldenwahintofboss]

I respectfully disagree. Pigs will eat anything they can catch. They're a big part of the reason that wild turkeys and whitetail deer populations are being affected in areas where wild pigs are naturalizing- they eat the eggs, hens on nests, fawns and any young deer they can catch. I worked on a farm when I was a teenager where they had a hog pen and the hogs would catch and eat barn cats. If given the opportunity, they will eat chickens, too.

Agreed. I have had pigs. They will devour a whole chicken in seconds.

 

[Goldenwahintofboss]

No the pigs themselves will not eat the chickens. I think that would be okay to let them roam in the pig pen!

Yes they will. And without apologies , devouring in seconds.