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pigs

For those who say don't mix chickens and pigs

Michael Newby

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Location: Mount Shasta, CA Zone 8a Mediterranean climate

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posted 11 years ago

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I love these pictures. I came across these guys the other morning and it reminded me of the birds that sit on the backs of rhinos in Africa

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posted 11 years ago

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We often have chickens living with the pigs. It works out really well for both of them. I've had several that end up sleeping on top of the pigs at night as well.

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Michael Newby

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Location: Mount Shasta, CA Zone 8a Mediterranean climate

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posted 11 years ago

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Yeah, I've always been surprises when I read about people saying don't allow them together because the pigs will eat the chickens. All I can think is that the pigs must be pretty hungry to bother trying to get a chicken or maybe it's a learned thing from one rogue pig.

All I know is my chickens go into the pig pen daily and love finding the big juicy maggots in the pig poop as well as going after every little bit they can whenever a bucket of scraps gets dumped into the pig pen. The chickens will dart between the pigs' legs to get at some of the good stuff, I've even watched one chicken snatch a bite right from the pig's mouth with not a reaction from the pig.

Keith Murphy

Posts: 10

Location: NE Tennessee

posted 11 years ago

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shhhhhhh...

Don't tell my rooster he shouldn't be living with fifteen pigs. He might get upset and run off.....

Pigs and chickens are very complementary and you should have very little issues with chickens eating pig, oh wait that's pigs eating chickens. Actually chickens can, and will, eat pigs. Pig fat makes a great high-calorie food source for chickens in the winter. Pigs can develope a taste for chicken but it would almost always happen when they aren't being fed enough. If they aren't being fed enough then you as the owner are the problem not the pigs.

Keith

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Cj Sloane

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Location: Vermont, off grid for 24 years!

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posted 11 years ago

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I too have chickens in with my pig. It convinced my to try putting in a 7 week old piglet in with Miss Piggy because if she didn't eat the chickens trying to steal her food she'd be OK with a little pig & it worked out fine.

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Nathan Cartier

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posted 11 years ago

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Mixing chickens and pigs works most of the time. However, we have one gilt that for some reason started attacking and trying to eat the chickens. I don't know why she started, she has plenty of food. She is the first one to display this behavior on a regular basis, so we still let the chickens run around with the other pigs.

S Haze

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Location: Southern Minnesota, USA, zone 4/5

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posted 11 years ago

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I've heard of people having chicken eating problems with the blobby looking mutated broilers. That makes sense.

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Walter Jeffries

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Location: Mountains of Vermont, USDA Zone 3

posted 10 years ago

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We keep pigs and chickens together no problem. I think that the people who have a problem primarily fall into one or both of these categories:

1) They are penning the pigs which then can corner a chicken and kill it.

2) The pigs learn that chickens taste good and are easy hunting so they start hunting chickens.

Pigs can be retrained (electric chicken) or culled (tasty).

-Walter

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Bryant RedHawk

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Location: Arkansas - Zone 7B/8A stoney, sandy loam soil pH 6.5

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posted 10 years ago

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We just purchased two Guinea Hog gilts that will be ready for us to pick up around the middle of Sept. The breeder we are buying them from has had the Guinea Hogs in together with goats and sheep with no problems. He plans to have chickens in the same pasture about the same time we pick up our new girls. His neighbor has hogs and chickens running in the same pasture (we saw them through the fencing) and I did not notice any issues with the hogs chasing the chickens.

We are setting up our first pasture for the Guinea Hogs and will most likely end up with some goats in the same pasture at times. Our chickens free range and I don't anticipate any issues with them deciding to forage in the same pasture area.

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Eric Hammond

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Location: SW Missouri

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posted 10 years ago

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I've had to keep mine seperate. The pigs loved to sneak into the chicken pens and eat all the tasty eggs leaving none for me 😢

Bryant RedHawk

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Location: Arkansas - Zone 7B/8A stoney, sandy loam soil pH 6.5

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posted 10 years ago

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Nathan Cartier wrote:Mixing chickens and pigs works most of the time. However, we have one gilt that for some reason started attacking and trying to eat the chickens. I don't know why she started, she has plenty of food. She is the first one to display this behavior on a regular basis, so we still let the chickens run around with the other pigs.

I would suspect a deficiency in protein in the diet would possibly cause the change in behavior, it could also be simply a territorial issue.

Bryant RedHawk

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Posts: 6835

Location: Arkansas - Zone 7B/8A stoney, sandy loam soil pH 6.5

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posted 10 years ago

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hau Eric, I've heard that pigs will eat the eggs, that's why our coop with the nest boxes is on the other side of the farm from the hog's area. That way the only eggs the hogs could get at would be from a wayward egg layer or the guinea hens.

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