# New Pig Pen! *PICS!*



## dwbonfire

My dad is down visiting, and I have been wanting to make a pig pen and been researching all about pigs for a while now. Soo we finally did it! We had a bunch of pallets down the hill waiting to be used for something, so we were able to make a 20x24 pen out of them!






We made a house for them to get out of the weather from pallets and a spare peice of roofing tin. I might put a half wall up to help block any driving rain and wind too. I also want to put a threshold (sp?) at the bottom to help keep hay inside the house.





We went around the inside of the pen with electric wire about 8" from the ground I believe, I have to measure how high up it is. The 2x4's along the bottom were for more support and keeps the wire in further than the actual wall.














Im pretty excited about getting it done with mostly free materials. We just had to buy the insulators, some screws, hinges for the door, and the 2x4's. The pallets and roofing and wire we had. 

All I've got left to do is put a latch on the door, and figure out the feeders and waterers which I have found info yall posted on here about that. Then I might add an electric wire all along the top of the pen to help keep predators out. We have coyotes here and the pen is at the far end of the horse pasture, so we cant really see it from the house. Im thinking when they pigs are small they need some protection. Should I lock them up in thier house at night until they are big or should one more strand of wire around the top keep anything out?


----------



## SmallFarmGirl

Great your pigs will be happy !!


----------



## theawesomefowl

Lovely pig pen!!


----------



## larryj57

That is one nice Pigpen, it looks like it was a lot of fun to build.


----------



## sixofus09

How many are you going to put in there?


----------



## dwbonfire

well im thinking 3 would be ok if im only raising until 4-5 months til butchering. but now my dad told my neighbor he could put a couple here, plus my dads one pig, plus my bfs dad wants one.  looks like we will have 4 for now, totally jumping into it faster than i wanted. i was going to wait and get some tams or berks in a few weeks but now my dad just wants to hurry up and get some pink pigs from someone in the neighborhood. *sigh* so i guess my plans are on hold until their 4 are gone. then i will get what i want. im hoping 4 wont be too crowded in there.. i do plan to expand if this all works out and i decide to raise them.


----------



## 77Herford

Thats a pretty awesome pen, I must say.  Ingenious way of using what you got.  I think a raised wire along the top would be enough.


----------



## shawn MN

That is a great way to recycle old pallets! Is it staked down anywhere or is it freestanding?  I think you should have some kind of shaded area for your pigs too. Like a canopy of some sort. Your little hut will be fine for keeping the out of the rain and wind but they will also like a shaded place to make a mud pit to wallow in. Looks like great job and a great idae!!!!


----------



## nmred

What a great looking pig pen!  I am hoping to get a pig this spring and was thinking about doing something like this.  How did you attach the pallets together?  They look so neat.  I also am wondering if you have it staked in somehow or if it is free-standing.  If it is free-standing, will it tip over if they press against it?  Although, I guess that's what the electric wire is for, huh. 

Please give us an update.  How is it working so far?  What kind of feeders and waterers did you end up getting/making?


----------



## TigerLilly

Great idea for a pen--you may have just given me a reason to get a pig!


----------



## Annamarierw

I'm Loving this idea  
thinking I may have hubby help me start another project this weekend. 
keep us posted on how yours turned out


----------



## dwbonfire

nmred said:
			
		

> What a great looking pig pen!  I am hoping to get a pig this spring and was thinking about doing something like this.  How did you attach the pallets together?  They look so neat.  I also am wondering if you have it staked in somehow or if it is free-standing.  If it is free-standing, will it tip over if they press against it?  Although, I guess that's what the electric wire is for, huh.
> 
> Please give us an update.  How is it working so far?  What kind of feeders and waterers did you end up getting/making?


Thanks! we had a little glitch in plans so we still havent got our pigs. we are expecting them any time now, as soon as the guy cuts them we will have them. he is taking his sweet time thats for sure. ah well. in march im getting the pigs that i plan to continue raising anyhow..

my neighbor made a feeder for us, which i think will be short lived  im going to humor him by using it until they destroy it and then i will do it my way. (i dont mean to sound mean but hes the "glitch" im talking about lol) he cut one of those 55 gallon plastic barrels in half the long way and attached them to 2x8 pieces on the side. he thinks that will stop them from turning it over. i know they will surely still turn it over, plus toss it all around the pen and against the wire which will ground it out. what i planned to do, as suggested to me in one of my threads on here was to take a big rubbermaid feed pan and connect it to a chain, stake it outside the pen and that way i can pull the pan over to the wall and drop the feed over without having to go inside the pen.

as for a waterer we got one of those hog waterers you can order from a catolog or online. again we havent got the pigs so we havent put all this thrugh the test yet but the waterer should work fine. i think the only thing is the size of the pen, im wishing we could have gone bigger. thats all we had for pallets at the time but i think i will expand at some point. we dont have the sides staked down, its free standing which i didnt think would be sturdy enough but if we try to shake the sides theres not much movement at all. like you said hopefully the electric will keep them from pushing on it. we used 3" screws to connect the pallets.

once we get the pigs i will keep this updated


----------



## Ms. Research

Pig pen really looks good.  Look forward to hearing when the pigs come how it all goes.

Wishing you all the luck.

K


----------



## enggass

What did you do to create the fence? ie. How are the pallets connected and what did you do to keep them standing secure?


----------



## andrew6d9

very creative and economical


----------



## Happy Farming Momma

Hey, sence you already have a feeder made you can stake it down buy the fence so they can't toss it around. I have something like yours home made but mine is smaller and made out of corigated black plastic construction storm drain pipe! My pigs are half way grown out to weight and they can't move mine and trust me they try alot! I just poor the food over the fence.

I would show a pic but for some reason I can't figure out how to load one! It is probably right infront of my face.


----------



## Dascountry

Nice pen...looks large enough for 4 pigs to me.


----------



## mylilchix

I'd like to know how you built the pallet fence, too.  I'm planning on getting a pig and trying to decide on fencing.  We have a bunch of pallets here, so I'd like to be able to use them.


----------



## dwbonfire

hello everyone, sorry for those who asked questions and i havent gotten back to yall.

to connect the pallets i stood them up so the 'edges' or the 2x4 pieces were vertical. i wanted to do it the other way but there was no way to connect the pallets.. i used 3 inch screws going in one side, and some going in the other side to really give it good support. suprisingly the pallets ended up standing and being sturdy enough to not need a brace or to have to dig into the ground at all. the only place we did pound in 2x4s was the "door frame".. and the only brace we needed was in that one corner where you see the 2x4 because the pen was on a bit of a hill so the front wall wanted to lean in, and i didnt want to to pull on the door frame and warp it. i used paint program to label the pic to show what i mean, i hope it helps answer questions, if not feel free to ask and ill try my best to explain 







dont forget we havent put this pen to the real test yet, we JUST got our pigs sunday! yay!!! right now they are in a stall in the barn until they get a little bigger. i am affraid to put them out in the pen yet because it is so far off from the house and i worry i wont hear if anything bothers them... i will update with how it holds up once they are in there! we decided this will be the "catch pen" and we're going to come off the back into the woods with just a few strands of hot wire so they have more room and shade. i had no idea pigs would stay behind just a few strands of hot wire but i see it all the time now.


----------



## mylilchix

So simple and creative!  I love it!  I've got pallets and screws already so it's worth a try.  How soon do you get your pigs?


----------



## dwbonfire

i finally got them sunday, i will be moving them out to the pen in probably 2 weeks. just wanting them to get a little size on them first, the pen is way off from the house so i worry about somethnig bothering them at night. i put a strand of electric on the top all the way around so hopefully it would zap anything that tried to jump over.


----------



## mylilchix

Keep us posted on how things go!!  My piggy won't be here for another 3 weeks.  I've got a gilt shelter ready to go, but I need to get the big one up and running.


----------



## Hillsvale

dwbonfire said:
			
		

> nmred said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What a great looking pig pen!  I am hoping to get a pig this spring and was thinking about doing something like this.  How did you attach the pallets together?  They look so neat.  I also am wondering if you have it staked in somehow or if it is free-standing.  If it is free-standing, will it tip over if they press against it?  Although, I guess that's what the electric wire is for, huh.
> 
> Please give us an update.  How is it working so far?  What kind of feeders and waterers did you end up getting/making?
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks! we had a little glitch in plans so we still havent got our pigs. we are expecting them any time now, as soon as the guy cuts them we will have them. he is taking his sweet time thats for sure. ah well. in march im getting the pigs that i plan to continue raising anyhow..
> 
> my neighbor made a feeder for us, which i think will be short lived  im going to humor him by using it until they destroy it and then i will do it my way. (i dont mean to sound mean but hes the "glitch" im talking about lol) he cut one of those 55 gallon plastic barrels in half the long way and attached them to 2x8 pieces on the side. he thinks that will stop them from turning it over. i know they will surely still turn it over, plus toss it all around the pen and against the wire which will ground it out. what i planned to do, as suggested to me in one of my threads on here was to take a big rubbermaid feed pan and connect it to a chain, stake it outside the pen and that way i can pull the pan over to the wall and drop the feed over without having to go inside the pen.
> 
> as for a waterer we got one of those hog waterers you can order from a catolog or online. again we havent got the pigs so we havent put all this thrugh the test yet but the waterer should work fine. i think the only thing is the size of the pen, im wishing we could have gone bigger. thats all we had for pallets at the time but i think i will expand at some point. we dont have the sides staked down, its free standing which i didnt think would be sturdy enough but if we try to shake the sides theres not much movement at all. like you said hopefully the electric will keep them from pushing on it. we used 3" screws to connect the pallets.
> 
> once we get the pigs i will keep this updated
Click to expand...

the 55 gallon plastic barrel attached to 2x10's is what we have.. works like a charm and not one turnover with either our sow or her 4 remaining "babies" who are almost 250 pounds and ready to go for processing...

now gonna keep reading and see how your making out with your pen.


----------



## jessica_1285

Great pen! Good luck with your pigs


----------

