# PBs and predators...



## secuono (Oct 11, 2012)

I've got foxes and raccoons that always visit in hopes my fence will fail and they will get a free meal. My three Potbelly pigs have doubled in size from when I first got them, but they still seem too small. I'll attempt to get weights today after work. They are maybe 1ft tall and to me, still seem like a for or coon could easily kill one. 
We've been having a ton of rain lately and the pen is now nothing but an upturned mess. I want them out in pasture, they are way too small to be just released and hope the 4 acres is enough for them not to escape. 
I am going to buy seven 16ft hog panels and make a square out of 4 of them. The other three will be used when moving the pen, basically 3 will always be rotated in and out of use so I can move the pen w/o actually moving the pigs themselves. 
Right now, I am thinking that I would have to run hot wire to the pen to keep coon and fox out.
_Do you guys think they are still too small and would get eaten or badly injured? _
Should I just give up on having them rotated on pasture and just make them a large fenced area? Should I buy a new solar energizer and just use hot wire for their pen?


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## Alice Acres (Oct 11, 2012)

Pictures or a weight would help.

Hmm, with 3 of them, I wouldn't think a coon would do anything. A fox? - not so sure. When we had a good fox population around, they never messed with my animals. At that time my chickens were penned, but it was only chicken wire - so not that tough if they had wanted a chicken bad enough.

I like the idea of the cattle panels and moving them around. Will you have a little hut or shelter that fits in it too? That would be the only hard part I would foresee.
Our pot belly was an adult when we got her - but she was small. Nothing bothered her, and she was free range for years in our yard. (I am very rural - on a gravel road, etc.)
Now we have coyotes...that's a totally different game


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## secuono (Oct 11, 2012)

The fox and coon here are resent-less and vicious. I lost about 100 animals[chickens, ducks, guineas and rabbits] in total before I installed the hot wire fence. They didn't bother the lambs, but they had their mothers with them. 

For the shelter, I was thinking of getting plywood, drilling a hole at each top corner and adding hooks. Then another board for the top. Basically hang two in a corner and strap one on the top. That'd be the lightest and easiest to drag around. 

These pics are a little old, but they haven't grown much since. I'll get weights after work, so late tonight. I did pick up Porker, he felt about 18-20lbs or so.


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## BrownSheep (Oct 11, 2012)

Ild say your pretty safe from the coons. As for foxes Ild say you're getting there. I doubt they'll go after them being as pigs have some pretty nasty teeth of their own.


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## secuono (Oct 12, 2012)

22x22
19x484
9196/400=22.99


Porker weighs around 22.99 pounds.


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## secuono (Oct 14, 2012)

BrownSheep said:
			
		

> Ild say your pretty safe from the coons. As for foxes Ild say you're getting there. I doubt they'll go after them being as pigs have some pretty nasty teeth of their own.


I haven't seen any teeth on my pigs that would hurt a fox.


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## Cornish Heritage (Oct 15, 2012)

Gosh I have never heard of a coon killing a pig but would hate to say that it couldn't happen but it doesn't really seem feasible. Do foxes work in packs like coyotes? We had a fox problem in Montana & he wiped us out of chickens every year but never took a pig. 

Once we moved down here to Missouri we had coyote problem but once we started using the Nite Guards, have not had a problem. They do not even come after our sheep. http://www.niteguard.com/pages/Home

Liz


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## secuono (Oct 15, 2012)

Niteguard is a waste of money. They need to stop lying to people that it works.
We got 2 of them, 3 days later we lost more ducks. 

Foxes hunt alone, but I can't be risking loosing any more animals. I guess I am waiting even longer...


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## Cornish Heritage (Oct 16, 2012)

> Niteguard is a waste of money. They need to stop lying to people that it works.


Well they have worked for us & the coyotes. We have them every 100ft around our perimeter fence. You have to make sure that every angle is covered & that they are at the height of your predator. 

Liz


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