First time raising pigs

[BlueMoonFarms]

I have a few questions.
1. I have a pot belly pig, five months old, who has become our gardens rototiller. Do we dare introduce these 9 week old piglets to miss. piggy? Or Not even bother and just create two separate pens for the both of them?
2. Can we put the two piglets right outside in there shelters and just make sure its stuffed to the brim with straw? Or should we wait until the end of Feb when its a bit warmer out?
3. do I feed them 24/7 like I was told by the feed store guy? Or can we feed them there food like the rest of the animals, once in the morning and once at night?
and then last,
4. Any good tips or tricks on how to reinforce the hog panel fence so they wont bust free on us?

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

I'm picking the piglets up on the 18th, so really any advice would be wonderful.

 

[Parsnip]

Are the new piggies potbelly as well?

I'd keep them separated for a while regardless of the breed.
Pigs can get violent with other pigs they don't know. Or they stay pretty chill, either one or the other lol
Depending on their size, as long as they have a mountain of straw bedding to snuggle and tunnel into, they should be okay....
I'd keep them IN a shelter for sure though. So the wind doesn't chill their little bodies!
Whenever I got my 4-H piglets at the beginning, I'd feed them mainly in the morning, and evening.
BUT I checked on them every two hours or so, and gave them a snack here and there.
Bananas were a favorite
Maybe to keep their bellies full a bit longer, you could try mixing their feed with hot milk, and mixing it up until the pellets are mushy and gross basically.
I used to do that all the time with my baby piggies! They loved the hot milk and mushy food!
After they ate, then they'd take a long nap under the straw!

Pigs are gonna break free no matter what!
I've found this out the hard way. Every year they've gotten smarter and smarter.
That, mixed with the raw power of a hog makes for busted fences, or panels.
They also get tricky and dig under the fence.
And I had one climb over a fence once... not sure how he did it, but it happened.
Last year we tried the hot tape stuff, and one of our pigs STILL busted through like it was nothing.

Again, this info is based off of LARGER hogs, like Yorkshire, Berkshire and Duroc
I don't know a ton about smaller breeds of pigs.

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

Are the new piggies potbelly as well?

I'd keep them separated for a while regardless of the breed.
Pigs can get violent with other pigs they don't know. Or they stay pretty chill, either one or the other lol
Depending on their size, as long as they have a mountain of straw bedding to snuggle and tunnel into, they should be okay....
I'd keep them IN a shelter for sure though. So the wind doesn't chill their little bodies!
Whenever I got my 4-H piglets at the beginning, I'd feed them mainly in the morning, and evening.
BUT I checked on them every two hours or so, and gave them a snack here and there.
Bananas were a favorite
Maybe to keep their bellies full a bit longer, you could try mixing their feed with hot milk, and mixing it up until the pellets are mushy and gross basically.
I used to do that all the time with my baby piggies! They loved the hot milk and mushy food!
After they ate, then they'd take a long nap under the straw!

Pigs are gonna break free no matter what!
I've found this out the hard way. Every year they've gotten smarter and smarter.
That, mixed with the raw power of a hog makes for busted fences, or panels.
They also get tricky and dig under the fence.
And I had one climb over a fence once... not sure how he did it, but it happened.
Last year we tried the hot tape stuff, and one of our pigs STILL busted through like it was nothing.

Again, this info is based off of LARGER hogs, like Yorkshire, Berkshire and Duroc
I don't know a ton about smaller breeds of pigs.

Nope, they are two Tamworth/red wattle/berkshire crosses which is why I do not know if they can mix at all. The internet has never run into this google question apparently so i am stumped :/

I have a calf hutch with reinforced wooden pallets underneath it to keep them off the ground, as well as a big bale of straw ready for them. So they should be fine outside as long as I give them lots of straw and bedding to keep warm under?

Oooh very good idea, i'll go talk to the dairy farm one town over and see if I could get any milk to keep for them

Ah dont tell me that...I wana pig proof the thing the best i can so I dont end up with huge pigs wandering about.
Climbed over??? Um...Super pig? Lol

The pot belly is easy to manage as she just wanders through the garden and minds her own business, but these guys I worry might be a bit more of a handful!

Oh, and thank you very much for the advice

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

You should be able to put them in the same pen as long as they have room to get away from the older one if need be! Just keep an eye on them the first couple days! There might be some squealing and a bit or two, but, then again maybe not!
Our pigs live outside regardless of the time of the year, so they should be fine with the straw as well!
For the little guys, I would feed twice a day for a couple weeks, or forever if that is how you feed! For the first bit they will for sure need food twice a day!
Like Parsnip said! Pigs absolutly can't stay in their pen!!! They always find a way somehow to get out somewhere! Just do your best!!!

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

You should be able to put them in the same pen as long as they have room to get away from the older one if need be! Just keep an eye on them the first couple days! There might be some squealing and a bit or two, but, then again maybe not!
Our pigs live outside regardless of the time of the year, so they should be fine with the straw as well!
For the little guys, I would feed twice a day for a couple weeks, or forever if that is how you feed! For the first bit they will for sure need food twice a day!
Like Parsnip said! Pigs absolutly can't stay in their pen!!! They always find a way somehow to get out somewhere! Just do your best!!!

Its a good sized pen so they should be fine until the two get older, then Miss Piggy might get her little butt kicked if she stays in the pen with them. So for a few months she should be good right?
Awesome! I have lots of straw so that is very encouraging to hear!
Gahh...Well alright i'll do my best to pig proof the pen. I'm going to use hog panels, railroad ties, and pallets reinforced with thick T posts and cinder blocks. So fingers crossed!!

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

Alright I introduced Miss. Piggy to Hammy and Bacon.

Here the two of them are!

I really like the red one, he is just adorable!

The black girl is a bit of a brat though...

The oinking was amazing. the sounds that came out of my little Potbelly was impressive. And the fact that she went air born once lol

She was good, only shoulder bumped them a bit and sniffed at there face...

And then she humped them...

and humped them....and humped them...
No huge fighting, only a little mouthing from the red boy and Miss. Piggy and then they were fine. Pretty cool

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

Awesome that it worked out!!! Potbellies definatly are funny creatures!!!