Piglet is terrified of me!

[frustratedearthmother]

pig will most likely try for a chicken or duck dinner once a little larger

When I had typical feeder pigs/hogs they would eat anything that came through their pen, lol. They had a huge self-feeder full of feed at all times, but they looooved them some chicken.

Now I have American Guinea Hogs and they let the chickens eat with them, roost on them, and share their space very nicely. I do feed the pigs lots of boiled eggs - maybe they know better than to mess with the source, lol!

 

[Owlett]

That's good to know! I'll have to move her this weekend haha.

 

[Ferguson K]

Spend time with your pig just sitting. Sit quietly, just be in the pen. Do this often, let her get used to you.

Bringing her feed will also make her rely on you for food. All of our pigs squeal when they see us. They live attention. Our feeder hogs don't get much of it,but they all enjoy getting rubbed and scratched.

 

[Owlett]

Today I discovered that cinnamon applesauce is her favorite thing. She actually stood next to me to eat it! I think there's hope yet!

 

[Mini Horses]

erMy AGHs will let me scratch their back & the female will lay down and try for a belly rub. My chickens have been safe with them, also -- and I've sure seen a pig eat a chicken before you could say "OH, NO!".

Hot here today and so I gave the pigs a nice show and mud hole. They grunted and rolled and loved it BUT, then they shook like a dog ---covered me with mud splatter..grunted and rolled some more.

 

[Martlet]

Oddly enough, we got our first meat pig last week. She was scared to death of us as well. Went nuts when we were around and wouldn't even come near the food if we were near it. Oddly enough, I started mimicking her loudly this morning after she ran away again. She stopped, turned around, and looked at me funny. I did it again for longer, and she came right over and eventually allowed me to scratch her. She has followed me around ever since.

 

[NH homesteader]

Pigs will totally eat chickens, but chickens can also make your pigs very sick. Pigs are the animal that really does not live with any other animal well. We have two duroc/old spot crosses now that are sisters, one is extremely friendly and the other is a little too pushy! Don't trust her at all!

 

[dejavoodoo114]

So far we are on our 4th pig. The first time we got two because that was what was suggested. It took a long time for them to get used to us. Then when they were older they decided that each others company was sufficient and ran off multiple times (at the time we didn't have much in the way of fencing, just 32 acres). So we slaughtered on early and the other became reattached to the goat herd. Bought our next one alone and she was easier to train and was also very close to our goats. Just picked up our 4th a few days ago. She is currently hanging out in our screened in porch where we hang out a lot (we smoke outside only so we are with her often). Normally they are at the barn but all our goats are in our pasture and she would be alone there. When she is more used to us we will put her in the pasture with the goats. We expect it will happen sooner with so much contact. We don't force her, we whistle as we put out food, we touch her carefully as she is eating and otherwise just hang out. Took her a day and a half to understand the whistle. We want her to come when she is in the pasture when we call her.

Every single piglet we have bought have been terrified and squealing when touched or picked up. My now 17 year old daughter is the one who usually "trains" them. All our pigs loved belly rubs from her. She would call them and they would come and roll over for a rub. We have eaten everyone so far but my 3 kids are okay with it because we always name the food animals after dishes made with that type of meat. We have explained to them for years that just because they are food doesn't mean they should not get love and attention as well. That is why we raise our own. It makes sense to them and works well for us all.

 

[Latestarter]

Sounds like you have this worked out perfectly for your family. Awesome!

 

[dejavoodoo114]

Thanks to this forum and trial and error!