Why did my pigs suddenly try to eat a still living chicken?

Question

I raise poultry. This year, i got a pair of saddle back swine. They are lovely animals... well fed, growing well... But today i heard a terrible noise and ran out to find that a chicken had wandered into their pen and was being eaten alive. They've never been aggressive, and in fact are quite smart and friendly. So I don't understand this behavior.

They eat commercial grade swine food along with "slop". Any leftover vegies, noodles, but never meat. I've always worried about feeding them meat, lest they develop a taste for it, since we do have several yard chickens.

Can anyone shed some light on why my pigs might have done this?

Answer 1

Like humans pigs are omnivores and are adapted to eat meat - a good source of protein when they can catch it.  But unlike humans pigs do not make moral judgements about eating meat.  Your pig was not displaying aggressive behaviour: to your pig, your chicken, alive or dead, was simply food and it was displaying normal pig behaviour by eating it.

I recall a case of sheep eating the wings off tern chicks on the Shetland Islands some years ago because the wings were a high source of calcium that was in short supply on the island's soil and vegetation.  The sheep were not being aggressive they had just found a handy supply of calcium.      

Answer 2

They are omnivorerous animals. Sometimes pigs will "hunt" living food. Usually smaller things that run into their territory.

Answer 3

swine are omnivorous meaning they will eat anything edible including people. they are attracted to sounds on panic or fear like sharks. this puts them in a feeding frenzy similar to a shark. they are friendly but not to ever be trusted. i have raised swine off and on all my life and know whereof i speak. read this blurb on a pig relative.Peccaries are omnivores, and will eat small animals, although their preferred food consists of roots, grass, seeds, and fruit. One of the ways to tell apart pigs and peccaries is the shape of the canine tooth, or tusk. In European pigs the tusk is long and curves around on itself, whereas in peccaries, the tusk is short and straight. The jaws and tusks of peccaries are adapted for crushing hard seeds and slicing into plant roots[1], and they also use their tusks for defense. Wild boars live in groups called sounders. Sounders typically contain around 20 animals, but groups of over 50 have been seen. In a typical sounder there are two or three sows and their offspring; adult males are not part of the sounder outside of a breeding cycle, two to three per year, and are usually found alone. Birth, called farrowing, usually occurs in a secluded area away from the sounder; a litter will typically contain 8-12 piglets.[2](p. 6) The animals are usually nocturnal, foraging from dusk until dawn but with resting periods during both night and day.[2](p. 4-5, 8-9) They eat almost anything they come across, including grass, nuts, berries, carrion, roots, tubers, refuse, insects, small reptiles--even young deer and lambs.[2

Answer 4

Pigs actually can be very aggressive. They have been known to attack humans.  

Answer 5

A pig will eat anything, hence the saying," he eats like a PIG!"

Answer 6

On in island, off the coast near Europe is an isolated island that has a small number of deer (I don't know what type.) These deer were herbivores, during some months, would kill birds and eat the heads! Scientists discovered that the island's vegetation was poor in nutrients and the deer during some months would eat the birds to obtain the sufficient source of nutrients they needed to live. This should shed light on your situation!

Answer 7

Pigs are OMNIVORES.  That means they eat both vegtable matter, AND meat.

Pigs are related to bears.  Bears spend a lot of time eating grass, berries, grubs, nuts, but also meat.

If a pig had a choice, their diet would be no different than a bears diet.  Pigs are just not as good at catching prey as bears are.  

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

Answer 8

No matter how well a pig is fed it will still be ready to eat.  And they will eat any thing slow enough to not get away- this includes another pig (probably smaller or wounded) or you if you fall down and don't get back up fast enough!!  

Answer 9

Perhaps they were in a fowl mood.  Seriously, pigs are apt to behave much like their ancestors.  For example all dogs were descended from wolves and have been bred to bring out behavior of wolves (in a controlled manner).  Wolves are pointers, setters, retrievers, circle prey like sheep dogs, and run in packs like English hunting dogs, etc.  Basic instincts may never be entirely lost.

Answer 10

may be because they want to fly