Farming Friends

Does ringing pigs work? This is a question I was recently asked,

I have three one year Kune Kune pigs. They have started rooting the ground, something which I was told Kunes generally do not do.
It is very distructive and I fear for the newly planted trees, so I have confined them to a small plot.
I am thinking of having them ringed, as they are primarily grazers, so I do not think it would be inhumane or that I would be depriving them of needed nurition. I am assuming this would have to be done by a vet.
My main question is, does it definately work?
Thanks
Anna

Hi Anna,
Thanks for visiting farmingfriends and leaving a comment.
I don’t have any kune-kune pigs nor do I have pigs with a ring so I can only advise you from what I have read.
Reading about kune-kunes, it seems that they do like to graze and will therefore root about.
In Storey’s Guide to Raising Pigs I have read about ringing pigs, “Ringing is the clipping of soft metal rings to the top rim of the hog’s nose or across the end of the nose with …a ‘humane ring.’” The book says that when the pig starts to root the ring cause mild pain and therefore stops the pig from rooting. It says that the rings are not very expensive and can be applied with a ring plier. It also mentions that the ring can be easily lost, “especially those in the tip of the nose”. It also mentions the pain factor involved when applying because as we all know as soon as you pick up a pig they squeal their heads off even if you are not doing anything to them!!!
I think if I needed to have my pigs ringed then I would seek advice from my vet and actually get the vet to do the job.
The pigs will need to be restrained so that the ring can be applied and as your pigs are 1 year olds, although a smaller breed, they will be still be a decent size to restrain and ring. I think that seeking advice from your vet will be useful as they will be able to tell you if the ring works.
I hope you find this information useful. Just to let you knwo that I have recently set up a forum where pig enthusiasts can chat about their pigs and post questions such as this. It is free to join and may be of interest to you. http://farmingfriends.com/forums/forum.php?id=3

Let me know what you decide to do and I would love to see a picture of your kune-kunes. Have you named them?

Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends

 It is such a great feeling when I get a reply back;

If you have any experience of ringed pigs or ringing pigs then please leave a comment.

Click on the image below to visit Amazon.co.uk to find out more about this book or visit one of the Farming Friends Bookshops.

If you are raising guinea fowl from 6/8 weeks old then they don’t need to have heat and can go outside. I free range my guinea fowl during the day and then put them in a hut to roost at night although guinea fowl will naturally roost in trees if you don’t train them to go in a hut. I like mine to go in a hut at night so that they are protected from predators such as the fox and that they are also sheltered from the weather. Sometimes if it is raining hard my guinea fowl will choose to stay in the hut. http://www.farmingfriends.com/guinea-fowl-housing-siting-the-hut/
I have read that there can be 15 birds per square metre for intensively reared guinea fowl and Jeannette ferguson in her book “Gardening With Guineas” recommends as a general guideline “3 to 4 square feet per guinea fowl.” Overcrowding can lead to fighting and featherpicking. http://www.farmingfriends.com/feather-picking-and-cannibalism-in-poultry/

If your guinea fowl are not used to being in a hut or are new to your land then keep the guinea fowl in the hut for a few days and then let one guinea out at a time . This is because guinea fowl are social creatures and if you only let one out they will stay near the hut because they don’t want to go away from the other guinea fowl.

Guinea fowl can also be trained to go into the hut at night. I use long sticks to drive my guinea fowl in the direction I want then to go. If the sticks get too close to the guinea fowl it spooks them and they fly up into the trees. http://www.farmingfriends.com/how-to-stop-guinea-fowl-straying-onto-the-road/

Guinea fowl need fresh clean water daily and can eat a mix of pellets & wheat.

When they free range they also eat;

• apples
• sugar beet
• fodder beet
• seeds
• nettles
• grass
• insects
• berries
• grain

I have recently set up a forum and have a guinea fowl section.
http://farmingfriends.com/forums/forum.php?id=2 It is free to join and members can chat about their guinea fowl and ask questions and other members can answer and chat back.

If you are incubating guinea fowl eggs then here is some information about rearing guinea fowl keets once the eggs have hatched.

Guinea fowl keets can stay in the incubator for up to 24 hours as they can survive on the yolk sac that was in the egg with them. You can take them out earlier than 24 hours but make sure that their feathers are dry. They need to be placed in a brooder with a heat lamp giving them heat for the first 6-8 weeks after hatching at a temperature starting at about 95-100 degrees fahrenheit (35-38 degrees celsius) for the first 1-2 weeks and then reducing by 5 degrees fahrenheit each week.
Here is a link http://www.farmingfriends.com/brooder-temperature-for-guinea-fowl-keets/

Guinea fowl keets need a constant suppy of water and they quite like warm water. I use a smallish drinker and place marbles around the drinker so that the keets don’t get their head in the water and end up drowning.
http://www.farmingfriends.com/drinkers-for-guinea-fowl-keets/

I always feed my guinea fowl keets chick crumbs. When they are a few days old I give them shredded lettuce as a treat and they also like yoghurt and hard boiled egg yolks. I make the chick crumbs their staple diet and supplement this withlettuce as well which they just love. http://www.farmingfriends.com/drinkers-for-guinea-fowl-keets/

The brooder needs a litter on the floor that will stop the keets from hurting their legs. I use corrugated cardboard which I buy from Ascott Smallholder supplies and then I put straw on top. Although saw dust/shavings can be used I think that when the keets are very small they can often mistake the shavings for food.
http://www.farmingfriends.com/litter-suitable-for-brooders/

It is very important to make sure that the flooring in the brooder gives the keets traction as a slippery floor can lead to splayed legs.
http://www.farmingfriends.com/splayed-legs-in-quail/

Another thing to watch out for with guinea fowl keets is pasting up which is when the droppings stick to the keets vent and block up the vent and if not spotted early enough can lead to death. http://www.farmingfriends.com/guinea-fowl-keets-pasting-up-2/

A disease to watch out for in guinea fowl keets is coccidiosis which can kill your keets.
http://www.farmingfriends.com/coccidiosis-in-guinea-fowl/

Here is a link that will give you some idea about the development of your guinea fowl
keets. http://www.farmingfriends.com/development-of-guinea-fowl-keets/

I have recently set up a forum and have a guinea fowl section.
http://farmingfriends.com/forums/forum.php?id=2 It is free to join and members can chat about their guinea fowl and ask questions and other members can answer and chat back.

Sara has sent me some more photos of her quail.

Hi Sara,  Just a few photos of the quail.  2 very odd coloured ones!!

Put them out today as so mild. 

This is the piebald one.

This one is a complete mystery. 

It is interesting to see and hear about sara’s quail as I learn so much from other people’s experiences.

If anyone knows what type of quail the unusual white quail is then we would be interested to know.

Now that it is not raining, the land work has resumed. In the last few days my husband has been busy with the farm work. He has been:

• combining,
• bailing,
• drying corn,
• muck spreading,
• ploughing,
• power harrowing,
• drilling rape,
• rolling

It is important to get the wheat & barley crops combined before they ruin and the rapeseed needs to be drilled so that it will have enough time to grow and yield well.

I currently have 28 adult guinea fowl that enjoy free ranging around the farm during the day. They eat a diet of grains and the daily access to the farm’s grassy pastures produces eggs with a deep yellow yolk. These eggs have a thicker shell than ordinary eggs which protects the rich and flavoursome yolk. The Hugo House guinea fowl eggs are great boiled, fried, scrambled or poached and are ideal for use in baking.

Of the 28 quinea fowl, I have reared 25 of them from hatch. I have also got another 11 guinea fowl keets that are now 5 weeks old.

I decided to market the guinea fowl eggs as a speciality egg and they are now in some shops in the local area and are beginning to sell well.

I was wondering if anyone could help me. One of my japanese quail is having trouble standing up. She is feeding and drinking well but she cannot stand and support her body. She cannot seem to easily get her legs underneath her and will shuffle along.
I wondered what was causing this could it be the feed?
I am providing my quail with pellets that has 18% protein. Do they need more greens?
Could it be due to male activity?
It has only happened to one of the females.
They are on a concrete floor with wood shavings in an avairy. Could the joints be affected because of the concrete. The quail in question does not like to be placed on the bricks that I have the feeder and drinker on but she is happy sitting on the wood shavings.
Any advice about leg problems in japanese quail would be great.