Pellets How do you feed two or more pigs their pellets?

[LoveMyPigs25]

I currently have 5 girls. I have always had a bin feeder I fill and they just free fed when they want it.
Some of the adults (1 yr) seem to be getting "fat". I am wondering if I should start feeding them their
1/8 cup of pellets per pig per day. How do you do this for multiple pigs? Do I get a little bowl for each of them
and feed them at the same time each day? Or do I get a larger bowl and put enough in their each day for each of them
to have 1/8 cup? How do you monitor who is eating what with a larger herd in one cage?

Please let me know how many you have, how you feed pellets and if it works well for you.

 

[Nazgul]

I don't have a large herd, but my two boys are total gluttons. They each have their own small bowl which they eat out of surprisingly well - normally, my boys have no problems snatching each other's food away, but so long as they each have a bowl, they're perfectly content with just munching on their own portion.

I try to keep an eye out on my piggies when they eat, but - despite their greedy habits - they both seem to get more or less the same amount of pellets in their bellies.

I give them their entire portion of pellets in the morning (1/4 cup, divided as evenly as possible in their two bowls) and just let them eat it as they will throughout the day. Although they always finish their pellets by the late afternoon/early evening.

..Anyways, I'd definitely buy a bowl for each of them if possible (though 3-4 should work if you can't fit 5). Then, fill in their pellets in the morning and try to monitor their eating habits throughout the day. Take note of their eating habits; if any pigs try to hog all of the food, if any pigs prefer to eat all at once or spread out throughout the day, etc. Then, if you DO have any potential problems with the way your herd eats, you know exactly what's wrong and we can help you address it.

 

[LoveMyPigs25]

I bought each pig a bowl. When I feed them in the morning if they don't finish should I leave all 5 bowls out or consolidate it down to maybe 2 bowls?

 

[Nazgul]

You can definitely take out most of the bowls and just fill the remaining pellets into whatever bowls you left in the cage. I can't speak for other piggies, but my own boars like to come back and nibble on the leftover pellets throughout the day so even if I had just one bowl left, they come and go so infrequently that they wouldn't squabble. So I imagine it'd work out quite well for your herd.

 

[LifeAsItMayBe]

My trio has two bowls since one of my girls can be aggressive about her pellets. I don't know why since the other two don't care at all, but some days she will sit with her front end in the bowl even if she's not eating at the moment. My pair also have two bowls in their cage, but they prefer to eat out of the same bowl at the same time. I think it's just what they are used to from their old home. I can't really tell how much any pig eats in either cage, but the pellets don't all disappear right away so I know they all get what they want.

 

[piggy.loving]

For my Candy I just put an 1/8 cup in a small bowl and wait until it's all gone, then take it out.

 

[magicpiggie]

You can measure the pellets and sprinkle them around. But it depends what bedding you are using.

 

[FoxOfShadows]

i agree with do the sprinkling of pellets if you use fleece...i had a pair of boars that shared fine but tipped any bowl given to them so i poured their pellets onto a clean spot of fleece and it worked great for them....so i would try this if you use fleece.

my current girls so far aren't bowl tippers so they get their in one bowl and they share well