# Argh, new piglet got out. How to catch him?



## gabbyraja (Feb 27, 2012)

Dangit! I was hoping we'd have them more tamed before one got out. I'd gone in to adjust a harness, the pig freaked out, freaking out the escapey and he hit the fence HARD and popped it open. 

We chased him down the road, trying to herd him back here, but after more than an hour, with some kids stopping and trying to help, we lost him. Can't find him anywhere. Not far from home, though. 

So, assuming he comes back to his "home" and the other piglet, and food, how will we catch him? I know from experience that chasing and hoping to grab an 8 inch high piglet in the open is not going to work. Fishing net? I really can't think of anything else...

FYI, the escapey is so little the harness wouldn't stay put, so he has no harness. He is extremely skittish. My daughter had gotten to the point where she could touch him while he ate, but just barely a touch and he'd back up and run away.


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Don't chase him. That will just scare him. Instead setup a pig trap to guide him into his home space with plenty of food there. Then go around to the other side of him and herd him in or just be patient.

Pig Trap | Sugar Mountain Farm

I recommend someone who is getting a new animal to have a very securely fenced place for the animal for the first few weeks so the animal rehomes and gets used to you. The best way to an animal's heart (including a pig) is through its stomach. Feed it. Call it as you bring the food. Carry the food in the same pail each time. Rap the pail as you come. Develop a patter of the pig coming to you for food. Then if it gets out again it will be easier to get back in.

For fencing I would suggest a strongly built physical fence and then electric inside it. Pigs train to electric very well.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

My 2 escapees came home on their own last year as soon as the weather turned really icky. They had only been here maybe 2 hours before they pushed under the light weight fence and got loose. Were gone 10 days. Pushed back in, under the same fence, to get out of the rain.

Smart little buggers.


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## gabbyraja (Feb 27, 2012)

Ok. I'm going to buy new fencing to make a trap. Wish me luck!


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## KIT.S (Oct 8, 2008)

A trampoline net works great for catching piglets who just won't come to food. It's big enough for more than one person to help surround the pig (or ducks or turkeys), and soft enough that he generally gets himself stuck in it. Fortunately, ours are born on the property and are all used to coming to a white bucket. In fact, everything on the property will come to a white bucket, including the pigs who escape from next door and come visit! It was tough on my DIL, though, when she took a little white bucket into the sheep's field to pick blackberries. She didn't understand what the problem was!
Kit


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

If you don't chase them, they will come home. Pigs are like dogs. You can actually let them run loose, and they stay home pretty much. My grandparents always use to let their pigs run around their place, feed them in pans, and kind of keep them friendly while letting them forage. Pigs are pretty easy animals as long as you don't scare them.


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## gabbyraja (Feb 27, 2012)

Got him! I got back from TSC with some snow fence to make a trap and there he was outside the pen trying to figure out how to get back in. Sent dd in with some grain, pulled the gate back, and ds herded him right in. Little Booger! Thanks for all your help guys.


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## gerold (Jul 18, 2011)

gabbyraja said:


> Got him! I got back from TSC with some snow fence to make a trap and there he was outside the pen trying to figure out how to get back in. Sent dd in with some grain, pulled the gate back, and ds herded him right in. Little Booger! Thanks for all your help guys.


Most times they will come back home. They know who feeds them and also if there are other pigs there they come back to them. Glad you got it back.

Best,
Gerold.


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