Any Hope of Finding/Catching our Baby Pigs?

[Laura_P]

We bought 3 baby Berkshire pigs this afternoon. We put them in a portable pen that is made of electric netting (made especially for pigs). The babies jumped right through the fence (between the hot wires) and took off. We tried to get them for over two hours, but then it got dark and we couldn't find them. My two questions are:

Is there any chance they will find their way back to us?

Is there any advice about how to catch them if they do return?

This is our first pig experience and we are really sad that we lost them. I'm feeling a little stupid too, even though I feel like we prepared ourselves for them as much as we could.

Thanks,
Laura

 

[currycomb]

not much chance of them returning, they didn't know that was home. you might be able to track them tomorrow and make a catch pen using real hog panels and tasty treats. or do you know a good cowboy with a horse and a rope?

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Oh yikes! I am SO sorry. When you bring new pigs home you MUST put them in an area that they cannot get out of. Leave them there for at least 2-3 days & preferably have some electric wire running around the inside to start training them.

After 2-3 days move them ALL together to the electric netting & put them down where the food bowl is. They should then stay.

I don't think they will come back

Liz

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

So sorry to hear of this. Very dissapointing I am sure.

 

[PattySh]

Were you able to catch any of them? So sorry to hear this happened to you. I've chased pig all over the neighborhood recently luckily they escaped from the barn and knew where home was and we were able to chase them back this way. Personally I would not trust electric for pigs as I am too close to neighbors and the power does go out here sometimes.

 

[secuono]

sounds like free bacon for your neighbors....Ask them to look out for em.

 

[PattySh]

We had 5 get loose a while back. 100#ers more or less. They broke a barn door. Took all afternoon and into the evening to catch 4 of them. The 5th one showed up 3 days later, we thought she was a goner. While we were herding them back, a road grader came by and scared her into the woods. A bit into the woods there is a huge cliff, we thought she went over it as no one around saw her. We couldn't beleive it when we found her in the barn. She jumped a 4 ft hog panel that we placed behind the barn door to repair the hole securely to get back into her stall with siblings. Other than a few burdocks stuck to her she was in good shape. We were so tired it took a few days for us to recover from the chasing.

 

[Laura_P]

Oh my gosh! I just realized that I never posted an update about the pig adventure. Thanks for everyone who took the time to read and answer my original post.

The next morning we went out to the field where the pigs had been seen last. The runt had run off into the woods and the other two ran down the creek. There was no sign of them in the morning and we had a meeting to attend, so we weren't able to look for them. The meeting we attended happened to be a 4H gathering and a couple of girls in our group show pigs. When we asked how to catch pigs, they suggested marshmallows and oreos.

One of the dogs ended up finding the pigs and chasin' them out of their hiding place. As they ran by, my husband scooped them up with the fishing net. We never even got to use the oreos and marshmallows.

The pigs are now safely in their new pen and have not had any more escapes.

 

[HankTheTank]

that's great!

 

[Cornish Heritage]

FANTASTIC! Whoo Hoo!

Liz