Now I know we all have an idealized view of homesteading, at least I did! Chickens and turkeys meandering in your spring green lawn, happily eating bugs and vegetation. Perhaps some lambs and goats frolicking around your fields while you’re faithful dog guards them against predators. Rabbits happily sitting in their cages or your lawn, doing rabbit-like things. Everyone in their places and happy to stay there. Except they don’t. Farm animals are always escaping.  All animals, regardless of your intentions, need to be fenced or caged, whether it is to protect them against hawks, foxes, stray dogs, your neighbor’s dog, your dog, always a dog. Or maybe to keep your goats from eating your rosebushes, or keeping your animals off a busy road. At some point your animals will be fenced or caged, and at some point, those fences will fail. and they will always escape. Always, and then they act like you’re the one trying to eat them when in reality your trying to protect them.

Now, I’m not going to lie, my husband couldn’t catch a chicken to save his life.  I remember the first time my chickens escaped and I asked him to help me, I was flabbergasted at how bad he was. I grew up catching chickens, that was my job as a kid and I was really good. How could he not know how to catch a chicken? Honestly. This post is inspired by my husband, so here are some tips and tricks on how to catch your homestead animals. I know nothing about cows and horse so I can’t help you there, but I would love to hear your thoughts on catching other escapee animals

 

 

Chickens

Of course, I have to start here. Chickens escape for a  number of reasons: you left the gate open, you thought you closed the gate but you didn’t latch it, your kids left the gate open, it’s spring and magically there is a hole in your fence, your dog ripped a hole in the fence, and my favorite, they simply flew over the fence. Bantams can fly really well, as do most chickens when they are scared. So now you have an escaped chicken or a bunch of escaped chickens, what do you do?

Chickens although they pretend otherwise really want to be back with the other chickens. At this point, you have three choices. 1) If you have any corners in your fence, squat down like you are playing defense in basketball and shuffle those feet with your arms spread wide, trapping her in a corner as she vainly tries to go through the fence back to her friends. Quickly, squat down and grab her body pinning her wings to her side. 2) If there are no corners, open the gate (risky because the rest of the chickens could escape) and have your kid/friend/spouse stand on the far side of gate with a broom so she can’t run past the opening  and chase her in the direction of the gate, see basketball squat comment previous. Even if she runs all the way around her pen, she’ll run right next to the fence and in. Or 3) Ignore your escaped chicken(s) and walk into their chicken park calling to them loudly and throwing cracked corn, now if you have brainwashed them properly they should come a running and you might only have a couple of stragglers (see method 1 & 2).

 

 

Turkeys

Turkeys are much easier to catch than chickens. The heritage breeds can fly really well so I suggest using an aviary net to keep them in. But if they do escape, don’t rush them, they’ll fly really high up and perch in a tree.  So instead grab a couple of light, long sticks, one for each hand. Open their gate and kind of herd them in. They like their friends and want to be with them. Occasionally tap a turkey on the side if they try to get out of line but for the most part, they’ll follow each other. If one wanders off, don’t worry it will be back soon, calling for his buddies.  Same as true for the broad-breasted, those guys can barely walk when they get big, let alone fly, so just patiently herd them in.

Ducks

Ducks are surprisingly fast waddlers. They look slow, you start chasing them, they waddle faster, and somehow you end up bent legged doing a weird shuffle run trying to catch them. As you shuffle faster, the ducks end up flapping their wings, speeding up their ducky waddles, not quite getting their fat ducky butts off the ground, but somehow completely out maneuvering you. It’s humbling chasing ducks. Just like chickens, you have options, pin them against the fence like chickens or what I think works the best is grab a lightweight net and slap that thing over the top of your duck. Then pick the ducks up, tucking their wings against their sides, tuck their head under your armpit and place them back in their pen. Repeat depending upon the number of ducks.

 

 

Rabbits

Some rabbits are fast and some are slow but in general, rabbits are hard to catch, so good luck to you. Hopefully, your rabbit is a recent escapee and currently near a fence or building where you can trap it into a corner, see chicken catching above. Unlike chickens, you practically need to dive on them, think volleyball dives, be fast and grab whatever body part you can.  I also own a large net that can be thrown on a rabbit or used to chase the rabbit into the net. Now, worse case scenario, you’re rabbit has been out for awhile and seems pretty happy. What do you do? Rabbits are attracted to other rabbits so if you have other rabbits in your hutches, then your escapee will probably be hanging out near your hutches.  So I would do one of three things, 1) You could build an elaborate looking but fairly easy to build rabbit trap and lure them in with some carrots. 2) You could put another rabbit in a cage on the ground somewhere in a semi-enclosed space and hope that your escapee comes near. When it does show him your volleyball dive and or use a net to catch him. Or 3) If you have your hutches in a shed or enclosed fenced yard leave the gate open and wait for your escapee to go in. Then, close the gates behind him and show him your volleyball dives.

Sheep

Sheep are not horrible to catch when they get out. They are herd creatures and feel safest when they are in a group. The easiest way is to have a herding dog, of course, that will help you round them up. I personally don’t have a herding dog, my own dog would probably get excited by loose sheep and try and eat them. So I have to rely on other methods. You and a spouse/friend/child/ could herd them yourselves back into the pen or fenced yard. Walk towards them, one on each side but always behind them, darting to the side if they try and make a break for it. If this is not working for you, get a grain bucket and shake it for all it’s worth, leading the sheep back into the pen.  Hopefully, your happy sheep come a running.

 

Goats

Goats are like naughty cats, or so my sister Jessica tells me. They have amazing lips that can open latches, untie strings and take advantage of any hole in your fence. They can and will find a way to escape. Then they will wander around your yard eating things they are not supposed to and giving you the stink eye if you come near them. So how do you catch them? First and foremost, do not chase your goats! It will be in vain, you won’t catch them and they’ll just keep trotting further and further away.  Now if you have nice calm goats that have collars on them it’s possible you can grab their collar and lead them back in your pen. Or once you grab their collar they could brake with all four feet and twist out of your grip. If the collar method won’t work because they are stubborn when you touch them or they flat out won’t let you near them, then it’s time for the grain bucket. Throw some grain in and shake that thing like your life depends upon it leading the goats back into the barnyard. If it’s hard at first to get them to go in, don’t worry you’ll get a lot of practice at it, they’ll be out again tomorrow.

Pigs

Catching a pig once it escapes is challenging and can end up with someone or something being injured if it is not done properly. But usually, once your pig gets hungry it will come back to where the food is; pigs are not stupid and they like to eat. So if you live in the country and there aren’t loose dogs or large predators then wait and they will come back. I always lock my pigs in the barn at night, when they were little I would feed them in the evening and I would shake the feed bucket and they would come running from the pasture.

That’s how we catch our animals anyway. Let us know what works

best for you.