Outside Area

Question
Hi, I am going to be keeping my PBP outside in a pen. I was wondering what is the best size for him/her? How can I keep him/her stimulated during the day while I am gone at work?
Thank you for the info.

Answer
If your pig is going to be spending all (or most) of his time in the pen, the pen can be as big as possible. A young pig will explore every square inch!

Anything put inside the pen, like dog-a-loo shelters and wading pools, will take up space. Piggy will choose a potty spot, and need some room to run.

So the smallest comfortable size for a full time piggy run is about 400 sq ft, or 20 ft x 20 ft, or about the size of a typical two car garage. It can be any shape that fits your yard, but at least 8 - 10 ft wide. I've seen piggy runs made in an "L" shape, against 2 exterior garage walls (with a doggie door to the inside of the garage for shelter).

If piggy will be spending only part of the day in the pen, such as during the work days, it can be considerably smaller, but ideally not much smaller than a typical single car garage, or 12 ft x 24 ft.

Keeping piggy outside in a run during the working day and in with the family when people are home works fine for most of the US for most of the year, but in some climates the temperature difference between indoors at night and outdoors in the day is dramatic. It might be difficult for him to make this daily adjustment from indoors to outdoors. The inside of an unheated or uncooled garage is usually less extreme than the outdoors. You might want to consider a plan where one section of the pen backs up against a garage, and add a doggie door so piggy seek shelter there. Some important considerations, tho - the garage must be piggy proofed so he's not in danger of poisoning or injury, and, if the garage will be used for cars, there must be a way of making sure piggy is OUT of the garage when the cars come in, or else confined to one section of the garage.

Piggy will need some sort of shelter from the sun and rain. Dog a loos work really well. A wading pool will provide him with something to do and something to drink. Scatter air popped corn around the bottom of the pen to give him something to do. Or put bits of apple inside a couple of paper bags, roll them up & let him tear in. Pigs love to play with fresh straw and it's easy to toss a little in every day.