4 block high packed dirt wall animal pen, escaped chicks and lamb

[Nightvyd]

I checked in on my animal pen after neglecting it after a new gen was born. The chicks are gone and the lamb was wandering just outside the 4 block high, packed dirt wall. Bug or as designed?

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums! Which version are you playing on? I've been playing on the most recent release candidate and had my ram escape from the pen somehow. To my knowledge there's no way for the sheep to get out of their enclosure, so I'm wondering if there's not a bug where they're glitching through walls/fencing somehow, or otherwise loading in at the wrong location when you load the chunks.

[Nightvyd]

@LadyWYT I'm on 1.19.8. I think I had rams walking up 2 blocks high.

One possibility that I saw, which didn't apply, were animals being birthed and spawned outside the pen. The lamb and chicks were for sure running around inside my walls(cob and packed dirt).

[LadyWYT]

Just now, Nightvyd said:

@LadyWYT I'm on 1.19.8. I think I had rams walking up 2 blocks high.

One possibility that I saw, which didn't apply, were animals being birthed and spawned outside the pen. The lamb and chicks were for sure running around inside my walls(cob and packed dirt).

Gotcha. I know sheep can climb slopes up to two blocks high, but given your description nothing should be able to climb out of your enclosure. Hence why I suspect that they're glitching outside the pen somehow(whether it's when they're born, or otherwise).

[Emily Faraday]

I made double-thick fencing around my animal pens to protect them from predators (this was after I found a pig dead inside the pen saying it had bite marks), but the newborn animals (both pigs and chickens) are consistently spawning outside the pens, through the double-thick fencing somehow. Playing latest live version of Vintage Story. It's very frustrating.

[Mithrandir228]

Same. I've read up on this plenty before embarking on animal breeding. I built a farm, trying to make it as natural looking as possible, winding path fences with animal and tree fields either side, instead of square flat boxes everywhere. I'm not too bothered about bears or wolves, since I kill all I find, and I'm constantly expanding the farm, so it'll eventually get a 4 high wall around it with mechanised gate. Unless I'm mistaken, and anyone here can point to bears and wolves respawning in the area inside land you think is safe, not the wild.

Someone mentioned in a comment I read, that putting wooden paths down either side of fences prevents snow from building up, so animals won't be able to climb out. I've done that and it works great, and 2 generations in to my pig breeding I had no escapes, ......until my third winter, when I've now found 4 gen 2 sows, and 2 gen 3 piglets roaming round my oak tree field, and just now a gen 3 boar in my redwood field, both of which border the back of the pig pen.

It must be chunks not loading as LadyWYT says, same problem that Minecraft encounters. I guess that means I'm going to have to move the pig pen when the snow thaws out. Build a number of much smaller pigsties that are self contained within each chunk. Then if only 1 or two load it doesn't matter, there's no gap in the wall. That is really annoying though, it kills any immersion and role play.

(Edit)
Just for a pointer, does anyone know if it makes any difference if you use rough hewn fences or proper fences? I doubt it, but it's worth asking anyway.

Edited August 22, 2025 by Mithrandir228