3 boars....when/which to separate?

[crazygal330]

Hiya there, this might sound like an unusual question and I am not really sure waht we are doing yet with piggies. The short story is our 'friend' tried to rehome 3 8 week old boys together on gumtree,in a tiny hutch which I thought oh no! Recipe for disaster so I took them on instead.
Now I am very much aware that 3 boars won't work, and I will be keeping an eye on them and separate when/if needed. My questions are would it be cruel to separate one now and find him a friend of his own? If so how will I know which one to separate? The smallest of the 3 rumbles at the other two a lot, and there is occasional chasing going on in the cage but nothing particularly worrying otherwise so far. Part of me thinks if he is a rumbly troublemaker then I should separate him, but part of me thinks maybe the dynamic needs 1 dominant pig and one submissive pig, and if I separate rumbly one the other two will start. Any thoughts?

 

[piggyfan]

bump.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Great that you are doing your research and are thinking things through beforehand!

Provided that the boys have plenty of space, I would leave them together for the time being until the hormones really hit and you get a better idea which two boars get on better together; that will hopefully give you at least one stable boar pair to make it through the big hormones between roughly 4-14 months. Right now, your boys are simply (re-)establishing a hierarchy in their new home.
In the long term it is usually one boar pestering the other two constantly or two boys ganging up on a third. Sometimes you end up with a "piggy in the middle" situation. Very rarely three dominant boars won't get on with any other of their mates. And VERY occasionally, you end up with a trio that has exactly the right mix of (three laid back) characters to make it.

You can date the one boy out at a good rescue for a new friend when it is time. I am not sure whether Wood Green in Godmanchester do boar dating at their rescue, but it is worth asking as they are your closest recommended rescue. http://www.woodgreen.org.uk/about/visit_us/godmanchester

 

[RudderlessHippy]

Hi,

I have three boars together, they are 7 months old now and they have been together since they were babies (they are two brothers and a cousin, all born around the same time)

I have had no trouble so far, though I keep a close eye on the way they react to eachother. they have a lot of space and different houses to hide in and this seems to work. when they were in a smaller space they weren't so happy and there was a lot of rumble strutting and chasing, but I hardly get that now.

I would say only seperate them if things start to go wrong, don't pre-emtively seperate them, especially if they are fine right now!