Advice for housing after a failed bond

[RC14]

Hello,

We have a failed bond between two pairs of sows. During introductions my elder boss pig got a fright from younger boss pig moving too quickly and reacted very strongly which flipped younger boss from actively submissive to dominant. We gave it plenty of time, around 90 mins, on neutral ground and it became clear the two bosses didn't want to fight but couldn't agree either and they were getting tired but wouldn't rest so we decided on a time out and laid down flooring for a large temp C&C cage with a divider down the middle to give us time to reassess/calm down and try again in a few days. Everyone seemed perfectly happy when we went to bed but when I got up this morning there was clear tension and the two bosses must have had a fight through the bars as my elder boss pig now has cuts on her lips and was very aggressive on sight of younger boss pig. The temp cage left each with a 4x4 space so it wasn't driven by lack of space.

We obviously will be housing them separately and they are currently on different sides of the room however I see advice everywhere saying they can be in side by side cages, no mention of any fights, and given the space we have they'll have better quality cages being next to each other so that is my preference.

Has anyone experienced this injury through bars before? And more importantly my elder boss pig seems really stressed and angry on sight of the other girls, will this last forever or will she eventually get used to them being in the same room?

We've no intention of reintroducing them, their respective cages will be their own territory, but they will need to coexist and I just want to achieve that as painlessly as possible. Any advice is welcome!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear the bonding didn’t go well.

They usually can be side by side but it doesn’t mean every case will be the same. It’s not uncommon to see territorial behaviours between the bars but whether they can actually live as side by side in your case is going to be something you will have to wait and see.
The way you can test it is to put them side by side but use a double row of grids and put something between the grids - cardboard for example - so they can’t see each other initially. Over the course of time, slowly lift the cardboard/whatever you use so they start to see/smell each other a little more each day and see how they go.
Perhaps living side by side with a permanent solid divider if they really cannot tolerate each other.

 

[Free Ranger]

We had this with 2 pairs. My feisty girl Zara injured an incisor and I had seen her charge the bars with bared teeth when a new girl arrived on the other side so I think it could have happened then. It was a shame. But they actually managed OK for the most part. Flora could jump over a C&C grid though - you may need a double height in between!

 

[RC14]

We had this with 2 pairs. My feisty girl Zara injured an incisor and I had seen her charge the bars with bared teeth when a new girl arrived on the other side so I think it could have happened then. It was a shame. But they actually managed OK for the most part. Flora could jump over a C&C grid though - you may need a double height in between!

You have no idea how true this advice was! Despite trying to take precautions I still found the 6 month old had either vaulted or done a muscle up over the bars and was casually sitting underneath the sofa. Really glad we split the cages out now

Thank you both, I'm hopeful we'll find a balance even if it's slightly chaotic.