All Is Not Well In Camp Guinea Pig

[mrsvej]

hello guys!

I am trying to bond my established boar/sow pair with a younger sow who is on her own.

All in neutral floor space in their new shed, nothing but them, lots of hay and a water bottle.

Within the first 1.5hrs things seemed to be okay - lots of chasing, bum sniffing, rumble strutting/mounting of young piggie by both the elders and my dominant elder girl pig mounting the boar.

It all calmed - everyone was led out at first quite far apart, then very much nearly side by side. This was about 2hrs in and I was thinking we had cracked the worst bit. I don't know what on earth happened but my elder sow then became relentless! She would not settle, bossing the others, chasing, nipping you name it. She was rearing up and the atmosphere was tense to say the least with lots of 'yawning' from all 3.

I tried my hardest for 4 hours of watching them solidly not the intervene (and I didn't) but the situation was not calming come 4.5hrs so I removed the young sow from the shed. I desperately didn't want to do this but things were so tense I couldn't leave her in there over night.

So... where can I go from here?! Is it ruined? I am so gutted! Any advice appreciated! X

 

[Mother Hubbard]

Just a thought, did you bath them all? To remove the scent.

To be honest, I have husboar and pig wife and she will just not let anything or anyone get near him, they bonded so quickly and deeply that nothing will get in the way, could it be the same for you I wonder? Depends on the scenting maybe.

 

[Wiebke]

hello guys!

I am trying to bond my established boar/sow pair with a younger sow who is on her own.

All in neutral floor space in their new shed, nothing but them, lots of hay and a water bottle.

Within the first 1.5hrs things seemed to be okay - lots of chasing, bum sniffing, rumble strutting/mounting of young piggie by both the elders and my dominant elder girl pig mounting the boar.

It all calmed - everyone was led out at first quite far apart, then very much nearly side by side. This was about 2hrs in and I was thinking we had cracked the worst bit. I don't know what on earth happened but my elder sow then became relentless! She would not settle, bossing the others, chasing, nipping you name it. She was rearing up and the atmosphere was tense to say the least with lots of 'yawning' from all 3.

I tried my hardest for 4 hours of watching them solidly not the intervene (and I didn't) but the situation was not calming come 4.5hrs so I removed the young sow from the shed. I desperately didn't want to do this but things were so tense I couldn't leave her in there over night.

So... where can I go from here?! Is it ruined? I am so gutted! Any advice appreciated! X

Give it another try on neutral ground tomorrow and see whether things are calmer. I would only give up if things stay persistently on the tense and jittery side of dominance.

Thankfully, with sow and mixed gender pairings you can separate overnight once you have got well into the dominance phase.

 

[mrsvej]

Hi guys - thanks for your advice! As a bit of a follow up, yesterday they all met again on neutral ground (outside run) they were together for hours with nothing more then chasing, but of stomping from my dominant older female Nancy and rumblestrutting all around. I moved them all into their cleaned out (empty) home with just blankets and hay/food.

All seems alright, although still not as settled as I would like. Last night my new pig Blossom slept separately from Bill and Nancy (which I expected) and this morning I have added a few boxes with lots of exits. The main action now is that my dominant female Nancy is constantly chasing/trying to mount Blossom. Bill is not at all interested! I am hoping this calms down now and we are over the worst...? Will Nancy just get bored of this eventually or are we not out of the woods yet?

Thanks guys,

Vickie