Best way to house mioxed pairings of piggies?

[Sodapops]

Hi all,
I really need some advice on a C&C setup for two mixed pairs of piggies. I recently (just over a week ago) had to take on a pair of very young male piggies as a matter of urgency (they were either going to become snake food or disposed of in a not so nice way).

Anyhow, prior to this i already had a bonded pair of boars (one of the reasons why i took on the young boys - having a bonded pair of boars meant strictly no girls). It since transpired that my youngest boar is in fact a female and was mis-sexed by the pet shop i originally got my first two boys from. She was living happily with my eldest boar for about 7-8wks so is very obviously pregnant.

The two youngest boys that i recently rescued are only 4 and 5wks old so they couldn't be housed in my current C&C setup (due to the fact that they can easily fit through the grid bars). As a temporary measure they were put in a ferplast 100 cage and would have remained there until they got a little larger in size. My original plan was to then extend my current C&C to have 2 bonded pairs of boars living side by side - this is now out of the question.

I have no intention of getting rid of my pregnant sow and also have no intentions of letting our new babies go - so my question is how can i house my 2 pairs without any fights erupting between the two youngest pair of boars if they smell our female?

My eldest boar is currently living in a 4.5 grid x 3 grid lower and 2 x 2 upper double C&C. Sitting rather close are the two younger boys in their ferplast 100 cage (they cannot see or touch each other through the bars).

My pregnant sow has been moved in to another room in a temporary ferplast 120 cage. Obviously once she's had her litter we will get Homer neutered and the two will go back in to the C&C cage.

I just need to know how i can adapt my C&C to house all 4 piggies without risk of fallout with the two youngest.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

 

[CiaraPatricia]

Just wanted to say that somebody told me that they keep two boys in a cage right next to females and they never fight. Obviously it is different for every pig, but there is a chance that the boys might be ok near the girl.

So because they told me that I am trying to see how my two boys get on next to the females (I didn't want to move them far away if I didn't have to, because one of the females is one of the boy's mother, and I thought it'd be nice for her to see him, and they all love talking through the wire). So far so good, the boys are still best friends. They're about 9 and 11 weeks old, and no fights. I know they're still very young, so if they start fighting when they're older then I'll move the hutches far apart.

 

[vickyangel3]

Hello,

I have seen boys happily housed next to girls without fighting. You could always have a double layer C&C cage and then have two boys on top and your girl and boy underneath, that way it should cause a problem.

If you currently have it open and want to get to both layers easily you could have a grid in between.

I had a set up similar once - so attached a graphic of what it could look like - mine was a 2x5 with a 2x3 in an L shape. You don't have to go with that shape but it might help!