Bonding a trio - help please

[LittleBear]

Good morning,

Yesterday I bonded my sow Blossom with a pair of girls (Rosie and Peppa). We started at the rescue where I got the pair, acceptance phase went pretty well and I took them home after 1,5 hours and continued there in a neutral bonding space. There was quite a bit of chasing, especially by the dominant girl who kept chasing Blossom but really nothing dramatic, they ate, snoozed, chased etc. After a few hours I put them in the piggy room in a cleaned and rearranged 5x3 cc cage only with hides and houses with 2 exits and the attached guineadad snuggly. Here things started to heat up, more chasing, now by both new girls and Blossom started hiding in the snuggly with the new girls taking turns to lie next to her (Blossom being under the snuggly and them being on it - see pictures). Looked sweet but probably a power lie-in? The new girls haven't really figured out how to get in the snuggly or they might have chased her out. I semi-slept on a mattress next to them and Blossom only came out of her snuggly once, and then there was quite a heated chase with Blossom trying to stand her ground. Still no real fights or bites, but I feel Blossom's avoiding them and probably terrified. (Have read the guides many times and bonded 4 times before, but feeling unsure about this). Also feel since coming into the cage both new girls are ganging up on Blossom, with their lying next to her and chasing. Any thoughts?

 

[Piggies&buns]

How old is everybody?
Bonding a single with a bonded pair can be tricky, there is a risk that the single piggy can get left out and the pair always remain close. It doesn’t mean it is definitely going to happen and it’s good there has only been mild dominance (the chasing)

I might be inclined to remove the guineadad simply because it has that snuggly pocket and use just a flat fleece and see if this helps at all

 

[LittleBear]

Blossom's 2,5 and the new girls are almost 2. Probably right about removing the snuggly, but I feel Blossom would feel very exposed without it. I am aware of how tricky bonding a trio is, but single 2 year old sows seem to be rare at the moment and the only one available wasn't a match.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes she might feel exposed if they are ganging up on her (although there are other hides) but if she is just hiding in there and they are sitting on her and potentially trapping her in there then that’s not necessarily helping either!
Of course some chasing is going to happen during the next two weeks but if removing it might help to give you an idea of whether it is normal bonding chasing and things actually are ok or whether there might be something more going on.