Bonding Advice Needed Please :(

[MycuteBoys]

Hiya, I'm sure you all know by now that I have two sets of boars that normally live on my patio in two hutches. Due to the winter weather approaching and the 5 November, we moved both hutches into the garage this afternoon (no car) but we have hit a bonding problem and were in need of some advice please.
Due to space we have both hutches next to each other, fudge and pip in one their brother oreo and his new friend Alex in the other, but fudge pip and Alex have been rumbling lots and our poorly oreo who is fine with all three piggies had Alex chasing him around the hutch and mounting him.....all natural but poor Oreo was very stressed out by this behaviour from Alex and as hes poorly at the mo were worried about leaving them together. Both Alex and oreo were teeth chattering too. They have settled down for now unsure how long this will last (we keep standing at the garage door but it's all quite for now), it's like the first day of bonding all over again.
We did have the hutches close to each other outside so Alex could get used to the smell and noise of fudge and pip before we brought them inside for the winter. They were all fine when they were in the garden, will they settle soon. I'm grateful of any advice or tips thank you.
Kell.

 

[Lolly]

It could just be the move has unsettled them. When mine were outside I would have said that Patch was the dominant one, but since I have brought them inside and put them in a Ferplast cage instead of a hutch it's really clear that it's the other one, Rosie, who is the dominant pig. I had a couple of days where I saw a lot of rumbling, teeth chattering and Rosie has been nosing and hip swaying at Patch. They have settled down now, Rosie is still displaying dominant behaviours but it's not as frequent and never got as far as a fight and I haven't heard any crying or squealing from them. They have 2 of everything but are frequently in the same hidey and eat together all the time, I also saw Rosie nibbling Patch's ear which I think is a good sign from reading threads here.

Hopefully someone with more experience can comment more, these are our first pigs so all new to me!

 

[Wiebke]

Boars need to re-establish their dominance in any new surroundings. That can include a new cage, a new location or at the worst, a cage clean. Hopefully, things settle down again within a day or two.

If necessary, separate for a night or two to help tempers to calm down, but you will then need to do a full intro and rebonding on neutral ground etc.

 

[MycuteBoys]

Thank you Wiebke . Pip and fudge were fine after 10 mins, Alex took a lot longer and I was really worried about oreo going through that due to him being ill. I will check on them properly when I go to bed and take oreo out if needs be, Thank you.

Oreos lumps have not got any smaller, we think were dealing with mastitis because the vet found three large lumps in his tummy and two on his boy bits (the ones on his boy bits burst at the vets when pressed and samples taken) and he's on day 10 of his antibiotics just waiting for the test results to come back. Oreo is perfectly normal apart from these lumps.

 

[MycuteBoys]

Thank you lolly

 

[Wiebke]

Make sure that Alex and oreo don't have any hideys and crannies where Oreo can be cornered until things calm down again. Each time you separate, you have to start in square one, so you have to decide whether it is a productive move or not; it depends just on how bad things are.

 

[MycuteBoys]

Make sure that Alex and oreo don't have any hideys and crannies where Oreo can be cornered until things calm down again. Each time you separate, you have to start in square one, so you have to decide whether it is a productive move or not; it depends just on how bad things are.

Thank you, I don't want to keep rebounding them as that will stress oreo more then he needs right now, so I hope they stay settled. Alex is a lovely piggy all this is very new to him so I hope they will settle properly in a day or two