Bonding into a herd

[vmorin918]

Hello,

We currently have a group of 7 ladies living together in a 3x10 c&c cage. Our local rescue could use some help taking one or two off their hands. Do you still need to do an introduction on neutral territory? We have never had more than 4 living together at one time so I was wondering if the introduction isn't necessary once a group becomes a certain size. The rescue recently had an explosion of babies, so most likely we would take 1 or 2 of those to try and help (if our cage is large enough)

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes, any bonding needs to be done on neutral territory.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Aw, would love to see all your little ladies

 

[vmorin918]

I'm not sure if you can attach videos but here's a try! Everyone is eating their breakfast lettuce LOL

 

[dhill_cb7]

Wowzers! Are they both females you want to add? Are you thinking of getting a neutered husboar in the rescued lot?

I agree with bonding on neutral territory.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I'm not sure if you can attach videos but here's a try! Everyone is eating their breakfast lettuce LOL

You need to upload video to YouTube and then post a link to it here. The forum cannot directly host video

 

[vmorin918]

Wowzers! Are they both females you want to add? Are you thinking of getting a neutered husboar in the rescued lot?

I agree with bonding on neutral territory.

The rescue doesn't have any neutered boars, so we will stick with ladies for now!

 

[vmorin918]

Aw, would love to see all your little ladies

We have Luna, Buffy, Betty, Willow, Rosie, Winnie and Lola. We also have a senior lady who is 6 almost 7 years old but she lives alone in her own penthouse cage

 

[PigglePuggle]

I would say that introducing new pigs into a big herd needs proper careful introductions on neutral territory, slow and careful with plenty space and time, watching very closely to be sure that the big mass of overly friendly piggies doesnt freak out the newbies and cause panic and fear aggression! I have a big group who love meeting new pigs but also have a tendency to accidentally terrify them lol, we have had a failed bonding that way when a baby skinny pig got so overwhelmed she went on the attack, and our latest intro just after Christmas could have gone either way... luckily it was ok, but again the youngest newcomer got very spooked by how many pigs she had to interact with at once!

 

[vmorin918]

I would say that introducing new pigs into a big herd needs proper careful introductions on neutral territory, slow and careful with plenty space and time, watching very closely to be sure that the big mass of overly friendly piggies doesnt freak out the newbies and cause panic and fear aggression! I have a big group who love meeting new pigs but also have a tendency to accidentally terrify them lol, we have had a failed bonding that way when a baby skinny pig got so overwhelmed she went on the attack, and our latest intro just after Christmas could have gone either way... luckily it was ok, but again the youngest newcomer got very spooked by how many pigs she had to interact with at once!

We just introduced our 7 last week actually, we had 4 in one cage and 3 in the other. They were neighbors and could smell each other all the time, and popped their heads up over the coroplast to sniff faces but that was it. The introductions went as expected, minor fights, mostly nose-off's... and everyone then just settled in and napped together LOL

We have run out of space to do introductions so we cleaned out the c&c cage and put down a new piece of fleece that didn't smell like anyone and just left a giant mountain of hay in the middle. That is the probably the same way we'd do it again.

We aren't looking to add anytime soon, but definitely will at some point.