Bonding neutered boar with sow pair

Freya1234

Freya1234

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Following a failed bonding with Winston and Rosie & Syrup. Today I am bonding my neutered boar Winston (1y) with Willow and Nutmeg (4/5 months). They have been side by side for a week and half, initially everything seemed good with Winston mounting/rumbling/pocorning and all pigs having a wash at different times. It’s been very noisy which I’m interpreting as reassurance noises. Willow is very submissive and has accepted lots of mounting from Winston. Nutmeg is more dominant but has accepted a 1 or 2 mounting’s from Winston however this has been in between the two of them chinning.
I’m interpreting this as the acceptance phase has happened and we’re now in the dominance phase of working out the hierarchy?
Nutmeg has been a bit troublesome in that she is quite nippy towards both of them at one point willow was in the hay and Winston was chasing her to mount her and she ran away towards Nutmeg who had taken herself off to a corner and there was a bit of a tussle (I think because nutmeg felt cornered) but no blood was drawn and everyone backed off.
Winston was just sat with them napping, I don’t think the girls were napping though.
I keep having the last failed bonding in the back of my mind but does it sound positive and that they just need more time?
 
Freya1234 said:
Following a failed bonding with Winston and Rosie & Syrup. Today I am bonding my neutered boar Winston (1y) with Willow and Nutmeg (4/5 months). They have been side by side for a week and half, initially everything seemed good with Winston mounting/rumbling/pocorning and all pigs having a wash at different times. It’s been very noisy which I’m interpreting as reassurance noises. Willow is very submissive and has accepted lots of mounting from Winston. Nutmeg is more dominant but has accepted a 1 or 2 mounting’s from Winston however this has been in between the two of them chinning.
I’m interpreting this as the acceptance phase has happened and we’re now in the dominance phase of working out the hierarchy?
Nutmeg has been a bit troublesome in that she is quite nippy towards both of them at one point willow was in the hay and Winston was chasing her to mount her and she ran away towards Nutmeg who had taken herself off to a corner and there was a bit of a tussle (I think because nutmeg felt cornered) but no blood was drawn and everyone backed off.
Winston was just sat with them napping, I don’t think the girls were napping though.
I keep having the last failed bonding in the back of my mind but does it sound positive and that they just need more time?
Click to expand...

Hi

Acceptance has indeed happened with both sows submitting to Winston. The mutual washing in between dominance rounds is an affirmation that they still want to be together; as is sitting together/close by during the rest periods.

You have to sit out the the leadership and then hierarchy establishement which happens in rounds, a bit like a boxing match. This is the rough bit but the one in which the new group is taking shape.

The bonding is still on the milder side and is highly unlikely to cross the wire, so please just sit it out. The fact that Winston is resting next to his new ladies means that things are very much on track. :tu:
 
Thank you for your reply! That’s very reassuring, the only thing I’m not sure about is that Nutmeg has taken herself off to a corner and has been there for about 30 minutes, she’s letting the others come to her and eat hay with her (she has done the odd lunge at them) but she’s just sitting there. I’m a bit concerned since this is exactly what Syrup did when things started to get hostile. Is this her setting up her territory within the bonding pen and telling the others to keep off?
 
Freya1234 said:
Thank you for your reply! That’s very reassuring, the only thing I’m not sure about is that Nutmeg has taken herself off to a corner and has been there for about 30 minutes, she’s letting the others come to her and eat hay with her (she has done the odd lunge at them) but she’s just sitting there. I’m a bit concerned since this is exactly what Syrup did when things started to get hostile. Is this her setting up her territory within the bonding pen and telling the others to keep off?
Click to expand...

Give it a bit longer to see whether she comes round when nothing happens to her.
 
Wiebke said:
Give it a bit longer to see whether she comes round when nothing happens to her.
Click to expand...
I’m hoping time will help but i’m getting a bit concerned it’s following exactly the same pattern as with Rosie and Syrup.
There has been hardly any more mounting and rumblestrutting from Winston (white long hair) and the continuous chatting from all of them has quietened down. All three had a nap together (close-ish to eachother) now they’re awake Nutmeg (ginger and white) is still in the corner now with Willow and when Winston tried to approach Nutmeg there was a lot of noise and she lunged at him🙁
This is how they’re all sat at the moment.
IMG_7943.jpegIMG_7942.jpeg
 
Okay so there was just a bit of excitement with Winston chasing Willow who kept running away, he then backed off and tried to approach Nutmeg who lunged and chased him for a bit, then all of a sudden him and Nutmeg faced each other and stopped lunging, and seemed to be sniffing noses/ eating hay together, then she turned around and and faced away from him.
She’s still sat in her little corner
He then approached her again and she lunged at him then he started submissive squeaking while she lied down in the corner and as he was squealing he was trying to sniff her which she’d let him do but was a bit hesitant
I just want to check i’m interpreting the body language correctly, it seems they do want to be together but Nutmeg and Winston want to be dominant and it’s a case of who backs down first?
Also what does it mean that Nutmeg took herself away to the corner and has been there ever since, is it just because she feels safe since that’s where the blanket is covered?
Wiebke said:
Give it a bit longer to see whether she comes round when nothing happens to her.
Click to expand...

All 3 of them are now eating hay together in Nutmeg’s little corner.
p.s. (have taken a video which i’ll upload to youtube and post the link)
 
Freya1234 said:
Okay so there was just a bit of excitement with Winston chasing Willow who kept running away, he then backed off and tried to approach Nutmeg who lunged and chased him for a bit, then all of a sudden him and Nutmeg faced each other and stopped lunging, and seemed to be sniffing noses/ eating hay together, then she turned around and and faced away from him.
She’s still sat in her little corner
He then approached her again and she lunged at him then he started submissive squeaking while she lied down in the corner and as he was squealing he was trying to sniff her which she’d let him do but was a bit hesitant
I just want to check i’m interpreting the body language correctly, it seems they do want to be together but Nutmeg and Winston want to be dominant and it’s a case of who backs down first?
Also what does it mean that Nutmeg took herself away to the corner and has been there ever since, is it just because she feels safe since that’s where the blanket is covered?


All 3 of them are now eating hay together in Nutmeg’s little corner.
p.s. (have taken a video which i’ll upload to youtube and post the link)
Click to expand...

Winston, willow, nutmeg bonding
This is a video i took, sorry it’s not the clearest i didn’t want to get too close and disturb them. Winston is the white long hair, nutmeg the white and ginger at the back and then willow is the little white one.
 
Freya1234 said:
Okay so there was just a bit of excitement with Winston chasing Willow who kept running away, he then backed off and tried to approach Nutmeg who lunged and chased him for a bit, then all of a sudden him and Nutmeg faced each other and stopped lunging, and seemed to be sniffing noses/ eating hay together, then she turned around and and faced away from him.
She’s still sat in her little corner
He then approached her again and she lunged at him then he started submissive squeaking while she lied down in the corner and as he was squealing he was trying to sniff her which she’d let him do but was a bit hesitant
I just want to check i’m interpreting the body language correctly, it seems they do want to be together but Nutmeg and Winston want to be dominant and it’s a case of who backs down first?
Also what does it mean that Nutmeg took herself away to the corner and has been there ever since, is it just because she feels safe since that’s where the blanket is covered?


All 3 of them are now eating hay together in Nutmeg’s little corner.
p.s. (have taken a video which i’ll upload to youtube and post the link)
Click to expand...

Just give it time and let them work through it.

Winston is the dominant but Nutmeg is reluctant to concede; lunging is always used by a piggy that cannot back up its claim.

As long as Winston is not forcing it too much, you are in with a chance. Nutmeg is currently just defending her personal space with nips.
 
After the nap things seemed to be a lot calmer, and Nutmeg and Winston had some interactions where I was expecting her to lunge and she didn’t! It seems like she’s letting him be in charge (until he goes over to her little corner if she’s there then she does lunge at him), she is still lunging at Willow who is definitely bottom pig but I feel like things have settled and it’s more they’re establishing the hierarchy rather than any dislike or aggression.
How long should I leave it before transferring them to the cage? I was thinking of doing it in a couple of hours if everything stays like this, does that sound about right?
 
Glad it is looking more settled now. I would leave them be for as long as you can
Good luck hope it keeps going in the right direction 🤞
 
Just moved them all to the cleaned and disinfected cage!
It was so nice to see Winston so happy since he’s only had half the cage for about 4 weeks, he popcorned and zoomied and did everything all at once! The girls were also doing zoomies and popcorning which was so lovely to see since it’s the most we’ve seen of them since they’ve been here, it seems Winston being settled really eased them and they were happy running around with us there.
Will obviously keep an eye on things while everything is settling in the cage but I’m so happy we’ve found Winston some girlfriends :luv:IMG_7953.webp
 
Oh that’s brilliant news, they all sound very happy if they are popcorning around the cage. So happy for Winston
 
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