Bonding that seemed to work, but not so much now.

E

Elsimsy

New Born Pup
Joined
Jun 26, 2021
Messages
19
Reaction score
8
Points
90
Location
Langdon Hills
I was left with a lone sow, Crumble, a couple of months ago. After several failed bonding with other adults, we tried her with a baby sow, and all seemed to be good.

However, we are now into week 3 and I'm not so sure. Crumble now seems to be very agitated with the baby (Coco). She constantly chases her away, nips at her, and rumbles constantly. There hasn't been any proper aggression, but I'm concerned about Coco's confidence when she's constantly being driven away.

At the moment, it seems like Coco is making Crumble constantly on edge, and neither seems to be getting anything out of the relationship. I'm considering trying Coco with my 2 younger pigs. Crumble was much more relaxed when she was on her own.

I've never had this situation before, so I'm at a bit of a loss what to do for the best.

Thanks in advance x
 
It’s difficult for us because we don’t see the interactions but nipping is a normal power move. Is it actually constant or is Coco allowed to eat and rest?
Is Coco chased away from food? Losing weight?
Were they ok but you are now noticing more dominance? - I ask this as I wonder whether one of them is in season which will cause a temporary increase.
Do all your hides have two exits?
 
sorry - when I say constant, I should have said when they are active. They do rest, but at opposite ends of the cage. Coco isn't losing weight, but does get chased away from food. There has been dominance from the beginning which I accepted, but not the frequent nipping which Crumble seems to do every time Coco gets near her. It's definitely got worse over the last week. And yes - all hides have 2 or more exits.
 
Do you have two different areas of food? At least one body length apart so that Crumble can’t hog the food?

Nipping is dominance and sleeping away from each other is also normal. As said above it may be Crumble is in season. It’s good if Coco isn’t losing weight either.
 
As she isn’t losing weight, then she must still be getting enough so that’s good. Make sure hay is available in multiple areas around the cage though. It’s the dominant piggy’s right to have the pick of everything.
Not sleeping near each other isn’t a problem either - it’s a bit of a myth that they will cuddle up to sleep.

Otherwise, read the guides below and see if there is anything in there which may be like the behaviours you are seeing

Bonds In Trouble
 
It could be that Coco is finding her feet in her new home and feeling a bit more confident, and Crumble is just reminding her of her place in the hierarchy.
I would be tempted to ride it out for a bit longer and see if they settle.
 
Many (most?) pigs do not cuddle up to rest, no matter how closely bonded they are. Nipping and chasing and rumbling are all pretty benign dominance behaviors reminding the underpig where they rank in the hierarchy. Was Crumble the leader or the subordinate pig in her previous pairing? Sometimes subordinate pigs making a move up the hierarchy are overly bossy because they're insecure. We went through this last year around this time with Leela and Tomie... Leela was the subordinate pig to her previous friend, made the jump to boss pig when we introduced Tomie, but had no real idea how to be the boss and was really, really domineering for the first several months. She basically seemed to fear that if she gave Tomie an inch, she'd take a mile. She finally figured out that Tomie was not actually coming for her crown and relaxed, but it took some time. Until then there was lots of posturing on Leela's side, which Tomie took in good humor because she was a tiny baby with no designs on leadership and was just really happy to be there! LOL! I would ride this out for some more time and let Crumble settle in. With females it's also possible that hormones are driving some bossy behavior, so I would give that time to settle too.
 
Thanks all.
Crumble was the lowest ranking pig, and we guessed this was why our attempts to match her to an adult failed - she always showed fear aggression.
I’ve kept pigs for over 10 years and have never had this situation, but everything you’ve all said makes perfect sense. So we’re going to leave them to it! Coco seems happy, so I think I’m just anthropomorphising them a bit too much!
Thanks again for putting my mind at ease!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top