Can A Baby Be Added To Mixed Herd?

[Florrieberry]

Hi, We are going to adopt another piggie which may possibly be a baby. We have 1 neutered boy and 4 girls, all between the ages of 20 months and approx 2. 5 yrs old. Will this be a problem? Is it possible our boy will try to mount her and could that hurt her? I'm presuming in natural herds the same situation would occur naturally?
Thanks

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, We are going to adopt another piggie which may possibly be a baby. We have 1 neutered boy and 4 girls, all between the ages of 20 months and approx 2. 5 yrs old. Will this be a problem? Is it possible our boy will try to mount her and could that hurt her? I'm presuming in natural herds the same situation would occur naturally?
Thanks

No worries whatsoever! I have done it a few times.

Babies move just in. Dominance may be heavily depending on the herd dynamics, but it is usually just short as soon as the babies have been firmly put in their place at the bottom of the herd hierarchy. The baby is going to attach itself to one of the herd piggies; it can be the boar or one of the sows. The girls are not hurt when being humped. My mounting Carwyn could basically still stand on his front legs when he and his 5 week old wifelet Heini met and fell head over heels for each other! You have to remember that babies are fast - they can't be caught by the bigger piggies unless they stand stil!

My 6 week old Heini with 3 year old Carwyn


My 4 week old Tegan with the Tribe boar Hywel who couldn't catch her...

And during intros with the whole Tribe who in age ranged from 10 months to 4 years


The 8 week old TEAS sanctuary Triplets with husboar Bedo and adult TEAS mum and daughter foster pair Essylt/Jessica and Crisiant/Krystal. Lilac/orange Bedo made a lovely nursery nurse for the triplets, who happily bounded after him!

 

[karonus]

Echo wiebke. End of last year we lost Cosmos and needed the group back up to 4 for caravanning. We visited honeybunnies with a 5 year old neutered boar, and a 4 year old and 1 year old sow. Got them in our run and 9 babies were added. Ours then spent some time sniffing and nose rubbing. Then one by one they nose butted gently away the babies one by one. When one was left they corralled her against the side of the run surrounding her. Just like circling the wagons in a western. Luna is now a very close knit member of the group.

 

[Florrieberry]

No worries whatsoever! I have done it a few times.

Babies move just in. Dominance may be heavy depending on the herd dynamics, but it is usually just short as soon as the babies have been firmly put in their place at the bottom of the herd hierarchy. The baby is going to attach itself to one of the herd piggies; it can be the boar or one of the sows. The girls are not hurt when being humped. My mounting Carwyn could basically still stand on his front legs when he and his 5 week old wifelet Heini met and fell head over heels for each other! You have to remember that babies are fast - they can't be caught by the bigger piggies unless they stand stil!

My 6 week old Heini with 3 year old Carwyn
View attachment 45744

My 4 week old Tegan with the Tribe boar Hywel who couldn't catch her...
View attachment 45745
And during intros with the whole Tribe who in age ranged from 10 months to 4 years
View attachment 45747

The 8 week old TEAS sanctuary Triplets with husboar Bedo and adult TEAS mum and daughter foster pair Essylt/Jessica and Crisiant/Krystal. Lilac/orange Bedo made a lovely nursery nurse for the triplets, who happily bounded after him!
View attachment 45746

Thanks for that. Lovely photos. Made me laugh to remember how fast the little ones are! All the chasing should keep him slim then

 

[Florrieberry]

Echo wiebke. End of last year we lost Cosmos and needed the group back up to 4 for caravanning. We visited honeybunnies with a 5 year old neutered boar, and a 4 year old and 1 year old sow. Got them in our run and 9 babies were added. Ours then spent some time sniffing and nose rubbing. Then one by one they nose butted gently away the babies one by one. When one was left they corralled her against the side of the run surrounding her. Just like circling the wagons in a western. Luna is now a very close knit member of the group.

Thank you... One question... What do you mean "for caravanning ? "?

 

[karonus]

Thank you... One question... What do you mean "for caravanning ? "?

We take our 4 on caravan holidays, we have a touring caravan. They are quite famous with almost a 1000 likes on their Facebook page and a column in the Guinea Pig Magazine.

 

[Florrieberry]

Aw that's sweet, but why do you need 4?Is it so one isn't alone in a cage?

Thank you... One question... What do you mean "for caravanning ? "?

 

[Florrieberry]

@weibke @koronus
Could i ask what you do re pellets with a mixed age herd?
Some are not suitable for babies? Our piggies get two third science selective and a third each of Harringtons and burgess blackcurrant.
I don't always believe the manufacturer info on packs. Thanks

 

[Florrieberry]

New baby girls.... In quarantine for a few weeks as one with lice. and one with possible dermatitis / ringworm. (Been to vets on way home from collection and scraping taken). Lovely little girls tho!

 

[Wiebke]

@weibke @koronus
Could i ask what you do re pellets with a mixed age herd?
Some are not suitable for babies? Our piggies get two third science selective and a third each of Harringtons and burgess blackcurrant.
I don't always believe the manufacturer info on packs. Thanks

Just feed as normal; all of my babies have prospered perfectly fine on an adult diet!

Tegan is now coming up to 4 years; she is in the ideal weight bracket between 1000-1200g, as are all my other babies. Heini is over 1100g at 10 months of age, so they haven't suffered one bit!

Pellets should make only 5-10% of the daily food intake anyway. When you look at the ingredients, you will find that all the brands you are feeding are alfalfa based and pretty high in protein and calcium, so no extra is needed! Baby pellet brands are mainly a shop gimmick as the extra amounts are in fact tiny and well covered with a good balanced diet.