Dad biting sons - time to split?

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This is a slight continuation from this thread I made originally, but it is getting more to belong here rather than introduction topic i feel.

I have four guinea pigs, 1 father and his 3 sons. Father is roughly 8-10 month, and the kids are about 2-2.5 month old. I took them in from an owner who was a little out of her comfort zone with a house of lots of animals, and their guinea pigs had just had babies and making it at all worse, so I took them in, instead of them ending up at a rescue.

The kids get on very well with each other, no problems really so far there. The father however has decided to spend a lot of time chasing the kids about, and attempts to bite them, on the face of all places. Usually the kids just run away for a bit and that's that for several hours, or they'll jump on top of their main bed area which has a roof but open sides, the father so far cannot jump up there. However whilst I was busy programming, I had a friend over who witnessed the father actually manage to bite, and do it what they described as "a malicious manner", what does that mean exactly? I do not know. The piggie who got bit is in the attached photo, getting some fussing from me afterwards.
The cage area is around 4.25 square metres, with 2 hay piles, and when its time for feeding i spread it (either greens, or the pellet food) around the cage, or within hay piles to encourage foraging, rather than served on one dish they all crowd around. Whenever I interact with them, i try to fuss over the Dad first as for some reason I am guessing he considers himself the main guy who deserves it all first, but that has not helped the situation.

Do you think this is a recoverable situation, or is Dad just already fed up of his children? It would break my heart to see the father in his own area, but i also don't want any more biting incidents. After the incident i have paid extra attention, and Dad seems to do it to all of the children, or rather attempts to. It isn't just one he singles out.
Is this actually normal behaviour trying to assert dominance/the hierarchy between them or is this a sign of the end of his parental duties and hormones going back to my cage my space? I have enough spare C&C panels i can split the cage into a smaller area, but Dad would probably end up alone, given this specific behaviour is happening to all of the kids, instead of just 1 or 2.

 

[Piggies&buns]

So, when piggies move to a new environment they have to reestablish their bond - this happens in any pairing/grouping regardless of how long they have been together. However any actual aggression, and certainly causing an injury is of huge concern. Added to the fact you have four boars which, as I said on your other thread, is highly unlikely to survive as a quartet.

What I would advise you to do is split them - obviously don’t put dad with the son he bit, pick one of the others - and see if you can make two pairs now while you still have the chance.

If you remove dad and leave the babies together there is still a very high chance that they will not make it as a trio and you may burn bridges getting them into pairs down the line (although, it may already have happened).
If you cannot make two pairs, if dad doesn’t accept anybody else and if the trio breaks down - then, as advised was a common consequence of a boar quartet, you would be looking at either a pair and two singles or (if all things break down) four singles.

Any rearranging of groupings will cause another two weeks of reestablishing and you would have to ride that out (barring any actual fights of course) to allow them to establish as separate pairs.

You are absolutely right to handle the dominant pig first - handling the submissive in a pairing first can cause the dominant to go on a frenzy of over exerted their dominance

 

[Piggies&buns]

To add, it isn’t a case of ending parental duties - (he doesn’t care whether they are his sons or not) it is character compatibilities and establishing a hierarchy which make or break bonds