Exiled pig, add another or separate?

[PiggyLil28]

Hello all you wonderful piggy people.

I have a trio currently (1 neutered boar and 2 sows)
Gus- 2 year old Neutered Boar
Clover- 7 month old Sow, Dominant
Maisy- 7 month old Sow, runt of the litter, very submissive and skittish
(The sows are sisters and came together)

I noticed that Maisy is almost always by herself on the opposite end of the cage and even during floor time she's always away from the other two. Gus and Clover have a very good bond and are always together, eating, sleeping, running around, you name it they are doing it together. I feel so bad for Maisy and wonder if finding another sow to add to the group would help or if I should bond her separately with another sow and split them into two groups of two. Clover is a very dominant sow so I don't want to disrupt that by adding another but I also worry the new addition won't bond with Maisy either and then I'm back to square one. Or should I leave it all as is and just keep all 3 together and not worry about it?

Thanks all!

 

[Piggies&buns]

With a trio there is always a risk that one piggy gets left out. However, adding another piggy won’t necessarily improve anything - your dominant sow needs to accept a newcomer and that isn’t always easy to achieve plus adding another piggy won’t fix any issues which exist between the current piggies.

If things really arent working then you may be better off to split them up and make two separate pairs.

Adding More Guinea Pigs Or Merging Pairs – What Works And What Not?

 

[Swissgreys]

It's such an individual thing I think, and all comes down to character compatibility which no one can predict.

I had a trio for almost a year before it became clear to me that it wasn't really working out, so I ended up splitting it, adding another piggy and keeping them as 2 pairs.
This worked much better, but the trio wasn't a disaster.
Everyone maintained their weight, ran around, etc. It's just that I felt one pair were so closely bonded that the singleton deserved a chance at a special companion too.
I was super lucky that it worked out so smoothly and everyone ended up happy.

 

[PiggyLil28]

It's such an individual thing I think, and all comes down to character compatibility which no one can predict.

I had a trio for almost a year before it became clear to me that it wasn't really working out, so I ended up splitting it, adding another piggy and keeping them as 2 pairs.
This worked much better, but the trio wasn't a disaster.
Everyone maintained their weight, ran around, etc. It's just that I felt one pair were so closely bonded that the singleton deserved a chance at a special companion too.
I was super lucky that it worked out so smoothly and everyone ended up happy.

This is exactly what I'm noticing. It's not that Maisy isn't thriving, she's still happy and healthy. She just called is not as closely bonded as the other two. They all get along just fine I just feel she should have someone to have that close bond with too. I think bonding her with another and splitting them up might be the way to go here. I appreciate the response!