friends or foes?

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MrsM

MrsM

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I'm a bit puzzled....

Frank and Finlay always seem to get on like house on fire on the run but in the cage, Finlay who's both bigger and older is being a selfish pig... He has to have everything to himself! There are two pellet dishes, two houses, a huge mound of hay and a large feeding bowl. Well, Fin sleeps in the middle of the hay so Frank can't eat it, whatever pellet dish Frank goes for, Fin is there like a shot and this morning, Fin was moving his pigloo to block the entrance to Frank's gay purple (glittery) one so he couldn't get in... Finlay also nipped Frank whenever he walked past the blue pigloo...

Whats going on? What can i do? 2 cages is not an option as space is a premium and Maxy will make me return Frank to Hels instead and that is NOT an option...

They are 11 months and 6 months old... I am getting very worries that Frank is unhappy, withdrawn and skittish when he wasn't any of those as a bub...:(
 
Could you put in a temporary mesh barrier and halve the cage for a week or so; or at least at dinner time? Better have two mounds of hay, anyway!

Perhaps some more boar-knowledgeable people can give you more and better tips.
 
How big is the cage/hutch, boar need lots of room. IS there anyway you could make a frank friendly zone that finlay can't get into because of his size sort partition a bit off and give frank his food in there thus reducing the competition for food.
 
It's a Nero4. There's hardly any room left after all the furniture... All I can see is a second floor on part of the cage... but the ramp busyness is going to be difficult...
 
It sounds like Fin's bullying Frank :(
I had this with Huxley & Hamish as youngsters & in the end i'd to separate them. No actual wounds but Huxley had Hamish pinned inside a pigloo & was "pecking" at him like a hen.

Because separating isn't an option for you i would monitor them, it may be that Fin's just re-iterating to Frank that he's the boss as Frank's coming to "that age" & hopefully it'll be a passing phase with him.

However, if Frank isn't getting his pellets, hay or veg & isn't being allowed to freely go where he chooses then i personally don't see any other option but to separate them as it's not fair on him
 
what I don't understand is that it's all fine in the run, it's all OK in the garden (where the use the top of the cage as run) but in the cage, Fin has to be boss....

I gave them a bath this morning, hoping they'd bond further. I have also made sure that the hay is reachable from everywhere. So far so good. Frank is rumbling from time to time and it send Fin doolaly. Hopefully, when Frank has gone through his coming of age,things will settle. It's going to be fun!
 
Boys eh - I've got 7 of them (not all together rolleyes) and they all go through phases - hopefully it will pass xx
 
MrsM said:
what I don't understand is that it's all fine in the run, it's all OK in the garden (where the use the top of the cage as run) but in the cage, Fin has to be boss....

I gave them a bath this morning, hoping they'd bond further. I have also made sure that the hay is reachable from everywhere. So far so good. Frank is rumbling from time to time and it send Fin doolaly. Hopefully, when Frank has gone through his coming of age,things will settle. It's going to be fun!
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Huxley & Hamish will share a run happily together & don't mind if the other boys are there too but they won't share a hutch together nor will they share with anyone else :(|)

I'm glad to hear they are getting on better & hopefully they will settle down properly & peace will be restored :)
 
i can't say the improvement is massive, but i feel there's less tension. I have given them lots of run time, lots and lots of hay and a cuddle each. There may lie the answer... we've not had as much time with them since the birth of Oliver, so extra cuddles are also on the menu!
 
They sound suspiciously like Ben and Dave! Ben is now 21 1/2 months old and Dave is 18 months old. They first met when Ben was 6 months old and Dave was 9 weeks old. Between them they've had difficult times through the adolescent stage with lots of bickering.

From time to time now they still have a go at each other. There's the odd nip every so often but nothing too bad. I think it's because Ben is boss pig but Dave is very similar in personality so he does try his luck. I think the best advice is to keep a very close eye on them to try and suss out what sets Fin off and see if you can do anything to resolve the problem. I usually find with my two that shoving a bit of cucumber at them helps distract!:))
 
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