Help with Bonding

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CookieOreo

New Born Pup
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Hi Oreo, our dominant 2yr old female sow lost her companion recently. I did lots of research (not on here) and decided to get two new baby sows. The idea that she wouldn’t feel threatened by babies and may demonstrate maternal instinct. The babies might view her as a mother fig. So Oreo has been in her Ferplast the babies in a c&c. I’ve been swopping bedding all week and all have seemed to be happy. So now I’ve joined the cages together with a barrier between and swopped them into ea other’s cage. So they seem to sniff and settle but Oreo keeps coming to the bars and biting them and doing teeth chattering at one of the babies who keeps coming to the bars herself. initially they seemed to ‘kiss’. Currently they are settled. I’m wondering if Oreo is unhappy they are in her side. I did this so they cld get used to smells and each other.

So what to do next? Leave them like this for a couple of days or put them in a neutral space and let them get on wi bonding. I’ll put an xtra barrier at night to keep them safe.

The babies seem keen to meet Oreo and be affectionate. Oreo seems excited to have them around as she was quite depressed after loosing Cookie.

Any advice from experts please?
 
Bonding is carried out by putting them on neutral territory. You leave them in there for several hours and if all goes well then move them to the cage they are going to live in together (that cage also having been throughly cleaned out) and then leaving them together permanently.
They should not be separated again once you put them on neutral territory (so no divider at night).

Scent swapping and putting them in each others cages can cause territorial problems.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
 
Thanks! So an hour in and Oreo seems to be letting one of the babies be for a bit then chasing her around. The other baby is literally hiding, frozen under a big pile of hay.
 
Stressful isn't it? I have heard that it's easier with girls. Good luck 😀
 
Very. They are 3 girls. So now I feel I’ve compromised the happiness of the other two to suit Oreo. I hope hope hope Oreo is kind.
 
The behaviour sounds very normal. You are going to see chasing as well as other dominance behaviours. They will spent the next two weeks establishing a relationship and hierarchy.

Has the other baby come out from under the hay?
 
Hard to remember sometimes that what looks awful to us is natural for them. Just think how beneficial it will be for them to have a mother figure.
 
Hi the baby that was under the hay (Fudge) is in a tunnel sometimes joined by the other baby (Bear). Bear comes out and eats which Oreo allows for a bit then chases her round. Oreo tries to go in the tunnel but ends up backing up as Fudge refuses to come out. She makes funny squeaks so think she’s quite frightened.
 
CookieOreo said:
Hi the baby that was under the hay (Fudge) is in a tunnel sometimes joined by the other baby (Bear). Bear comes out and eats which Oreo allows for a bit then chases her round. Oreo tries to go in the tunnel but ends up backing up as Fudge refuses to come out. She makes funny squeaks so think she’s quite frightened.
Click to expand...

You should not really have hides and tunnels in the bonding pen - it should just contain hay and water.
 
Oh. Won’t the babies be terrified? Shall I take the hidies and tunnels out now? How long do I leave them in the bonding pen after that? They’ve been in the pen for 4 hours but have had the hidies and tunnel
 
The squeaks are likely to be normal submission sounds. My Boris sometimes sounds like he's being murdered then 2 seconds later he is popcorning. Some of them are very dramatic 🙄
 
CookieOreo said:
Oh. Won’t the babies be terrified? Shall I take the hidies and tunnels out now? How long do I leave them in the bonding pen after that? They’ve been in the pen for 4 hours but have had the hidies and tunnel
Click to expand...

The issue with having hides is that it can create territories.

Are things ok between them?
After that amount of time they can probably be moved to the main, cleaned out, cage.

Do give the bonding guide I linked in a read as it explains everything in more detail.
 
Hello, I have recently had a very similar situation and taken two baby sows as companions to a bereaved adult sow. We introduced them in a neutral pen the day we brought the babies home, left them there for four or five hours and then transferred to the main cage (we have a 6x2 C&C plus 1x2 loft) which I had cleaned out and rearranged.

From what you have said you are probably at a point with yours where you can transfer them to the cage now but make sure there are no hides with only one exit etc.

You are likely to see a lot of the classic dominance behaviour (chasing, rumbling, humping, nosing off etc etc) from your 2yo over the next few days/weeks and hear lots of protests and squeaking from the little ones. It's likely too that there will be one of the babies who is the dominant one out of their pairing so they just need to sort out their hiearchy overall. Even three weeks on I am still seeing a bit of dominance and submission behaviour with our group from time to time - from 4yo to the babies and from one baby to the other - our 4yo is not an especially dominant character (she was our original underpiggy) but has clearly decided that now is her time to be in charge and that she needs to reinforce her position as leader of the youngsters! Overall our group is now pretty calm and they are very settled together, but we have times (ie when 4yo comes into season) when it gets a bit livelier again.

My best advice is to read the bonding guides on here, re-read them, and read them again, and again - they are amazing - I have used them on several occasions now when introducing new pigs over the years and I am always struck by just how totally accurate they are in describing the pigs' behaviour! We are three weeks in to our new grouping now and I'm still referring to them now and again just to reassure myself...

Hope your girls all settle in well.
 
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