Keeping boars and sows in the same room

HeatherW

HeatherW

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Feb 9, 2018
Messages
2,215
Reaction score
11,260
Points
1,775
Location
Manchester
Would there be any risks and/or issues with keeping two boars and two sows in the same room, assuming they would be in separate cages and not introduced to each other? Would the sow smell cause fights between the boars? Just asking hypothetically; I'm not in a position right now to take on more piggies, so I'm only trying to get more information. :) I've read the boat guide, but there's nothing specific about this situation.

Thank you!
 
I would’ve thought it would cause scuffles (if not fights) between the boys
 
The sow smells could cause a ruckus between the boys. The advise is to keep them at separate ends of the room. I couldn’t do that so have a stacked cage with the girls underneath and boys on top. There’s a grid height between the top of the lower level and the base of the top level.

There’s another member (sorry can’t remember your name!) who has the cages side by side on the floor. But there’s a cloth divider of some kind between the cages.
 
In the rescue Helen has definitely had hutches with sows as well as hutches with boars. The key is keeping the sows lower than the boars and keeping scent transference to a minimum, so the boys don’t get a waft of lovely lady
 
I had my boys and girls in the same room.

They were in a multilevel homemade cage. The boars were on the top and the girls were on the bottom. The boys had absolutely zero idea that the girls even existed. Make sure to always sort the boys out first and the girls second :)
 
Hi, I am very interested in this topic and what people have said. We have just adopted 2 more piggies (sows), after a couple of months ago adopting 2 boars. We have just today unfortunately had to separate the girls cage to our room as one of the boys has becoming extremely excitable to the point of wanting to fight with his companion. I thought I had come across this post before, and glad I looked at it again, as hopefully we will not have to rehome one of the pairs! (Bernard and Dougal looked very close to a proper fight 2 × today!)

Plesse would you kindly explain why females should be housed at the bottom, as I would honestly think that logically, with warm air rising, that males should be housed at the bottom? 😊 Many thanks, Kirsty
 
Hi @Kirsty B I'm not sure on the exact science, but I think the logic is that if they’re above, then the scent is enough to permeate through to the lower level. Piggies have a better sense of smell than us. Also the reason why you handle the boars before the sows.
 
I had a rescue boar neutered to live with my 2 sows and while he was on his 6 week wait, he lived in a separate c and c cage. One morning we heard intense squeaking coming from under the stairs. He'd climbed the c and c cage! Once in with the girls, he never escaped again, so his hormones must have been driving him wild. Though that wasn't obvious to us. He was a big, strong lad who got up to 1.6kg.
 
Sorry, I can’t elaborate on the science, either. But piggies have an exceptionally fine tuned sense of smell. So where possible I have kept pairs of boars in a separate room away from my sows.
 
A bit off topic.

The sense of smell of my piggies (past and present) sometimes amazes me. We had a neighbour in the past who had a male dog that I sometimes feed whenever she was sick or at the hospital. I used to play with the dog whenever I went to their house. When I got back home and would pick up my female piggies for a cuddle, they would sniff me (my clothes, and hands) nonstop!

But I discovered that they would only do that whenever I play with the male dog. They never did that when I played with a female dog. My hubby's cousin has a female dog and would always had a play and cuddles with me whenever we visit her. Then when I get home and had lap time cuddles with my female piggies, no sniffing happened.

I haven't tried that theory again when we started having boars. Although when we got home last week after visiting my hubby's cousin and the female dog, Rocky (my boar) didn't sniff me when he was having a lap time with me.
 
Thank you so much for your replies, much appreciated! 🙂👍 When we took the girls out it was almost like magic, the difference in Dougal's behaviour! We will certainly try having a 2-tier setup, with the girls at the bottom! 😊👍

What I noticed yesterday, was Bernard seemingly fixating on a spot in their pen and I assumed he was trying to clean up after Dougal, or maybe I transferred something from the girls to their pen ... the boys have an 8 by 4 C&C cage, so I step into it to do spot cleans etc. That seemed to be the start of Dougal becoming very agitated and even trying to jump on top of the girls cage (they are in a Ferplast atm, but C&C on the way!), he had gone a bit bonkers when the girls first arrived, but nothing like this, especially towards Bernard! Noticed also the incessant sniffing (me) when I checked to see if they had injured each other.

Would like to ask please, do you think it would upset the boys having a smaller setup ... the reason why we put together a big cage is that they used to be housed in a large shed/summer house so thought it only right to give them as much space as we possibly could. With trying the 2 tier setup, we will of course give them bigger than the recommendation, but I'm guessing it will have to be more a 8 x 2?

Thank you again in advance. Best wishes, Kirsty
 
@Kirsty B - any change in environment/cage size etc, can set off dominance disputes, so yes it will ‘upset’ them in that sense while they reestablish territories etc. Most of the time, well bonded boars will settle down from it but if there are any tensions in their relationship it may make things worse. If you are going to change their cage size, then I would do it before you move the girls back in to the same room (if I’ve understood that correctly and you’ve moved them out) so they can get used to the change in cage size without having the distraction of girls at the same time - doing it all at once could be too much stress/excitement

Do be aware that having a two tier with the girls at the bottom, is not going to be a guarantee that there won’t be any problems between the boys.
 
Piggies&buns said:
@Kirsty B - any change in environment/cage size etc, can set off dominance disputes, so yes it will ‘upset’ them in that sense while they reestablish territories etc. Most of the time, well bonded boars will settle down from it but if there are any tensions in their relationship it may make things worse. If you are going to change their cage size, then I would do it before you move the girls back in to the same room (if I’ve understood that correctly and you’ve moved them out) so they can get used to the change in cage size without having the distraction of girls at the same time - doing it all at once could be too much stress/excitement

Do be aware that having a two tier with the girls at the bottom, is not going to be a guarantee that there won’t be any problems between the boys.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks a lot for this Piggies&buns, good tip, and yes absolutely know it is no guarantee but want to try ... we have 2 indoor cats so it wouldn't be fair to close off another room to them ... if we didn't have cats then my Hubby wouldn't mind keeping the girls in our room.

When first adopting the boys we had to put them in an XXL dog crate to start with but found they were ok together in the small space compared to their previous space in a shed, so am hoping they are the same again, but of course will be a lot more space lol.

Dougal very quickly calmed down (after the girls left) and all seems fine with the boys once more, so hopefully no real disruption for their relationship.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top