Keeping boars and sows together question.

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kat04kt

kat04kt

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Hi,

Just wondering, I know that you can keep one neutered boar and many sows together, or two boars together without sows.

But how comes you can't keep two neutered boars with sows?

Purely a curiosity question!

I know boars can sometimes fight and if it gets nasty they have to be seperated. Unfortunately, I only found this out after getting my two boys..... they are getting along fine at the moment and I don't have any plans to get more, but since hearing about all the rescue centres who are overrun and knowing the space that I have for lots of guinea's, (I have a huge c&c cage which would easily accommodate upto 4 guinea's maybe more) - it's a shame that I am limited in getting any more in the future.

The issue is, I have space for only one cage. I don't have space to build another cage, I could put in a partition but I like the fact they have so much space to run around in, and not sure this would be ok either, ie dividing the pen and putting one boar in with females on one side and another in the other side?

So that's why I was wondering:

1) whats the reasoning behind why you can't keep two neutered boars and girls together?

And

2) If I did split the cage into two parts would this be a solution or would they need to be kept entirely seperate? i.e seperate rooms, or different sides of the room?

Again just hypothetical - no plans to run out and buy anymore for the moment, just curious really and because I want to help the rescue centres am wondering what options I have available to me in the future!

Many thanks,
p.s. sorry if my questions are really daft and obvious!

xx
 
Nuetuering does not effect or lower boars sex drive, so they will fight over females and fight to kill each other, 1 nuetuered boar and sow(s) will live happily together but sadly boar pairs sometimes work, groups very rarely work.
 
I know people who have more than one neutered boar with a group of girls. You just need plenty of space. Even then the boars could still get territorial. Just because they are neutered doesn't stop them wanting to claim all the girls for their own :)) I guess it also depends on the boars nature, the more laid back the better for mixed sex herds, or no dominance issues.
 
Makes sense, thanks :)

So what if I put a divide in the c&c cage, and keep one sow and one boar on one side and one boar and one sow on the other side?

Would that be ok?
 
This may work, but i would suggest if you go down that route you make it a sold particial so they can SEE eachother. If they couldnt see eachother it would be fine. However PLEASE be aware neutering is a serious opperation and can be costly in post op care. Worst case senario you could have a dead boar, that pre op was perfectly healthy. If you have the space, why dont you split the cage in two and get a second pair of boars from a rescue?
 
i have two groups of 4 with a neutered boar and 3 girls and they live side by side like this

12-07-11513.jpg


and they get on fine that close sometimes they even like to lie beside each other

c489.jpg


so it can work :)
 
Connie said:
This may work, but i would suggest if you go down that route you make it a sold particial so they can SEE eachother. If they couldnt see eachother it would be fine. However PLEASE be aware neutering is a serious opperation and can be costly in post op care. Worst case senario you could have a dead boar, that pre op was perfectly healthy. If you have the space, why dont you split the cage in two and get a second pair of boars from a rescue?
Click to expand...

I must have been in a rush when i wrote this. It SHOULD read

This may work, but i would suggest if you go down that route you make it a solid particial so they cant SEE eachother. If they couldnt see eachother it would be fine. However PLEASE be aware neutering is a serious opperation and can be costly in post op care. Worst case senario you could have a dead boar, that pre op was perfectly healthy. If you have the space, why dont you split the cage in two and get a second pair of boars from a rescue?
 
Aww LauraLucy your pics are sooooo cute!

Thanks Connie, you make a good point about the operation. With the space I have it's basically one space. I have 196cm Length wise and 74cm width wise to play with, although I could build upwards. But in my flat I don't have any other space. I only have this one block space. If I were to go down this route, it would have to be a case of splitting the cage - or building on top.

The reason I wouldn't get more boars, and would go for neutering and sows - is because of the fighting. From what I've read it seems lots of people have problems with two boars fighting. I was reading something in the piggy chat area today about a couple of people struggling with this issue, and I suppose it's got me a bit nervous.

But purely hypothetical thinking at the moment.

I have so many other questions at the moment! You're probably going to see my name pop up quite a lot! :))
 
when i had my huge and i do mean Huge double greenhouse and massive 24hr access run, i had 8 pigs, 6 girls and 2 boys, they all got on and i had no problems what so ever. The boys were very laid back, and the girls were very fickle!

However, i have also had friend who have had free range piggies with a couple of boras and it was bedlam.
I think it really is the luck of the draw, and with space, the more you can give, the better it will be :)
 
Any pair of piggies need atleast 7.5square ft of space.

I will say though, while some boars do have trouble bonding, so do some sows and boars. If you got your second pair from a reputable rescue and made sure they were over a year old the likely hood of them falling out (provided they were given the space etc that they need) Is far slimmer than the risk of complications during an opperation.

If something goes wrong during the neutering BOTH piggies could require hand feeding round the clock, expensive multiple trips to the vets and medication. And ofcourse for the duration of there recovery could not be kept on "conventional beddings" so as to keep the wound clean :)
 
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