Looking after sows.....?

[Piggies&buns]

A friend has asked me if I could look after her two sows for a couple of weeks. They are in a commercial cage which would have to be put in my shed....where my two 18 month old boys live....and this is where my issue lies. I know that boars have to be kept out of sight and smell of pheromones. I have also seen on guides on here that an opaque divider higher and wider than the cage is advised if boars and sows have to be in the same space. My question is, if I lay a sheet of plastic and/or blanket on the roof of my boys hutch, put the sow cage on top of the blanket and hutch and then raise the plastic/blanket over the front of the sow cage and clip it to the front (and possibly sides) of the cage (leaving the top of the cage open to air), is that enough to keep the smell of pheromones from falling on my boys too much? I have never kept sows so I don’t know a massive amount about them and how much my boys are going to smell them. It may just be easier to say I can’t help, but I’d like to investigate if there is a way first.

 

[sport_billy]

I wouldn’t keep them so close together. You don’t want bonds going amiss.

 

[Claire W]

@Wiebke has boys and girls in the same room including a bonded pair of boys? I’m sure she had the bonded boys above the sows

 

[Siikibam]

I would say don't put the sows above the boars if you can. Better underneath as the smell isn't likely to travel upwards. Is the shed wide enough to place the girls' cage on the floor on the opposite side? Another thing, if they're kept inside I'm not sure if you're still okay to put them outside now....

 

[Wiebke]

A friend has asked me if I could look after her two sows for a couple of weeks. They are in a commercial cage which would have to be put in my shed....where my two 18 month old boys live....and this is where my issue lies. I know that boars have to be kept out of sight and smell of pheromones. I have also seen on guides on here that an opaque divider higher and wider than the cage is advised if boars and sows have to be in the same space. My question is, if I lay a sheet of plastic and/or blanket on the roof of my boys hutch, put the sow cage on top of the blanket and hutch and then raise the plastic/blanket over the front of the sow cage and clip it to the front (and possibly sides) of the cage (leaving the top of the cage open to air), is that enough to keep the smell of pheromones from falling on my boys too much? I have never kept sows so I don’t know a massive amount about them and how much my boys are going to smell them. It may just be easier to say I can’t help, but I’d like to investigate if there is a way first.

Hi!

While you can introduce boars into a sow room, preferably not yet bonded ones or boars used to the presence of sows, it is NOT a good idea to introduce sows into a boars-only room. Your boys have just come out of the teenage months, and they are bound to pick up on the female pheromones - which will in turn be stronger as a reaction to the boar pheromones. This means that a strong season is highly likely, which could cause a fight and potentially a fall-out between your boars.

If you could keep the sows somewhere else, this would be MUCH better. Especially if the sows are used to an indoors environment and not used to large day/night temperature swings with potentially cold nights in the offing.

You can find the detailed rules for keeping sows and boars in our boar guide, chapter 3: A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars