Mitigating problems when introducing sows to a boar room

U

Urmel

New Born Pup
Joined
Sep 25, 2023
Messages
23
Reaction score
20
Points
130
Location
UK
We have three boars living together (all around 3-4 years old), a fourth recently died. Two of them are very close and spend a lot of time together, both are quite submissive. The third has been the leader of the pack across a few different boar group compositions. It seems to us that this is not the result of a particularly dominant personality, but a strong urge to just be left in peace by other boars. He never established close relationships with other boars the way all of our others have. We don't think he's really thriving in a boar group, especially with increasing health issues making it harder for him to manage the group. We now have the opportunity to adopt three bonded females (around 6 months old) and would really like to do so, transitioning our grumpy boy into a harem structure and leaving the other two as a boar pair. We have lots of space but unfortunately only one room, so we obviously worry about smells. The setup is a large table and the area below it, which could easily be split into two generous cages by removing the ramp.
Currently, we are thinking of the following steps to mitigate problems:
- harem below, boar pair on top of the table
- plenty of fresh air
- avoid changing the boar bedding (only removing pissy spots) around the time the girls move in and around the time of the harem introduction after quarantine
- maybe temporarily moving the boar pair to the kitchen during the pheromone spike around the harem introduction

Thoughts? Ideas? Any advice on how to make the transition as easy as possible and experiences with similar setups would be much appreciated!
 
Urmel said:
We have three boars living together (all around 3-4 years old), a fourth recently died. Two of them are very close and spend a lot of time together, both are quite submissive. The third has been the leader of the pack across a few different boar group compositions. It seems to us that this is not the result of a particularly dominant personality, but a strong urge to just be left in peace by other boars. He never established close relationships with other boars the way all of our others have. We don't think he's really thriving in a boar group, especially with increasing health issues making it harder for him to manage the group. We now have the opportunity to adopt three bonded females (around 6 months old) and would really like to do so, transitioning our grumpy boy into a harem structure and leaving the other two as a boar pair. We have lots of space but unfortunately only one room, so we obviously worry about smells. The setup is a large table and the area below it, which could easily be split into two generous cages by removing the ramp.
Currently, we are thinking of the following steps to mitigate problems:
- harem below, boar pair on top of the table
- plenty of fresh air
- avoid changing the boar bedding (only removing pissy spots) around the time the girls move in and around the time of the harem introduction after quarantine
- maybe temporarily moving the boar pair to the kitchen during the pheromone spike around the harem introduction

Thoughts? Ideas? Any advice on how to make the transition as easy as possible and experiences with similar setups would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...

Hi

Please don't move the boys out but leave their environment as much as possible.

Instad, prepare temporary separators cable-tied extra grids that you can pull out or insert quickly into the boar cages so you can allow any hormone spikes to die down again within about 2 days without any fights and fall-outs from excessive humping and dominance. A temporary boar split is the best way of avoid a fall-out. Reintroduce on neutral ground outside the cage and the room

What you have to brace for is that both genders will react strongly to the pheromones of the other gender when they meet.

The sows will have stronger than usual seasons initially (if they are close enough in their oestrus cycle, they may come in season spontaneously and the boys will react with a hormone spike in turn. This is something you have to go through; you cannot avoid it - delays won't change the issue.

Over time, the boars will produce a calming compound so only very strong hormonal seasons can cause problems but there is not quite the over-excitement anymore. They may even be ble to say hello to the girls through the grids. Just mke sure that the sow cage grids are safely cable tied to avoid accidental encounters and stay in the room.

It is generally much easier if boars grow up around sows although really strong seasons will still get to them.
 
Thank you so much, that's super helpful advice!
Our boys have not been around sows for at least two years, but we know that at least the soon-to-be harem boar and one of the others lived in a mixed herd until they were around a year old (albeit in shitty conditions, they are all rescues), not sure with the third one, but he generally seems like the most socially well-adjusted of the bunch. All of them were exposed to sow smells while in a boar group during their time in the rescue. I read somewhere that guinea pigs have good social memory, so fingers crossed they remember some of that!
 
Urmel said:
Thank you so much, that's super helpful advice!
Our boys have not been around sows for at least two years, but we know that at least the soon-to-be harem boar and one of the others lived in a mixed herd until they were around a year old (albeit in shitty conditions, they are all rescues), not sure with the third one, but he generally seems like the most socially well-adjusted of the bunch. All of them were exposed to sow smells while in a boar group during their time in the rescue. I read somewhere that guinea pigs have good social memory, so fingers crossed they remember some of that!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the compound will have waned and will need to be stimulated again but hopefully they will be fine. Just make sure that you can separate temporarily if there are signs of trouble to allow pheromones, hormones and tempers to dissipate and settle down again over two days; then re-introduce outside the cage/room.
It is a matter of getting them through the first few weeks and the initial response.

When you do any bonding, please do it outside the piggy room somewhere you can air well and wipe down easily because it is an excess of pheromones and testosterone laden pee (neutering doesn't change that) from the boars and 'stay off my bum' target pees from the sows. The kitchen or a bathroom are usually good places for that reason...
 
We will definitely do the temporary boar separation and then reintroduce the pair elsewhere, that's a great idea!

But just to clarify where best to introduce the other boar to the three sows: would you recommend that we introduce them in the same room where the temporarily separated boar pair lives (not in sight line but smelling distance like the final setup) so they can adjust to the intense smells at their peak to get it over with? Or should we take the (hopefully) future harem to the kitchen to pheromone pee to their hearts' content and bring them back to the room after the initial bonding phase while the two boars stay put, ready to be temporarily separated once the harem is brought to the room?

Sorry for the confusion, I read your first response as stating the former, but now I'm not sure if you mean the latter!
 
Urmel said:
We will definitely do the temporary boar separation and then reintroduce the pair elsewhere, that's a great idea!

But just to clarify where best to introduce the other boar to the three sows: would you recommend that we introduce them in the same room where the temporarily separated boar pair lives (not in sight line but smelling distance like the final setup) so they can adjust to the intense smells at their peak to get it over with? Or should we take the (hopefully) future harem to the kitchen to pheromone pee to their hearts' content and bring them back to the room after the initial bonding phase while the two boars stay put, ready to be temporarily separated once the harem is brought to the room?

Sorry for the confusion, I read your first response as stating the former, but now I'm not sure if you mean the latter!
Click to expand...

Please use a different room or outdoors for bondings if you have boars only bonds in the same room; cross gender bonding is first and foremost a massive, smelly pheromone clouds and mutual pee spraying fest!

Here is our very detailed bonding guide with pictures and videos: Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
 
That makes sense, thank you for clarifying!
 
Update! We adopted the girls yesterday and it looks like it was a great decision. We bonded them with the grumpy boar outside of the piggie room and it went really well. We left them to it overnight, and the smell in the morning was indeed quite intense, glad we did it in the kitchen like you suggested! They are getting along great and I've never seen the boar happier. He used to hate having other piggies get too close to him, especially when resting, but now he happily sleeps near the sows. We've even seen him popcorn a little, which has happened maybe twice before in the entire time we've had him. It's so heartwarming to see him like this!

This morning, we transferred the new harem to their new enclosure in the living room, under the enclosure of the boar pair. We separated the boar pair from each other just in case, but they hated being apart (chewing at the barrier, hectically running around, then sitting in a corner refusing to eat). They seem completely unimpressed with the new smells so far and have made no attempts at displaying dominance, so we decided to remove the barrier after just a few hours. They were happy to be reunited and there are no signs of conflict so far. So everything is going better than expected!

Thanks for all your advice @Wiebke! You contributed a lot to planning this in a way that minimises conflict, and it's clearly working out.
 
Urmel said:
Update! We adopted the girls yesterday and it looks like it was a great decision. We bonded them with the grumpy boar outside of the piggie room and it went really well. We left them to it overnight, and the smell in the morning was indeed quite intense, glad we did it in the kitchen like you suggested! They are getting along great and I've never seen the boar happier. He used to hate having other piggies get too close to him, especially when resting, but now he happily sleeps near the sows. We've even seen him popcorn a little, which has happened maybe twice before in the entire time we've had him. It's so heartwarming to see him like this!

This morning, we transferred the new harem to their new enclosure in the living room, under the enclosure of the boar pair. We separated the boar pair from each other just in case, but they hated being apart (chewing at the barrier, hectically running around, then sitting in a corner refusing to eat). They seem completely unimpressed with the new smells so far and have made no attempts at displaying dominance, so we decided to remove the barrier after just a few hours. They were happy to be reunited and there are no signs of conflict so far. So everything is going better than expected!

Thanks for all your advice @Wiebke! You contributed a lot to planning this in a way that minimises conflict, and it's clearly working out.
Click to expand...

That is wonderful news!

Please brace for the first seasons being strong ones because the shared excess of emotions and pheromones helps to cement the bond between the sows and their new 'husboar'. I wish you much joy in taking your guinea pig journey in a very different but no less exciting direction.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top