My 4 sows are squabbling

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Chazziboots

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Hello.

I have 4 sows which I got together about 2 weeks ago.
They should be about 10 weeks old.
When I got them I had a ferplast 160cm cage which after a few days I heard some rumbles but nothing else.
I then got a c&c cage 2x6 which they were fine in at first. A week ago today we moved the cage to better spot in our home (as it is much bigger then we previously thought).
The past 3 nights we have had a lot rumbling and strutting and shaking from one of the girls. We can clearly see two girls submit to her right away (heads go down and they run away from her squeaking) she will sometimes chase them. The other female tends to ignore her and continue doing what ever she was doing.
Our more dominant girl will calmly lay down near her sisters and eat with them.
We have a lot of nose to nose contact in the air from the two smaller ones.
One has made a few attempts to clean the more dominant one too.
We heard a few seconds of chirping earlier but no idea who it came from or why.

How long does this behaviour happen for? Is there anything we can do to calm it down?

Vet says they are all healthy and female.

Thanks
 
There is nothing you can do to calm it down. It sounds like normal dominant behaviour and other two submitting and squeaking is a good sign. It could also be that she’s having a strong season. Or she’s merely establishing her top pig position in their new digs.
 
Any new environment will cause an increase in dominance while they reestablish their relationship. This takes around two weeks.
The coinciding of a season and cage change may cause this kind of increased dominance.
Your piggies will also soon become teenagers so will also become a bit more hormonal (this is much more noticeable in boars).
They come into season around every two weeks and during this time you will again see rumbling, chasing etc. A season lasts for a few days.
There is nothing you can do to stop it, it’s normal piggy behaviour.

Chirping - nobody knows why they do this but it is very rare. You are lucky to have heard it!

Ensure you have multiple of everything in the cage (four bottles, four hay piles, four double exit hides).
Well done for getting them a bigger c&c cage as a fertplast 160 is only big enough for two sows
 
Well done you for getting them a super big C&C cage! It all sounds very normal to me. What seems to us as rather mean/cruel behaviour is actually not to them. The top sow rules the roost, then there is a pecking order. All the girls need to know “their place” in that order and it does take a while for things to settle. There will always be a bit of rumbling, chasing etc it’s all part and parcel of piggy life
 
Thank you for all your replies 😁

Night 4 now.
My girl trying to be dominant is Matilda. Winifred is next in the size order, the other day she gave Matilda abit of a go for the dominant female role but has since cooled. However tonight Henrietta is now trying to mount Matilda and we have chasing going on. Matilda is very reluctant to give in and they end up doing this round in circles thing. I am assuming all this is normal.
Matilda is doing a lot rumbling and strutting still. But Henrietta doesn't seem to be doing that behaviour. She just seems to come from no where straight at Matilda to try hump her. I keep seeing Winifred in the middle of Henrietta and Matilda as if to be that nosey neighbour wanting a front row seat.
Then there is little Dorothy who is going around the cage on tip toes like "I'm invisible".

In the short time I typed this Henrietta chased Matilda around the cage and then vice versa. Now Matilda is laying in the middle of the cage with Dorothy about 8 inches from her all chilled.
Winifred is eating and making the odd rapid low pitched squeaks and then goes quiet again.
And Henrietta has gone into the house.

I am assuming all this is normal.
 
Chazziboots said:
Thank you for all your replies 😁

Night 4 now.
My girl trying to be dominant is Matilda. Winifred is next in the size order, the other day she gave Matilda abit of a go for the dominant female role but has since cooled. However tonight Henrietta is now trying to mount Matilda and we have chasing going on. Matilda is very reluctant to give in and they end up doing this round in circles thing. I am assuming all this is normal.
Matilda is doing a lot rumbling and strutting still. But Henrietta doesn't seem to be doing that behaviour. She just seems to come from no where straight at Matilda to try hump her. I keep seeing Winifred in the middle of Henrietta and Matilda as if to be that nosey neighbour wanting a front row seat.
Then there is little Dorothy who is going around the cage on tip toes like "I'm invisible".

In the short time I typed this Henrietta chased Matilda around the cage and then vice versa. Now Matilda is laying in the middle of the cage with Dorothy about 8 inches from her all chilled.
Winifred is eating and making the odd rapid low pitched squeaks and then goes quiet again.
And Henrietta has gone into the house.

I am assuming all this is normal.
Click to expand...

This is them coming to an agreement over their hierarchy.
There can only be one dominant so the others need to back down and fall into lower positions. The hierarchy is formed from the top down. No. 1 and 2 find their positions, then 2 and 3 etc all the way down under the hierarchy is formed.
If two piggies cannot come to an agreement then this is when there may be issues/need for separations. Sows are wired to live in herds but they still need to be compatible to be able to do so.

I am having some technical issues in linking guides in at the moment but if you go into the bonding and behaviour section you will fins the following guides which will be useful

Sow behaviour
illustrated bonding guide
Bonds in trouble
 
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