New Girls!

[hazelbeth]

Hi all, I haven't been on here for a while.

Unfortunately my lovely two girls passed away at the age of 9 years old a few months ago. I miss them dearly, and didn't feel ready to get more.

However! I accidentally came across two gorgeous rescue girls, 7 months old. They're adorable! I named them Bonnie and Betsy.

Now, they will always be in separate hutches to my older boys (Ziggy and Zorro). However, I am thinking of introducing them together so they can go outside in the same run. At the moment they are next to each other in separate runs. (See picture).

I have put them together twice now in the week that I have had the girls. The boys begin to get very 'excited' around the girls, attempting to mount etc. (They're castrated). They girls actively approach them too. My question is, will the hormonal response from the boys die down after a while? Or shall I just keep them separate always.

Please note - the boys were housed together with my older two girls previously. But they had been with the girls since they were babies.

Many thanks

 

[Swissgreys]

I am not an expert but I do believe that having two boys in with sows can cause the boars to fight eventually.
If it were me and I had a well bonded boar pair I would be tempted not to let them have direct contact with the girls.
But as they are both castrated I guess you could always split the girls and have one sow in with one boar?

 

[hazelbeth]

Thank you
Yes the boys are very well bonded. So I wouldn't want to split them up. I think I shall keep them separately for good. They're absolutely fine when in their runs and hutches away from each other.