not sure new piggie is being accepted by herd

[catslovelycats]

Mmm. I introduced a 12 week old sow to a group of 3 sows 2 weeks ago. They seemed to accept her OK. I've noticed the last few days they all seem a bit grumopy with each other, but especially the baby I'm noticing particularly gets shoved out of boxes tubes etc and shreiked at when she gets too close ot any of them.

They have a v large cage (I actually use an adapted run at the moment in the shed but have bought a large cage to use in the garage for when it's too hot to have them in the shed) and an even bigger run. I don't think they are too crowded. They have several water bottles and bowls of food and lots of boxes and tubes to get in and out of.

I think maybe the baby has some fur missing from her rump, but it's hard to tell because she's an abyssinian. I'm wondering if either of the others are biting her.

Am I worrying over nothing and should I just let nature take its course? Or should I intervene? In which case, what should I do?

Any thoughts/advice greatly appreicated. Thanks

 

[Claire W]

Hi. I introduced a baby to my 3 girls a few weeks ago and she gets shoved about a bit. Are your 3 older girls letting the baby eat with them etc? As the baby is the newbie and the youngest, your older girls will be putting her in her place.

I was worried about my baby and this is the advice I was given

 

[catslovelycats]

Thanks Claire W. No I haven't seen her eat with them really. When they're all eating round a pile of veg etc she tends to stand in the background. They do their squawking bit and she just lingers. Occasionally she'll join in but they don't tend to let her for long. I noticed it yesterday - I had them in the run all day and kept feeding them things...

 

[Claire W]

Is there any teeth chattering, rumble strutting or other signs of aggression? So long as the baby IS eating and not being hurt in anyway, I would keep a close eye on them for a few days and let them sort out their differences

 

[Wiebke]

Looks like your girls are season and baby is getting the brunt of it - that is absolutely normal. As is the shrieking, more often than not it means that she is not contesting rather than real pain!

It will all settle down again soon when your grumpy head sow comes out of season.

 

[Little Piggles]

Although my older pair accepted our youngest girl (<- In my avatar) readily, she did get shoved around quite a bit and I was worried it was bullying, but they all ate together and shared pigloos in their run (although not in the hutch). She does still shriek sometimes when she's in the way of one of the others and she's 7 months now!

That said, Pixel is now best of friends with Pippa and they're not often far away from one another. I even caught Pixel sharing a dandelion leaf and pigloo with Willow the other day (the main shover!)

Your baby just needs to find her place and at the moment it's the bottom rank

 

[flips]

I introduced a third girl recently and the others started getting a bit possessive about food so I started scattering the veg. I'm still doing this a few weeks on although it's more of a scattering around the food bowl. Everyone seems happy most of the time although when someone's in season it gets a bit jumpy. rolleyes

 

[catslovelycats]

Thank you so much everybody for your replies.

When I put some food in their cage earlier she did eventually go and grab something while the others were eating and they let her, albeit with some of the 'keep away' shrieks they're prone to.

None of my pigs ever share anything! So newbie not cuddling up with any of them doesn't indicate anything. They all have their own box to sleep in otherwise they quarrel. The cage currently has 6 boxes spread about...! Two of the pigs are even mother and daughter and they still don't share. They do all get on though, apart from the occasional outbursts - especially little strops from top pig. But I'm not used to seeing the other 2 getting stroppy, so it feels weird. Hope little pig soon fits in soon.

 

[Claire W]

I am sure they will be fine. I have had the same worries so I know how you feel. I adopted Erin from a baby back in March and she was shoved around a lot by Eleanor and Eliza. Now that I have adopted Ena, Erin is treating Ena like she was first treated by Eleanor and Eliza. It isn't nice for us to watch but unfortunately, the baby ends up bottom rank but it is worse for us than it is the piggies.