Older piggies leaving younger pig out

[Liviacraythorn2403]

I’ve just recently added a new 7 week old baby piggy to my two older sows. The bonding went well, there was no blood drawing biting, no stomping, no teeth chattering and no chasing. So I assumed it went well!
My concern is my older two are leaving her out. She seems to stay downstairs while the other two hog the bedroom. When she does go upstairs, she sits in the corner in a ball on the opposite side of the hutch to the others.
What do I do, is this normal? She is still popcorning at dinner time and explores when they come downstairs but I just feel sad for her.

 

[Piggies&buns]

She will be bottom of the hierarchy and the other two getting the best hides is part of the hierarchy process.

How many hides do you have in the hutch?
You need to have three separate hides all with two exits so no piggy can get cornered inside one.
Where are the hides positioned? Are there three on each level?

How big is the hutch? For three sows it needs to be a 6ft hutch.
Can you close off the ramp? If you can, then I would do so, so that they are all on the same level all the time. It’s also easier to keep an outside hutch warm enough on a single level.
(The upper level of a hutch dosent count towards the cage size in any event)
The issue with the bedroom area of a hutch is it is effectively a one exit hide so can become a territorial issue - have you seen her try to go in? Is it that she is choosing not to or are they actively stopping her from entering?

Are they outside? If so, was the baby already housed outside before she came to you?

 

[Liviacraythorn2403]

The cage is a double story hutch that’s roughly 3 ft by 1.5ft on both levels and then they have an attached area that is roughly 3.5ft by 2.5ft. It’s located in my utility room as it was a smoke free area, away from the fumes of our log burner. The outside area has two hideouts but I have two more in order, the upstairs is split into a bedroom area and landing but I’ve taken the division out. Downstairs there is one hide and under the ramp also seems like a favourite sleep spot. They all seem to get on well but she just gets left out a lot.

 

[Piggies&buns]

So it’s only the bottom half which counts towards the cage size, upper levels do not count at all and don’t get added to the total available space. A 3ft hutch is unsuitable even for one piggy so it’s good you’ve got an attached space downstairs as that is considered the only living area on your situation.
However can you confirm the total measurements of the whole bottom area - hutch and attached area combined - I am making this 3ft by 1.5ft for the hutch plus an additional 3ft by 2.5ft so a total space is 3ft by 4ft. A total living space of 12 square feet.
If so then that is fine as 12 sq ft is the size needed for three sows. Anything less won’t be big enough.

Personally, I would (if possible) remove the ramp and make them all stay downstairs while they are in the two week bonding period. The upper level is so very small it’s basically unusable anyway. Have three hides (two exit) hides downstairs and see if things change in their interaction.