Slightly nervous about new piggy!

[emiboo23]

Hi everyone

I have been asked to take on a 6 week old swiss sow, and I am so excited about having a new addition to the furry family but I am a little worried about bonding/settling in etc.

I have two 4 year old sows already who have been together from birth, and I have also invested in my first ever C&C cage which will be arriving hopefully early next week to put together (also very exciting!)

I am a little nervous about bonding the baby with my two girls, what is the best way to go about it? If they seem like they're ok together, is it ok to leave them all together at night or when I go out or is it better to separate them until I'm certain they're all alright? Of course, this is depending on how they are when I first introduce them and let them get to know each other. I am also confused about how to change over babies food, as if I mix the two together I'm 100% my current pair will help themselves to the other food!

Any advice would be much appreciated

 

[piggyfan]

Hi there. How lovely to have a new addition to your family. The best way to introduce her to your girls is on neutral ground. Perhaps the hall would be a good place. Avoid having any hideys and include some tasty food to distract them. There will be chasing and teeth chattering while they sort out the hieracy but this is normal and nothing to worry about. If all is well after an hour you can put them all in a clean cage. I personally would wait to have the c and c cage before putting them together as having space means they are less likely to fight. The baby should be eating the same food as the other two apart from having alpha hay.

 

[MargaretB]

How exciting. Firstly, it would be a very good idea to quarantine the new baby away from your others for a couple of weeks, just to make sure she isn't carrying any infections etc which could be transmitted to the others. Then I would put their cages close together so they can see, sniff each other and depending how they get on, start introductions after another week or so.

It may be worth waiting to put together your new C&C so that, if everything goes to plan, you could move them all into that at the same time.

I think if you set aside a day for introductions and do it early in the day, then by the night time you should have a good idea of how things are going. I wouldn't introduce and then separate as you will just have to start all over again.

Good luck

About the food thing. My new girls just went straight onto Harringtons which is not what they were on and they have been fine. If you wanted to change over gradually, then you could do it during the two weeks quarantine period.

 

[emiboo23]

Thank you! That's exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for that gives me a good opportunity to get to know baby as well before she meets the other two! The only thing is I don't have a spare cage to put her in for a few weeks, but I will ask around as this definitely looks like the best way to do things