Unhappy Herd

[BertisKing]

Just wondering if anyone had any advice. One of my herds is made up of neutered boar Chester, who is coming up to 2, Penny who is probably around the same age and little wrigglers Harriet & Milly, both 6 monthsish.
Poor Penny has been moved around a lot- I have tried bonding her with my other herds but there is something that keeps stopping her from settling in fully. When she's alone with Chester they are a lovely pair, but as soon as the others are nearby she gets dumped in favour of the newer models.
They have plenty of space but usually Penny is left huddled in one pigloo while the other three cuddle up in another. She has her own food bowl and water bottle just in case it was her dominance that was keeping the others away but when they approach her she legs it.
Is there any way of helping them all get on a bit better? Will this improve once the hyperactive little piggies settle down?
Ideally I'd like her to have her own husboar but at the moment it's not possible and I don't want to disrupt my already well bonded and stable 3 pig mixed herd and other mixed pair - there's certainly a clash of personality there, Dotty can't seem to stand Penny at all!
I'm just worried that as the little uns mature Penny will get pushed out even more.
Any advice will be gratefully received!
X

 

[Wiebke]

Just wondering if anyone had any advice. One of my herds is made up of neutered boar Chester, who is coming up to 2, Penny who is probably around the same age and little wrigglers Harriet & Milly, both 6 monthsish.
Poor Penny has been moved around a lot- I have tried bonding her with my other herds but there is something that keeps stopping her from settling in fully. When she's alone with Chester they are a lovely pair, but as soon as the others are nearby she gets dumped in favour of the newer models.
They have plenty of space but usually Penny is left huddled in one pigloo while the other three cuddle up in another. She has her own food bowl and water bottle just in case it was her dominance that was keeping the others away but when they approach her she legs it.
Is there any way of helping them all get on a bit better? Will this improve once the hyperactive little piggies settle down?
Ideally I'd like her to have her own husboar but at the moment it's not possible and I don't want to disrupt my already well bonded and stable 3 pig mixed herd and other mixed pair - there's certainly a clash of personality there, Dotty can't seem to stand Penny at all!
I'm just worried that as the little uns mature Penny will get pushed out even more.
Any advice will be gratefully received!
X

To be honest, in my own experience, developments like that won't improve on their own. Some piggies just don't have it when it comes to group dynamics and are best off with a tolerant single partner. In the longer term, Penny would be likely happiest just with Chester and the two girls in with a new husboar or (while they are still young) as undersows in one of your other groups. You could try and see whether they are not upsetting one of the other groups. In Penny's case is not so much dominance or lack of dominance that is the issue, but inability to socialise/integrate fully, I may hazard. She is losing the dominance battle with the youngsters already.

I fully understand your dilemma having faced comparable scenarios over the years. It can give you serious headaches and sleepless nights!

PS: If it is any consolation to you, I am off to date my 4 year old Tegan at a rescue this weekend after her family group has fallen apart in the wake of the (iron-fisted) matriarch stepping down and leaving a power vacuum, so instead of one group of 4 sows with a husboar, I now have two pairs and a not very happy single sow... Instead of 6 cages to clean, I now have got 8 again! Tegan is too feisty to get along with any of the bigwigs in my other groups, not for lack of trying!

 

[VickiA]

Poor Penny - sounds like she's a bit of a socially inadequate piggy (boy do I sound mean saying that). Any chance she can be alone with her huspig?

 

[BertisKing]

To be honest, in my own experience, developments like that won't improve on their own. Some piggies just don't have it when it comes to group dynamics and are best off with a tolerant single partner. In the longer term, Penny would be likely happiest just with Chester and the two girls in with a new husboar or (while they are still young) as undersows in one of your other groups. You could try and see whether they are not upsetting one of the other groups. In Penny's case is not so much dominance or lack of dominance that is the issue, but inability to socialise/integrate fully, I may hazard. She is losing the dominance battle with the youngsters already.

I fully understand your dilemma having faced comparable scenarios over the years. It can give you serious headaches and sleepless nights!

PS: If it is any consolation to you, I am off to date my 4 year old Tegan at a rescue this weekend after her family group has fallen apart in the wake of the (iron-fisted) matriarch stepping down and leaving a power vacuum, so instead of one group of 4 sows with a husboar, I now have two pairs and a not very happy single sow... Instead of 6 cages to clean, I now have got 8 again! Tegan is too feisty to get along with any of the bigwigs in my other groups, not for lack of trying!

Thanks for the advice- I didn't think that there was much I could do to keep them together happily

Poor Penny - sounds like she's a bit of a socially inadequate piggy (boy do I sound mean saying that). Any chance she can be alone with her huspig?

It's probably true- poor thing. Unfortunately at the moment I don't have the room to accommodate another set up. I'm getting ready to move so hopefully it won't be long until I can get them all their own space.
I'll have to keep giving her plenty of cuddles to keep her going!