A Trio A Single And A Pair

flowerfairy

flowerfairy

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I currently have a lovely stable and contented trio consisting of Jingle (matriarch) on the right, her sister Mistletoe, on the left and a lovely neutered boar, Caramel in the middle.

30jgowk.jpg


I recently took in a lovely elderly sow which I have called Tani

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She is slowly settling in and seems pretty confident. I am due to get two younger sows from a res ue very soon.

I would love them all to live as one big herd.

I will wait til the youngters have settled in before attempting any intros. I am worried that Jingle and Tani may both want to be head of the herd.

Edit to add would two trios be good? Ie Tani and the young sows? The youngsters are 6 mts old but have been in rescue since sept 2017 so may be older now.

Advice very welcome.
 
what a wonderful group of happy piggies! I have no doubt that they will get along very well all together and that you will not have any troubles. Caramel will be able to be a good husband for all of them. I am not practical at all, but you have a large room and also a lady I know has never any problem in bonding new sows with her "30L", the boar...
Just in these days she is introducing 2 new little sows (1 month old) with the adult boar and other adult sows. Her secret is simple: she is very CALM, optimist and let the piggies move free in their large room. There are also two rabbits and other pets... She is never too worried and I guess that her personality helps a lot because of course some little accident may happen, but we should not give it up. I had troubles between Calipso and Osvaldo, I had fear there was nothing to do with the two of them, there has been blood and bad fights... it was terrible. Then a miracle happened and now they are good friends.
PS: "30L"... I asked this lady what this name means... 30liters? no, she said it means "30lances" (??)
I could not understand... I asked her again "why 30Lances?" and she replied laughing and saying that I am a great ignorant!
Then I went to Google and everything was clear! 30L=Thirtylances=Trentalance is the surname of an italian... actor:roll:... a X X X actor!:eek: The piggie 30L is named after him because... he is very ACTIVE in that sense! XDXDXDXD
 
I took a chance and bonded a trio, pair and 2 baby singles at once! I used the kitchen because it was the biggest room without carpet. I had my OH bring me them one by one from most submissive to most dominant. Many large haypiles, water bottles and veggies! I chose not to provide any hideys. It was super tense for a while and took about 8 hours before they settled, 10 before they went into a completely new cage. I have 2 very dominant pigs and was pretty worried about their interaction. For almost the whole time it was chattering, rumbling and some nipping between Josephine and Nora. Finally Nora gave in and enjoys her life as second in command! I personally didn’t wait until the young ones were older, just the quarantine period! It was successful our first try. Make sure if/when they go into the cage as one herd that there is enough space for everyone (our cage is huge), no one way hideys, lots of water bottles and hay areas. It was also a bit rough for the first week, but my girls are so happy as one big herd! Their personalities bloomed even more after being put together. Good luck and hang in there, it’ll be nerve racking!
 
Also I don’t know if this helped but I had a super optimistic attitude about it all. I may have gotten lucky but I kept saying I know they can all be one big herd! Expect little hiccups along the way but with enough time and patience it can be possible!
 
flowerfairy said:
I currently have a lovely stable and contented trio consisting of Jingle (matriarch) on the right, her sister Mistletoe, on the left and a lovely neutered boar, Caramel in the middle.

30jgowk.jpg


I recently took in a lovely elderly sow which I have called Tani

2lm1au0.jpg


She is slowly settling in and seems pretty confident. I am due to get two younger sows from a res ue very soon.

I would love them all to live as one big herd.

I will wait til the youngters have settled in before attempting any intros. I am worried that Jingle and Tani may both want to be head of the herd.

Edit to add would two trios be good? Ie Tani and the young sows? The youngsters are 6 mts old but have been in rescue since sept 2017 so may be older now.

Advice very welcome.
Click to expand...

You just have to see how it goes; it all depends on the chemistry.

You have these options:
- a) Introduce and Tani and the youngsters.
- b) Introduce the youngsters to your trio if plan a) is not working out.

- a) Introduce all piggies at once to see whether they gel as a large group with different dynamics.
- b) If that doesn't work out, see whether you can form two trios or a quartet and a pair.
 
Thank you everyone for your excellent and helpful replies.

I am hopefully picking up the youngsters on Friday so hope to bond once they seem contented. It is so funny seeing the trio all crammed against the side of ther cage which gives them the best view of Tani!

Wiebke, very helpful plan a and b choices. A whole herd would be such fun. Two trios would be great too! We will see. I love bonding and feel very confident that I will be able to read them when the time comes.

Cant wait to see them in the morning. Will be adding the bedding and hidies to the youngsters new set up! Home check at 12.00 woo hoo.
 
As long as the bondings can be done properly and they all get on, there is not reason why they can't be a large herd as long as they have the space they need. My biggest all in one herd was 12 sows and a neutered boar which worked well.
 
I just have to say what beautiful piggies you have and do your new girls have lovely locks too?!
 
Thanks flutterby, that is encouraging.

Thanks Jude. The new girls (judging by their picture on the rescue's website) are smooth (Rosie) and tufty (Cherry).

I passed the home check. The home checker knew my Father (rip) from their time campaigning for Compassion In World Farming. It was lovely to talk about him and to chat about animals generally.

She is even going to give me a lift to the rescue tomorrow to collect them, I dont drive. She offered. How kind is that?!
 
I have put them all in together along with our latest arrival, Primrose (bereved sow).

Bonding my seven guinea pigs into one herd, I hope!
 
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