EmJC
Junior Guinea Pig
I have 3 lovely sow babies and in the future would like to add one more as I'd love one of the long haired breeds. How easy would this be to do?
Thanks
Thanks
Adding Another Sow To A Trio.
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Lady Kelly
Senior Guinea Pig
It really depends on the pigs personalities, I have done several bondings and I have been lucky in most of them have been successful. There was only one bonding to a group of four where it took me the best part of a week and involved separating into two pair and gradually adding a pig lol! It was lucky I had two empty bedrooms to take over!
It would be worth looking at a rescue to add a new pig as they will know more about the pigs character and you may even be able to take your trio over to try the bonding there. I recently had an hour drive for a new piggy and took my dominant lady over to introduce them to make sure I wasn't going to have immediate problems. It's not a guarantee that I would have been able to bond them and there were a few tense moments with them after we got home and introduced the other two but luckily its worked itself out
It would be worth looking at a rescue to add a new pig as they will know more about the pigs character and you may even be able to take your trio over to try the bonding there. I recently had an hour drive for a new piggy and took my dominant lady over to introduce them to make sure I wasn't going to have immediate problems. It's not a guarantee that I would have been able to bond them and there were a few tense moments with them after we got home and introduced the other two but luckily its worked itself out
If you can date your group at a good rescue that has got either sows or neutered boars (which would be another option for you), then you can be much more reassured that they will work out. It can be a bit tricky with introducing new sows into a group. A lot depends on the invidual mix of personalities and how dominant and/or fear-aggressive a new sow is. Some bondings go smashingly and others can hit a wall. You can never really tell beforehand.
EmJC
Junior Guinea Pig
Thanks for the advice, I'll wait till my girls are a bit older I think just trying to think ahead 
It is often easier to introduce a neutered boar to a sow group, as he will not impinge on the sow hierarchy. The only problem comes right at the start if the top sow and the boar can't come to an agreement s to who comes top. Hence the recommendation to date. Generally, it is easier to add younger sows to a group, as they usually don't have the wherewithal to contest the leadership and are more accepting of fitting in at the bottom of the existing hierarchy.
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