Boar care advice & top sow's a chunker

Harmonypiggy

Harmonypiggy

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I have 2 boars now living together, father and son aby's they both appear settled as only chased and mounted for a little in the cage with me, they actually seem a lot quieter and chilled than my sows!

I've been reading up more on boars and their behaviour, 1 is 7 months and the other is 7 weeks old. So how often do you have to clean out this boar sack?

Anything else I should be mindful of with the boars, they do seem happy together, I really don't know if I could bring myself to neuter them now to put in with my sows (1 boar per sow group).

Also what's interesting is my elder sow who is older than this boar by 3 day is so much bigger and chunkier than him! being similar age I thought the boar would be much bigger. I wonder if she is a bit overweight as when she sits down she does look a bit chubby underneath and to the sides. Her daughter is a very loud wheeker and sets my other piggies off, and literally my sheltie sow who is really quiet has started wheeking the best few days since this girl has been doing her wheeking!

Mama pig is eating and drinking and looks super cute when she lies down, she like to stick her back leg out, and just lie completely down in the cage, looks super relaxed. Is there a weight range for age and sex of pigs which shows if they are underweight normal overweight or obese?
 
In young piggies there shouldn’t be a problem and therefore you shouldn’t need to clean them out. Impaction is something some older boars can suffer with when they lose muscle. However, checking there isn’t stray hair or hay stuck around the area is part of routine care.

Boar Care: Bits, Bums & Baths

The key things with boars are lots of space, hideys with multiple entrances, multiple items so they don’t ever have to share and always ensuring you respect the hierarchy in handling the dominant first.
You will most likely see an increase in dominance as the baby gets to his teens (4 to 14 months of age) as you will then have two hormonal teenagers together.

A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

Weight is very individual so there is no range for healthy weight - you need to go by their heft, it’s basically piggy BMI. What is healthy for one piggy may not be healthy for another so you need to feel around their ribs to check for a nice covering of fat but not too much. If you can’t feel ribs at all, then that is a sign they may be overrweight. Do bear In mind though that in piggies who we fed a good hay based diet, a good variety of veg and one tablespoon of pellets per day, have a good sized cage for plenty of exercise and have time out of their cage, then being overweight is unlikely.

Weight - Monitoring and Management
 
I have to say I have rarely needed to do anything for most of my boars - most of them have sorted themselves out for most of their lives. Mine have mainly been neutered - I don't know whether that made any difference. George (neutered) suffers mild impaction when he gets a bit stressed but he'll be 4 this year, he's heavy and he doesn't move around very much - even less now we've got a heat pad as he gets worried someone else will claim it! I tried removing it for a few days to see if he'd move around more but he just looked glum so I'm going to try plan B - two heat pads to see if he'll trot from one to the other! Once we'd gotten him over the initial episode he seemed to work things out himself which is better for him so all I do is keep a eye out that he's pooping OK and check him down below to make sure everything looks normal. It's lovely that your boys are good pals 💕
 
I do think my sow is overweight, feeling her gently and even seeing her belly fat sticks out the sides, she doesn't seem to exercise as much, she loves her food. she probably enjoyed too much of a good thing before butkeepng her balanced on hay veg and limited pellets
 
A limited amount of pellets and lots and lots of hay usually does the trick.
But of my five most recent piggies our biggest one (by far) was our sow Oreo. Her adult weight was always around 1.3kg and she was big but definitely not fat.
 
Father and son don't get on, despite first week they seem to enjoy each other company there was teeth chattering over a few days but I woke the other night hearing it then heard loud noises and they were fighting so I put grids down the cage to separate, I checked them over and the younger piggy had a couple of bite marks on his rear. So they will stay like this until he is like 12 weeks and then both boars will be neutered and each sent to different sows. The elder male will be put with the sow he would have fathered the 2 younger piggies with and his daughter once he has healed and the younger boar will meet a couple of my younger piggies. Hopefully they will all like this, although there is time to wait. I thought best to get both neutered at same time rather than one now. But if its better to get the elder sorted now I can see what is available for appointments
 
Boars aren't neutered until between 4 and 6 months of age - unless you happen to have a vet who will do it earlier (not usual in the UK, but you might get lucky if he is a good weight). They then need to remain away from sows for six weeks after their surgery to become infertile.
Whether you get one done now and one later or wait and do them both at the same time is up to you.

I hope all goes well with their surgeries and the subsequent bonding. Do keep us posted
 
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Sorry to hear about the fall out. You may find that boar neutering operations are less readily available during times of national lockdown so may have to wait. As for neutering the younger boar, speak to your vets to find out what they think would be the best time to neuter him, Usuall they like them to have their testicles fully descended and to be particular weight before planning to neuter them.
 
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