Bonding 2 Girls With My 4

Gem789

Gem789

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Hi all I’m trying a bonding session today.I'm noticing a lot of fear aggression between all of them.A scuffle just happened between the top pig out of the 2 newbies and the top pig out of my bonded 4.Now my top pig keeps tilting her head to one side.Does it mean anything or should I be worried?
 
Gem789 said:
Hi all I’m trying a bonding session today.I'm noticing a lot of fear aggression between all of them.A scuffle just happened between the top pig out of the 2 newbies and the top pig out of my bonded 4.Now my top pig keeps tilting her head to one side.Does it mean anything or should I be worried?
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Keep an eye on her, especially if she's got a misjudged back foot swipe in her eye; it can just be a sign of stress. Keep judging whether the girls are only going up to the line but not beyond it while they sort out how is going to be the top lady.
 
Wiebke said:
Keep an eye on her, especially if she's got a misjudged back foot swipe in her eye; it can just be a sign of stress. Keep judging whether the girls are only going up to the line but not beyond it while they sort out how is going to be the top lady.
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Thank you, every time the 2 top Pigs go near each other, they are rumbling and chattering their teeth.I'm so scared a fight is going to happen.She seems to only be tilting her head a little now.
 
Ooh I don't envy you right now! I remember the stress of bonding into an established herd. You may find that it'll take a bit of time, some separations and reintroductions until it settles completely.

Do they live next to each other atm? Sending you big hugs because I know how stressful it is the more pigs you have :))
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
Ooh I don't envy you right now! I remember the stress of bonding into an established herd. You may find that it'll take a bit of time, some separations and reintroductions until it settles completely.

Do they live next to each other atm? Sending you big hugs because I know how stressful it is the more pigs you have :))
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No the newbies were living under my bonded 4.Things are a lot more quiet at the moment but then all of a sudden ‘the bully’ will chase everyone lol
 
Gem789 said:
No the newbies were living under my bonded 4.Things are a lot more quiet at the moment but then all of a sudden ‘the bully’ will chase everyone lol
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Ah okay, I'm guessing there's no way to put them beside? It's much harder with larger enclosures I know!

Haha there's always "the bully" in a bonding session! :)) It sounds like it's going pretty well then! It's just so tense during the hierarchy stage isn't it? What stage of bonding are you at? :)
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
Ah okay, I'm guessing there's no way to put them beside? It's much harder with larger enclosures I know!

Haha there's always "the bully" in a bonding session! :)) It sounds like it's going pretty well then! It's just so tense during the hierarchy stage isn't it? What stage of bonding are you at? :)
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I don’t know lol.They’ve been in the pen for about 2 hours, maybe longer but I don’t know what stage it’s at.Unfortunatley there’s no room to put the cages side by side.
 
Just looking at fuzzy butts lips now when she leaned up the bars, it looks like there could be a bit of blood on her mouth.Is there anything I should do?
 
Gem789 said:
I don’t know lol.They’ve been in the pen for about 2 hours, maybe longer but I don’t know what stage it’s at.Unfortunatley there’s no room to put the cages side by side.
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Ah that's good! Have you put in hideys yet? Cardboard boxes with 4 exits cut out are the best I've found for bonding!

Yea I didn't think there would be! I'd have to move my sofa out of the room to put in an extra cage :))
 
Gem789 said:
Just looking at fuzzy butts lips now when she leaned up the bars, it looks like there could be a bit of blood on her mouth.Is there anything I should do?
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Iggy had that, I just kept an eye on it and made sure it was clean and not getting infected. It was a misjudged donkey kick from one of the girls :)) It healed up fine :)
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
Ah that's good! Have you put in hideys yet? Cardboard boxes with 4 exits cut out are the best I've found for bonding!

Yea I didn't think there would be! I'd have to move my sofa out of the room to put in an extra cage :))
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No I haven’t tried hideys.Thanks, ill see if I’ve got any boxes.
 
Betsy said:
Let us know how you get on @Gem789
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I left them in the bonding pen for over 5 hours.No fighting so have moved them all to their newly extended cage.Ive been sleep since 6 but just woke up.The dominant one of the newbies is still being very bossy to all the others so I really hope she calms down a bit x
 
She should do. I think its the extra power gone to her head! She has more piggies to lord it over now!
 
I hope so.Shes being very dominant towards the others every time she sees them and she’s still chasing them constantly. @Wiebke sorry to tag you, In your experience should this behaviour die down in a few days?The others are keeping out of her way and even the one with the cut on her lip who was top pig in the herd of 4 before I did the bonding seems to be hiding in their loft.She was always at the bars for food before.
 
Gem789 said:
No she was top pig out of her and her cage mate.
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Hang on I'm confused, which pig is which and which ones are having issues?

Gem789 said:
The others are keeping out of her way and even the one with the cut on her lip who was top pig in the herd of 4 before I did the bonding seems to be hiding in their loft.
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So the main boss pig is fine with the newbies? Have you seen the acceptance fall down the hierarchy yet?
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
Hang on I'm confused, which pig is which and which ones are having issues?


So the main boss pig is fine with the newbies? Have you seen the acceptance fall down the hierarchy yet?
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It’s the top pig out of the 2 newbies that is being very bossy and dominant(I’m guessing she’s now top pig out of the Now 6 piggie herd).I bonded 2 pigs to my existing 4.At the moment it’s quiet and she’s been eating near all the others which is good.
 
Gem789 said:
It’s the top pig out of the 2 newbies that is being very bossy and dominant(I’m guessing she’s now top pig out of the Now 6 piggie herd).I bonded 2 pigs to my existing 4.At the moment it’s quiet and she’s been eating near all the others which is good.
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Oh okay so not the existing top girl. Are any of the 4 showing signs of dominance? It's unlikely that the new top girl is the leader of them all but I'd imagine she's just trying to climb the hierarchy and not be at the bottom.

When bonding I've found my boss piggy, once accepting the newbies, just left them to it. It was already established that no one would challenge her so she mostly let the rest figure it out on their own. I've been quite lucky in that it's only been tense with those near the bottom of the hierarchy and the newbies so it could just be that?
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
Oh okay so not the existing top girl. Are any of the 4 showing signs of dominance? It's unlikely that the new top girl is the leader of them all but I'd imagine she's just trying to climb the hierarchy and not be at the bottom.

When bonding I've found my boss piggy, once accepting the newbies, just left them to it. It was already established that no one would challenge her so she mostly let the rest figure it out on their own. I've been quite lucky in that it's only been tense with those near the bottom of the hierarchy and the newbies so it could just be that?
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None of the others are showing dominance behaviour luckily.It was quite sweet, all of them were sat together eating hay earlier with no bickering lol
 
Gem789 said:
None of the others are showing dominance behaviour luckily.It was quite sweet, all of them were sat together eating hay earlier with no bickering lol
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It sounds like it's going great! It may just be that the rowdy girl is having a season at the same time and hopefully everything should settle down soon! :)
 
Gem789 said:
Thank you, I’ve done 3 bondings before and never saw that behaviour.
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I feel your pain! I was unfortunate to try bonding 1 to my 4 and found that one of my girls had just that second come into season :doh: It definitely wasn't expected!
 
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