Bonding a bereaved pig..

[stripypig]

Pip is currently in quarantine after Gizmo becoming so ill but obviously I'd prefer her to have some company in the long term.

I have my other three (neutered boar 12m and 2 sows 5.5m and 3m) living together fairly happily (although the girls are very active and boisterous).

Ideally I'd like to attempt bond her with my existing piggles before looking to add to my numbers.

Based on personality I'm thinking of trying her with the boar, as he is very relaxed (Pip is a lazy lady and her and Giz spent a lot of time snoozing) and I think the girls would drive her mad - Angel in particular (3m) is like the Duracell piggle. The two girls are tightly bonded, but are not so bothered about Michael.

Or should I try her with the 3?

She is 15 months old and was the undersow to Gizmo who was much older and very dominant.

 

[Niki]

I would try her with all 3, your other 2 sows are younger than her so should pose no threat & most sows will take to a boar.

 

[stripypig]

That could be fun, could do some cage engineering and have 4 piggles with 3 metres of cage, least she could escape the bonkers babies if she needed to

Been giving her lots of cuddles in the meantime, and she was squeaking to the others last night as she could hear Angel shouting (she does a lot if that!)

Still can't bring myself to write RB post yet for Giz, makes me 8... every time I look in there

 

[Wiebke]

I would try her with all of them on neutral ground and see how that works out. If the other girls are very much younger, they should accept her dominance.

 

[stripypig]

Think this is going to be a long job, tried moving cages closer so they can see each other (had to move them apart previously because Gizmo would spend all day chattering at the others and then would eventually go for Pip) and moved them apart again after an hour as Pip was lunging at the bars to get at Michael

Only comedy moment was little Angel trying to chatter and wiggle her bum at the same time, looked very cute from a 3m old piglet.

 

[stripypig]

I've been doing some work towards this over the weekend.

I need to have them as a 4 or not at all it appears as the girls were getting quite distressed when they could hear but not see Michael.

However, Pip will chase the girls non-stop, there has not been any actual biting, but neither of them looked very happy with the situation, Cherub who is of quite a sensitive nature was becoming distraught, and I had to remove her early on. Angel was less bothered, as she is a lot faster than Pip and can keep out of her way. She never sits still anyway!

We had a bit of a scuffle at first between Michael and Pip, but he gave her a bop on the nose, and she seems to have accepted his dominance, although she didn't look very happy about it, she flattens herself out and whines at him if he comes too close.

I'm not sure if I should persist with trying this or look at taking Pip dating instead.

Ideas? I know Wiebke is the expert when it comes to herds!

 

[Niki]

The chasing is perfectly normal as is nipping. It looks much worse to us looking on than it actually is. If no one pig is being singled out & all are able to freely go/eat/drink then i would leave them together as this is the only way they can sort the heirachy out.

Pip probably isn't happy at being dominated but if she's accepted Michael as boss she will come round & find her position.

There may well be tiffs between any of them at later dates, my herd of 6 girls & 1 boy have their moments especially when one of the head sows comes into season.

If at any time Pip or anyone else is losing weight, looks withdrawn or isn't allowed to freely go where he/she chooses then i would look at separating as bullying can not be tolerated.