Bonding My 4 Sows

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ayemee

ayemee

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Hello,

As some may know I now have four girls. The plan is (hopefully) to bond them all together.

The two new girls came from a lovely previous home and are in good health.

Peaches is very very bossy. Dolly is happy to let her be boss and just wheeks and runs away if she gets a bit too much.

I've never had to try and bond a small group before and I'm very nervous.

They're currently in the run with a divider so they can sniff each other. All are curious with only one teeth chattering from Peaches at Mabel through the bars so far.

I've read through the bonding guides but I'm still nervous. Any mini group bonding experiences and advice more than welcome!
 
I've only ever bonded a pair at a time! So I just wanted to wish you all the best and I hope everything goes well with the bonding :)
 
Put a big heap of grass and hay in the middle, and make sure that you have more within reach.

Whether a group bonding works out depends largely on whether the two top ladies can sort out the dominance between them, as one of them will have to step down and submit.

You can separate overnight, but unless things blow up very quickly, you will have to give them plenty of time to sort out the dominance and establish a hierarchy. make sure that any new cage/pen/hutch is as new in look as possible, so you prevent the previous owners from feeling possessive. Put in hideys only once you are past the worst of any chases, nips etc. and rather use stools or opensided cardboard boxes in the meantime, so no girl can be cornered.
 
Thank you for the advice. I'm currently thoroughly cleaning everything to get rid of smells.

I think the main clash will be Mabel and Peaches as they are both the dominant in their couples. However Peaches displays her dominance a lot more than Mabel has ever done.

We will soon find out!
 
My piggies had some dominance issues (I bonded a pair with a single) and that did take a while to sort out. Holly had been dominant over Squiggles(rainbow piggie) and Ruby was dominant over Connie. Ruby and Holly got along surprisingly well but Connie had a very similar personality to Holly and they clashed(they each wanted to hide behind one another). This led to Holly being left alone as she was quite scared of Connie. Eventually (and I was close to giving up for fear of injury) they started to get along. So my advice for bonding is just to keep a close eye and unless there are any injuries just persevere and a healthy piggie relationship should flourish! Good luck!:)
 
I hope it all goes well for you! I never thought my Daisy was overly dominant until I bonded her with Maple then I was surprised at how dominant she behaved! She seemed like a total different pig during the bonding! So I hope none of yours are like that and they sort it out quickly :)
 
xxaimeexx said:
My piggies had some dominance issues (I bonded a pair with a single) and that did take a while to sort out. Holly had been dominant over Squiggles(rainbow piggie) and Ruby was dominant over Connie. Ruby and Holly hit it off surprisingly well but Connie had a very similar personality to Holly and they clashed(they each wanted to hide behind one another). This led to Holly being left alone as she was quite scared of Connie. Eventually (and I was close to giving up for fear of injury) they started to get along. So my advice for bonding is just to keep a close eye and unless there are any injuries just persevere and a healthy piggie relationship should flourish! Good luck!:)
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Thank you that's really helped put my mind at rest a little :)
 
ayemee said:
Thank you that's really helped put my mind at rest a little :)
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Glad it helped! Yeah it actually took a week for them to settle and that was quite scary with the noise they made and how depressed Holly looked all alone in a corner, but now they are best of friends and can often be seen snuggled or eating in a little line!
 
ayemee said:
Thank you for the advice. I'm currently thoroughly cleaning everything to get rid of smells.

I think the main clash will be Mabel and Peaches as they are both the dominant in their couples. However Peaches displays her dominance a lot more than Mabel has ever done.

We will soon find out!
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Best of luck! You can never tell beforehand whether a bonding is going to work out or not; that is the one big lesson I have learned in well over half a century of group and pair bondings. It all depends on the individual character mix and whether the top sows will settle together or not. Not all top sows will accept losing in a dominance face-down although many will.
 
Wiebke said:
Best of luck! You can never tell beforehand whether a bonding is going to work out or not; that is the one big lesson I have learned in well over half a century of group and pair bondings. It all depends on the individual character mix and whether the top sows will settle together or not. Not all top sows will accept losing in a dominance face-down although many will.
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Thank you.

We will soon find out! I'm a natural worrier so all of this is making me on edge!

I'm going to get a stool as a hidey. Thank you for that idea!
 
ayemee said:
Thank you.

We will soon find out! I'm a natural worrier so all of this is making me on edge!

I'm going to get a stool as a hidey. Thank you for that idea!
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Sitting through an intro and dominance phase is always nerve-racking, especially if it goes right up to the line. Thankfully, most sows are very careful to not step over it. It is not easy to not interfere. Only put them back into their new home together once the top spot has been decided and all sows are settling down. It can take more than one day. Usually things are more relaxed on the second day, if not, then you are either in for the very long haul or you have to think about calling things off, depending on just how bad it is.
 
xxaimeexx said:
Glad it helped! Yeah it actually took a week for them to settle and that was quite scary with the noise they made and how depressed Holly looked all alone in a corner, but now they are best of friends and can often be seen snuggled or eating in a little line!
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That's fab! Yeah the loud wheeks and scuffling and teeth chattering makes everything seem so extreme!
 
All going okay so far. Mabel is asserting her dominance. Her and Peaches have had some chasing and teeth chattering but nothing too agressive as of yet. They've been together around just over half an hour.

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Mabel seems to be chasing everyone to let them know she's top pig!
 
ayemee said:
All going okay so far. Mabel is asserting her dominance. Her and Peaches have had some chasing and teeth chattering but nothing too agressive as of yet. They've been together around just over half an hour.

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Mabel seems to be chasing everyone to let them know she's top pig!
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Looks good! Fingers crossed!
 
Fingers firmly crossed. They are well into the dominance phase by now, so if it stays at that level, then everything should sort itself out.
 
oooo sounding good so far! I usually use a small plate covered in small pieces (chopped extra small) of veg - a vast array and they usually all sit around eating and before they know it they've bonded without even knowing that there are extra pigs in the pen :))
 
It's been almost a couple of hours now. Mabel still let's each of them know she's boss by raising her head at them or chasin them off. But all in all there hasn't been any major aggression at all so far.

I'm expecting the squabbles to continue for a few days at least. Peaches has surprised me. She was so bossy and dominant over Dolly. Yet now she's in the mini group she's a bit of a coward! She won't let anyone push her too far.. But she isn't being over reactive either.

Mabel is the dominant pig so far.. And she is the smallest!
 
ayemee said:
It's been almost a couple of hours now. Mabel still let's each of them know she's boss by raising her head at them or chasin them off. But all in all there hasn't been any major aggression at all so far.

I'm expecting the squabbles to continue for a few days at least. Peaches has surprised me. She was so bossy and dominant over Dolly. Yet now she's in the mini group she's a bit of a coward! She won't let anyone push her too far.. But she isn't being over reactive either.

Mabel is the dominant pig so far.. And she is the smallest!
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Size doesn't say anything - my Nia was one of the smallest, yet she ran a group of up to 14 sows... Peaches is going to find her feet again once the dominance sort-out is slowly percolating down the ladder and each piggy is making sure that the sow immediately below her won't get any ideas. In my experience, that takes around two weeks on average until the dust has settled.

But it is looking very good that your girls are forming a foursome. I would give it an hour or two at least in the new cage before you go to bed, so you can see how things go.
 
Wiebke said:
Size doesn't say anything - my Nia was one of the smallest, yet she ran a group of up to 14 sows... Peaches is going to find her feet again once the dominance sort-out is slowly percolating down the ladder and each piggy is making sure that the sow immediately below her won't get any ideas. In my experience, that takes around two weeks on average until the dust has settled.

But it is looking very good that your girls are forming a foursome. I would give it an hour or two at least in the new cage before you go to bed, so you can see how things go.
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It's very funny watching the smallest take charge!

They're all in the cage now. It's been about 20 minutes. All okay so far. In fact slightly more settled than in the run.

I'll keep a watch on them all night now until I go to bed. :)
 
ayemee said:
It's very funny watching the smallest take charge!

They're all in the cage now. It's been about 20 minutes. All okay so far. In fact slightly more settled than in the run.

I'll keep a watch on them all night now until I go to bed. :)
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Sounds like little pig syndrome to me... my Jemima is the same! Jemima carried on with this dominant behaviour for about a month after getting Issy, only recently has she calmed down... in fact several times I've checked her over for signs of ovarian cysts because she was being such an evil cowbag to the others :))
 
Just went for a final check before bed. Peaches was sprawled out along the back of the hay tray asleep. Dolly curled up in front of her, Mabel at the side of Dolly eating the hay. Amber was in her favourite spot, pancaked out at the top of the ramp. :tu:
 
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