Herd Ideas!

[Guanchy]

i really want to keep all my piggies together in the cage. i have plenty of space. Their cage is huge but right now its divided into two i have my girl on top and my boys on the bottom. The second floor comes down and turns into one big cage.

my girl is currently pregnant so i want to keep one of the girls when they are born to keep the mom company so she wont be by herself....... Today i was thinking...... once i get my boars neutered in a few weeks. do you guys think that having my two neutered boars and the two girls together would be a problem?

Lucas is the dominant one so I'm afraid that he would bully Elvis if the girls are around. right now they get along great and the boys love each other.

thats one idea, if this doesnt work my second idea was....! (dont judge me) lol

i would keep one boy and one girl from the babies, and keep the two girls in the top cage and then my boys on the bottom cage and introduce the baby male to my two boars. Would that work? I have read that boars herd generally do not work but if i introduce a baby boar to the other two adult once, I'm wondering if it would work that way?


here is a picture of the cage when we were building it so you can see how it can turn into one full cage



and this is how it looks now divided into two

 

[Guanchy]

i feel like i asked this before but i couldnt find it! sorry for the essay i just wrote

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

Not an essay at all, don't worry!

But the simple answer is , I don't think either of your suggested scenarios would work long term. :1) 2 boars neutered or not would fight for dominance over the females if they were together; 2) Trios of boars (or more) rarely work, unless they have masses of open space. Hopefully you'll be able to work out a good combination when you find out what gender babies you've got. Best of luck though!

editted to add: that's if you meant having the boars and sows in the same cage.

 

[Guanchy]

Not an essay at all, don't worry!

But the simple answer is , I don't think either of your suggested scenarios would work long term. :1) 2 boars neutered or not would fight for dominance over the females if they were together; 2) Trios of boars (or more) rarely work, unless they have masses of open space. Hopefully you'll be able to work out a good combination when you find out what gender babies you've got. Best of luck though!

thanks for the quick reply.

if none of my ideas work I'm thinking to just keep one of the babies (female) to keep the mom company and thats it. keep the girls on top and boy on the bottom.

and if this is the cage, then neutering my boys would be pointless right?

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

How big is each level of the cage currently, and how many pigs have you got in each? If the cage were big enough for 3 on each level and you had all girl babies, you could perhaps have both boys (?) neutered and give them each a sow-wife or two (they would love that!). If it is only big enough for two per level, you could still have a mixed pair on each level, but you'd probably then have to find new homes for any babies you can't fit into that arrangement. If you decide to go for same gender pairs then neutering wouldn't be necessary (providing none of your males are the athletic type that might climb or jump into the ladies' cage )

 

[Tiamolly123]

If you aren't going to put boys in with the girls you can leave them whole.
You may want to plan ahead though, if you lost one of your boys. Fingers crossed you don't. Would you want one of the boys to have to wait 6 weeks till he's ready to go up with the girls.
There are benifits to having the lads done, but you will have to ask someone, because I cant remember.
I think they are less likely to get impaction.
When are these babies due? I love baby piggies.

 

[Guanchy]

How big is each level of the cage currently, and how many pigs have you got in each? If the cage were big enough for 3 on each level and you had all girl babies, you could perhaps have both boys (?) neutered and give them each a sow-wife or two (they would love that!). If it is only big enough for two per level, you could still have a mixed pair on each level, but you'd probably then have to find new homes for any babies you can't fit into that arrangement. If you decide to go for same gender pairs then neutering wouldn't be necessary (providing none of your males are the athletic type that might climb or jump into the ladies' cage )

well thats a great idea! the levels are about 3x5 each level

 

[Guanchy]

If you aren't going to put boys in with the girls you can leave them whole.
You may want to plan ahead though, if you lost one of your boys. Fingers crossed you don't. Would you want one of the boys to have to wait 6 weeks till he's ready to go up with the girls.
There are benifits to having the lads done, but you will have to ask someone, because I cant remember.
I think they are less likely to get impaction.
When are these babies due? I love baby piggies.

these babies dont want to come out! lol check out her thread here with all info about her. She is about 8 weeks now so they would be here any day https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/my-girl-is-definitely-pregnant.151669/

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

well thats a great idea! the levels are about 3x5 each level

If you mean 3ft x 5ft, that would be big enough for 3 sows or a neutered boar and 2 sows I think. Let's hope that when the babies arrive, the number and genders make it nice and easy for you.

I'm hoping to change my boars' minimal sized Ferplast 120 cage for a 3ft x 6ft c&c cage - much better for them to have more space.

 

[Guanchy]

yes thats correct! and lets hope i get more girls than boys lol that way i can keep two of the girls at least

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

The only thing I'd say is would the smell of the females cause the boys to fight if they're in close proximity? I don't have personal experience in this but I've read a lot of circumstances of this happening. Maybe someone more experienced can shed light on whether this will be an issue or not?

 

[Guanchy]

well currently i have my boars on the bottom and my girls on top, and i have never had any problems. Someone did mention that they might fight if they smell the female but i havent had any fights yet since i have them in the cage and its been mora than a month

 

[Reenie]

I believe that they are less likely to fight if they are used to girls being around than if you suddenly house a girl near them. A strong season may set them off, but it sounds like your boys are quite used to having a female neighbour and doing ok with it.

 

[Guanchy]

I believe that they are less likely to fight if they are used to girls being around than if you suddenly house a girl near them. A strong season may set them off, but it sounds like your boys are quite used to having a female neighbour and doing ok with it.

well its been a long process lol When we first got her with put her cage next to the boys' and ohh Jesus! they wanted to kill each other, we had to separate them, eventually we built a new cage where we keep the girl on top and the boys on the bottom instead of next to each other, and its been fine since then. But it took us quiet some time to re introduce the boys.

This is going to sound funny but when my girl is using the bathroom in her corner i guess Lucas (The dominant one) can smell it and he gets so excited and starts running around the cage but thats about it, he wont fight with Elvis. Then again Elvis is the sweetest guinea pig he avoids confrontation at all cost lol

 

[Reenie]

well its been a long process lol When we first got her with put her cage next to the boys' and ohh Jesus! they wanted to kill each other, we had to separate them, eventually we built a new cage where we keep the girl on top and the boys on the bottom instead of next to each other, and its been fine since then. But it took us quiet some time to re introduce the boys.

This is going to sound funny but when my girl is using the bathroom in her corner i guess Lucas (The dominant one) can smell it and he gets so excited and starts running around the cage but thats about it, he wont fight with Elvis. Then again Elvis is the sweetest guinea pig he avoids confrontation at all cost lol

Lol, sounds like fun! Have you tried them the other way round, with the boys in the top deck? That might reduce the amount of scent they get, although it's probably not worth upsetting the applecart when it's all going well.

 

[Guanchy]

I was thinking about that this week when i was cleaning the cage, but since my girl is pregnant i like to have her in the top floor so i can monitor her easily. Maybe once the babies come ill switch!