Introducing New Boar To A Pair Of Sows

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Chris24

Chris24

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Hey everyone,

We have a new addition to our family, a 6 month old adopted boar named Archie! Our plan is to have him neutered and then introduced to our two sows - Peaches (4-5 years) and Twirl (17 months).

Archie was briefly introduced to the girls one at a time and immediately adopted a dominant pose, rumblestrutting and getting very "in their face" sniffing their scent glands. The girls didn't seem to mind too much but there was a bit of resistance from Peaches (dominance nipping).

How long after the neutering procedure should we wait before introducing Archie to the girls? Also, does anyone have any tips for introducing a neutered boar to a group of sows? Should we introduce him to one girl at a time or all at once?

We successfully introduced Peaches and Twirl to each other so we know the basics, but would appreciate any further advice.

Many thanks,

Chris and Kim (aka Tinkoz)
 
One of my piggies is the daughter of a supposedly safe over 5 weeks post op boar (not one of mine) and I have heard of more cases since. The good standard rescue post-op wait is 6 weeks, and so far I haven't heard of any more unplanned accidents from that policy.
To further acceptance, I would recommend to keep your boy next to the girls during his recovery and wait, but with older (and dominant) sows there is always some risk that they may not accept a bolshy boy if both are too dominant. Rumblingstrutting, mounting etc. are very normal boar behaviour and pretty much par for the course. If you want to create a group, you have to always introduce them as such on neutral territory.

As to bonding, you may find these threads here helpful; they contain lots of tips:
Introducing And Re-introducing Guinea Pigs
Illustrated Bonding Behaviours And Dynamics
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs

Please make sure that you find either a general vet that is very experienced in guinea pig neutering or an exotics/small animal vet with plenty of practice in small furries ops in order to minimise the otherwise still pretty common risk of post-op complications. It is really worth doing your research! If you wish, you can always open a support thread and ask for tips re. post-op care.
 
thank you wiebke we will read though the posts you suggested. at the moment he is in our bedroom away from the girls but we will move him to next to the girls after his op to help with the bonding. he was too interested in our younger girl who has all her bits still in palace and we had to get a towel in there quick to stop nature taking its course lol so with her we are sure there wont be any problems its just peaches our older and spayed piggy there may be a bit of conflict but fingers crossed the introduction will go as well as it did when we introduced her to twirl. but if this go wrong he will just have to live in his own cage and play thought the bars.
 
Tinkoz said:
thank you wiebke we will read though the posts you suggested. at the moment he is in our bedroom away from the girls but we will move him to next to the girls after his op to help with the bonding. he was too interested in our younger girl who has all her bits still in palace and we had to get a towel in there quick to stop nature taking its course lol so with her we are sure there wont be any problems its just peaches our older and spayed piggy there may be a bit of conflict but fingers crossed the introduction will go as well as it did when we introduced her to twirl. but if this go wrong he will just have to live in his own cage and play thought the bars.
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Please always keep a full boar and sows apart at all times. It takes only seconds to do the evil deed - much quicker than you can react. Boars have two little hooks at the tip of their penis for better grip while sows coming up to season can come into it spontaneaously in the presence of male pheromones. Please make sure that your boy can climb or jump out.
 
we only did a 2 min meet and great to see the reaction before we put him through the op and he did not even get the second foot on her back before i took him away. They wont be back together now till at least 6 weeks post opp to make sure there are no tiny little surprises in the cage one morning.
Thank you
 
Thank you Wiekbe for the advice. We will be taking Archie to see Ben Bennett at Colne Valley Vets in Colchester as he comes recommended by this forum. We will let you all know how it goes next week!
 
Archie was neutered today and the operation was a success. The stitching is very neat and he is very active in the cage at the moment.. you wouldn't think he he had just had his balls removed! :P

The vet didn't prescribe any pain meds or antibiotics for the aftercare as they said it's not usually necessary. Not sure if this is normal practice?
 
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