Newborn babies and mom being chased by dominant sow

[Vikkitheviking]

Hi so I'll try make it as short a story as possible....so we had one remaining piggy who is 7 and a half. We got her a companion as she was very lonely being on her own when her cage mate passed.. we got her a girl , in October last year and named her poppy..they bonded pretty well and then because we don't know how long our old girl ally has left we got another sow in December named honey.. we got them a brand new 5x2 C and C cage and bonding seemed to go pretty well.. they can eat together etc but honey the youngest was getting chase alot by middle piggy poppy. There has never been fights just alot of piggy chasing...she lets her eat etc and alot of the time poppy goes near her and she darts off. Now we found out literally last week that the pig we got in December honey was pregnant so have been occupied with that all week and also thought that maybe she was being so skittish becuase she was pregnant and trying to protect her babies... Anyway Go forward to today and the babies have been born.. two gorgeous little babies.. mom and babies are doing well but poppy is still chasing honey so sometimes when she is settled with babies poppy goes in and then honey darts out..
Sorry for the long post just wanted to check if poppy's chasing behaviour is normal and something I can leave and hope they work it out of wether i should be seperating? I worry about seperating because then I don't know if I can ever bond them again after then but want mom and new babies to be able to settle?
Any advice?
Thanks

 

[Vikkitheviking]

 

[Wiebke]

Hi so I'll try make it as short a story as possible....so we had one remaining piggy who is 7 and a half. We got her a companion as she was very lonely being on her own when her cage mate passed.. we got her a girl , in October last year and named her poppy..they bonded pretty well and then because we don't know how long our old girl ally has left we got another sow in December named honey.. we got them a brand new 5x2 C and C cage and bonding seemed to go pretty well.. they can eat together etc but honey the youngest was getting chase alot by middle piggy poppy. There has never been fights just alot of piggy chasing...she lets her eat etc and alot of the time poppy goes near her and she darts off. Now we found out literally last week that the pig we got in December honey was pregnant so have been occupied with that all week and also thought that maybe she was being so skittish becuase she was pregnant and trying to protect her babies... Anyway Go forward to today and the babies have been born.. two gorgeous little babies.. mom and babies are doing well but poppy is still chasing honey so sometimes when she is settled with babies poppy goes in and then honey darts out..
Sorry for the long post just wanted to check if poppy's chasing behaviour is normal and something I can leave and hope they work it out of wether i should be seperating? I worry about seperating because then I don't know if I can ever bond them again after then but want mom and new babies to be able to settle?
Any advice?
Thanks

Hi and welcome!

We recommend to leave piggies together as much as possible, but if the overreaction to the birth of the babies doesn't mostly die down within a few hours and continues to interfere with the babies nursing, then please consider a separation. The very occasional throwing the weight around (because of her own insecurity) can be tolerated as long as it is not becoming excessive. It is a situation that has to be judged and handled on its own merits in every single case.
A separation may lead to your sows not going back together if there are already existing underlying rifts in the bond; that is the risk. iIt always comes to weighing up the pros and cons. There is no one size fits all situations advice.

You can find our detailed and practical post-birth, mother and baby care information, including a discussion of pros and cons of a separation, via this link here: Pregnancy, Mother & Baby Care Guides

 

[Vikkitheviking]

Hi and welcome!

We recommend to leave piggies together as much as possible, but if the overreaction to the birth of the babies doesn't mostly die down within a few hours and continues to interfere with the babies nursing, then please consider a separation. The very occasional throwing the weight around (because of her own insecurity) can be tolerated as long as it is not becoming excessive. It is a situation that has to be judged and handled on its own merits in every single case.
A separation may lead to your sows not going back together if there are already existing underlying rifts in the bond; that is the risk. iIt always comes to weighing up the pros and cons. There is no one size fits all situations advice.

You can find our detailed and practical post-birth, mother and baby care information, including a discussion of pros and cons of a separation, via this link here: Pregnancy, Mother & Baby Care Guides

Thankyou for the quick reply. It's not constant so I hope they settle but honey just seems very scared of poppy and has been since we got her but I don't know if that's becuase she was being protective of babies... sometimes I think poppy just wants to play but the second she goes near honey , honey runs away... If I did seperate I have another cage so would it be best to seperate mom and babies so they could stay together? And then poppy and ally could stay together of separate poppy on her own? Really don't want to have to seperate my girls love them.all and would need to adopt eventually if they don't get on as don't have permanent room.for two cages.

 

[Wiebke]

Thankyou for the quick reply. It's not constant so I hope they settle but honey just seems very scared of poppy and has been since we got her but I don't know if that's becuase she was being protective of babies... sometimes I think poppy just wants to play but the second she goes near honey , honey runs away... If I did seperate I have another cage so would it be best to seperate mom and babies so they could stay together? And then poppy and ally could stay together of separate poppy on her own? Really don't want to have to seperate my girls love them.all and would need to adopt eventually if they don't get on as don't have permanent room.for two cages.

Since you have two sows you can keep together apart from your mother, I would recommend to separate as you do not want to stress out Honey any more than she already seems to be, especially not now. Let's hope that there is a little girl in the litter.
PS: Are you aware that you can keep cages stacked up if you are short on space? There are ways around the problem and we are willing to help you work out a practicable solution with you, should that become necessary.

 

[Vikkitheviking]

Since you have two sows you can keep together apart from your mother, I would recommend to separate as you do not want to stress out Honey any more than she already seems to be, especially not now. Let's hope that there is a little girl in the litter.
PS: Are you aware that you can keep cages stacked up if you are short on space? There are ways around the problem and we are willing to help you work out a practicable solution with you, should that become necessary.

Hi yes I have seen right now I have only room for the 5x2 with loft becuase the cage is under my stairs and I don't have any other practical places In.my house to put it.. because if the slant of the stairs I can't stack anymore cages unfortunately..I am pretty sure one baby piggy is a girl but not sure on the other. Just hoping poppy is showing she is the boss and they can get on then. FX x