Sow Fighting With Adopted Boar

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Shathra Jewell

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Hello, I've just adopted a 3 years old castrated boar (3 days ago). I already have 3 sows, 2 of them are 3 years old and the third is 2 years old. The sows were getting along well then started fighting over dominance, this has happened before but not for this long, so I decided to get them a castrated boar hoping things would calm down. The situation is still a little tense as everyone is trying to adjust, but one of my 3 years old sows is very grumpy and fights are erupting badly with the boar (no blood yet) and sometimes with the other sows too.

I always make sure they have plenty of food so they don't fight over that, but what can I do to release the tension and help them be calmer whilst they try to bond? Should I take the grumpy sow out of the cage for a few hours or overnight? Just a note, the grumpy sow is also a little vicious, I don't want her to injure of the other sows or the boar. I love all my piggies and the boar is so sweet I don't want to return him to the shelter if I can help it, please help me :(
 
Shathra Jewell said:
Hello, I've just adopted a 3 years old castrated boar (3 days ago). I already have 3 sows, 2 of them are 3 years old and the third is 2 years old. The sows were getting along well then started fighting over dominance, this has happened before but not for this long, so I decided to get them a castrated boar hoping things would calm down. The situation is still a little tense as everyone is trying to adjust, but one of my 3 years old sows is very grumpy and fights are erupting badly with the boar (no blood yet) and sometimes with the other sows too.

I always make sure they have plenty of food so they don't fight over that, but what can I do to release the tension and help them be calmer whilst they try to bond? Should I take the grumpy sow out of the cage for a few hours or overnight? Just a note, the grumpy sow is also a little vicious, I don't want her to injure of the other sows or the boar. I love all my piggies and the boar is so sweet I don't want to return him to the shelter if I can help it, please help me :(
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Hi! Either your piggies can come to terms over the hierarchy or not. There is no trick in the book that can force them to get along if they don't agree.

While a neutered boar can soak up the bitchiness that comes when sows are in season and helps to glue sows together, he CANNOT take care of behavioural or hormonal aggression that lies in the personality of a sow. Boars also do NOT intervene in a sow hierarchy; if two sows have problems, they will continue to have problems with each other irrespective of the presence of a neutered boar.
Tensions usually come down to whether your difficult sow is accepting the boar or not, especially if he is coming out further up in the hierarchy or is punting for the top spot against her.

You can split the boar off overnight and do another bonding session tomorrow. if tensions go right up there and remain high when they are together again, it is in my experience not going to work out in the long term. The issues have a habit of coming up again and again and again whenever there is a stressful situation in my experience. There is a difference between fear agression (fighting on sight, which can be often worked around with patience) and dominance issues (not being able to solve the hierarchy question, which usually cannot if the loser is not willing to step down).
Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics

Please take the time to read this guide here, so you can better understand and judge what is going on. it may be worth to have your problematic sow checked for ovarian cysts/hormonal problems.
Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
 
Oh no. Some time ago I had a lone sow (she was permanently stressed by her sow herd) so got a neutered boar to go with her. It was bliss.
She died, I tried to introduce him to my others (down to a pair by that time). Head pig literally attacked him, really meant it.

So... I got another sow, one he had lived with before and knew got on with (long story)

So... head-pig died, leaving the other of the sow-pair on her own. She had previously got on fine with the boar in the last introduction. This time - fight. She meant it so much that she bit into my glove when I separated them and almost hung off it.

So.... rehomed a young pair of sows for this sow, meaning I had a boar-sow pair and a sow trio.

A few months down the line I did try to introduce them all, just to see. The sow who attacked him before was fine with him (tsk) but one of the new sows attacked. Again it was meant.

Just over a week ago the boar's partner died unexpectedly. Introduced the sows again, two of which had attacked him but many months ago and this time it went really really well. All is well one week later. Hardly a peep from them, just really nice, relaxed herd.

I can't tell you that giving it several months would work out. It has worked out for mine, for the two that had attacked prior, but what do you do for him in the meantime?

Is there any way that you can have two cages and therefore two pairs?
 
Thank you very much for your quick replies, unfortunately I don't have enough space inside the house for another cage and my garden is not safe enough for guinea pigs. I think it's the grumpy sow that is the problem, I want to confirm it by taking her out for a while to see how the others interact, I'm not sure what I'm going to do though if that's the case as I cannot keep her on her own. I will post the updates once I finish my experiment.
 
All the very best of luck. It is one of those situations where you wish you could give them a good talking to! I do hope she settles down. Fingers firmly crossed.
 
Shathra Jewell said:
Thank you very much for your quick replies, unfortunately I don't have enough space inside the house for another cage and my garden is not safe enough for guinea pigs. I think it's the grumpy sow that is the problem, I want to confirm it by taking her out for a while to see how the others interact, I'm not sure what I'm going to do though if that's the case as I cannot keep her on her own. I will post the updates once I finish my experiment.
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Please have your grumpy sow vet checked for ovarian cyst problems. if it doesn't work out, could you consider having two cages on top of each other?
 
I take my piggies every three months for general checks anyways, but I will schedule an appointment for her to be checked for ovarian cysts and hormonal imbalance. My cage is C&C 4x3 and has a second level of 1x4 to give them more space, so building a second level is not possible, but I have to find a solution asap as I just checked the boar for injuries and noticed that he has cuts on his face and nose which is bad. I have taken the grumpy girl out and it seems more peaceful without her, but now I know she's the source of the fights, I have no idea what to do.
 
Shathra Jewell said:
I take my piggies every three months for general checks anyways, but I will schedule an appointment for her to be checked for ovarian cysts and hormonal imbalance. My cage is C&C 4x3 and has a second level of 1x4 to give them more space, so building a second level is not possible, but I have to find a solution asap as I just checked the boar for injuries and noticed that he has cuts on his face and nose which is bad. I have taken the grumpy girl out and it seems more peaceful without her, but now I know she's the source of the fights, I have no idea what to do.
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Could you think about splitting your piggies into two pairs and turning your C&C cage into two 2x3 pens with a half a hay loft each? It is still above the recommended minimum for a couple of guinea pigs as a 2x3 grid pen is the equivalent of a 2x4 ft cage and it would be the easiest way to adjust your existing cage and solve your problem.
C&C cage companies will sell single grids and ramps if you contact them; you'd only need 4 extra grids, the corrresponding grids and an extra ramp, so it would be pretty straight forward and is not breaking the bank. C and C Guinea Pig Cages | Guinea Pig Cages

With those scratches, I doubt that the two will go together. :(

I am very sorry that it has all gone pear-shaped for you!

PS: If it is any consolation to you, I have just spend the afternoon splitting one of my groups and introducing the bullied girl with a submissive mate to one of my pairs. You are not the only one with antisocial sows! :(
 
We think she might be scared because she never goes to him to start a fight, things only escalate when he comes near her. Most of the time, she just rumbles and puffs up herself so he doesn't come near her, but I'm not expert. Are there videos of what an ok bonding and dominance fight looks like and what a bad one looks like? Thanks.
 
oh no sorry to hear about the injuries that doesn't sound good. My late Bumble hated being bottom of the hierarchy so loved it when I put her with her own neutered boar but when Buddy passed I thought I could pop her back with the 3 she had lived with for the last couple of years... she was rearing up and yawning at the neutered boar... it was quite scary. I managed it in the end by taking her first friend sow and putting them together in another room, after a day I added the other female... and then several hours later the male and thankfully it did work out. I was fortunate that the fighting was immediately obvious so I didn't leave them together to escalate though
 
Don't get me started on antisocial sows (yes I am looking at you Ruby).

Sorry you are going through this @Shathra Jewell - I had a similar situation a while ago and ended up breaking my group of 4 (3 sows and neutered boar) into two groups of two.
It isn't ideal - they have less space now, as their huge C&C has been split into 2 C&C's, but they still have a companion each and well above the recommended space, so I have accepted that this is how it has to be.

Rest assured you are not alone, and it sounds like you are doing everything possible to come up with the best solution.
 
Thank you all for your advice and encouragement, I have spare C & C grids so thats not an issue. I have separated a part of the cage for tonight before trying a reintroduction tomorrow night, but which one shall I put in it? Him or the grumpy sow? If I end up separating the cage, how would you suggest I pair them, do I just try him with both calmer sows and see which one he bonds with better? Or do I put the younger sow with him so the grumpy sow's partner is the same age as her and therefore won't get bullied?
 
Is there a pig that the grumpy sow gets along with better? I'd suggest keeping those two together if possible and then trying to bond the 3rd sow with the boar, if you end up needing to split them.

I just wanted to echo everyone else and say that I'm sorry they're not getting along, pigs are just like us in that respect, you can't please everybody. Good luck with it!
 
Lorcan said:
Is there a pig that the grumpy sow gets along with better? I'd suggest keeping those two together if possible and then trying to bond the 3rd sow with the boar, if you end up needing to split them.

I just wanted to echo everyone else and say that I'm sorry they're not getting along, pigs are just like us in that respect, you can't please everybody. Good luck with it!
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Thanks Lorcan - If I want to try staged introduction, and the boar is doing well with the first sow, how long should I leave it before trying the next one? Are we talking days or weeks?

He's going to spend tonight having some R & R in the segregated part of the cage, and tomorrow I will make a plan for splitting the cage ready for two separate pairs to start with

Thanks
Shathra
 
I'm sorry for my many messages, I put the boy in the separated part of the cage but he's now biting on the grids to get to them and I don't want his teeth to break, what shall I do?
 
The thing is you need to make a decision about who goes with who, and just do it.
Continually separating them and then reintroducing them is stressful, and prevents them bonding fully and establishing their hierarchy.
Every time you separate them they start from scratch again.

So I am not sure who is with who right now, but try and decide on the two most obvious pairs.
You need to create two neutral bonding areas (the bath tub can be one) and then tomorrow put the pairs into their respective (fully separate) bonding pens.
Follow all the bonding guidelines - no hideys, lots of hay, etc.

While they are bonding fully clean out their cages and set them up as two separate areas. Make sure both are fully cleaned. Once they seem settled, put them back in the clean cages in their newly established pairs.
If it were me I would put up a sheet of cardboard between the cages for the first few days so the pairs can't see each other.
I only suggest this because my sow who caused the group fall out would come to the grids and chatter at our boar, which would make him very nervous.

Good luck with it all.
 
Hello, just a quick update, we have split the cage into 2 sections and the young sow and boar seem to get on well together. Although I have draped a blanket over the divider, the two older sows are trying to get in with the others and are calling for the younger sow. Before I put the blanket over the divider, the grumpy sow was calling the younger one through the bars and they were kissing in a way and touching each other's noses, then the grumpy one started chewing the bars. Now, the younger sow is calling them back and trying to get in with them. I want to do the right thing for them, should I leave it like this for a couple of days then try a reintroduction to put them all together again?
 
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