Dilly's Piggies
Teenage Guinea Pig
I currently have 8 sows (a herd of 5 and a trio of 3) that have lived together for almost 3 years without issues and 1 boar (alone) living in the same room, I used to have 2 boars that lived side by side in a different room but sadly a male died last month, so the remaining male has moved into the piggy room with the sows as he did get quite depressed being alone. The boar is doing great, he hasn't showed any distress with being in the same room as the females, he's very happy to have company and be in the same room as other piggies.
However I've noticed some strong dominance behaviour between my sows, particularly the herd of 5, suddenly the lowest herd member Delilah became very hormonal and began to bully the second in command ranked sow Aspen one week ago. One altercation ended up in Aspen becoming injured, she moved away too quickly and sprained one of her front legs quite badly. Delilah has been persistently harassing Aspen for the past week, this is really affecting Aspen and is not allowing her leg to heal. Aspen is on metacam which helps a bit but she is still very painful on the leg and laying down most of the time unwilling to move.
There has been no real aggression or fighting between the sows, it's just Delilah being very dominant and persistent with chasing/mounting and it's really bothering Aspen. Delilah has never shown this kind of behaviour before, it's extremely out of character, being the lowest ranked sow she's normally very submissive, I've checked her over for signs of ovarian cysts as I've seen this behaviour twice before and both sows had ovarian cysts, however Delilah isn't showing any physical signs of it yet, I may take her to the vet for scans to be sure nothing is wrong. The vet has checked Aspens leg and has diagnosed a severe sprain, she has metacam for a week and will have more check ups.
My question is, can the presence of a male cause these behavioural issues between sows? I know it can do that for males, but I haven't heard of that happening with females. I may have to move the male back into the other room and see if things calm down. The girls have lived together for almost 3 years with no problems, so this is very sudden and strange. Of course they can have little dominance disputes when in season normally but it's always mild, not like how Delilah is acting at the moment, she's relentless. I also want to know if I should separate Aspen from the herd whilst her leg heals, I haven't done it yet because I'm worried it'll cause more problems when she's put back. Thanks!
However I've noticed some strong dominance behaviour between my sows, particularly the herd of 5, suddenly the lowest herd member Delilah became very hormonal and began to bully the second in command ranked sow Aspen one week ago. One altercation ended up in Aspen becoming injured, she moved away too quickly and sprained one of her front legs quite badly. Delilah has been persistently harassing Aspen for the past week, this is really affecting Aspen and is not allowing her leg to heal. Aspen is on metacam which helps a bit but she is still very painful on the leg and laying down most of the time unwilling to move.
There has been no real aggression or fighting between the sows, it's just Delilah being very dominant and persistent with chasing/mounting and it's really bothering Aspen. Delilah has never shown this kind of behaviour before, it's extremely out of character, being the lowest ranked sow she's normally very submissive, I've checked her over for signs of ovarian cysts as I've seen this behaviour twice before and both sows had ovarian cysts, however Delilah isn't showing any physical signs of it yet, I may take her to the vet for scans to be sure nothing is wrong. The vet has checked Aspens leg and has diagnosed a severe sprain, she has metacam for a week and will have more check ups.
My question is, can the presence of a male cause these behavioural issues between sows? I know it can do that for males, but I haven't heard of that happening with females. I may have to move the male back into the other room and see if things calm down. The girls have lived together for almost 3 years with no problems, so this is very sudden and strange. Of course they can have little dominance disputes when in season normally but it's always mild, not like how Delilah is acting at the moment, she's relentless. I also want to know if I should separate Aspen from the herd whilst her leg heals, I haven't done it yet because I'm worried it'll cause more problems when she's put back. Thanks!
