Very stressed trying to bond my boar with a sow!

Maddykins

Maddykins

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I have a boar aged about 5 and half, he lived with his brother the same age as him until we had to put his brother to sleep in April, been alone since then. I adopted a sow aged about 16 months this morning, we introduced on my partner's lap this morning with veggies which went well, then kept them side-by-side which also went fine, they showed interest some interest in each other both times. Transferred them to a neutral bonding cage for about an hour and it went ok to start with, some dominance signs but nothing major, but then it started going a bit sour and I eventually intervened once because I was frightened they were going to have a proper fight. Like massively aggressive teeth chattering and rearing up and then following each other around the cage to try and continue the conflict. The rescue told us the sow was very nervous and would benefit from a confident boar like my boy, but if anything she seems to be the one who is initiating the conflicts. Like they will bicker and my boy will back off or whatever but then she will continue to chase him around teeth chattering at him and then he's getting more wound up. He's quite a lot bigger than her but slower as he's older. She did groom his ear at one point which he stayed nice and still for and at the beginning she was sniffing his bottom and following him about fine, I don't know what happened to set them off. I've put him back in his half of his cage now and she's still in the bonding cage.

What am I supposed to do?! Try again? Leave them awhile in the separate cages? I'm finding this all so stressful especially while my 4 month old is crying all the time! I don't want to intervene too quickly between them but I am terrified of them having a proper fight and one or both of them being injured.
 
Maddykins said:
I have a boar aged about 5 and half, he lived with his brother the same age as him until we had to put his brother to sleep in April, been alone since then. I adopted a sow aged about 16 months this morning, we introduced on my partner's lap this morning with veggies which went well, then kept them side-by-side which also went fine, they showed interest some interest in each other both times. Transferred them to a neutral bonding cage for about an hour and it went ok to start with, some dominance signs but nothing major, but then it started going a bit sour and I eventually intervened once because I was frightened they were going to have a proper fight. Like massively aggressive teeth chattering and rearing up and then following each other around the cage to try and continue the conflict. The rescue told us the sow was very nervous and would benefit from a confident boar like my boy, but if anything she seems to be the one who is initiating the conflicts. Like they will bicker and my boy will back off or whatever but then she will continue to chase him around teeth chattering at him and then he's getting more wound up. He's quite a lot bigger than her but slower as he's older. She did groom his ear at one point which he stayed nice and still for and at the beginning she was sniffing his bottom and following him about fine, I don't know what happened to set them off. I've put him back in his half of his cage now and she's still in the bonding cage.

What am I supposed to do?! Try again? Leave them awhile in the separate cages? I'm finding this all so stressful especially while my 4 month old is crying all the time! I don't want to intervene too quickly between them but I am terrified of them having a proper fight and one or both of them being injured.
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It sounds like the bonding has failed over which of them comes top; bonds can fail in the accpetance phase, but in my experience more bonding with older sows fail in the dominance phase of the bonding process.
Personally, I would call it off and look for another more congenial partner. Piggy bonds totally rely on the personalities involved and whether they can gel or not. If two piggies take a dislike to each other or cannot come to an agreement, then you just cannot make them - the same that you can't tell kindergarten kids to be best of friends.
Bonding: Illustrated Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics
 
Oh noooo :( this is really sad and also problematic as we had to get a piggy train to bring this pig from the Midlands to us up in the North West as we don't drive, so returning them to the rescue will probably take ages and be difficult too, I know that shouldn't be my main concern though.

I've put them both side-by-side in that cage set-up and they're both happy in their respective parts of the cage, they keep going to the bars and sniffing each other and being friendly though the bars, and my boar purposefully went to sleep right at the edge to be as near to her as possible. It does seem that it is her who isn't taking to him as much I guess although she is still interacting with him nicely though the cage bars - no teeth chattering or anything like that through the bars. And as I say, she did groom him after about 20/30 mins in the bonding cage...but you think she wants to be top pig basically and he wants to be top pig too? He was top pig with his brother. It's funny because we were told she is really shy and skittish and needs a confident boy but maybe she is like that with people but not with pigs!

I have messaged the lady who runs the rescue for her thoughts too, but you still think we should call it a day? If so, in your opinion is it better for the two of them to have side-by-side living in smaller cages (although still meet min requirements), or shall we return the girl to allow her a chance to bond better with someone else, and that way my elderly boy gets his huge cage back? I think the latter is probably better but I think I wouldn't consider trying to bond with a pig that isn't local if this fails because it's too difficult the practicalities if it doesn't work out. But realistically I had been looking for a local pig since April for him with no success so it looks like he his bound to live the rest of his life alone in that case :(
 
She's now settled down to sleep right in that same area of the cage on her side, as close to him as possible whilst he is sniffing through the bars at her. I don't know whether it's worth trying again as they both seem keen now that they're separated? Or do lots of pigs get on like that through bars and then not when they are actually put together? I feel really confused too because we got her from a very reputable rescue but we were told she was really skittish and she's not as confident as my boy but is very happy sleeping out in the open in her cage not even in a hidey or anything and she's only been here since lunchtime! It seems she is very different here than at her fosterer's house?!
 
Did you let them live in next door cages for a while before introducing them or did you go straight for the face to face intro? After 10 weeks as next door neighbours through quarantine and neutering, when my first 2 girls finally met their boar face to face they were totally bored and it was a very peaceful anticlimax, like, oh yeah its you but on the other side of the bars today... there was much more fuss meeting the new ladies who hadnt been with us very long. Maybe a few weeks side by side, and putting bits of each other's furniture and peed on hay in the other pig's cage, might make it all more normal for them? Just a thought, I'm no expert but a long slow aquaintance as neighbours helped a lot with us :)
 
So she arrived around 11am and we had them side-by-side but she just hid in a corner of the cardboard box she came in and didn't move out of it, I put that in her side of the cage you see and didn't want to force her out of it.

Around 12.15pm my partner had the two of them on his lap with some lettuce for about 20 minutes and that went well. She was very scared at first but after my boar sniffed her and started eating veg she eventually relaxed a bit and ate some veg too and sniffed him back and they rubbed noses/seemed to, like, kiss each other too. Then we put them back side-by-side and then we had to go out.

We came home around 3pm and she was in a hidey and we had visitors and she stayed in the hidey, think she was scared of all the voices. The visitors all left around 4pm and she came out of the hidey and they were interacting through the cage bars. Then about half an hour later we put them in a neutral cage space for about an hour and the first half an hour went well, calm, they were both eating hay, sniffing each other, she groomed his ear etc. But then they started to bicker and it got more and more intense until I took my boy out. I left her in the bonding cage for a further 20 mins or so and then put her back in her side and they've been interacting nicely through the bars. Yes I could try leaving them side-by-side for longer before I try again? But I don't know whether it's better to do that or whether that won't increase the chances of them bonding in which case I'd rather get it over with if it's not going to work out and I have to return her?
 
PigglePuggle said:
Did you let them live in next door cages for a while before introducing them or did you go straight for the face to face intro? After 10 weeks as next door neighbours through quarantine and neutering, when my first 2 girls finally met their boar face to face they were totally bored and it was a very peaceful anticlimax, like, oh yeah its you but on the other side of the bars today... there was much more fuss meeting the new ladies who hadnt been with us very long. Maybe a few weeks side by side, and putting bits of each other's furniture and peed on hay in the other pig's cage, might make it all more normal for them? Just a thought, I'm no expert but a long slow aquaintance as neighbours helped a lot with us :)
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I have just done this after reading your comment. I have swapped my boar and sows log tunnels over. Seems like a good idea. I'm going to try bonding them in 6 weeks
 
The rescue owner advised trying again in the neutral space. I can't do it until this evening though when my partner gets back from work because I'm with my 4mo baby and if she sets off I won't be able to give the pigs my undivided attention which I think is necessary in case it gets ugly. Was thinking we would try them together again with a big plate of veggies.
 
They are in the bonding cage again now and have been for about half an hour. They have had some little bickers but nothing as aggressive as yesterday, although yesterday the first half hour went fine too so...I'm sat here with a towel and oven gloves at the ready! My boy is just keeping himself to himself eating his veg/hay but she has sniffed his bum a few times and also attempted to steal veg from him a couple of times which he got annoyed about and squeaked at her and she chattered her teeth at him and then moved away.

Shall I continue or is she just bothering him? I got her to be a companion of some sort for him and I'd hate to think that he just wants to get on with eating his veg and she's annoying him :( he hasn't tried to go near her at all just busy eating his food, it's always her who gets in his way that starts any conflict.
 
Arghh has gone sour again...I haven't separated them but more quite aggressive bickering. Twice it looked like she actually sort of jumped up as if she was going to attack him and that's what frightened me and I was about to split them but it didn't get that far. I've never seen either of my boys do that before, I'm not talking about rearing up, like literally actually jumping up aggressively. Is that a 'point of no return a fight is imminent' sign even though no fight yet and I need to split now and give up? This is sooo stressful, I'm terrified about one or both of them getting hurt.
 
Well, as Wiebke predicted, bonding failed :( they got into an actual tussle so I broke it up. I don't think anyone got hurt, no screaming and nobody showing signs of pain or anything. I think the sow is like fear-aggressive if that makes sense? So she kept going for my boy even though he was on his best behaviour and mostly just ignoring her. Have spoke to my partner and we don't want to keep them side-by-side so need to contact the rescue and arrange for her to be returned. Feel awful about it :(
 
Oh that is a shame. Sometimes they just don’t get on. Hopefully you can find another friend for him.
 
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