Your pairings/groups of piggies?

[Sodapops]

Hi all,

i recently introduced two boars (Homer who is about 6 months old and JJ who is 8wks old) and also built them a 4.5x3 lower and 3x2 upper C&C cage.

I'm certainly open to the idea of offering a home to a couple more rescue piggies - however, having two bonded boars means sows are definitely out of the question - and ive read that trio's with boars rarely work. So I'm intrigued to know how everyone else has multiple groups of piggies. Are the boars solely in pairs? Are they able to interact through cage bars/grids?

My original C&C design was going to be a 6x3 with two 3x2 upper levels - but due to space (and the fact i'd have needed to throw my dining table out) i had to redesign.

I'm not sure exactly how i could extend my current C&C to allow adequate space for 2 more piggies (would have to go up as opposed to outwards) - any idea's on how you did it would be great.

Ive read people having 4,5 and 6 boys - so am wondering how the pairing goes? or do you just have them altogether? Sorry if i sound like a complete noob - i so want to be able to home more piggies, but want to get everything right before doing so.

Thanks in advance for any replies

 

[katiepops]

Hi
We had two boys, Spike and Gizmo from babies and they got on ok. When they were about 1 we adopted Stripes who was 2 1/2 with the hope that they could live together but prepared for them to be neighbours if not. Introductions didn't go well with Gizmo (the boss) and Stripes not getting on and flying at each other so they were seperated straight away and went back to being neighbours. They could see each other through the fence and that was ok. When Gizmo died at the beginning of this year we decided to try again with the introductions and happily I can say Spike and Stripes are living together and get on well.
I've not heard of anyone with groups of boys but would love to know if people have made it work. We're fortunate that we've got plenty of room for more in the current set up but as neither of them are neutered girls are out of the question and I wouldn't want to reduce the area to have another seperate area as boys do need their space!

Laura had a thread with photos of her new set up recently with three levels of C&G cages - have a look in the housing threads for pictures, might give you some ideas.
Best of luck with it all.

 

[Logiebear]

Are you talking about having more than 2 boars in together because I wouldn't do that. For 2 main reasons. The chances of them fighting is too great and you don't want to do anything to break the bond of the 2 you already have. If you wanted more you could easily split the cage in to 2 different cages, 1 up and 1 down stairs. They are both big enough to be individual cages in my opinion as c&c panels are about 14 inches wide so they are big.

Hope that helps x

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

I've got a group of three boys, but they are all very calm and laid back and it works perfectly. They even cuddle up together to sleep! However, I think this is the exception rather than the rule. When I introduced Berby to Pixie and Dixie, he had lived as part of a three before very successfully, so maybe that helped.

 

[Niki]

Many years ago i had 4 boars living together quite how i've no idea because i've never had it since, infact almost every boar pairing has fallen out.

At the moment i have a pair of boars, 2 single boars, a neutered boar/sow pairing & a neutered boar living with 5 sows

 

[mojules]

We have two boys who have the odd disagreement theyre like an old married couple at time mallethead but on the whole they get on realli well although they appear to be scared off their new cosies which arrived on saturday they wont go into them yet

 

[Sodapops]

Hi guys, thanks for all the replies.

I guess what i'm getting at is - exactly how do people house their pairings/groups?

As ive currently got a bonded pair of boars, i'm guessing that sows would be out of the question as the very smell of them could potentially start a fight between my two boys. So how do people with bonded boars go on to house multiple sows with a neutered boar? Doesn't the smell of the females get transferred to the paired boys during lap/floor time?

My current C&C is a 4.5 x 3 grid lower and 2 x 3 L shaped grid upper - obviously i don't want to take any space away from my current boys - but i'd very much like to extend the cage to accommodate another bonded pair of boars. Not being very DIY minded - i'm unsure of how i would achieve this? Space is an issue so i would have to go upwards to extend as opposed to across - any idea's on how i could achieve this would be greatly appreciated - especially because i would still need access to the bottom level for cleaning.

 

[zombieprincess]

I agree i would leave Homer and JJ as they are, i would also just build another c&c of the same dimentions ontop. If you have a look in the housing section then you can get ideas on how to make doors on a multi level c&c.

I had a trio when i was little but they were introduced as a 3 year old a 8 week old and a 3 week old all at the same time, the two youngsters were always of a very subissive nature and the older boy was just that laid back. But from all experience i've had from then on, i'd never go more than two boars together. Pirate and Pickwick are like an old married couple half the time and often have a niggle at one another, and even lived apart for a year but were sucessfully reintroduced. When Heath was alive he and Heston had the odd grumble aswell. Interestingly though the pairs of males ive had that haven't got along so well are both brother pairs - which leads me to believe this " they'll only get along if they've been together since they were babies" malarky isnt all that accurate.