Little of four boars- splitting up?

ilpigs

Post   » Mon Mar 18, 2019 10:15 pm


I adopted two young sows to keep company my older sow whose buddy died. Naturally, one ended up pregnant and had a little of four boars. I’ve just separated them but am trying to decide what to do with them. My older female is spayed and the two new sows are not- and one of the new sows hates my older pig so housing them as a trio is not an option.

I’m not sure if I would end up keeping all four boars but- can four boars even stay together from a litter? I expect I would likely need to pair them off. Any tips in how to choose which ones will get along best? Will multiple boars in the same place as sows be a problem? Can multiple boars be housed with a spayed female? I’ve had a couple pairs of boars in the past that were brothers and always got along much better than my sows ever have.

Anyone with any experience with this? I am just not sure what to do. They need to get a little bigger before I decide, but I want to be prepared for my options. The spayed female is currently getting along great with all four but I expect that will change shortly.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Mar 18, 2019 11:19 pm


Multiple boars can't be housed together with females, whether one or many.

Four boars that start off together in a litter MIGHT make it as they grow up, but you'd need a huge cage and a lot of patience while they're going through puberty. It probably won't matter which way you pair them if you decide to split them up.

JX4

Post   » Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:50 am


I think if they are together since birth they may well all get along -- but not with any females present. bpatters is right about puberty -- they will bicker and spat and spar during puberty, but if they don't draw blood and you have enough space they should all be friends again on the other side of puberty (if you don't separate them). Puberty generally lasts from about 6 months of age to about 12 or even 18 months of age.

But even two boars with any sow around, even a spayed one, will not get along at all.

Four boars would need a LOT of space, more than what the minimum space for four adult females would be.

ilpigs

Post   » Tue Mar 19, 2019 10:35 am


Is having females present but in a different cage going to cause them problems?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Mar 19, 2019 10:53 am


Maybe, maybe not. Some boars seem oblivious to females in the same room, others don't. Could you put the females in another room while the boars go through adolscence?

I'd want a 16-20 square foot cage for 4 boars.

ilpigs

Post   » Tue Mar 19, 2019 12:31 pm


Not another room, but I could move them to a different section of the same room and see how it goes.

Luckily they are still only 3.5 weeks so I have time to figure things out.

Harmony

Post   » Tue Mar 19, 2019 6:44 pm


Just to give a slight bit of hope, I have boars and sows in pairs all in the same room and have never had any problems between any of them, so it isn't impossible. They even have t o swop cages and cope with that too.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2019 7:04 pm


Boars will fight over females, food and territory. If there are no females and plenty of space and food, you shouldn't have a problem. You just have to monitor them closely. My two boars are one year old and and a year and a half old and they don't get along even in wide open spaces with no females and enough food for a dozen piggies. We had a single female when I was a kid. She was alone for 3 years when our grandmother had to get rid of her female. They went together right away with no problems.

Some Guinea Pigs, like some people just aren't meant to be together. If they're getting along now, it's a good sign that they'll be good as a group. I gave up trying to get my boys to share an enclosure, but I might try again after they both get beyond adolescence. Should be when both are 2 years old. One is a bit bigger than the other, so I will have to use caution and monitor them very closely.

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lisam

Post   » Fri Mar 22, 2019 5:44 pm


I've invariably had to separate young males at some point. My largest cage is a 2x5, and I've put up to four baby boys in it. All goes swimmingly at first, but during adolescence they start taking sides against each other and I end up pairing them after I watch for awhile to see who really hates whom. I do have females in the same room.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Fri Mar 22, 2019 7:06 pm


I think a lot depends on the individual personalities of the piggies. I've seen pens that have half a dozen same sex piggies, and I've seen piggies like mine who refuse to live together.

ilpigs

Post   » Sun Mar 31, 2019 9:17 pm


Thanks everyone. I’ll just wait until they start fighting to separate them. Two of them seem really bonded now- they are always snuggled up next to each other- so I will probably keep those two together.

Good news is, in the meantime, my older sow (famously rather antisocial) absolutely LOVES them being with her (for now, when they start bugging her that will quickly change) and is snuggling up to all of them. They have starting napping in a big fluffy pile. It’s so adorable!

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sun Mar 31, 2019 9:40 pm


Your post saying that the pups were 3.5 weeks old was made on 3/19, nearly two weeks ago. Males can impregnate a female when they're about 4 weeks old, so if that sow isn't spayed, you need to separate them NOW and put her on pregnancy watch.

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