[Gpdd] [BREEDING] How many sows can a boar impregnate?

[DebJonSara at aol.com]

I feel totally ashamed of myself posting under "Breeding" when I know for a 
fact that somewhere in the archives is a posting from me giving all the reasons 
why one should most certainly NOT breed ones guinea pigs. I still hold that 
point of view very strongly, but .... on the afternoon of 24th April, my 
daughter's male piggie, Claude, managed to escape from his run in the garden into a 
run containing 6 of my females. This happened some time between midday and the 
pigs being brought indoors in the evening - so he could have been in with 
them for a period of up to 6 hours.

Now 8 weeks have passed, one of the females, Cannelle, who was pregnant when 
I rescued her in January 2003, is showing clear signs of being pregnant again, 
but none of the others is. My big worry is that 4 of the other females were 
virgins aged about 15 months, and if they have become pregnant, they run an 
extremely high risk of death through childbirth. So I was wondering, does anyone 
have any experience of one virgin male (aged about 16 months) being in with 
sows for a short period, and if so, how many pregnancies resulted?

The other sow who had also been pregnant when rescued, Muscade, has always 
been "top pig", and I'm pretty sure that she would have challenged Claude and 
given him a bit of a chasing just to establish the fact that he was on her 
territory, and I'm hoping this might have impeded any romantic inclinations he may 
have had. I'm also hoping that maybe not all the sows were going through a 
fertile period at the time. And is a young boar virile enough to impregnate 6 
sows in one afternoon?

This is a huge worry for me, not only because I risk losing 4 of my precious 
babies, but also because one of those babies is Soulage, about whose abscess I 
posted last week. She has been prescribed oral antibiotics, and I have 
decided to give them to her, but it is an additional worry if she may be pregnant. 

Finally, does anyone know of any homeopathic treatments I could safely 
administer over the coming fortnight to the 6 virgin females which could decrease 
the dangers of birth in the worse case scenario?

Condolences to all whose piggies have recently crossed The Bridge - I feel 
terribly guilty that I never find the time to write, but please know your 
postings always bring tears to my eyes and an ache for you in my heart

Debbie