[Gpdd] [CARE] Boar pairs next to sows

[DebJonSara at aol.com]

Penny, you are not the first person I've heard of who has pairs of boars  
living right next to sows and claims there is no fighting - yet all I have read  
indicates that 2 males will be fine living together so long as they can't 
smell  females, but that they will fight if they so much as get a whiff of female  
pheromones! So I've always gone out of my way to keep the 3 boys well away 
from  the girls, and to be honest, I feel in the winter they get the raw deal, 
in that  they are in a quite smelly room (cat litter trays) with little sun, 
whilst the  girls get the run of the light and airy porch. But I would hate my 
boys to start  fighting. 
 
Since Cannelletto went to The Bridge, poor old Zebra, his cagemate, has  been 
alone in his cage, though right next door to Fidget and Scrabble - they can  
touch noses through the bars (and do, from time to time!). I wouldn't want  to 
separate their cages because, if Fidget or Scrabble went to The Bridge, at  
least Zebra would be next door for company. 
 
Actually, now I come to think of it, because of the posh new hutch I was  
given for my 50th birthday, there wouldn't be room for the boys' cages in the  
porch anyway, but I bet they'd love to be free range in there with the girls'  
cages round about when their cages were being cleaned out - at present I just  
put them in another cage in their own room. But I've always been terrified 
that  Fidget and Scrabble, not brothers but together since piglethood, would 
start to  fight once they got a whiff of a ladypig. 
 
Hmm .... I might be able to fit their cages in the porch if I put other  
cages on top of them, or they went on top of the hutch ..... ! But how can I be  
sure they won't fight? If they did fight, would that be it - they'd have to be  
permanently separated?? Or if they did fight, would they be likely to settle  
down and become pals again once removed from those female perfumes?
 
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has boar pairs amongst female  
cages. I know Cavies Castle have their genders all mixed up in the same rooms  
without problems! Is it just a myth that boars will fight if they smell  sows?
 
All advice gratefully received!
 
Debbie and the Dolly Mixtures