Introductions Bonded Pair problems after adding third pig

It's just typical behavior when you try to add a third pig to a bonded pair. It doesn't often work. And from what I can by reading the posts of people with boars, two or four seem to be better than three.

Thanks. It's the original two going at it. They aren't bothering the added pig. Is that normal?
I think Apple was the dominant pig and now Jack is starting to step up and show more dominance since the baby was added. Except the dominance is against his brother and not the new baby. Jack is stepping in between. Seems strange. Wish I could read their minds.

Yep. Totally normal.

Did not go well at all. They were still together this morning as it seemed to quiet down. She wanted it to work and since no blood was drawn she kept them together overnight. When she went to clean the cage this morning one of her original pigs (the dominant one) attacked her hand out of nowhere. She is on her way to the ER. Can you say nightmare?

It's always risky adding a third when you have a bonded pair. It's like there are two best friends and another person is added to the picture that neither chose with no possibility of them leaving. He or she probably likes one of the two more than the other. It shakes things up and results in individuals feeling vulnerable or even threatened. Cage size is critical for males and the proper introductions and cage disinfecting needs to be done before putting a new one in there. I'd never introduce a third unless I tested them together first on neutral ground with a diversion, like vegetables, to distract them a bit. If that seemed to be okay, I'd take out all the hideys and have a lot of veggies in there to keep their minds off each other. That's awful about her hand. You never want to stick your hand in a cage with an agitated guinea pig. Did she leave them together in the cage?

She did everything correctly for the intros. She introduced them outside the cage with veggies for at least an hour. There was the normal dominance stuff but nothing awful.
She then placed them in a new cage and the bonded pair started getting crazy after a few hours. It wasn't bad enough to separate. Everything seemed fine this morning (still rumbling and the normal stuff). She was cleaning out the cage while they were eating and he just attacked her hand. She has all 3 separated now. I am going to get the baby today.
Do you think she can re-introduce her two again or will they remember the issue that adding the baby caused?

And the cage was more than enough. It was two of the large Midwest cages put together.

I had this issue with my sows. I have a bonded pair of sows about 2.5 years old and adopted a 4 week old baby from the shelter where I work. I did introductions properly, gave them 5 hours and then put them in their new cage (2x5) and everything went downhill. My dominant older sow was fine with the baby, a few nips during floortime but that was it but my less dominant sow went insane after they were put in the cage. She was intense chasing and squealing and nipping at the baby. Wouldn't let the baby eat, even though there were 3 of everything around she was even more determined to get the baby rather than her own veggies. Then my adult sows started fighting. Tons of teeth chattering and nipping which I never see from them. I ended up separating because the baby got a wound on her shoulder (not terrible but missing hair and small bleeding teeth marks) and my one sow had a huge chunk of fur missing from her face, no blood but it definitely would of escalated to that.

I ended up getting another baby pig from kijiji, introduced them and they love each other and as soon as I put my adults back in their 2×4 with their original hideys they were back to 100% normal like they used to be. This all happened About 6 weeks ago and I made the right decision for sure. It was way more than dominance behaviour and now both pairs are living very happily with one another!

@sallyvh Thank you. She is worried about putting them back together. Hopefully it will go ok like it did for you. Keeping my fingers crossed. Just sad that I have to send the baby to rescue to find a home. I trust them and they are awesome. Just was hoping that it would work the way we planned. That's life I guess.

@MamaP I hope her 2 get along again to! It is super hard when things don't go the way we plan and in my case I was not prepared emotionally at all. It's awesome though that you have a guinea pig rescue who is helping you! I wish you and your friend luck!

MamaP said:

And the cage was more than enough. It was two of the large Midwest cages put together.

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In my opinion this setup is not inducive to introducing guinea pigs. There's just a small connecting door, right?

I agree with foggy. The door maybe too small and could cause issues. Is your friend open to creating a c&c? I always recommend creating a cage where there is very little chance on cornering. My trio cage has a 3 grid fleece forest and 3 tunnels.

I haven't seen it but I believe you are correct with the doors.
Everything seems to be going well. She put them back together yesterday afternoon and as of last night they were good.
And the baby was taken by our rescue and adopted out already. The foster's daughter has a best friend whose piggy died two weeks ago. The little girl fell in love and took him home. So, I guess it's all good