Dominance Sows Exhibiting Dominance Behaviors

[monicaphoebe]

I adopted Monica and Phoebe about a month ago and they are now 3 months old. Both Monica and Phoebe are sisters but recently, Phoebe has been rumblestrutting nonstop. She has been doing it all night yesterday and all day today (only taking a break to sleep.) I currently have them in a Midwest cage, have two hammocks and two piggie beds. What should I do?

I don't want it to escalate and I know Monica also seems like the dominant type as well. What should I do? Is there anything else I should watch out for and anything I can do to lessen this dominance behavior?

 

[bpatters]

Have you turned them over and compared their private parts to be sure they're both female? All pigs rumblestrut, but generally males are more insistent about it, or sows with ovarian cysts. But your two are very young to even consider the possibility of cysts.

If they're both female, just let them be unless one is harassing the other to the point that she can't eat and is losing weight. If that's the case, you may need to separate them.

 

[Windrunner]

I have 4 sows and I've noticed that with my 2 most dominant ones, it seems to happen on some sort of cycle... ish... when the rumblestrutting increases. It's never escalated to the point of harassment/fighting, but I wonder if (and honestly, suspect that) it's related to hormonal changes over time. Kinda similar to PMS. I don't have a lot of experience though, so that's just something I've noticed in my own girls.

 

[bpatters]

Sows come into heat every 14-16 days for a day or so, so if the rumbling is happening on that frequency, heat is probably the cause.