Question about adding to our Guinea pig herd.

[Mirage]

We have 2 sows who have always been together and must be 3-4 years old now.We have been given another hutch and I'm tempted to get a couple of rescue pigs.They will have a 5ft hutch to themselves,but would they be able to go in the outside run with our existing pigs if introduced properly? Would sows be better or would neutered boars be ok? Thanks very much.

It's impossible to say how things pan out because it really depends on their Piginality.

Years ago I had two adult sows (Mum and her only female piglet) . The older one hated my new sow and bullie her.
But by chance/ good fortune, the new gorl was pg when we got her and had her own piglet sow.
But they could never mix until the old girl died and her piglet thought
"OK, I'll join them"

If you got 2 neutered boars, you could have two boar/sow pairs. (Two boars might get arsey with ladeez present)

Or why not find an older neutered boy and maybe another female . Then you could have a Hareem for him.

You could get a couple of rescue girls in an established pair - but they may or may not integrate successfully - it can take some time and may stress your established pair out if you try. You could side by side them, but it will mean two runs possibly to begin with or distinct time for each pair. Its not a great time of year to be trying them outside together, maybe settle them in their own hutch and think about integrating when the weather warms up? It depends how much space you have ( and patience!) - as 70 says, it really does depend on the 'piginality' of the girls in question. It is lovely that you want to give some new guineas a chance - hope it goes well.

Thank you both.I announced to DH when he got home that I wanted a few more and he just rolled his eyes.This morning he suggested converting the new hutch so that it has a run underneath it.

I'm waiting for a friend to text me with the details of the nearest GP rescue and we'll see how we go.