How do I best separate my 3 males from my female?

[rainey]

I've been searching through the forum but haven't found the answer I'm looking for. In order to prevent my males from fighting, in the cage and during playtime, where should I put my female chin? I live in a small apartment and have two rooms as options for placing the cages. As of today I will have a third male who I will be quarantining this next month (and who I hope to introduce to one of my other males, who cannot live together). Assuming introductions work, should I put all the males in one room (two cages) and keep my female separate?
Or can I put the lone male in the same room as her, as long as he doesn't associate with the other males? I'm worried this would stress them out if they can smell each other but are not able to be in direct contact; my male chin that will continue to live alone is constantly calling for her and I'm worried it could affect his health. If this is a stupid assumption please let me know, he just cries out most the day and sounds like he's in distress.
Perhaps I'm just not cleaning thoroughly.. My problem is that I don't have must space for playtime so I'll let each chin out at a time in the room I use, and clean afterward to save time. Maybe I should be letting the female out last to prevent them from smelling her? Sorry to have so many questions on here.

 

[rainey]

Oh also I realize for quarantining I will need THREE rooms, and I'm able to do this for this next month (my roommate can keep him in his room) but my question is more about what I can do in the long term. Thanks!

 

[tunes]

He's calling for her because he wants to mate with her. He'll probably continue to do that no matter where you put her, especially if she is in heat. Whether you keep them in the same room or down the hall, they are all going to be aware of each other, the same with run time. What you need to be careful of, if they are in the same room, is the males getting access to the females cage during run time. They can and will breed through the bars, so make sure your female's cage is up high enough on something they can't get a landing spot on.

I have all of my chins in the same room, male/female, male/male, and female/female, as well as singles of males and females. None of them pay any attention to the other chins in the barn unless one should escape and want to go visiting at the cage fronts. Some folks have said that they have male chins turn on each other because a female is in the room, but I find that very hard to believe. I think they would have turned on each other whether they ever added a female to the mix or not. If that was the sole reason for them turning, my barn would be in an uproar every day.

I'm not saying it can't happen, but the only way to know would be to put them in the same room and see. What you can never do is let any of them get together with the female. Two males with a female would be a fight to the death, and I would also house the female on the opposite side of the room for peace of mind.

 

[Riven]

It's possible that the male who is alone is not calling for the female, but just other chins as well because he knows they are there.

It all depends on the chins.

I'm going to disagree a bit with Peggy though to an extent. Put three guys on an island alone for a couple years then toss a woman into the mix... they won't get along as well as they did before the woman, lol. With that said I truly believe it all depends on the animals, I too have males paired sometimes in the barn with no issues, even older males out of breeding.

 

[rainey]

Thanks for the input. I suppose I have a month to decide where I'll put her, so I'll do my best. I don't think the crying out will ever stop no matter where my female is because he knows where her cage is and if I let him have playtime, he always heads straight for the door that leads to her cage. He's either really smart or has quite the keen nose!

 

[Chintastic!]

I have to say that I believe males can turn on eachother when a female is present. I had two males who were together for over a year, Then I got a female and the older male turned on the younger. This only happend after her quarintine and she was put in the same room. Whether or not that is the only reason it happend I do not know. I only know it happend that night after she was moved from the quarintine room.