Frustration can result when expectations about the environment cannot be fulfilled. This causes the animal to become motivated to engage in problem solving behaviour in order to achieve its goals. If the goals are not attained, general frustration responses are likely to result. The objective of this study was to induce frustration over a six-week period. By removing the feeders, single and pair-housed pigs were fasted for 1, 2 or 3 hours every morning. On training days (Monday and Tuesday), full feeders were returned. On test days (Wednesday and Thursday), non-functional were returned. Two types of non-functional feeders were used: non-lidded (empty feeders) and lidded (full feeders with lids bolted down to prevent access to feed). For two hours following the return of the feeders, the behaviour on the test and training days was compared. Frustration caused an increase in general activity for both single and pair-housed pigs. Single-housed pigs increased oral manipulation of the lidded feeders during the first hour, but this decreased during the second hour of observations. This difference was not observed for non-lidded feeders, which indicates an increase in activities related to problem-solving behaviour. Frustration also caused an increase in general oral activity (including increased oral manipulation of other pigs and objects). Based on serum cortisol concentration, lidded feeders caused more stress than non-lidded feeders during the final week of the study. Although general activity levels decreased over the six-week study and returned to normal, frustration was still evident by the higher levels of oral activity, which were maintained throughout the study.