Will rabbits ever get along?

chickenwhisperer

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So I have decided that I want a giant rabbit to add to my rabbit family.

The bunnies I have now are a fawn male who may or may not be flemish or 1/2 flemish, and 3 various females 2 of which are 1/2 sisters AND the males daughters.
One of the females has the run of my secure chicken yard and the others I let out of their hutches thruought the day.
I lock the free-rangin female up because she wants to chase and fight the other females.
Of course she gets along famously with the male, but we all know what that leads to . . .

So therein lies my problem . . .
I dont know if I should get a female giant or a male.
And how do I get to the point where all the females are at least cordial if not friendly and only the male needs to be separated.

I have tried a couple times to put all the females out in the yard at once together, and the freeranger just chases the others and pulls out chunks of hair.
I have never left them in this state for longer than I could catch them, so I honestly dont know if this would stop after a few minutes or what.
The other 2 females are half-sisters and have shared a separated hutch all their lives and have only recently "met" each other face to face, but they were being chased by the 3rd so who knows if these 2 will get along.

I AM going to add a pure-bred giant to my rabbitry, and figured a male would be way more of a problem than multiple females.
But after todays earlier try at female cohabitation, Im not so sure about my plan.

I do not plan to intentionally produce or accidentally breed more rabbits.

My main goals:
- to have peaceful multiple female free-range cohabitation
- to either get the male snipped or make a run for his bachelor pad so he has access to freerange and limited access to the females
- to have a true GIANT rabbit running around in my farmyard.

Im getting the giant no matter what, if it has to be the only rabbit that is full free-range, then Ill make 1 more hutch for the 3rd female.
My backyard farmyard is predator-free and livestock-friendly, the rabbit that lives on the ground out there has showed no signs of wanting to leave, comes to tossed food with the chickens, and will still eat out of my hand and let me pick her up and pet her.
She has many options for shelter, but has a couple favorite spots and at night she is always out grazing on the nice green grass, so I know that a spoiled rabbit will stick around, especially a big hungry flemish giant!

So to sum it all up, my question is- Will these rabbits EVER get along?
:D
 

Bunnylady

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To briefly answer your question - possibly not.

Some people will tell you that rabbits are essentially social, and will be lonely if kept by themselves. They base this on the fact that the wild European rabbit is often found living in groups (other members of the rabbit family are pretty much solitary). Well, someone did a study of the social behavior of the wild rabbits, and found that the warren wasn't a very cozy place. Each burrow in the warren had one owner (the rabbit that dug it); any other rabbit would be promptly attacked if it entered while the owner was home. The tunnels at the center of the warren were all owned by the most dominant rabbits. The most subordinate rabbits lived at the edges of the warren, and spent a great deal of their time and energy just getting out of the way of the dominant animals. For "social" animals, they seemed pretty unsociable! The people doing this study concluded that the geology of the area seemed to be in play - warrens tended to be located in the only places where the soil conditions favored digging tunnels. Where good soil was more widespread, so were the rabbits. It appeared that the rabbits were forced together by conditions, rather than living together by choice.

Which is a rather roundabout way of getting to the basics of rabbit interaction. There are some rabbits that are very dominant and possessive, and can be absolutely brutal to any other rabbit that invades their space. These rabbits need lots of room to themselves, and may never learn to play well with others. If you have enough room that the other rabbits can stay out of an alpha's way, you might be able to keep one in a social setting. There are lots of rabbits that will learn to be nice, and even snuggle together and groom each other. I suspect that because we like friendlier, "pettable" rabbits, humans are changing the rabbit's very nature, and are creating a more sociable animal that not only tolerates but prefers the company of its own kind. Your free-ranging rabbit is acting very much as her wild counterpart would, attacking invaders to her territory. She might let things slide once her position as the rabbit in possession was established, or she might not. I have seen does do horrible things to each other, even full sisters that had previously gotten along. I have also had older does, completely unrelated, that became affectionate cage-mates. Like so many things, it really depends on the individuals involved.
 

ChickenPotPie

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No.

They will not get along the way you are keeping them. Rabbits are TERRITORIAL. :) Especially females. Every time you let those other does out, you're making them invade your free ranger's territory and she will most certainly defend it even if it means killing your other does.

Rabbits have a social order - much like chickens. Even if those 1/2 siblings do not kill each other now, when they're not worrying about being attacked by the free ranger whose territory they just invaded, then they will certainly have more time to think about establishing an order between themselves. That may be a fur flying experience. You never know but being intact, mature females I'd put my money on flying fur.

You're lucky the free-ranger will allow the buck in. In practice, exhibitors/breeders just don't put a male into a females territory. It's just not done. We take the female to the male OR introduce them in neutral territory. The idea being to avoid the doe injuring for killing the buck in an attempt to defend her territory.

If you're bent on having a giant breed romp around your place I suggest you do one of the following...

1) get rid of the rabbits you have now
2) spay and neuter them all and then wait a few months and do a very slow, fully supervised introduction period with them in neutral territory, housing them in side by side separate cages for the first few months (fyi: bucks can reproduce up to 3 months after neuter)
3) keep them all in separate cages and let them out in neutral territory one at a time if you want them to play outside their cages (don't put 2 rabbits in the same play pen at the same time).
 

chickenwhisperer

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Thankyou, both great answers and both exactly what I didnt want to hear.

I guess I figured on this already, but was hoping for the best . . .

Looks like the freeranger is gonna get herself a new hutch, already got the materials just gotta put it together . . .

But, my concern over the gender of the giant rabbit Im getting . . .
Male or female . . .

Im guessing now, Ill get a male so that the females can enter/exit his "territory" with little to no hassles, and just keep the other male separated in his hutch?
 

chickenwhisperer

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So who is more likely to wander and dig out/want to get out of the yard, a male or female?

I always figured females were lees likely to want to wander . . .

I just locked the freeranger in the tractor, and let the male out of his hutch.
He is running around and rubbing his face on everything, and is spending lotsa time going babck and forth between the tractored female and the other female hutch.

Do you think the caged females will be enought to make him want to stick around, and he could be the freeranger?
Should the new giant be a male for the same reason?
Do males get along better than females?
 

Bunnylady

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Intact males are almost always bad news together. Neutered males, not quite so much, but once again, it depends on the individuals.

I've never had rabbits on the ground (a very large and hungry predator population would make quick work of them) but I hear that it's the does that have the reputation for being diggers.

BTW, you do know that rabbits can breed through the cage wire, right?
 

a7736100

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I had both males and females freeranging. Many find their way outside the chainlink back yard but most of them also get return. Some times it may be after a few days. These days I only let 2 or 3 out of cage at a time and only the males. The does get knocked up too easily. The males will fight in the beginning but after a few scars and chewed up noses and ears they establish their territories. A few will fight with everyone so they need to be out alone. I have up to 4 or 5 of each sex in a cage or pen and they get along. If they start fighting I try regrouping. Many times I can at least have 2 in a cage. Those that can't get along usually become dinner.

There are 2 fighters that I rotate out of the sam cage. Often the one out would lie next to the one in the cage but the minute I let both out theres a big fight.
 

chinbunny1

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I realize this post is old- but, free ranging like that is never a good idea. Predators will easily pick off anything that is running loose on your property. As pointed out above, the rabbits will also fight and severely injure each other. Plus if they are kept intact, they will breed and setup a feral colony(if the predators don't get them first). then you could be in some trouble if that happens- I had to deal with a neighbor that decided to let all of theirs loose in town. If the dogs didn't kill them(they got four) the dang things were digging under our houses, and eating our gardens. We(me and the rest of the neighbors) ended up catching all of these animals to avoid a disaster in the area. Didn't feel like dealing with a situation like U of vic. What made things much worse was when the city decided to ban all aspects of rabbit ownership from the city limits, because of them. That was NOT fun convincing them to take them out of the new ordinance. Had to prove they could be successfully penned up as pets. Now we have a nice little anti-breeding law because of it, that basically says if you breed three or more animals, you are running a 'kennel' and the way its worded, they have the right to make you get rid of them.

If you want to free range, please don't allow them to run loose. Build them some nice runs they can safely run around and graze in, or use large dog cages. free ranging is when the animals are placed in a tractor/portable pen every day, where they can eat all they want, while staying safe, and not digging out and bothering anyone.

The majority of the rabbits we caught were bucks. All of them had dug holes under some of the neighbors houses. they actually destroyed part of the porch on one of them.
 

tortoise

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I raise my girls in pairs until their first breeding. I put them in groups - introduce them in a LARGE pen and supervise. I've only had one girl that would always pick a fight. She was culled for that and other reasons.

I had no problem free ranging. You have to get out there and catch every rabbit everyday or they do get feral. I made a "catch box" that I taught them to go when they are afraid. If they freak out when I go out to catch them, they run in the box. I lift off the top and lift the rabbit out.
 

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