help with bonding 6 rabbits

ji

Think I would just have male/female pairs. I WOULD LOVE a group of 4 or 6 but could not stand to see any of them get hurt in the process.

My experience is that the larger the group the less stressful the bonding. No-bun can feel territorial of a space they're sharing with lots of others...

anymore advice

hb

I have a bonded group of 5 (3 girls/2 boys) who get on really well.

I started off with a single girl and wanted a husbun for her. Whilst waiting for them both to be reach an age they could be neutered, 2 dutch sisters that had originally been adopted from Fat Fluffs were returned to them (for curious reasons) and we fell in love with them and adopted those too

On New Years Day this year, Vicki and Abi from Fatfluffs bonded this group of 4 for me. Then in June we adopted another boy to try and even up the group a little (and I had always wanted a lop bunny too :roll and Vicki succesfully added my beautiful Archie to the group. He is now the boss and keeps all the others in line :lol:

All 5 live happily in a large shed and attached run. I would love to add a 6th but as the group is happy and settled I think I will leave it at that....for now Good luck

hmmmm....

Any pairs you have I would leave well alone....why rock the boat?

With regards group bunnies..... as a rule the more you have together the more squabbles, infighting and territorial disputes you are likely to get.This equates to hassle and in our experience in the long term , vets bills.

However there are so many variables such as temperament , size and type of buns, run area , hutch or accommodation area, proximity to other rabbits, dogs , cats ....you name it that trying to give an answer that will have any relavance to you is nigh on impossible so be carefull which advice you take. If you do go ahead though the more permanent space you give them with multiple hutches or accommodation so they can choose where to go and with whom then the greater the chance of success

Its a bit like renting a property as a whole or by the room. Rent it by the room and the chances are the infighting and squabbles between tenants will far outweigh the extra income you as a landlord will get in the long term.

Best of luck.

alan.

I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to bond 5 males! Two might work why not bond the four remaining buns into a two pairs and see how that works first. At least if it doesn't you haven't jeprodised the bond of your existing pair.

i bonded 5 females and it first all was ok but then once they all went into their new accommodation a fight broke out and one got injured so had to remove her. the remaining 4 were fine so it may be down to personalities and temperament. the one that got injured is a right little madam so it was no surprise she got into a squabble. she's now happily bonded with a male!

but anyway good luck with your 6!

I bonded a group of 4, and the biggest problem I have is its become a three, and one is left out. This is the biggest problem personally. that when one bun dies the dynamics change and that leads to squabbles.

You know your buns best.

Personally with 5 males I would be tempted to keep them as they are, or add your female to one of the more submissive pairs. I think 5 males would be an absolute nightmare to bond.

I am bonding 6 in the morning, but they are all male / female pairs, so I am hoping for a smoother bonding than 5 boys.

Good luck what ever you decide

Personally I would try for 2 trios.

I have had a trio of unrelated boys and have a trio of 2 boys and a girl.

The bigger the group the harder to spot illness and bullying. Also its harder to seperate one when ill and then reintroduce.

If you feel brave try them together and see what first impressions you get. You never know until you give it a go.

Good luck whatever you decide.

gr

bump

It really depends on what you mean by having a go at them. As long as it was not vicious then keep trying.

Nips and jumps are normal.

I have always bonded slowly over a period of time. Trying them together as often and for as long as possible usually work in the end! The loving through the run is a good sogn.

Don't give up yet!

Good luck with the bonding Icey ... I had no idea rabbits needed bonding and could be such a tricky process. I started with rabbits about 5 months ago .. they were all babies! One min ginger lop .. one min grey/brown min lionhead lop and one min black velvet rex. They lived happily together for a few weeks until the lionhead started humping the ginger one. This led to fighting .. the litte black Rex got annoyed when the lionhead did this to the ginger one and would go for it in a nasty way. One evening we discoved the Rex had actually bitten a fair size piece out of the lionhead's ear (about the size of half my thumb). I was SO upset about this. So I separated the Rex from those two and got them spayed. Left the Rex unspayed for an extra month to get a bit bigger. In the meantime I got another little cream and beige (I'm sure there's proper names for their colours lol). Thought we had got the two Rex's bonded only to discover about 2 weeks later that the black Rex had bitten a fair chunk out of the baby's bottom. The baby is 2 months younger but quite head strong and possibly asked for it. But needless to say I was too anxious after this to leave them together. So out the baby came and into her own hutch and now I have 4 Rabbits and three hutches which was never my intention. I'm still hoping that after the baby has been spayed we will be able to get the two Rex's bonded. The black Rex is exceptionally tame as she is handled a lot. We are taming the baby but she is a handful. The minute the black Rex senses we have brought the baby into the lounge where she is on my daughter's lap, she (the black Rex) starts to misbehave a bit. And the baby will watch for her chance to leap over to my daughter's lap and have a go at the black one ... unbelievable lol. I guess time will tell if they are ever to live together in harmony