Tinsel
Wise Old Thumper
Several people have asked for more info on big groups on my Pascale/Falcon thread, so here goes! It would be great to hear from others with big groups too. :wave:
My rabbits free range during the day and almost all go into the shed or in hutches at night. During the day the free ranging tends to involve them in separating into two mini colonies, each with 6/8 buns. The colonies have been chosen by the buns rather than me, and tend to be based on type. Most of my uppy-eared buns (and 1 bossy mini lop) have claimed what I believe to be the "best" half of the garden ie the half nearest the house (the kitchen door opens regularly so there's chance to sneak in for extra noms or to look appealing on the doormat until some appear). Furthest away from the house is the lop group (two exceptions, both quite gentle).
When new buns are introduced they usually get chased (not attacked) mostly by one group and eventually find haven with the other. Once that happens the chasing stops. It only happens after that if they stray into the "wrong" half of the garden, and then it stops once they've left that half.
In order to join a group a bun has to behave in a certain way, ie to be very submissive and to loiter on the edges, hiding in any available cover. Falcon got this wrong the first time he went out and got chased much more than is usual, which concerned me (we know he's not been socialised normally as he's a neglect case). However, today he took his cue from Pascale and they sat near each other hiding next to the fence. By the end of the afternoon they were sitting very near each other eating and Elf (who had chased earlier on) was sitting quite near them eating too. This is the usual pattern at the start of the acceptance phase. They should gradually become slightly bolder as time goes on and will evoke less and less reaction until they are fully accepted.
Falcon is now back indoors but once I put some of the rabbits away for the night I will let Pascale have an extra hour to enjoy the garden in relative freedom and I'll also let him out before the others tomorrow morning. This seems to help the integration as the normal barriers disappear when there are only a few rabbits out. The three out-all-nighters are from different ends of the garden but group together in either space and even share feeding bowls/sit together once everyone else has gone away for the night; they revert to their normal chasing of each other if they set foot in the "wrong" territitory once the rest rejoin them, though.
There's also a protectiveness about the groups; when one rabbit got scared (I wasn't there at the time) and was just lying down still, her group stood round her in a circle stamping their feet until she recovered and hopped away normally a few minutes later.
On summer evenings they spread themselves out over the whole garden but all graze facing the same way, which is really odd but it happens a lot.
Although I can't observe them for health issues as closely as if they were in a smaller area, it is normally easy to spot a sick bun simply because they stand out. When they mimic each other's behaviour so closely - all grazing/sleeping/eating hay at the same time, anything different is really obvious. This has meant I've often spotted things wrong before there are clinical signs.
I also think they normalise behaviours within the colony. They're not afraid of the dogs, and new rabbits copy that. They run after me for food in the evenings to let themselves be put to bed, and newcomers copy that too, even from day 1 or 2. Groups will also support each other against an intruder, joining in chasing them out of their patch and stopping the chase as soon as the offending rabbit has left the area.
It's fascinating watching them and I'm very lucky to have the space to make it possible. It does mean, though, that I would always need someone to visit/house-sit if I went away, as they're so used to their environment they'd hate to leave it.
Hope that's of interest to anyone who is group-curious! :wave:
My rabbits free range during the day and almost all go into the shed or in hutches at night. During the day the free ranging tends to involve them in separating into two mini colonies, each with 6/8 buns. The colonies have been chosen by the buns rather than me, and tend to be based on type. Most of my uppy-eared buns (and 1 bossy mini lop) have claimed what I believe to be the "best" half of the garden ie the half nearest the house (the kitchen door opens regularly so there's chance to sneak in for extra noms or to look appealing on the doormat until some appear). Furthest away from the house is the lop group (two exceptions, both quite gentle).
When new buns are introduced they usually get chased (not attacked) mostly by one group and eventually find haven with the other. Once that happens the chasing stops. It only happens after that if they stray into the "wrong" half of the garden, and then it stops once they've left that half.
In order to join a group a bun has to behave in a certain way, ie to be very submissive and to loiter on the edges, hiding in any available cover. Falcon got this wrong the first time he went out and got chased much more than is usual, which concerned me (we know he's not been socialised normally as he's a neglect case). However, today he took his cue from Pascale and they sat near each other hiding next to the fence. By the end of the afternoon they were sitting very near each other eating and Elf (who had chased earlier on) was sitting quite near them eating too. This is the usual pattern at the start of the acceptance phase. They should gradually become slightly bolder as time goes on and will evoke less and less reaction until they are fully accepted.
Falcon is now back indoors but once I put some of the rabbits away for the night I will let Pascale have an extra hour to enjoy the garden in relative freedom and I'll also let him out before the others tomorrow morning. This seems to help the integration as the normal barriers disappear when there are only a few rabbits out. The three out-all-nighters are from different ends of the garden but group together in either space and even share feeding bowls/sit together once everyone else has gone away for the night; they revert to their normal chasing of each other if they set foot in the "wrong" territitory once the rest rejoin them, though.
There's also a protectiveness about the groups; when one rabbit got scared (I wasn't there at the time) and was just lying down still, her group stood round her in a circle stamping their feet until she recovered and hopped away normally a few minutes later.
On summer evenings they spread themselves out over the whole garden but all graze facing the same way, which is really odd but it happens a lot.
Although I can't observe them for health issues as closely as if they were in a smaller area, it is normally easy to spot a sick bun simply because they stand out. When they mimic each other's behaviour so closely - all grazing/sleeping/eating hay at the same time, anything different is really obvious. This has meant I've often spotted things wrong before there are clinical signs.
I also think they normalise behaviours within the colony. They're not afraid of the dogs, and new rabbits copy that. They run after me for food in the evenings to let themselves be put to bed, and newcomers copy that too, even from day 1 or 2. Groups will also support each other against an intruder, joining in chasing them out of their patch and stopping the chase as soon as the offending rabbit has left the area.
It's fascinating watching them and I'm very lucky to have the space to make it possible. It does mean, though, that I would always need someone to visit/house-sit if I went away, as they're so used to their environment they'd hate to leave it.
Hope that's of interest to anyone who is group-curious! :wave: