Currently, I have a trio - Athena, Rivergrace, and Erasmus. They have a 4x4ft run with a 4ftx2ft hutch atop, attached to a 6ftx8ft run, with a 6ftx2ft hutch atop. Without the pipe, it's 84sqft approx. Their 4ftx4ft run was previously 4ftx10ft, but several panels failed so we had to shrink it. Within a month, I'm hoping to add another 4ftx4ft hutch to their set up, maybe losing the 6x2ft hutch as the roof has failed.
Athena, River, and Mus are 2 girls and a boykin. Athena I've had the longest. None are related. Athena and River were the females in a short-lived 2 male/2 female group. Unfortunately Takumi passed after a month or so, Apollo following soon after. Athena and River didn't have a stable relationship as a pair, so I adopted Mus. He put them in their place very quickly and a year and a half later, Mus's ladies are thick as thieves. Athena is approx 3 and a half now (had her 3 years), River is assumed to be about 5 and a half, Mus is completely unknown; his vaccination card implies 3/4ish but he could easily be older. In all honesty, adding Mus was one of the easiest bonds I've had. He calmed the girls down within 24 hours, and by a month later, they had their full set-up (it was new to all 3 of them at the time.)
I've also had a quad in that (then) 108sqft set-up. That was Elphie (female), Helios (male), Selene (female), and Morningstar (female). So, 3 does, 1 buck. Elphie lost sister Galinda at age 6, grieved immediately and hard. I acquired H and Sea together, was told they were 7 months old siblings at the time (2 and a bit year ago). More likely an ex-breeding pair. H had been neutered, Sea's 8 week old litter was being sold at the same time. They bonded immediately to Elphie - 1 grooming each ear at the same time! Sea had a pregnancy scare, was briefly separated but rebonded to H and Elph immediately. Morning then fell out with River - and ended their relationship. I tried Morning with the then-trio and she got on great with them. It was Morning's introduction that really pulled Elphie out of her post-Galinda grief. The quad was deliberately separated when Elph was beginning to struggle in her first Winter without Galinda, and Selene was diagnosed with a liver tumour. Selene shows no sign of ill health so I eventually had to bond her back with H so she could live outside, while Morning came back in for Elphie.
Morning (now assumed to be 5.5) and Elphie (turned 8 in January) have since been bonded with Arce (female, approx 6, could be older), Yuki (male, approx 4) and Niji (male, approx 2) to form a quintet of 3 does, 2 bucks. Arce lost sister Iris, began feeling lonely 3 weeks after. We'd reserved Niji, but Arce needed company so we chose to adopt Yuki, and still have Niji to bond in one group whenever he was ready. Arce and Yuki were love at first sight. Niji integrated fairly well. We then chose to integrate the 2 indoor groups about 6 months later. Arce and Elphie seem to share matriarch duties now. They all live mostly free range upstairs now. They spend 90% of their time either in their hay boxes in my room, or chilling in the hallway.
Apart from the brief Arce/Yuki/Niji grouping, I've pretty much always had more does than bucks. I've never really had a problem that way. I pretty much always bond in small neutral space, then small resident space, and gradually increasing it.
If I'm feeling brave, I might even be trying a supergroup of the outdoors rabbits this coming summer, and connect all their set-ups into one over time.
