Will females fight?

[ashlea]

Hi,

We have 3 females who we might plan to breed next year. Otherwise all will be getting desexed.
Currently they are all under 12 weeks and we have them in 1 large hutch together.
I know soon their hormones will kick in.

I’m just wondering because they are bonded already will they continue to be fine or do you believe they will need to be separated?

I do have a rabbit bank with 3 separate cages plus another spare large hutch so I could always move one female or separate them all at any moment however I thought especially for the next 6 or so months it would be nice for them to have company.

Thanks

 

[Imbrium]

Their baby bonds will only last until hormones kick in - they will absolutely need to be separated. If you do spay them in the future, it takes 3-4 weeks after the surgery for a female's hormones to be totally gone (6-8 weeks for males). Only when the hormones are totally gone will it be possible to start the bonding process for real (though F/F bonds are tougher than M/F).

 

[ashlea]

Their baby bonds will only last until hormones kick in - they will absolutely need to be separated. If you do spay them in the future, it takes 3-4 weeks after the surgery for a female's hormones to be totally gone (6-8 weeks for males). Only when the hormones are totally gone will it be possible to start the bonding process for real (though F/F bonds are tougher than M/F).

Thank you! Do they all of a sudden start to fight? Or did you notice some more tension first? Is there anyway we could try for them to be together and separate when necessary or does it get nasty fast?

I don’t want them to be injured at all however thought maybe we could try for them to continue their bonds.

They are in the cage during the day and night however in the afternoon they have a decent few hours in at least 3-4m x 3m run to free roam our house.

Growing up we had 3 female bunnies and we had no issues. We were young but my parents were very naive owners because our bunnies never got vaccinated or desexed and they lived for a really long time.

So it’s hard having that experience and reading different articles/blogs. I knew about desexing is why we basically have 6 separate areas plus 3 different runs.

Whilst I’ve researched so much about everything else bonds is the one thing that has a variety of different views. Thank you for your help

 

[majorv]

We’ve managed to keep a mom and female kits together for awhile, as well as female siblings. Are your females littermates?

If you do keep them together you need to keep watch, and as soon as you see any indication of someone not getting along you need to remove them. Kept together they will need plenty of space.

 

[Flakes]

See... this is one of the reasons I got Dortmund fixed. Baby rabbits are super cute, but wayyyyy too much drama.

 

[Preitler]

I always keep young does with their mother and the second doe in the hutch, for up to 5-6 months. Unlike males they learn to sort out their hierachy and social skills while they grow up, and if the characters are compatible it's fine.

If the three live together I wouldn't seperate them if the hutch is big and has places to get out of each others eyes if they feel like it (NOT dead ends). Just watch how their social life goes. There will be humping, some tuft´s of fur flying, that is normal and part of how they settle things. Sometimes hard to watch, but interacting or seperating can thoroughly mess up their social stuff.
If it gets out of hand and they simply aren't compatible you'll need to seperate them.
Duos are easier, but it really depends on the individual characters. I tried a trio once, but had to take out one doe that didn't take being dominated well and got depressive, that rabbit was much happier alone.

If you seperat now, quite likely that's permanent then while they are intact.

 

[ashlea]

I always keep young does with their mother and the second doe in the hutch, for up to 5-6 months. Unlike males they learn to sort out their hierachy and social skills while they grow up, and if the characters are compatible it's fine.

If the three live together I wouldn't seperate them if the hutch is big and has places to get out of each others eyes if they feel like it (NOT dead ends). Just watch how their social life goes. There will be humping, some tuft´s of fur flying, that is normal and part of how they settle things. Sometimes hard to watch, but interacting or seperating can thoroughly mess up their social stuff.
If it gets out of hand and they simply aren't compatible you'll need to seperate them.
Duos are easier, but it really depends on the individual characters. I tried a trio once, but had to take out one doe that didn't take being dominated well and got depressive, that rabbit was much happier alone.

If you seperat now, quite likely that's permanent then while they are intact.

Yes thank you this is my worry. The rabbits cage is quite large and they get a really large run around every night. I think I will just really carefully watch them and if it does get out of hand I might try and remove the aggressive rabbit otherwise all 3 can be split. I also have a small back courtyard that I’m thinking of fixing so they can access their cage however also free roam that large area each night, I just need to ensure that it’s extremely secure first. One of them is so small she can fix out of our rabbit run fence.
I have the spare cages set up already so at any point I can split the rabbits up which is handy. I don’t want to permanently keep them together however at least for the next few months I thought it might be nice to have some company other than myself.
Thank you for your help

 

[ashlea]

We’ve managed to keep a mom and female kits together for awhile, as well as female siblings. Are your females littermates?

If you do keep them together you need to keep watch, and as soon as you see any indication of someone not getting along you need to remove them. Kept together they will need plenty of space.

They aren’t litter mates however they met quite young so I’m hoping there isn’t too many issues but I guess only time will tell.
I also watch their dynamics closely when they are outside in the runs.