Odd one out

Question
QUESTION: Hi, Me and my girlfriend have 3 rabbitts (not sure on breeds
but one is fluffy white (male) and the other are light
brownish colour (1 male and 1 female).
The oldest is Connie (male) then Chloe (male) and finally
Kelly (female). Chloe is the fluffy white one whereas Connie
and Kelly by appearance seem to be of the same breed.
We succesfully bonded Connie and Chloe some three years ago
and last year we added Kelly to our family, until she could
be "fixed" we kept her in our bedroom away from Connie &
Chloe. We did eventually manage to bond all three together
and now they share the same space (the living room)...no
cages ever.
The problem is that Kelly is plain bullying Chloe, She will
chase her off, if chloe ventures somewhere else where Kelly
is near then Kelly will go for her and chase her off. Chloe
never fights back she just runs away and hides. The strange
thing is that other times they will lie down cuddled up and
groom each other, very strange situation.
They share the same food and drink and don't have any
trouble sharing as there is always plenty of both.

Thank you in advance for any help

ANSWER: Hi,

this is pretty typical behavior of the dominant/submissive roles rabbits have.  There is only 1 dominant rabbit per group.  The only time you really need to do anything about it is if actual fighting occurs, which you'd have to physically break up.

The normal 'power plays' are necessary, it does serve a purpose to keep order.  Sometimes the less dominant ones provoke a response by their actions, they aren't always innocent.  (ie little brothers or sisters aren't always innocent).  If you can see they also snuggle and groom together that just shows they really are fine, there are just ups and downs and maybe someone's pulling rank, or maybe the dominant one is just reminding the other that they are the top bun right now.

As long as everyone gets enough to eat and drink and no real fighting begins, this is normal for bonded rabbits.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for such a quick response, is this normal even
though Kelly is the youngest? Also she wouldnt dare try it
with Connie, Connie is definitley the dominant of the three.
Also a bit off topic but Chloe suffers terribly from what
the vet calls allergies, she sneezes a lot, no infection or
illness as we've had her checked out. Our living room is
pretty standard, nothing too exotic, there food and drink is
in Tupperware dishes. She is the only one that suffers out
of the three and we feel really bad for her... any ideas?

ANSWER: Hi,

if they are both adult rabbits, age isn't usually a factor, unless one is really older.  Not sure why Connie would be okay with her bossing Kelly around.  Kelly must show enough proper respect to Connie.  If it continues and it appears Chloe is unhappy, you may want to keep her separate.

Three girls are going to have a lot of fights.  They all are interested in the same thing, territory.

Rabbits can be allergic to the same stuff people can.  Pollens, dust/dust mites, smoke, chemicals, other irritants in the house/air.  Even certain cleaners you use could make it worse.  You need to figure out what she's doing when you notice her sneezing.  If she's eating something, if hay dust might be bugging her, if you just cleaned that area with something, and try to find a common factor.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry to go on but Connie and Chloe are in fact male, we
thought they were female when we bought them and the names
and pronouns just stuck, so it is only Kelly that is female,
also it is Kelly that dominates Chloe who is almost 3 years
older but at the same time is submisive to Connie. Connie
and chloe have been bonded for a few years and they never
have a problem with each other yet sometimes it seems as if
Kelly seems to have a real problem with chloe going anywhere
near her. Thank you again for your time, it is appreciated

Answer
Hi,

I think I see what might be going on.  Connie is the dominant male, and he is dominant over both Kelly and Chloe.  Kelly is the dominant female of the group, submissive to Connie but not Chloe, because he isn't the dominant male.  Since Connie and Kelly were a pair before, Kelly knows shes #2 and as a dominant female of a group (larger than 2) and being second for so long she's not going to let the new boy dominate her.

With groups of rabbits there's usually a dominant male and a dominant female.  One of these two will be the overall dominant rabbit.  There will also be a pecking order underneath each male and female dominant rabbit.  In your case Chole is the lowest guy.

I would suggest spending time on the House Rabbit Society web site looking up bonding articles, and also pick up the House Rabbit Society Handbook.