Housing my rabbits

Question
I have 7 rabbits. All of which I keep inside with me. I have 3 does and 4 bucks. The oldest is a doe and is 8 months. The youngest is a male and is about 9 weeks. Currently, I am only using two cages between the 7 of them. The 8 month old doe and a 4 month old buck are sharing a cage because the doe is a bit aggressive and will pick on the young bunnies. However, the rest of them are all housed in one cage (it is a very large cage). I've been told if you house rabbits together starting when very young, they will be able to live together forever. However, I've also been told its IMPOSSIBLE to house two bucks together after about 2-3 months. Right now there are 3 bucks in there, one is 9 weeks, and the other two are 3 months and 4 months. They all get along great! Am I in the clear or could I still be heading for disaster? (Also, none of them are fixed, I plan to breed.)  

Answer
Hi Megan

In my life I have never seen 2 bucks live happily together that weren't fixed.  That does not mean it can't happen.  There are a few concerns I would have if I were you.  If you are housing them together as they become sexually mature they will probably start to fight and become territorial.  The 3 and 4 month old should be reaching sexual maturity about now.  If they do show any signs of fighting you should separate them immediately.  

I understand that you want to breed and that is great but you might have a few problems by housing them together.  You will have no way of knowing when they are due and won't be able to set up the nest boxes at the proper time.  If you give them the nest boxes to early they will often use it for a litter box.  If you give it to them to late the babies have no where to be born and could die from exposure.  The other problem is that when you take the doe's away to have the babies the partners will become depressed because you have taken their bonded partner away.  The bucks can never be left in there when the babies are born.

Impossible is probably a strong word but highly unlikely seems to fit better.  It is better to get them their own cages before you end up with a hurt rabbit.

Thanks

Pam