Colony housing systems for farmed rabbits provide improved welfare over battery cages but require careful management to realise welfare benefits.
Colony housing for farmed rabbits represents a welfare improvement over individual battery cages that can be substantial when properly implemented. Rabbits in well-designed colony systems display running, jumping, and social grooming — natural behaviours entirely prevented by barren cages. However, the welfare benefits of colony housing depend critically on management quality. Aggression at mixing, particularly when unfamiliar rabbits are combined, causes injuries that can be serious and welfare-reducing. Group composition, space allocation, resource provision, and stockperson management of conflict episodes all determine whether colony housing translates theory into practice. The most welfare-positive systems provide enrichment materials, adequate hiding places, and stable social groups from early life rather than late mixing of unfamiliar animals.