Rabbit barking?

Sorry if this is long. I have a new rabbit (American blue doe) that has been in quarantine for 4 weeks now and she is about 4 1/2 months. She seems totally healthy and shows no signs of illness. Her coat is soft and smooth, eyes brigh and clear and nasal passage clean. She has acted a bit aggressive towards me but loves my husband. Her aggression has been to nudge me and nose bump, which seemed sweet, but then she reared her front paws and pounced at me. She is more vocal than my other rabbits and huffs and grunt/growls on occasion.

She has barked 2 times in this last week. Once when I has moving her quarantine buddy, she made 2 barks (I thought it might be a cough) but no more after that. I left her in quarantine for a few more days and then moved a group of 8 kits next to her. She was running around the cage and thumping. Then she went to the corner opposite them and barked again. Is she upset/aggressive or is she actually coughing and sick? :hmm: I am also thinking she might need to be bred and that will settle her down but if she is sick I don't want to risk my bucks. :help:

BTW I have moved her to a lower area in a kind of quarantine and always visit her last still. Her only neighbors are 4 junior that are getting butchered tomorrow. I usually wait until 5-6 months to breed and planned on using her not this next batch but the one ofter that in August.

Any thoughts?

It sounds like she is just vocalizing her displeasure, but of course that is hard to say. :?

I would extend her quarantine a bit and watch her. If you have any more growouts that you don't mind risking, putting those next to her after the others are processed would be a good way to put more stress on her, which will hopefully worsen her symptoms if she does have something.

I recently got two Am. Blues myself. They are sweet buns.

it sounds like she is telling you she is unhappy about something.
I had a meat mutt doe, she would grunt and make all sorts of noise, only at me.
she loved my oldest son, she would go crazy for him, until he showed her the attention she wanted.
I just figured she was nuts.
she turned out to be a find breeding doe. but she never warmed up to me.
give her some time, and she should come around.
My Am. Blues are very sweet rabbits, they lobve to be held and cuddled.

Yeah, the first bark I thought was a cough as I have only heard grunting. After the second one and thinking about the situations I thought it was more of a unhappy bark. I will still keep her separate, except from my tester rabbit. I do think she is territorial and also has more of a problem with me. Funny thing is my husband isn't usually sweet on the rabbits. To him they all look similar and he helps take care of them but not too attached to any of them. That is why I was surprised when he said she was sooo sweet and his favorite, I didn't know he could have a favorite. I appreciate that she is helping him warm to the rabbits. I will try to be patient and luckily she is food motivated and loves treats. I am usually the one who doles out the greens and herbs so might start connecting me with that.

We have another doe that is a bear to breed. She makes the biggest fuss with a buck and charged my husband when he was trying to take her out of the bucks cage (like Monty Python attack bunny style) :twisted: . But since her last breeding she has been much calmer and will eat out of our hands. That is why I thought maybe breeding her would help calm her down.

Maybe I will have him cuddle her and work with her. She is beautiful and I see how sweet she is with him. I have been waiting for an American blue for awhile so I hope she mellows and has lots of sweet cute babies.