Bonding for the first time

I currently have a 4 yr old femme minilop named annabell and I adopted a 1 yr old female harlequin named Kallie. Annabell is very sweet and calm, kallie is also sweet but much more hyper. Their first meeting was last night in neutral territory, and here's how it went:

I had Kallie in the bathroom and then I brought annabell in. Annabell wanted to meet Kallie, so she hopped up to her and Kallie attacked (I had a spray bottle with water and a sweeping pan in hand). After the first attack annabell kind of sat there, and Kallie would come up to her from all angles and attack again (I broke up these fights instantly, if not a second before). Annabell never fought back except the last time. I separated them after about 7 minutes.

Needless to say, first encounter not good! I thought Annabell liked Kallie, but Kallie didn't like Annabell.

Is this a bad sign or normal? Any advice would be helpful as I've never done this before.

I would suggest finding a "new" neutral spot. By placing Kallie in the bathroom first and then bringing in the other one, it could have made the space not neutral but belonging to Kallie. She was there first, therefore it is "her" space. So how dare annabell intrude.
They both need to go into the space at the same time.

That said, it sounds like Kallie is just going to be difficult and she could have responded similarly regardless. I would suggest giving them both a few days to forget their tussles. This was not a promising start for them and it may be difficult. Take a look at two different methods of bonding here and decide which one seems to suit you and your bunnies best.

I'm also curious. You mentioned having 'adopted' Kallie. Was this from a rescue? Did you let them know that you had a bunny that you wanted to bond? Rescues usually arrange dates so you can see if 2 rabbits show signs of being compatible. They also allow exchanges if one potential is rejected by the current rabbit. Just trying to get the feel for the background here.

Oh, I guess I shouldn't assume either --- are both bunnies spayed?

Bunny society is matriarchal. Female bunnies are very very concerned with hierarchy, so female to female bonding can be tough. They will need to be allowed to duke it out to establish one bunny's dominance. Let the attacks/nips happen, only stop things if a full on dangerous fight breaks out.

It is normal for the first few dates to be bad, I myself am bonding two buns who had a very bad start but are now getting along. That said, it seems like a hyper bunny and a serene bunny may be quite incompatible. If you are determined to bond them, I'm sure it could be done, but it may be easier on Annabell to take Kallie back to the shelter in exchange for a mellow male.

As blue eyes said, both bunnies should be spayed. One thing to note is that hormones take a while to subside. If Kallie was newly spayed at the shelter when you got her, she may still be hormonal, in which case you need to halt bonding until 8 weeks after the spay.

Patience, and sometimes stressing the buns before a meet is a good thing. Car rides for mine worked wonders.

Thank you for all the advice.

Both are spayed, but Callie was spayed only a couple months ago. It pains me to do this but we are considering bringing her back to the shelter or fostering her until the shelter can find her another family.

As I mentioned earlier, most rabbit rescues will allow an exchange if you are trying to bond your rabbit with one of theirs. I would speak with them about the situation. Then what you could do is also bring in annabell so she can meet some other potential bondmates. It's best to let bunny choose her own bondmate.

It is real important though to let them know the situation because I have heard (may vary per shelter/rescue) that if someone 'returns' a pet to a shelter that they will then be banned from adopting any pet from them again. An exchange is looked at differently.

I have had the rare occasion where I had to exchange a bunny that would not bond with a current bun of mine. It's worth it to find "the right one."