diff --git a/Source/TDRouter+Handlers.m b/Source/TDRouter+Handlers.m
index e7562c9..dfdde01 100644
--- a/Source/TDRouter+Handlers.m
+++ b/Source/TDRouter+Handlers.m
@@ -295,14 +295,17 @@ - (TDStatus) do_POST_bulk_docs: (TD_Database*)db {
                     Assert(rev.revID);
                     if (!noNewEdits)
                         result = $dict({@"id", rev.docID}, {@"rev", rev.revID}, {@"ok", $true});
+                } else if (status >= 500) {
+                    return status;  // abort the whole thing if something goes badly wrong
                 } else if (allOrNothing) {
                     return status;  // all_or_nothing backs out if there's any error
-                } else if (status == kTDStatusForbidden) {
-                    result = $dict({@"id", docID}, {@"error", @"validation failed"});
-                } else if (status == kTDStatusConflict) {
-                    result = $dict({@"id", docID}, {@"error", @"conflict"});
                 } else {
-                    return status;  // abort the whole thing if something goes badly wrong
+                    NSString* error = nil;
+                    if (status == kTDStatusForbidden)
+                        error = @"validation failed";
+                    else
+                        TDStatusToHTTPStatus(status, &error);
+                    result = $dict({@"id", docID}, {@"error", error});
                 }
                 if (result)
                     [results addObject: result];
diff --git a/Source/TDStatus.m b/Source/TDStatus.m
index 5579b9c..4d6a949 100644
--- a/Source/TDStatus.m
+++ b/Source/TDStatus.m
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 
 static const struct StatusMapEntry kStatusMap[] = {
     {kTDStatusNotFound,             404, "not_found"},           // for compatibility with CouchDB
+    {kTDStatusConflict,             409, "conflict"},
     {kTDStatusDuplicate,            412, "Already exists"},      // really 'Precondition Failed'
 
     {kTDStatusBadEncoding,          400, "Bad data encoding"},