Easter Bunnies

We're happy to report that all (6) of our baby bunnies have been placed in their new homes.

I'm happy to report that both mother rabbits have since been moved back outside and are NO longer residing in our basement!

Happy Easter!

Moe's Litter Update

Here are Moe's (3) baby bunnies!

The black bunny is actually Moe's daughters baby. We move her in with Moe since she only had two little ones to raise, versus the six Shadow had.

They'll be two weeks old tomorrow and at the age where their eyes are beginning to open!

The Maternity Ward

Well, it's that time of year again - rabbit breeding time!

With Easter fast approaching I timed the breeding to have some cute bunnies for the holiday.

We have two does; Moe and Shadow, and they were both bred on February 1.  The maternity ward was setup in the basement, per usual, and the ladies brought indoors on March 1.  The timing was spot on as Shadow had her litter of (7); her first, on Sunday night/early Monday morning and Moe had her litter of (2) Monday night into Tuesday.

Here's the maternity ward -

Shadow's nest -

Moe's nest - 

Moe's two babies - 

Shadow's (6) babies (one passed) -

Emilie and I moved (2) of Shadow's babies into Moe's nest.  This way each doe has four babies to feed.  There is a great chance for all eight to survive with this approach.  We'll see, time will tell.

Monster Kits, Soon To Be Mobile!

 

Our 10 day old baby bunnies!

 

Little monsters they are too. They should be opening their eyes in the next couple of days and at the point they'll become super active and mobile.

 

Emilie can't wait, she's SO excited.

 

Naturally, she wants to keep all four babies but we've already committed one to a friend.  We'll end up keeping one but only if it's a girl.  So, we'll have (2) available for adoption if anyone's interested.

The "Kits" Have Arrived!

 

Good news, bad news.

 

Our (2) does were bred about thirty days ago and both had their babies (kits) earlier this week.

 

Lucky, who is a first time mother had (7) babies Easter night.  Moe, who is Lucky's mother had (5) babies on Monday night (4/1).

 

Moe is a great rabbit.  Actually, she is one of the bunnies that JoAnne saved and hand raised by bottle feeding after her mother rejected. She has a super friendly disposition and is also a terrific mother.  As you can see from the above pictures she used the box provided to make her nest and pulled ample amounts of hair to keep her kits warm.  Two thumbs up for Moe!

 

Sadly, however, Lucky was not so "lucky".  I'm not sure why, perhaps, due to her being a first-time mother or something she inherited from her grandmother but she refused to care for her kits.  She had them outside the box, didn't pull much hair at all and simply was not interested in them.  In the end and after only three days all seven died.

 

The jury is still out on whether I should try breeding her one more time or if I care to keep her any longer.  I may cut my losses and rehome her and instead keep one of Moe's five.

Looking For Loving Homes

Hi All,

We're looking to find loving and caring homes for the following lovely, cuddly, cute, adorable, friendly 2011 youngsters!



The Mini Lop bunnies above are four weeks old today, and the Buff Orpington chicks below are two months old.



Also available are (2) Americana "Easter Egg" hens and (4) adult Mini Lop rabbits all females.

Need to rotate and make room for the newbies, not to mention that we're getting eaten out of house and home! After all, 16 chickens and 12 rabbits is just too much, right!

Baby Bunny Time of Year

Our Moe and Jasmin both had a litter of bunnies the beginning of June (1st & 4th). Moe, who is 2-years old and the mother of Jasmin, had (5) plump babies. Jasmin, who is 1-year old and a first time mother, had (6) tiny babies.

Moe is the bunny that JoAnne and Emilie hand raised when her mother (since rehomed) refused to care for her litter. She is the friendliest and calmest rabbit I've ever encountered. I can only guess that it's a result of being bottled fed and held constantly when she was tiny. She has all the natural instincts when it comes to rearing a family and is a fantastic mother.

Moe with nest in background -


Moe's babies today (approx 2-weeks old) -


Sadly, Jasmin on the other hand is NOT a good mother at all (to be rehomed soon). She didn't pull any hair to make a nest prior to giving birth and the babies were scattered and looked to be laying where she delivered them. She did try pulling some hair at one point afterwards but she'd sit or walk on them and wasn't feeding them. Unfortunately, and as a result, five of the six babies didn't make it.

The good news is that we were able to sneak the sixth one in with Moe's litter. She either couldn't tell (unlikely) or didn't mind and accepted the little fella as one of her own. Although much smaller than Moe's babies it's doing just fine.

Jasmin with a mouth full of hair -


Jasmin's litter -

Baby Bunny - UPDATE

Here's an update on the baby bunnies that were rejected by their mother -

We removed them from the same cage as their mother, boxed them up and brought them upstairs where it's warmer. We didn't hold much hope for their survival; they were skin and bones and in pretty bad shape, so we weren't surprise when we woke the next morning to one that had passed away.

Surrogate mother JoAnne is determined to save these little guys and made a special trip the a local pet store and picked up some KMR, which is an all natural, no preservatives, made in the USA, complete food source for orphaned or rejected kittens - this also works for bunnies.

She's up early to feed them before work, feeds them when she comes home and at least once, sometime twice before bed. They did NOT like the formula at first, so the force feeding method was used. Today, a week later they're gobbling it up to the tune of 6, 8 and 10 eye droppers full. They've also begun nibbling on rabbit feed, grass and comfrey. All five are doing FANTASTIC! They're alert, active and love running around in the kitchen.

Here is a picture of the remaining crew taken on June 2. As you can see they're a little queasy looking.

This photo is for comparison. The grayish bunny is from a different litter and was born on the same day as the brownish bunny - quite a size difference.

Kudos to Surrogate mother JoAnne !!

An Even Dozen (12)

Two new litters of baby bunnies have arrived here at the ole homestead on 5/15. Each litter has (6) babies - 12 total, WOW! As you can see from the pictures below, both litters look similar in color and markings.

We noticed yesterday that Salt & Pepper's babies are now half the size of Honey's. After a closer inspection her babies are all skin and bones. It appears that she has stopped nursing them. This may have occurred after I moved them to a different cage about a week ago. So last night we stepped in and forced the mothers (both) to nurse. I held each doe (mother) on their backs while JoAnne and Emilie placed the babies on the tummy so they could nurse. It's amazing to watch how the babies come to life and immediately search for and latch onto a nipple and begin to feed. We're not sure how this is going end but hopefully our efforts will pay off and save them.

Honey's litter -


Salt & Peppers litter -


In case you've not been following along, Salt & Pepper is the mother of Honey who was one of the babies we kept from last spring\summers litters. The two were kept together in the same cage until they were breed and then separated.

Blackie and Honey Bunnies

Blackie and Honey

Here are Emilie's 2 new bunnies, both females and step sisters too. Blackie (l) is from Oreo's litter and was born 3/4. Honey (r) is from Salt & Pepper's litter and was born on 2/11.

There were a total of 15 babies in the two litters and with the exception of these two, all were adopted out.

Oreo Bunny Update

Here are Oreo's litter of baby bunnies. She had six and raised them all and is a very good mother. They were born on March 4th, so they'll be 4-weeks old this Tuesday and ready for 're-homing' next weekend, 4/5.



Of course Emilie doesn't want them to go and wants to keep them all. Well, we're not doing that but I make a deal with her... here's the deal, I said she could keep two of Oreo's babies if she agreed to let us get rid of the guinea pigs, all of them.


Much to my surprise she agreed and accepted the deal, yippie!! Here are the two babies that she wants to keep. I believe the brown one (r) is a male and the grey one (l) is a girl.

Morea Easter Bunnies 2008

Oreo has joined the ranks of motherhood again. She had (6) and they were born on Tuesday night March 4th, so they're 11 days old today and just starting to open their eyes. She had six babies during her last pregnancy so she's consistant and a good mother. These babies are going to be beautiful;their marking and coloring are stunning.



Here's mother and babies in their nest box. Yes, the cage is small but it serves the purpose for now and allows me to bring them in the basement (maternity ward) to the dismay of JoAnne.

Here is an updated picture of Salt and Pepper's litter of 9. They're getting big and up for adoption now!

Easter Bunnies 2008

Here are a couple pictures of the most recent addition to the Lincoln Street menagerie. Nine adorable, happy and healthy baby bunnies! The mother, Salt & Pepper, believe it or not had ten babies, YES, ten babies! Unfortunately, one didn't make it but incredibly she has done a terrific job raising the other 9 little ones.

If I planned it right these little guys will be old enough, weened and ready for adoption a couple of weeks before Easter.



These are mini lop bunnies and the picture below shows one ear already drooping at 12 days.



Emilie has been chomping at the bit to take them out and hold them but they're still too young yet. Soon enough and then she'll have her hands full trying to contain all nine...