Saturday, February 11, 2012

How Bunnies Give Birth


Welcome to the bunny farm! Meet Mocha, isnt she pretty? Shes sweet,cuddly,kind, and very loving. She just has 12 babies! This is her 15 minutes afterwards resting. Shes worked very hard...


Bunnies give birth between 28-34 days after conceiving , a very quick pregnancy, Im jealous..lol.
The first sign of pregnancy obviously is weight gain, although sometimes they barely show it until a week before birth.


Our bunnies are inside when its -30 out, so we had to make an impromtu nesting basket. Whatever works they are very easy going!


They start to madly pluck fur out of they're neck and stomach to create a soft nest for the babies to be born into. It amazes me every time, it goes so fast.  Both my mommas had their babies within minutes of the plucking festival.


Here she is with a soft chuck of her fur in her mouth preparing-dont worry! It doesnt hurt her at all, she has been waiting to do this!  Moments later the babies are born and she eats the sacs around the babies as they are born. It is normal and instintual to ignore the babies until nighttime after giving birth and staying on the opposite side of the cage from them.  She is protecting them from predators by not staying near them and drawing attention to them.


Do you see the size difference in these 2 babes? I had to intervene this time because Mocha had so many babues they were not all having a chance at nursing, the bigger ones got all the nipples faster & drank more.
I  had to intervene immediatly after day 4  after finding 3 babies with ribs sticking out. I kneeled on the floor & held the mother firmly against my chest with her feet on the ground and her belly between my legs holding her front feet firmly. I attached the ravenous tiny ones and forced nursing for them. This only happens with huge batches, because typically they would each get a nipple, but these poor things needed help.



and after only 3 weeks they look like this!! Isnt it incredible? Still blows my mind how fast they grow,totally amazing!


Have a great weekend!

6 comments:

Jacky said...

Oh man, you had to make her rest for them to eat? How often do you have to do this now? Thank goodness they start eating food within weeks.

Ang said...

Every night! Lol Do you see the size difference? Crazy! Poor things:)

Lisa Lynn said...

Baby bunnies are so cute :) I used to have meat rabbits, but it was just to hard to keep butchering them. Chickens are much easier.

Farmgirl Heidi said...

This is a post right after my own heart. My son had his own little rabbit rescue when he was a boy scout. People here often buy them for Easter and let them go soon after to be killed by dogs or run over by cars. They are the cutest little things on Earth. Thanks so much for sharing on Farmgirl Friday. Cute, cute, cute!!!

Michele said...

How precious! As kids, we had bunnies and one day the female had babies. 8 all at once! They were so cute, especially once they had real fur and their eyes were open.

Anonymous said...

Oww..i wish my rabbits will be like yours..