Breed a Rabbit and Raise at Least 3 Kits - PEP BB animal.straw.kits

Here is my submission for the Breed a Rabbit and Rise at least 3 Kits - straw - animal BB.

To document the completion of the BB, I have provided the following photos:
     - caring for a rabbit (photo is during a break in a shearing session)
     - caring for the pregnant rabbit (see nest box on left - I had just put it and some straw in for her to make her kindling nest)
     - caring for the rabbit and at least three kits (nest box view - checking on the kits)
     - three kits that are all at least one week old (exactly 7 days after previous photo - 1 week old)
     - plus kits that are 1-month-old (individual shots since they are now super active)

I'm struggling to convey caring for a rabbit (at least in my mind) so here is a photo of me and Sweet Pea, my German Angora doe, before and after a shearing session.
     

Now that the weather is cooling off it's time for rabbit babies again

Meet donut.

Meet donuts litter.

Donuts litter had a single kit that didn't make it. It wasn't eating right.
We tried force-nursing, where you turn mom on her back and allow the kit to nurse, and bottle feeding but it just failed to thrive. :(
The rest of the kits were robust and healthy, though!
And made it to their eyes opening and then processing age. These two harlequin kits and the big fat black one are still with us, growing out as breeders. They'll be having their first litters in the next few months!

Bonus pictures, a mom nursing a litter indoors (it was -10 that week! So we brought her in for a week) and her kits getting fed pellets with rolled oats for weaning.

I started raising Rex rabbits last year. They are quite friendly and incredibly soft. I have only processed one so far, but this litter will be processed once they are about 16 weeks old since I want to keep their pelts.

Mom is a blue doe, her litter ended up with 5 kits that are now 6 weeks old.

So, funny story, the white bunny was a rescue bunny.  Once people know your willing to take animals and give them a good home, animals just appear like magic. This little girl came to us, we didn’t know much about her, so we made her up a nice little pre-cage, before we moved her to a bigger enclosure. On day two, she had babies. Bunny having babies strange right. LOL Anyway, she was a very good mother, we moved her to a different cage, and let her raise those little bun buns.

The lesson I learnt that day. Free Bunnies are ALWAYS pregnant!


The upside is it give me lots of stuff to stream about, and great educational outreach animals.

We have silver fox rabbits - both pedigree and unknown pedigree. This momma is unknown pedigree but still purebred and had 6 black babies on June 5th. One of them was very small and disappeared after 4 days. I checked on them about 4 times a day since they're the first litter I've overseen and I just love them to pieces. The remaining 5 are almost a month old now.

We suspected mom was pregnant since she had accidentally been put with a male (someone we live with who's not very good at sexing rabbits). We're in Florida and since it's hot we made sure she had a nice fan close by (as with all of our rabbits!!) plus made sure she had plenty of hay, pellets, and veggies when we checked on her throughout the month.

She is an excellent mother!

Here's my new project, somes rabbit to care! They are from the breed "Argenté de Champagne". A very old french breed. It goes wellfor the moment, hoping to keep them many years. 6 little ones this time! The olders rabbit were raise on pellets. The transition has not been easy the first 2 months...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argent%C3%A9_rabbit

I've fallen in love with rabbit husbandry! We got our first rabbits last spring for their manure. Then my daughters convinced me to get a doe to breed. Its all been downhill since then. We have New Zealands. The buck is a handsome red color. The doe is similar, so we have kits that are all quite uniform in pelt color.

I've chosen to raise them in a colony setting, which means I have very little hands-on control over when my doe kindles. She burrows underground to deliver them, so I do not see the kits until they have been kicked out by their mother, usually because she is nesting for the next kindle. The day we discover them (d day) is wonderful fun! We chase and catch them and put them in a rabbit tractor for munching on grass and clover and dandelion in my lawn until they are mature enough to butcher, at about 4 months. This setup, I feel, is so much closer to nature than a cage setup. I manage it less and my kids can't disturb the babies until their mother is ready for it.

We currently have a 4-month old kindle ready to butcher, a 2 month old kindle right behind them, and a set that is one month old and just appeared above ground. Baby bunny therapy is amazingly emotionally supportive. Their meat is rather good and supplies my family of 8 with 1 or 2 meat-y dinners a week. They fertilize my plants and mow my lawn. I even use their pelts to make fabulous mittens! Rabbits are a win-win!!

- caring for a rabbit
     - caring for the pregnant rabbit
     - caring for the rabbit and at least three kits
     - three kits that are all at least one week old

How fun!   Luna is my 2yr old silver fox X doe, and she was bred for the first time to my new young American chinchilla buck

Her first litter was 4 fat and healthy baby rabbits!

We started raising rabbits last year... It's been a trip! I love it. Our rabbits are very funny.

This is Po Boy snacking on some pear twigs:
Po Boy Snack

Here she is getting her nest box ready. This was in early April


She kindled 5! I think I ended up moving two of them to another doe's litter.
Po Boy Litter

Here they are at 2 weeks!

This is our show bunny, Baroness Primrose.  She has always been a very good mother even though she is a bit feisty.  We put in her nesting box with fresh bedding and a healthy handful of grass.  As you can see, she pulled a ton of hair to keep her little kits warm.  Baby bunnies are the best!

We have a couple New Zealand whites which have been excellent lawnmowers in the very damp conditions we had last year. It is really amazing how different their temperaments are, with the buck loving attention and head scratches, while the doe will only tolerate them if she has something delicious to eat.

The kits are healthy, and now taking their first exploratory steps outside the nest box - so cute!

Edited to add photo of feeding the kits some greens, with Mrs. Bunny checking it out.