Our litter of baby bunnies!

Growing up as a teenager I raised bunnies. It was one of my favorite things that I did. My dad and I built a barn together and I painted it pink, I went to all different rabbit events and researched bunnies online and read all the bunny books I could to learn everything there was to know about bunnies. I remember it being such a fun time in my life. I haven’t raised a litter of baby bunnies since then but knew once we got settled out in the country and the kids got a little older it was something I wanted to do and that time finally arrived!

On Libby’s birthday we bred mama bunny with one of our male bunnies and waited to see if babies were coming. gestation time for rabbits is so short at just 28-31 days. As we waited mama showed no signs of being pregnant or nesting as they call it in bunny world, she wasn’t pulling fur or making a nest and we had made it to day 31 so my excitement was slipping into disappointment. Then later that afternoon on the 31st day I was sitting in my office looking over at her and noticed she was pulling fur to make her nest. I got all sorts of excited and thought maybe babies would be coming that night. Well to my surprise just 15 minutes later as I was still sitting there out squirmed a tiny naked baby bunny! She was having them right then! After about five minutes of being in the nest box she hopped out to clean herself up. I saw just three babies and one wasn’t breathing, I quickly grabbed a towel and wiped off it’s face and rubbed it to stimulate it to breath, it took it’s first little breaths and I put it back in with the other two babies and left them alone for mama to care for.

I told the kids and we all got so excited. At this time I thought there were just three babies but planned to check on them the next evening to make sure they had all survived and to count how many there actually were. When I went to check on them the next day to my surprise there were six babies all naked and plump, our first time mama was doing a great job!

We gave the babies a few more days before bothering them but I’d peek in each day to make sure everyone was healthy, one day we lost one of our little orange babies, it was very sad but we know some things in nature can’t be explained and that this precious little one wasn’t strong enough to make it. Losses on the farm are hard to go through with the kids but are also times for good life lessons.

I was nervous for the next few days hoping everyone else would be ok but so far the remaining five babies are doing great and the babies are the most amazing colors! These babies are brining so much joy and so many squeals of delight into our home! It is so amazing watching them grow and develop so quickly right in front of our eyes.

Today they are two weeks old and went from tiny pink naked babies with eyes and ears shut to the cutest little fluff balls with eyes open and exploring all around!

We are so thankful for these tiny babes as they are helping bring so much joy during our adoption wait. The waiting time during an adoption is always grueling no matter what stage you are in and the sting of not having my growing babe right here in my care is always so hard. These babies are such a sweet blessing to our family and give us life as we wait for our sweet baby to arrive.

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