Week 6 and Saying "Goodbye!"

Brown Sugar, 6 weeks old

The bunnies turned 6 weeks old today on December 6, 2011.

I decided to go ahead and call Cathy today (the lady who sold us Honeybunny) to make sure she would still take the bunnies back since we have had no buyers. :) Our original plan was to keep the bunnies for 8 weeks. Much to my surprise, however, Cathy said she was available to come by our house TODAY and pick up the bunnies. So, we agreed....and all the bunnies are back at the farm where their momma originally came from. All....but 1 bunny that is. We decided to keep Brown Sugar after finding out she is a female. She is the little doe that looks just like Honeybunny. Cathy says that Brown Sugar is definitely part Lionhead (another rabbit breed), which means she will be smaller than her English Angora mother. They will be able to share the cage together and should get along just fine.

They are so cute together! Honeybunny is more relaxed and unphased with having just one kit in her cage versus having all six. This afternoon, they were lying together facing each other with their wiggly noses touching. They eat and drink together, and Honeybunny even licked Brown Sugar's ears tonight and cleaned her up. We have not seen her lick her babies very often. She mainly tried to hop away from them. She didn't like it when they all rushed at her to nurse. :) They seem like perfect cage-mates. We are thrilled with how it all worked out. We have all loved Brown Sugar from the beginning. She was the calmest one who would spontaneously fall asleep in your hands. She has the sweetest face with a dark brown  nose.

So, we said "good-bye" to five kits today. They are all healthy and thriving and will have a good life on the farm. It was a fun and unexpected adventure getting to raise six kits. We will miss their cute wiggly noses and sporatic "popcorn" hopping about; however, it will be nice to not have such a big mess to clean up each day. Cage cleaning was becoming too big of a chore for Ruthie and me the last couple of weeks. :) Now, we get to continue our rabbit raising adventure with Honeybunny and Brown Sugar. What a joy they are!

Week 5

Gathered around the feeding bowl with Momma Bunny.....They LOVE to eat!!! In fact, they become frantic when they hear us come with the food bag. I guess they need lots of food since they are growing so fast.

Week 4....Still Growing...and Growing....and Growing.....

We have decided that the bunnies grow like the character of Alice in Alice in Wonderland when she drinks from the vial. :) The bunnies literally grow overnight. We went out of town for a couple of days for Thanksgiving, and when we returned, we couldn't believe our eyes! They have gotten bigger and furrier in just 2 days. They look like real bunnies now! They are eating and going potty more often as well....which means more mess! ha! Cleaning cages now isn't as easy or fast as it was a couple of weeks ago. The bunnies like to sit in the food bowl while feasting. They eat so much now!

It is more difficult to get a good picture of the rabbits now that they don't stand still and pose. They are constantly on the move and hopping about.

Even Rich has grown to love these sweet little bunnies. You can see how much they have grown based on Rich's hand size.

Here they are.....at 3 weeks of age!!

3 weeks old....awake and active!!

The six kits are still growing stronger, bigger, and more active as each day passes. They are now nibbling at hay and pellets. They have even discovered the water bottle and instinctively know how to drink from it. It is cute to hear them suck away at the water bottle!

Brown Sugar and one of the black bunnies getting a drink

They were driving their momma--Honeybunny--crazy, so we moved the bunnies into their own cage during the day. We just put them with momma bunny at night so they can be sure to nurse and fill their tummies with nutritious and rich rabbit milk, as that is still their main staple.

Climbing on top of "Momma"...

The bunnies have their own cage right next to "Momma" so they can see each other.

2 Weeks Old!!

The Six Kits....at 2 Weeks Old! They completely fill up the box now!

The 6 little kits are 2-weeks old! They are getting bigger and bigger everyday. We can't believe how big their back legs have gotten!

It's Bunny-monium!! Bunnies Are Everywhere!

  The bunnies have learned how to jump out of their box. They are running around everywhere!

Bunny-monium!!!! Ruthie is trying to catch them as they hop about.

What's in your pocket, Theo??

They are fast, too. It is so cute when they hop and run. Some of the bunnies really like Theo's blue jeans. They were trying to crawl into his pant leg and into his pockets!  

The Escape Artist!!

Their Eyes Have Opened! Days 10-11

All six little kits' eyes began to open yesterday (Day 10) and are now fully open today on Day 11. The bunnies are way more active now and have begun to crawl out of the box and go find "momma" to nurse each night. THEY seek HER out now. She will tolerate all six nursing for a minute or two, and then she hops away from them to the other side of her cage causing the babies to fall and flip over and land every which way around the cage. I have to watch them closely so they don't get their little legs caught in between the grates in the cage floor. At least their bodies are now too big to fall through or to get stuck. They are so adorable when they nurse because they flip themselves over onto their backs and wiggle their little legs in the air just as happy as little clams to be filling their bellies.

Rich and I moved all six to a larger box tonight where they could have a little more wiggle room. The box still stays inside the big cage with Honeybunny. The kits still like to climb on each other and pile on top of each other even with the extra space. I think that keeps them feeling safe and warm. The bunnies (typical sibling rivalry) already fuss at each other making little squealing sounds as they push and kick each other to get snuggled into just the right position in the nesting box.

If they are already this active at only 2 1/2 weeks, it is going to get exciting around here very quickly!! Bunnies are going to be jumping everywhere very soon! Yikes!!

One Week Old! (Post #4)

Look how much they've grown and changed in one week!

 

 Today our six little bunnies turned 1 week old. They all seem to be thriving and getting bigger everyday. We can't believe how much they have grown in just a week! They all have fat little "Pillsbury Doughboy" tummies especially right after nursing. Honeybunny seems to have settled into a routine of nursing in the early morning hours around 5:00 a.m. Two of the kits (the brown one and one of the black ones) seem a little smaller than the other four, but they appear to still be growing and eating. All six kits have lots of fur, little tiny teeth and claws and a tiny tail. Their little ears and hind legs are getting longer, and their little eyes are beginning to open slightly....but are not quite open fully yet. We are hoping to see them fully open tomorrow since that is a traditional milestone at one week of age.

With the onset of fur, the bunnies' physical characteristics are becoming more apparent. We have 3 beautiful solid black kits, whom the kids have named after chocolate candy bars--Hershey, KitKat, and Snickers. There is also the adorable light brown kit whom the kids affectionately call Brown Sugar. The other two kits have fluffy white coats with lots of black markings on their backs and faces. One even has a black dot over one eye--too cute! Theo, Ruthie, and Levi have named these two Snowball and Coconut.

It has been so much fun to watch these bunnies grow bigger each day and to observe how Honeybunny takes care of them. She checks on them periodically throughout the day since they are all in one cage together. She eats the Timothy Hay out of their nest and moves them around with her nose and paws. (I have to watch to ensure that she doesn't step on them. The babies let out a tiny little squeal when they get stepped on by momma or pushed around by a sibling.)  Mostly, however, she sleeps and eats and pretty much ignores her litter. When I took the kits out this morning to clean their box, Honeybunny stood up on her hind legs and looked over her cage to see what I was doing with her babies. It was very sweet!

Honeybunny is still her sweet and playful self. Ruthie likes to let her out several times during the day to play with her. Today, I found Honeybunny snuggled up on the floor next to Ruthie's leg just as happy as can be (both of them) after she had worn herself out romping and frolicking around the room.