Litter #2


The second litter of kits was born on Monday, January 6th.  I usually go out in the morning to check on the bunnies and make sure they have plenty of water for the day.  This morning, I noticed a few squeaks and the mother rabbit was in the nest box licking herself.  I thought she might be giving birth, so I quickly exited the area and left her alone.  Later that day when I came home, I went out to take a look and she had pulled a whole bunch of fur (a lot more than when she gave birth in the fall) and piled it in the nest box.  The little pile was moving up and down, so I knew that there were some babies inside.  I decided against taking a look as I don’t want to spook the mother.  Also, the next day was supposed to be very windy and cold (10 degrees F for a high with windchills in the negative), so I let them be in their little cocoon.  Mom appears to have done a much better job this time of covering them up, knowing the cold was around the corner. 
On the 7th, it was another bitterly cold day (3 degrees F with a wind chill of -15 F), but mom was doing fine even with the extremely cold weather.  I moved back the fur and saw all the little babies and they were all moving around.  It does not appear as though any died right away. 
The 8th was another very cold day (20 for the high, with wind again), but I checked again and saw no evidence of any dead babies.  They were all moving around and didn’t seem to have a worry.  They don’t have hardly any fur, so I covered them back up to make sure they were still warm.  I did remove some of the soiled bedding from the nest box, but that was the only thing I had to do.  I was extremely proud of my doe, as she has took care of her babies even though it was the coldest it has been in about 10 years.  The temperature is going to moderate into the 30’s and then the 50’s, so hopefully I am out of the woods worrying about the cold weather and the kits.