# Babies!!!!!



## grumpybabies (Apr 28, 2007)

Wow i'm so lucky! 6 babies born today! This ismy second litter from the mother, both times 6 healthy babies, and bothtimes on day 31, what a considerate rabbit! A couple of questions nowthough, sorry!


She gave birth around midday, they normally have them at night don't they?(Just out of curiosity).
She seems to have pulled more fur since she had them,isthere much chance of her having more still as she doesn'tlike me touching her stomach like she is still pregnant also.
And finally, what does a magpie baby's skin look like when it isborn? Are there loads of tiny white patches everywhere, or do they looksolid?
I'm one happy girl, she loves to keep me guessing though, didn't showany signs of being about to give birth! Wasn't even convinced she waspregnant until yesterday anyway!


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## Flashy (Apr 28, 2007)

Congratulations 

I don't know about the third one, sorry, but I can take a stab atanswering the first two. (but this is not necessarily fact, I believeit to be true, but someone might answer something different).

1, Mostly bunnies in the wild are most active overnight, andparticularly dawn and dusk. Domestic bunnies seem to often carry thatinstinct to have the babies at that time, same as the wild ones do.Having said that I have had bunnies have their litters during the day.There is no harm in that, means that you can check everything is ok asthings progress along.

2, The does that I have had that gave birth have carried on maintainingand expanding the nests up to the babies being a few days old, soprobably your doe is just sorting out the nest for the amount of kitsshe has. It is also probably likely that the contractions hurt herbelly and she is sore, as all new mothers are, which could be why shedidn't like you touching her.

If she hasn't had anymore within an hour after the last, and she islively, eating, and hopping about, then the chances are that she hasfinished. 

That's how I would answer those, but someone might have a better answer 

Can I ask, what's a magpie baby? (sorry for my ignorance)

Congrats once again


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## grumpybabies (Apr 28, 2007)

Thanks for your answers, i guess i was justhoping for more! And amagpie is a harlequin coloured rabbit,but withwhite instead of the tan colour i think, but otherswill answer that better than me!


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## Flashy (Apr 28, 2007)

Ok, I can have a stab, but this may be way off the mark, lol.

If the bunny has white, that will show only when the fur comes through,it will have pink skin. Black and Brown and dark colours shows as darkpigment on the skin.

The fur should start to come through maybe tomorrow or the next day.

Not sure if that is helpful, lol, but hey, nevermind.

 Hopefully you might be able to get some pictures soon? It would be lovely to see them.


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## grumpybabies (Apr 28, 2007)

Well i have 3 that have grey coloured skin, so iwas wondering if they may turn out to be magpies as the dad is amagpie, and i would love one or 2!


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## Flashy (Apr 28, 2007)

That would be exciting. I hope you get what you want


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## TinysMom (Apr 28, 2007)

Howdy! Congrats on the babies - I was wondering how things were going to go.

I've had does give birth at noontime, 10 pm, 4 am and anytime inbetween. So the fact she gave birth when she did really isn't that biga thing...

I'm surprised she only had six - not that it is a small litter oranything. Just being a larger rabbit - I halfway expected her to have 8or 10 or something. 

Has she eaten anything yet? If not - she could still have more in herand be waiting to have them. I've read that some of thelarger does will sometimes make two nests and have some in one and somein the other and then feed them at different times, etc. (This isusually the "meat production" rabbits which are bred to have 10 or soat a time). 

As far as knowing if they're magpies....all I can say for sure is youshould know within 2-3 days (when the fur comes in). It will be obviousat a fairly young age really. I'm guessing they would be mostly pinknow (for the white) and then the markings would come in shortly.

Peg


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## grumpybabies (Apr 28, 2007)

None of the babies are pink, there are 3 solidswith grey skin, and 3 brokens with grey skin, i was hoping the solidsmay be magpies but never mind! And as for the small number of babies, iwas expecting more too but she has been taking treats from me, ihaven't seen her eat her normal food yet though, and as it is hersecond litter as a big rabbit, i thought about 8 would be born but heythey are all healthy and cute!


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## grumpybabies (Apr 29, 2007)

So a few pics of them... These are taken this morning so they have had their first feed, but they aren't quite 24 hours old yet.












The one on the left in this pic is the runt of the litter, but it still has a cute pot belly


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## hellsmistress (Apr 29, 2007)

Ohh theyre soo cute! I would be willing to bettheyre not magpies, They look like broken blacks and a solid black ortwo,to me, although you won't be able to tell better untiltheyre 3+ days. I have never bred magpies or harlequins before but itis my understanding that the harlequin/magpie gene is recessive and sowont show up unless both parents have the recessives, not 100% on thatthough.

-Chantel


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## TinysMom (Apr 29, 2007)

No magpies there - sorry! But there are brokens - which I just adore.....so you're sending them to Texas when???

:bunnydance:

Peg


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## babybabbit (Apr 29, 2007)

whats a broken rabbit?


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## TinysMom (Apr 29, 2007)

A broken rabbit has white with other colors mixed in. Here are a couple of photos:

Broken tort (white w/ tort coloring):




Broken siamese sable:







Broken blue:







Broken black otter (carrying chocolate too):








Ideally, you want the 'butterfly' pattern on the nose - on both sides of the nose - iike in this broken tort buck below:





ARBA has standards for what is considered broken...at least 10% colorand not more than a certain percentage of color - but I don't rememberright off what it is..

Peg

P.S. If you ever hear anyone mention a "tri" - it is a broken harlequin..

*babybabbit wrote: *


> whats a broken rabbit?


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## grumpybabies (Apr 29, 2007)

*TinysMom wrote:*


> No magpies there - sorry! But there are brokens - which Ijust adore.....so you're sending them to Texas when???
> 
> :bunnydance:
> 
> Peg




When you show me which lionheads you are sending in return lol


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## Love4buns (Apr 29, 2007)

i love black babies when their borni remember my white bun having a black baby i was like:shock:lol couldnt understand how a white bun came out with ablack baby hehe 

good luck with the babies anyways i expect to see loads of pics when they've got theirfur


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## grumpybabies (May 5, 2007)

Well here are a few more pics, i don't knowwhether i should do it here or in the blogs but i guess it can be movedfor me if needs be. So mum seemed to have moved the whole nestyesterday from the corner of her bedroom to the middle and put a circleof fur around it, it amazesme how good she is with them.These are from yesterday at 6 days old, i have a question though, someof the black on the brokens seems to be turning brown, not like anotter colouring but on the top, what's going on?!!!
















And my fav pic 'Heading home'






So what do you think of the colouring?


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## hellsmistress (May 5, 2007)

Ohhh theyre soo cute. I have to revise myearlier guess and say that the 3 babies in the pictures are Agouti andthe solids in the first pic one looks Agouti and the other black.


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## TinysMom (May 5, 2007)

I'm guessing broken chestnut agouti...


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## babybabbit (May 5, 2007)

adorable!!!!:heartbeat:


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## pamnock (May 5, 2007)

Yep - The ones turning brownish are chestnut agoutis.

Do you have photos of the parents?

Pam


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## grumpybabies (May 5, 2007)

Yes i do indeed...

Mum...







And dad.... Sorry he had his head tilt at this point.






Sorry to be stupid but what is the difference between an agouti and achestnut agouti, and where can i find a pic? I will go look in thebreeds area now...


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## TinysMom (May 5, 2007)

chestnut agouti = chestnut (agouti is the color family it is in)...

Here are pictures of Anissa, my chestnut doe that took BOB in 2005 (Idon't work much with chestnuts so I don't have many photos to choosefrom).

You can click on the photos to see a larger picture.


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## grumpybabies (May 5, 2007)

Well thanks for those, i thought it would bemore like a wild rabbit colouring which i don't really like, but it ismore like chocolate isn't it? I'm so excited to have some of those!


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## TinysMom (May 5, 2007)

Actually - um - no it is nothing really likechocolate - must be the way the photos turned out - cause it is thewild rabbit coloring.

But it can be very pretty in a broken..

Peg


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## grumpybabies (May 5, 2007)

Well i will be happy that they are healthyreally i didn't mean to sound ungrateful, i'm sure i will love thembecause they are mine... and brokens are always pretty!


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## grumpybabies (May 5, 2007)

And i have to fess up to something, i hopenobody will be disappointed with me because of this, as i am only justlearning about breeding, but i have to be honest! When this guy got togrumpy, i thought she would be pregnant in one mating like she wasbefore, withthe first litter she had, and i rememberedreading somewhere that you should re-breed to ensure a smaller kit sizewith a bigger litter , for an easier birth,so i bred heragain but to the father of her first litter because i thought i couldguarantee another successful mating with him, so i'm not certain whothe father is, this is the other possible dad bubba






I hope you guys aren't angry with me, i just thought i was doing whatwas best to make it an easy birth but now i have to say who the dad is,well i had to explain. Is it bad to breed to 2 different bucks even ifit is just me keeping the babies, i'm not trying to sell them oranything.


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## Flashy (May 5, 2007)

I wonder if that means that there are kits therefrom both fathers, because does can release eggs by 'choice' so Iwonder if some come from one father, and some from another.

Now there's an interesting thought.

When I breed I just keep the doe and buck together for a few hours, that also seems to do the trick.


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## TinysMom (May 5, 2007)

For those who are wondering - grumpybabies and Italked about this. I explained to her that since these are pet bunniesand not "show bunnies" or bunnies that will be used for breeding (andneed a pedigree) that this is NOT a horrible thing. There wassome concern about having enough babies in the litter so that theywould not be huge. (I have been told with lionheads to have the buckmate the doe 2-3 times so the babies will be smaller since there aremore of them ~ and that advice was so true as when I've had singletons,they've often been huge and born dead).

What would be irresponsible would be if she tried to sell these babiesas "pedigreed" bunnies since she can not be sure who the father is...

....but she's not doing that.

Peg*

grumpybabies wrote: *


> And i have to fess upto something, i hope nobody will be disappointed with me because ofthis, as i am only just learning about breeding, but i have to behonest!


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## Flashy (May 5, 2007)

I hope that comment was made for people generally, and not at me because of what I said.

I never said it was a bad thing, just that theoretically they could be half brothers and sisters. 

Sorry if you did think I thought it was a bad thing. If I thought it was I would have said outright.


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## grumpybabies (May 5, 2007)

No Flashy i'm sure that wasn't aimed at you, youwere being nice, it's just Peg knows i am worried about people beingangry at me thats all, so thanks Peg.


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## TinysMom (May 5, 2007)

Hi Flashy!

i didn't think you were being upset or rude or anything - butthere are some who might come on here and say, "oh how irresponsible.."etc.

GrumpyBabies had a litter before - an accidental litter. She has keptthe babies - neutered the bucks, etc. - been VERY VERY responsibleabout how she handles things.

So I wanted to sort of "watch her back" a bit as some might criticizeher for what she did - but she did the repeat breeding to make sure thebabies would be small enough for the mama.....

Peg*

Flashy wrote: *


> I hope that comment was madefor people generally, and not at me because of what I said.
> 
> I never said it was a bad thing, just that theoretically they could be half brothers and sisters.
> 
> Sorry if you did think I thought it was a bad thing. If I thought it was I would have said outright.


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## ~BunBuns~ (May 6, 2007)

so cute!


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