Red Currant’s litter of 7

Red Currant’s litter of 7

Red Currant with a bloody nose.

Red Currant got increasingly agitated during the day yesterday (August 7th) after Strawberry had her litter and finally started giving birth to them at about 8pm just as I was putting all the other rabbits away for the night. As she was startling at every noise I left her to it rather than hanging about and upsetting her further.

By this morning they were all cosy in the corner behind the nice dog bed I had put ready for her to use. That she had pushed out of her way as she worked. She was all cleaned up and much calmer and had eaten the veg I had left out for her. The Berry Boys next door were clearly fascinated with all the goings on next door to them.

 

For those that haven’t been following the rescue of the New Zealand Whites from Bristol I need to point out that we don’t usually have babies here. I think the last time was 2011 when Violet arrived pregnant and had two, one of whom, Fern, is still with us.

Red Currant and Strawberry were breeding does used for meat production:(( Obviously they had been put with a buck not long before their owner decided not to continue and these are the resulting litters. Although we could have done with there being fewer these babies are to be celebrated because they have been born with the freedom to live out their lives instead of having them cut short. They are going to cause us an awful lot of trouble and cost us a lot of time, money and effort but they are worth it because every life is valuable. I look forward to watching them grow up to become truely Happy Hoppers.

Update: there were 8 but one got dragged out of the nest, got very cold and subsequently died:(( The remaining 7 include one tiny runt and one huge one. At two weeks old they are starting to explore but some are more adventurous than others.