Babies!!!!!

[grumpybabies]

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!

1. She gave birth around midday, they normally have them at night don't they?(Just out of curiosity).
2. 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.
3. 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!

 

[Flashy]

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

 

[grumpybabies]

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!

 

[Flashy]

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.

 

[grumpybabies]

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!

 

[Flashy]

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

 

[TinysMom]

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

 

[grumpybabies]

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!

 

[grumpybabies]

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

 

[hellsmistress]

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

 

[TinysMom]

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

:bunnydance:

Peg

 

[babybabbit]

whats a broken rabbit?

 

[TinysMom]

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?

 

[grumpybabies]

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

 

[Love4buns]

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

 

[grumpybabies]

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?

 

[hellsmistress]

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.

 

[TinysMom]

I'm guessing broken chestnut agouti...

 

[babybabbit]

adorable!!!!:heartbeat:

 

[pamnock]

Yep - The ones turning brownish are chestnut agoutis.

Do you have photos of the parents?

Pam