The Kits Have Finally Arrived!!!

The nest that I almost didn't see moving!

     This morning I did like I've done each morning since last Wednesday; my feet hit the floor and I rushed right outside to check on Ivy and Hazel who are due to kindle any day now. To my surprise Ivy's cage was strewn with fur and she was gathering it up, and had clearly been busy making a nest before I arrived.
     I was so excited that she was showing signs of kindling her first litter that I skipped back inside to tell the kids that I was certain that Ivy would be having her kits some time soon. We ate breakfast and got dressed, and about a hour later Miss D and I decided to go see if she was making any progress. I opened the nest box to show her the fur and quickly realized that the nest was moving! I couldn't believe it! I carefully uncovered the babies and counted 7.

Taking our first peek at Ivy's new kits.

     We immediately ran inside to get the rest of the family and I instructed Mr. J to bring his camera. Upon further inspection I counted one more kit, making for a total of 8 in her litter.

Ivy's Kits Born 3-3-13

 Ivy watching over her kits from afar.

   



   

     While we were all admiring Ivy's new babies, giving the new mam some love and a few special treats, and commenting on the amount of fur that she had pulled from her underside Miss D noticed that Hazel was carrying hay around in her mouth. I decided to check out what she was doing a bit closer and I noticed that she was also beginning to remove some of her fur and was very busy building a next in her nest box. Wow, this was almost too good to be true! By yesterday when it appeared that neither doe was preparing for kindling I had pretty much convinced myself that neither of then had gotten pregnant and had already planned to re-breed them with Pablo in 10 days. We went inside to give Hazel some privacy in hopes that her babies would arrive shortly as well.

Miss E decided to collect some of  Ivy's "extra" fur that fell on the ground outside her hutch. 

There's even more where this came from!

Mr. T collecting some of Ivy's fur like his big sisters.

      Another hour or so later Mr. J and Miss E went outside to check on Hazel and she too had kindled 8 kits! Since this is my first time breeding rabbits, I am not sure if this is typical, but I do know that rabbits have 8 teats so litters of 8 are ideal. Since both does are first time mothers I was assuming that their litters would be smaller.

Hazel's kits born 3-3-13

Hazel pulled out far less fur than Ivy, but somehow her nest still seems warmer, deeper, and a bit safer. 

A close up of Hazel's bald, blind little kits.

     So far both Hazel and Ivy seem to be very attentive mothers. They are not about to let us take a peek at their new kits without keeping a close eye on us and that's just fine with me! As a mother of 3, I completely understand and respect their concern. Although it has been tough to refrain from peeking at their kits all day, we have tried to give them the privacy they need to stay calm and warm. I am just tickled pink that both girls took at our first attempt to breed them. Maybe Mr. J was right. He keeps reminding me that the saying "they breed like rabbits" came about for good reason!  

Hoppily Yours, Mrs. J :)