Bunny breeding mayhem at the farm

 

I’ve not written about our animals for a while now. I suppose #farmbaby2015 has taken over my thoughts but believe me, the animals are still here.
Considering this time last year we had three rabbits that I was unsure of the sex and no bunny babies, the 2014 breeding season has been prolific and, if I’m honest, I was unprepared for it.
Most of the litters were successful. We had a couple of deaths, accidents and escapes-it is a farm after all (RIP Coco)
 The last litter of the season was born about two months ago to Carmen, a very pretty rabbit.
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Carmen
I checked the sexes of the young before I advertised them. Sexing rabbits is notoriously difficult-especially at a young age but I did my best.
Unfortunately, when I sold the first male, the lovely girl who bought her later messaged me to say he was actually a she. Oops. Fortunately she laughed and didn’t mind so when a family came last night to buy our two remaining boys, I did encourage them to check the sexes themselves before they left and thank goodness they did.
All the ones I thought were boys were actually girls and vice versa.
What a fool. From correctly getting the sexes right of all the previous litters to getting them all wrong, I really don’t now what happened.
The worst bit of this story surrounds Carrot, the daddy rabbit. I separated him from his harem of ladies for the winter months but he was beginning to look really fed up. Rabbits don’t like being on their own.
So, I decided to put his little son in with him so they could keep each other company.
However, when the family came they broke the worst news of it all. Carrot’s son was actually his daughter and, unlike humans, rabbits do not know if they are blood related or not when it comes to mating.
I got her out of there pretty quickly and just hope she was too young yet to get pregnant.
If there was a Jeremy Kyle show for rabbits, my lot would be regular contestants.
So the bunny village was supposed to be quietening down for the winter.
I’ve had to keep three babies. I say had. I did want to keep one.
This is Crumble and Kohl and their big sister Coffee.
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Crumble
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photo 1
Coffee
Then, on feeding them tonight, I discovered a new litter.
Bad, bunny mummy.
This definitely is the last litter of the season.
Shall I call Jeremy or will you?

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