In my last post, I made a reference to feeding a baby bunny. I figure I should probably elaborate. We bought two meat rabbits last winter after seeing a demonstration on raising (and butchering ) rabbits for meat. The first time we bred them this Spring, I was sure they didn't come anywhere near each other. We bred them again a few days later and I marked it on the calendar so I would know when to put a nest box in the doe's cage. Well, it seems she actually took on the first breeding. Unfortunately I hadn't put the next box in yet because I thought she was due 3 days later. She gave birth the day I planned to put her box in. The bunnys were born on the cage wire and at least 2 fell through and were gotten by our dogs. We found 3 bunnys still in the cage, cold. We brought them in the house to warm them up and brought the mama in to them to nurse.
Unfortunately, 2 of the babies didn't make it. The other bunny seemed strong and was nursing well, so we brought mama rabbit to him/her 3 times a day for force nursing. Things went well for about a week, them the baby stopped gaining weight and mama didn't seem to have any milk. So for the last two weeks we have been bottle feeding baby bunny. We are giving her/him (I think it's a her, but I'm not positive) Esbilac mixed with heavy cream and some probiotics.
Baby bunny now has his/her eyes open and has grown tremendously! She/he is being bottle fed twice a day and is just starting to eat solids. We had to change living arrangements from box to cage because bunny is getting curious and almost hopped out of the box. I have promised the kids that this bunny will NEVER be eaten.
Check out those ears! I think the ears are the cutest part of a bunny.
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