What a Day To Be Born!

I woke up early this morning.  Charlotte exclaimed, "Look!  It's snowing!"  

I went downstairs and remembered that today the kits were due.  I wanted to check on the rabbits, so I got dressed and went outside.  As you might have already clued in, it was very cold.  The snow was blowing horizontally, because it was so windy.  I went out to the bunny barn, and Charlotte was out there, too.  I said, "Today the kits are supposed to be born!" 

I checked Honey and Duchess.  Nothing.  Charlotte said that I should get Duchess some more hay because she took it all out of her nesting box and didn't put anything back in.  I told her that I would, but that I wanted to take care of my animals first.  I took care of all my rabbits except Snowball, because her cage is the highest, and I need to stand on a bucket to open her door.  As I was getting up on the bucket, Snowball ran to the door.  She always does that.  I noticed a bald spot by her legs.  "Look, Charlotte!.  She has a bald spot.  She must have been pulling wool."

Charlotte got up.  "Maybe she had kits!"  She took off her glove and felt inside the nesting box for kits.  Of course there were kits!  I asked her how many she felt.  She said she didn't know.  

Charlotte got the nesting box out of Snowball's cage to take inside the house and told me to stay behind and watch whether Snowball had any more kits.  She didn't, and when I came inside Charlotte told me the news.  Eleven kits!  And they are all still alive!

What I wasn't expecting to see was more REWs than coloreds.  There were seven REWs and four coloreds.  Unfortunately, it looks like three of the REWs are runts. 

One of the coloreds has a black belly.  We think it is a self-black.  The other three have white bellies suggest that these are agoutis.  I think there are two chestnuts and an opal.  

The "REWs", we are hoping, aren't actually REWs.  We are hoping they are some kind of cream or fawn.  PB, the dad, doesn't show any REWs in his pedigree.  It would be really sad to actually have seven REWs.

The three on the left are the runts.