I my own personal self would prune it as little as possible & as quietly as possible, & put a fence around it, with a tiny, rabbit-sized opening for momma to get out to graze at the salad bar.

I lost one rose bush this year due to winter rabbit damage. I carry a pellet pistol in my basket of garden tools on my scooter. This spring as the roses grow with their tender sugar filled and tasty shoots, the rabbits will keep them eaten back to the nubs.
I don't call them bunnies. Bunnies indicate cute furry things. These may be cute but they are also very destructive animals.
They've learned to ignore my Have-A-Heart live animal traps. I haven't caught one in over a year.
The bad tasting products like Liquid Fence or Ropel no longer work either.
My wife thinks the pellet guns just stun them, but I bury the varmits in the rose beds so she can't see them.

Destroy the nest and get rid of the babies or by the end of summer they'll be reproducing adding to your problem.
I'd really like to introduce a pair of foxes in my yard to keep the rabbits under control.

Mmmmmmmmmm, Hossenfeffer. Yummy. :)

This is a very difficult situation! Most of us don't want to harm the critters that come into our yard, but we can't let something ruin all our hard work, either. I have been feeding birds, quite happily all winter, but I don't think I will feel so kindly towards them when all my tomaters and strawberries have holes pecked in them :) I guess I'll be out there waving my arms and yelling at them to go away!

I don't envy you your problem and I wouldn't even know how to get rid of them. We have mice in the barn and they absolutely positively cannot stay there but I hate both traps and poison.......

Lynn

Debbie you need to remove that nest immediately , place it far, far away from your roses and leave it exposed. Let the baby bunnies fend for themselves and hopefully a natural predator like a cat or dog will get them. Fill that hole with rocks, then place another big fat rock where that hole is. You will very much regret allowing those bunnies to live and proliferate. They will dig other holes everywhere in your garden and burrow to other places near your roses. Bunnies like to haunt the same areas and if you've got a big fat bunny hole near your floribundas, get ready for some heavy duty damage. In our area, our rabbits will eat our roses to the ground and eat all the baby leaves and the tender yummy stems. You will be hopping mad. Do not nurture any bunnies! Be cruel to be kind to your roses. I hate, hate, hate bunnies. I was thrilled to see a lovely striped tabby, with a bunny in its jaws. Maybe that's why Eluane is so terrified of cats, LOL! She tries to convince the bunnies that herding is fun, that she's just trying to play. Her ears perk up, her tail wags and she tries to play -herd them.I just want to KILLLLLL (at least I replay rabbit murder scenes in my head, lol)! Now moles, I can live with that. They make a yard look lumpy as heck but at least they don't eat roses or destroy roots and they help eat harmful grubs, and aerate the soil. Bunnies I will chase!

Texaslynn, maybe birds are pecking all the holes because they are helping eat all the nasty insects. Birds are great for eating the harmful insects in your garden. Hmmmm, my dad has so many wonderful birds in his garden, but none have ever bothered his tomatoes. Tomatoes grow everywhere and all over the place in his yard. Maybe remove the tomatoes while they're still green and let them ripen indoors at least.

serena, it wouldn't be so bad if the birds would eat one or two tomatoes but they have to peck a hole in each one....I suppose they are trying to find the best tasting one - ha!

Redsox......please listen to the above posts! Bunnies do terrible damage to roses. I can not tell you the damage they have done to my roses. They ate at least 20 to the ground this winter. They eat every lily I plant Many annuals are impossible to plant...they eat them overnight. Unless I encase the rose in wire,they are open to damage. I ordered Plantskyd today, but it really does not take care of this problem. I am considering an outdoor cat. My concern is for the birds that come to my garden. Good luck.........Lesley

Hi everyone. How would you suggest we move them? Would a large shovel accomplish it or do you have to use your hands?

I am feeling badly about this but I am quite familiar with the damage they do to my garden and it is very aggravating.
They go for some of my perennials as well and I have wasted plenty of money.

Where would you suggest we put them?

Red, why would you hate to have a mole? Moles do not eat plant roots. They eat bugs. Aside from the little mounds of dirt they are harmless.

Maybe you could hire a animal trapper..Or call someone with snakes to feed?

Debbie that is a great question...What you'll probably need is some good ole ear plugs a canvas bag or some sort of bag to scoop out and bag those bunnies and thick gardening gloves. It seems like the only way is to hand-scoop/trap them out into the bag I would think to be sure you've emptied the entire nest.

Last year, my Dad very gently grabbed a little bunny to scoop it out of his vegetable garden to put it elsewhere on the lawn and that thing screamed its head off. You'd think he was committing murder or something like that, LOL! And that scream is pretty dang frightening. You just have to steel yourself and do the deed. But if the baby bunnies are young enough they won't be doing any screaming. Again, it's just taking that nest out and depositing it elsewhere. You can even release the nest to the park if it bothers your conscience. The sooner you get the nest the easier it is because the bunnies won't be screeching if they are young enough. If the babies are too large (becoming slightly larger than hand-sized youngsters) they may very well shriek. And you just have to ignore all that shrieking. Once they're out, I'd fill the entire hole with rocks.

For the men out there, pounding with the shovel, you get the idea, LOL! It's akin to bunny fertilizer for the roses. Sheesh, I can't believe I'm saying all this! yikes! I'm sure I'm scaring the bejeebers out of the entire forum.

I'm really appalled at the amount of damage these bunnies do. I can't even imagine the frustration and anger at seeing one's beloved roses eaten to the ground. What puzzles me is that we live in the country and see rabbits on our property on pretty much a daily basis. The only damage they've done in the more than three years we've lived here is to nibble on newly planted bands and to partially defoliate some roses planted along the driveway. I now guard the bands by putting a barrier of brush and rose branches around them until they're about a foot to a foot and a half high, at which point the bunnies seem to lose interest.

I notice that most if not all of the posters live in rather harsh climates. I don't know if most of you live in the country or suburbia, but in my case we live in an area that still has quite a bit of wilderness left, along with plenty of patrolling coyotes. This is just speculation, but perhaps living in a still fairly balanced ecosystem lessens the predations of the rabbits on gardens, especially when enough wild food is available to them.

Ingrid

Several years ago I found a bunny nest in my fern garden. I couldn't figure out how it got there, since I have a fence around my shade garden. I must have left the gate open over night. Anyway, I grabbed a plastic bag which I place the bunnies in and took them to this walkway a few blocks over. I would let mother nature take care of them. The last thing I need is more problems in my garden.

It's a shame, since I hate rodents, but I think you should leave them alone. I would not disturb them until they can fend for themselves. And you're hearing this from someone who hates rabbits. I hate all rodents, for that matter, and don't stop my dogs from preying on them and their young. Still, I would not personally intervene. If the swallows fool me and build a nest, I don't knock it down until the baby birds are gone. It's just a thing. I do draw the line at rodents in the house....

I have another suggestion...I found a few baby bunnies abandoned in the middle of my yard 2 years ago. I found a number online of local wildlife rescue and took them the bunnies. Problem solved!

BUNNIES!

You mean long-eared garden rats?

Karl is right. Arm yourself. Do you know how many times those little vermin will mate over the next few years? You'll need a calculator!

A pellet gun works but an M-80 tossed in the nest is quicker.

Years ago we lived in Canada, my hubby went out in the woods and set trap-lines ( snares) for rabbit and we ate rabbit every winter... it is delicious.... if you could trap the big rabbits there would be a lot less baby rabbits, plus you'd have a very healthful protein for dinner..... sally

Good News! When my Husband went out to get the paper this morning there was no one in the hole. So he stuck a bunch of rocks in there and a large rock to cover the whole thing. We have a lot of chicken wire cages from last year to protect the smaller roses. They are pretty ugly looking but just until they grow....

I'm ordering those garlic clips to try today.

Geez...glad I don't have bunnies to deal with. Just for perspective, I've heard of bird enthusiasts taking the same approach with stray cats and kittens. Don't like the stray cats pooping in my rosebeds, but then I suppose they keep the rabbit population under control.

Eric

I love little bunnies. I think they are cute. We don't have bunnies here..BUT I can just imagine how angry I would be if they ate all my roses.

Ugh bunnies. Our yard is practically overrun with the little long eared destructive menaces, despite the occasional neighborhood cat I see strolling about. Its so bad I tell my husband that if we ever find ourselves on the brink of starvation, I'm sending him out back with traps. This will be my first year growing roses, and I'm planning on growing a big patch of catnip near every bed that will have them.

Go natural: get a cat. Since I hate to kill anything, I would just leave them alone and get a cat to do the dirty work. Even if the cat doesn't actually kill them, once a cat is around the bunnies move out. I had both bunnies and chipmunks when I first got here. Now I'm rodent free.

I'll show you how to take care of that silly wabbit!

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I have free-range cats in my garden and thus no bunny damage. The voles, however, are a whole 'nother story.

If you want to whack bunnies by proxy, then watch this short, hilarious music video by the Muppets. Warning, not recommended viewing for bunny lovers or the humorless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCRUPWDIgYM

Here is a link that might be useful: Not Your Father's Muppet Show

One year I had a rabbit that was determined to overwinter in a nest it made under one of my dianthus. I cleared it out and filled it back up with dirt a couple times, but it just came back and dug it back out and relined it with fur. I got some Shake Away and sprinkled it around the area, and the bunny didn't come back.

Sounds like your bunny was smart enough to move her babies after she smelled humans had been around them. One year an idiot rabbit made a nest in our yard, and we have two large dogs, one of which has killed and eaten more rabbits than I can count. Not the brightest bunny around!

Deanna