Rabbit nest/babies

Question
A rabbit had her litter of bunnies in the middle of our backyard where our dogs go outside.  I have temporarily moved the dogs to front yard when they go out.  How long will the bunnies stay in the nest?  When will it be safe for my dogs to go back to the backyard?  I don't want the dogs to disrupt the nest.

Answer
Hi Leslie,

thanks for being so caring and concerned about these wild little guys.

The bunnies will probably be in that nest area for at least a month.  They really only start venturing out slowly at about 3 weeks, but they don't go that far.  By about 4 weeks they will probably have stopped nursing and will still be in the area.  If you want to play it safe, 4-5 weeks gives them a chance to start learning the neighborhood and staking out some different territory.  Realize though that your backyard will always probably be a place they will come back to every so often.  I see many wild rabbits in our neighborhood that have a primary place they live, but they go into 7-8 different yards throughout the week.

Thanks for caring about them,

Lee