Country Bumpkin Bunnies is an ARBA registered RABBITRY, currently located in Dunlap, Illinois. We began our bunny journey in Kentucky many years ago and have moved several times. Our rabbits have resided in KY, FL, MO, and now IL! We do welcome visitors to pick up bunnies too.

Cyndi Collins

About Us

Country Bumpkin Bunnies is ran by me, Cyndi Collins. My family and close friends refer to me as that crazy animal lady and I will admit, it all started at a very young age! My parents, MaMa and Papa to most, will roll their eyes when you bring up early childhood stories of me buying chickens for my mother for her birthday, my pet rabbits that my dad called his meat rabbits, and numerous dogs and cats I brought home without permission for many years. I still involve my parents in my endeavors to this day. My dad is Mr. Fix it in everything. My mom is still used to following behind me cleaning up my meses no matter how old I get! Both of my parents are avid gardeners. They help me with my bunny carrot patch each summer and our bunnies fertilize their garden immensely!

My hubby is my rock and my soul mate! Without him, nothing we do would be possible. He acquired our beautiful farm and supports all of my crazy animal adventures. If you ever watch him around the animals, he has a huge smile on his face and loves them just as much as I do! He makes sure we never run out of feed or supplies. He is on top of his game and always there when we need him. He is an Evangelist and makes sure we never forget to put God first in our lives every single day!

I am MiMi to Justus, Celeste, Aurora “Rory”, and Arabella “Bella” who you will see lots of pictures of because they are all involved with our bunnies. We have three more grandkids far away from us as well. My husband, Pastor John and I have 8 children and most of them are grown and scattered throughout the US but you will see that some (Kelsi and Ahnika seen below) are part of our bunny program and very involved.

Kelsi is my oldest daughter and mommy to four of my grandkids (aka: Kelsi’s crazy kids).

All of the beautiful photography you see posted here or on any of our social media accounts is undoubtedly a product of her work. She keeps up with the latest fashion, trends, and what just looks good with our beautiful bunnies.

You can always tell if I am the operator of the camera…not so pretty! Kelsi is also very good with genetics. She has taken photography and genetics in college! When I struggle, she is quick to correct me and without her, I would have no color and genetics page, no beautiful pictures and certainly no crazy little kids helping me out!

We couldn’t raise these rabbits without Ahnika, my youngest daughter who LOVES English Angoras (EA). Country Bumpkin Bunnies all began with Ahnika. She started this business after seeing her first fluffy bunny! Ahnika shows bunnies in the summer months along with my four grandkids when school is out. Ahnika is also the president of our local 4H club, the Dunlap Dynamites!

Ahnika runs the rabbitry on the weekends. She does all the cleaning, feeding, and she gained the title “chief bunny snuggler” long ago, as we realized how much she loves fluffy animals. She squeezes in socialization time for all of our baby bunnies in between high school studies, band (marching, jaz, & pep), theater, and church. I should also mention that Ahnika loves playing oculus and hanging out with her friends. She may hate working but she never tells us no to doing her chores. She takes a bit longer than most but we quickly realized why…she can’t help but play with the bunnies when she is supposed to be cleaning! She heads our bunny therapy program here as well!

My Grandkids Help Run the Show!

My oldest grandchild is Justus. He loves helping with bunny chores and showing bunnies in the summer! He loves basketball and school so I have to catch him when he isn’t busy but he is the sweetest kid who will never tell me no when I need help! He chose to show rabbits in 4H as well and he spends every waking moment outside if he can! If we can’t find him, all we have to do is search the property and he is usually wondering around in the woods or on his favorite thing…the trampoline! He doesn’t care how frigid cold or hot it is outside, he loves nature.

Celeste is a chip off the ole block! She is a mini me to her mom, Kelsi! She is always telling me what looks best when grooming a bunny and very quick to help come up with names. She is a fashionista at a very young age! She loves kissing the bunnies and snuggling them so she is usually present when I tell the kids we need to work on some therapy bunnies! Most people think that her and her twin sisters are triplets because they are pretty much the same size although she is two years older than them. Celeste is very helpful and loves helping collect herbs and plants for our homemade bunny treats! You just won’t find a more obedient child who acts much more mature than her short years.

Aurora, aka Rory is the oldest twin granddaughter. She is simply nuts! She is hyper, funny, a bit odd at times and of course, my little mini me when it comes to animals! She wants to be MiMi’s helper no matter what I am doing. I can be shoveling manure and that kid is telling me she wants to help. She has also informed me that she wants her own barn and own animals in it! Rory doesn’t mind getting dirty and if it involves an animal, she is in my shadows. She tries to give the bunny each a treat as often as I will let her. Every time I turn around, she has some sort of animal in her arms hugging it, even chickens!

Arabella, aka Bella is more like Justus but in a girl form. She is very loving and is absolutely nuts about bunnies. She has a bit of an allergy to some of our animals so we have to be very careful with her. Unfortunately, we recently found out Bella is starting to show symptoms of an allergy to rabbits. She loves all of our animals so we do our best to allow her to be around them and control her allergic reactions. She still shows bunnies because she wouldn’t have it any other way! Bella is a drama queen just like Celeste so when it comes to helping, she is quick to give the bunnies treats and pets but when it comes to cleaning, she is long gone before you even notice lol. She is Rory’s twin (not identical or anything alike!) and the baby of the family. Her favorite place is to be cuddled up in her mommies lap. She is a snuggle bunny!

Our Story

How It All Started

Our Rabbitry, Country Bumpkin Bunnies was founded by our youngest daughter Ahnika. All of my kids have had pet bunnies as they were growing up. It wasn’t until Ahnika considered raising them when Country Bumpkin Bunnies was born. We began with three young lionhead bunnies but because of their temperaments, that lasted less than one month! They were re-homed and replaced with our first three pedigreed English Angoras. We chose this breed because of their look and personality. The English Angora rabbit is known as the “puppy dog bunny” and they are the friendliest bunny we have ever owned!

We started our Rabbitry when living on a farm in eastern Kentucky. Beginning with three rabbits and barely any knowledge of the breed, we grew quickly and learned a lot of lessons the hard way. The lessons we learned were all documented and saved for this website. We hope that all of our tearful lessons can save someone from making some of the same mistakes we made! When we began, we were faced with lots of people who were too scared to tell us how to deal with certain situations for fear of ruining their reputation. In the bunny world, you will run into all kids of personalities and lots did not want anyone to know that they ever had any illness’ in their rabbitry. Veterinarians are NOT well versed in the care of rabbits. It takes a licensed exotic veterinarian specialist to treat a rabbit properly and there just aren’t many of those available. This is why it is very important to learn rabbit husbandry!

Our pet bunnies quickly became a fun hobby for us and then turned into a business quickly. We ventured into ARBA shows, county and state fairs, and joined the 4H as we wanted our rabbits to have more of a purpose and greater experiences for our kids. I highly recommend becoming involved with 4H if you have children! I actually help out with the Cloverbuds (under 8 years old) and it is awesome!

No one is perfect but our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! So we will still make mistakes and have loss, but it is much less. I like to think that we go above and beyond for our customers because I know what it feels like to have a door shut in your face when you need guidance. Owning an English Angora rabbit should be loads of fun and when you find yourself in a situation where you have questions or need help, a good breeder should be there for you with a smile on their face! We all hope that this website will help in educating anyone interested in learning about rabbits. I will say that time and experience are valuable in raising the English Angora Rabbit breed.