These two does of Chinchilla mix breed are the only surviving does that are left in my breeding stock after I lost two New Zealand does. I had these two remaining does mated with the Cinnamon/Chinchilla mix breed buck at the same time around 9 AM of July 18, 2011. I first took one doe and brought it to the buck's cage. What happened next was very funny because it was the doe that was mounting the buck! She was really ready for mating and she kept chasing and mounting the buck who was getting away from her. After a few minutes, the buck started to smell the doe and was going around her in circles. Then all of a sudden he mounted the doe and then fell over on his back! It happened so fast I don't think it even lasted for a few seconds. We were all watching this mating episode out of curiosity because this is our first time to breed our rabbits. After the buck has rested for a few minutes, the does started to mount the buck again. So we let the buck do his job twice and then we took off the doe and put her back in her cage. Then we got the other doe and put it inside the bucks cage. She just went running around while the buck was trying to get near her. After a few minutes of "getting to know you" scenario, the buck finally mounted her but we were not sure if it really went through. She wasn't cooperating as the other doe. Finally, we took her out and put her back in her cage to calm her down.
After 8 hours, we put back the first doe in the buck's cage again for the second time just to make sure that the doe is impregnated. The buck did a good job and we took out the doe back to her own cage. Then we put the second doe in the bucks cage to do the same thing but it seemed that it was not working. Since it was getting late and I had to start my cooking, so we decided to let the doe stay with the buck for the night. When we went inside the rabbitry the next morning, she seemed calm and satisfied because she was laying with her body stretched to its full length. So we took her out and put her back in her own cage. It has been 15 days since we had the does mated and I am afraid of palpating the does just in case I make a mistake. Their tummies are getting big anyway so that should be a good sign that they are pregnant.
The picture above shows the two bucks that we currently have. I used the white and brown spotted buck to mate with the two does. He was born on December 15, 2011 so he is now 7 months and 3 days old and this is his first time to be used for breeding. He is a mix breed of Cinnamon and Chinchilla. The black buck is a mix breed of Chinchilla and New Zealand and he will be 7 months old by August 02, 2011.
None of these rabbits are brothers or sisters because I personally picked them from different does who have given birth all at the same time. The breeder who happens to be my neighbor has 12 breeding does and several replacement does and bucks in his rabbitry. My plan is to use the black buck to mate with the two Chinchilla does after they give birth to their first litter. I am hoping that I will have some litters from the two does by the 18-19 of August. By that time, the black buck would be 9 months old and the two does would have had 2 weeks of rest after weaning their litters. I plan on weaning their litters at 1 month and two weeks old so the does will have at least two weeks of rest before being mated again.
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