First Generation Replacement Doe # 3: 1st Litter

 The picture below is called Doe #3 and her first litter. She is one of the 3 replacement does that we kept from the first litter of my original stock of Cinnamon breed. Since we bred the original Cinnamon doe to the Chinchilla buck, so this makes her a half Cinnamon and half Chinchilla mix. We bred all 3 replacement does on Februay 04, 2012 but only two of her siblings, Doe #1 and Doe #2 got pregnant whereas this Doe #3 did not take.

Have you ever tried to palpate a rabbit for pregnancy check just to see if there are babies that formed inside her? Well I haven't done this myself for fear that I may be doing more harm than good just in case I make a mistake in palpating the doe. I have read about this subject on the Internet but I do not have the nerve to try it on my rabbits. If the doe does not get pregnant the first time, then perhaps she will the next time we try to have her mated again. The recommended age before the doe can be bred is at 6 months old. She was born on August 18, 2011 so she was already 5 1/2 months old when I first attempted to mate her with the Chinchilla buck on February 04, 2012. Unfortunately, she did not get pregnant.

So on April 09, 2012, I decided to have her mated with the New Zealand buck. We counted 28 days after she was mated and then we put in the nest box and some cut-up newspapers inside the cage. Gestation period takes 30-31 days before she delivers her first litter so she has two days to fix her nest. Once she feels that she is ready to make her nest, she would gather the cut up newspapers in her mouth and bring these to her nest. She will be busy jumping in and out of her nest box but just let her arrange her nest the way she wants it done. You will notice, too, that she will pull some fur from her dewlap and fill the nest box with these. This will help ensure that her kits will be warm once she delivers. They usually kindle at night or early in the morning. Finally, on May 09, 2012, she delivered 8 healthy kits. We removed the nest box 15 days after the kits were born, this is to prevent the kits from getting any disease from the litter in the nest box. We sometimes leave the nest box much longer than the recommended 15 days especially if the weather is cold. Since it is summer when they were born, and they were already leaving their nest box more often, so we took off the nest box and we just left a piece of cardboard on the floor for them to sleep on. 

  

Doe #3 and her 1st litter

First Generation Replacement Doe # 1: 1st Litter

When my original breeding stock of Cinnamon doe gave birth to her first litter on the 18nth of August 2011, we kept 3 female from this first litter and raised them as replacement does. I call them  First Generation Replacement Doe # 1, Doe # 2 and Doe # 3. They were sired by the broken back Chinchilla buck so they are half Cinnamon and half Chinchilla breed. 

Anyway, Doe # 1 was mated with the black Chinchilla buck on  February 04,2012 at the age of 5 1/2 months old or just 2 weeks short of her 6- month birth date. She kindled on March 07, 2012 to her first litter of 6 healthy pups. Some of her kits took after their father's color which is glossy black. Sometimes, all we see in their cage are their shiny eyes especially when we go out just to check on them at night. We don't have electricity in the rabbitry yet but we plan on putting a light bulb in there soon especially during the rainy season so they will not be scared when there is a typhoon. On one side of the rabbitry is a translucent plastic sheet that brings in light inside the rabbitry even at night so that works just fine for now. Her cage is 2 1/2 feet wide by 3 feet long so there's ample space for her to roam around even if we put in a nest box inside. She occupies the lower bunk in the middle hutch inside the rabbitry which is bigger than the rest of the other hanging cages. These pictures below are her fist litter. 

First Generation Replacement Doe: Cinnamon Chinchilla Breed

Original Stock Cinnamon/Chinchilla Doe: First Litter

These are the first litter of our Cinnamon doe that were born yesterday, August 18, 2011. They're just 1 day old today and we took this picture just this afternoon around 2 PM. They're so cute and wiggly but they're still hairless of course. We gave some greens to the mother first and then took the nest box near the cage's door and uncovered the pups as they were all covered with their mother's fur. As you can see in the picture, we used some old cut-up newspapers as their litter. We can always change the litter should they get wet since we have plenty of old newspapers. This will give us a good excuse to bring out the nest box and check on the babies while changing the litter ha-ha-ha.   

These are the first litter of our Chinchilla doe, born on the same day and perhaps the same time as the Cinnamon litter. I bred the two does on the same day with the same buck. I read on the Internet that the advantage of having two does giving birth at the same time is that you can foster the litter of the other to the doe with a smaller litter. The Cinnamon gave birth to 6 pups but the Chinchilla which is actually bigger in size has more pups like 8 or 9 perhaps. I tried to move the fur that was covering them so I could count their number but they were all wiggling and were piled on top of each other so I was not able to do a real count. I was too afraid of touching them yet just in case I do any harm. In a few more days, I'd be able to do a real count. I am just satisfied and happy that they are all alive and looking good. Oh and by the way, I noticed that when the Chinchilla made a pee, there was some speck of blood mixed in with it. I hope that was just part of her birthing process. Both of the mother does are eating well.