We believe that you should not breed a doe until after she has reached the age of 6 months. That is when she reaches the age of maturity. Bucks should be 7 months; a younger buck will probably not have as high of sperm count. Because of this he may not be able to impregnate the doe. I have heard of people using bucks as young as 4 months for breeding but the litter sizes are usually small. Unless you are a commercial breeder (meat rabbits) we don't think it wise to breed your doe's more then 3-4 times a year. We like to allow the doe time to rest in between breedings. This practice allows her to gain back her strength, vitamins, and nutrients that she lost while she delivered and nursed her kits. Again I have talked to breeders that have pushed a doe to have 6-8 litters a year; this practice is not healthy for the doe and will shorten her life. A rabbit's gestation is 31 days. If you think your breeding has been successful you will want to put a nest box in the cage on the 28th day. You will want to put some clean shavings (remember don't use cedar) and some hay or straw in the bottom of your nest box. It has been our experience that most does will deliver on the 31st day but you will find some may deliver a day or 2 latter, or earlier. A good sign that her time is approaching is that the doe will pull her fur out and make a nest. This is the beginning of the birthing process. If you notice she is making her nest anywhere but in the nest box you will need to pick up the fur and put it in the nest box. I often introduce a litter pan with shavings in the bottom in the cage of does that do this. If they will not make their nest in the nest box they will make it in the litter pan. I move them into the safer warmer nest box after mama is done having her litter. You will need to keep a heads up when you get to this time, especially if it is cold outside. Some does (most often inexperienced ones) will have their babies on the wire. I find that Mini-Rex are more likely to have kits on the wire then Polish. If this happens, you need to put them in the nest box and try to warm them up as soon as you find them. Make sure you cover them with the pulled fur, as this will warm them up quickly. I keep an ice cream pail of pulled fur in the barn at all times. If I mama does not pull fur or does not pull enough fur for the weather I add fur to the nest as needed. If you do this you may want to put some vanilla under mama's nose at the time. The fur you are adding does not smell like her so she might not like it. The vanilla keeps her from noticing this. By the time the vanilla wears off she will not know the difference. Who say's you can't fool Mother Nature? I also do this if I am adding an extra kit to the nest. Mama will feed the babies 2 times a day. Usually in the morning, and again at night. If she is not feeding her young you may need to foster out her kits to other does. For this reason we usually breed 2 or more does at a time. Kits (baby rabbits) are not pretty to look at, as they look similar to baby mice. They come into this world blind, deaf, and hairless. At 3-4 days you will begin to notice some fuzz, and, at 10-11 days they will open their eyes. Sometime in the 3rd week they will probably try to venture out of the nest box. This can lead to problems if they can't get back in, and it is our experience that this is usually the case. When the weather is warm this is not a problem, but if the weather is cold this is a definite problem. During cold weather you will have to keep a close eye on the kits until they are old enough to get back in the nest box, or old enough to tolerate the cold. Some breeders bring the babies and the nest boxes in the house at this time only bringing them out to the doe twice a day so she can nurse. By 28 days or so you will notice the doe is starting to dry up. This is nature's way of weaning and quite normal. By this time the kits should be eating and drinking well on their own. If after a month you have a kit that is not doing well sometimes it will work to take away the rest of the kits during the day and leaving that one with the doe. This will allow that kit a little extra time to nurse since mom is probably starting to dry up. At 6 weeks you should be able to separate the kits from the doe. If we have a large litter we also divide the bucks from the does at this time. In another 2 weeks you may want to separate them individually depending on how they interact with each other. As you can see "having babies" requires more then just the birthing process. Please so not bring them into this world if you do not intend on taking care of them! This is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly.
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