Anybody Breeding Silver Fox rabbits

They can also be self based, as well.

Anywho, I've never seen a nice harli, unless it was crossed heavily with nz, or Europe.

Connorrm said:

They can also be self based, as well.

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That's called a torted harlequin, and it's not supposed to happen with the breed proper, only in other breeds like the Mini Rex, where self is part of their potential gene pool. As the name suggests, there are tort-type markings bleeding through the lighter parts of the harlequin pattern on a self-based harlequin.

Here's the product 7 of them just born this morning don't know what color they are but they sure are cute

So unfortunately there are only 4 left the mom had the nest right on the other side of the whole where the attached Nest box is I believe she would go in there to cool off and trample on the babies so I move the nest actually over to one side so when she goes to the whole it's empty .... let's hope these four make it

Well thank yA!!!!

jane s chickens said:

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This person is incorrect when they say you can't see harlequin on a self. Harlequin has the effect of removing black pigment from some areas of the coat, and concentrating it in others, so as long as the rabbit doesn't have genes that completely remove all color from the coat (like REW or BEW), if the rabbit has harlequin as the most dominant gene in the E series, you will see it, whether the animal is agouti, tan, or self.

The genes in the E series interact with each other in odd ways. The most dominant gene in the series, steel (Es) only looks like a classic steel when paired with the normal extension gene (E). When combined with itself (EsEs) or harlequin (Esej), even a rabbit with Agouti genes (AA) will look like a self (aa). An agouti patterned rabbit that has one copy of normal extension, and one of harlequin (A_Eej) can look like a typical chestnut agouti, except that you may see darker patches of harlequin patterning appearing on the coat, particularly on light areas on the belly. A self patterned rabbit with one normal extension and one harlequin gene (aaEej) wouldn't show it - perhaps that's what they meant.

How do you go about learning how the SF genetics might breed? I just picked up a little blue doe from a chocolate dam and a black doe from a rew SF dam. Both have blue sire. What is my chances of getting color kits from them w a black buck. He does have some blues in his lineage. I'm just very curious on how to learn.

balloonflower said:

How do you go about learning how the SF genetics might breed? I just picked up a little blue doe from a chocolate dam and a black doe from a rew SF dam. Both have blue sire. What is my chances of getting color kits from them w a black buck. He does have some blues in his lineage. I'm just very curious on how to learn.

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Blue, chocolate, and REW are all recessive colors, so for you to see them in a litter, both parents have to be carrying them.

Your blue doe has two copies of the dilute gene (dd), so she is guaranteed to pass dilute to her offspring. If the buck is also a dilute or is carrying dilute, she will have dilute colored babies (blue or possibly lilac; lilac being the dilute of chocolate). This rabbit's mother was a chocolate (bb), so she definitely got a chocolate gene from her mother; if bred to a buck that also carries chocolate, she can have chocolate babies.

Your black doe has one copy of REW from her mother (c) and one copy of dilute from her father (d). If bred to a buck carrying these genes, she could produce REW's and dilutes.

You said your buck has dilutes in his background. If he has a blue or lilac parent, then you know he has a dilute gene (d). If he has produced dilute offspring, you know he has a dilute gene. Otherwise, you can't be sure; he might or might not have inherited a dilute gene. Unless he also has a dilute gene, you could breed him to dilute does from now until the cows come home, and not produce dilute babies. As for chocolate and REW - well, just because there aren't any on his pedigree doesn't automatically mean he doesn't have a gene for them. If you knew he had a brother, or an aunt, or some other close relative that was, say, chocolate, you'd know that you at least had a good chance that he might have inherited chocolate. But, sometimes genes like that can lurk hidden for generations before just the right two rabbits get bred together and you wind up getting where-did-that-come-from colors in the nestbox.

@Bunnylady
Thank you very much for the reply. That explains a lot to help me. I'm thinking my odds aren't great with my current buck--his blues in the lineage are at the g & gg levels, so there's no guarantee he's carrying the recessive genes to pass on. I had thought there was also some chocolate in his, but that was in my other doe. I'll have to ask the breeder he came from about his lines--we are still in contact.