My rabbits :) . . . and their genetics

i think your best bet for a BEW is nationals. I wish I could go but we jsut moved from Michigan to Kansas ans are redoing a house. i might see if some friends came pick up some rabbits for me though. Here is one of the Jr. Bucks from my barn


he is still pretty young in this picture. He is even nicer now!

They are working on a tan variety in Mini Rex and I wanted to study up on the genetics of that and possibly pick up a few if i can find some.

Hi i wonder if any one could help me,I am trying to breed the magpie colour ,I am hobby breeder and love this colour but am not sure just yet how to understand how to breed this colour if any one would be so kind to explain to md I would be very grateful

Magpie is a combination of (Japanese) Harlequin and Chinchilla.

Yes I have breed harliquin and chinchilla and got 4 agouti baby's 1 black and read to breed back for magpie colour dou you think this will work hoping so and thanks for your response

If I crossed a harlequin without chinchilla relatives to a chinchilla that I knew didn't have harlequin in its background, I would expect to get chestnut agoutis, yes.

Trying not to get into a really long, involved answer here . . . . Basically, the gene causing harlequin is in the E series. The gene causing chinchilla is in the C series. Both harlequin and chinchilla are recessive genes (in other words, there is at least one more dominant gene than each of them in their respective series). When you cross a harlequin to a chinchilla, each baby gets a copy of harlequin from one parent, and chinchilla from the other, but since the chin gave the babies the more dominant E gene, and the harlie gave them the more dominant C gene, they wind up as chestnut agouti. These babies are carrying the recessive harlequin and chin genes, but since they also inherited the more dominant genes, that is what they are expressing.

If you cross one of these babies back to the chin, some of the resulting babies will get the chin gene from both parents and be chins (some of those may also get a harlie gene, but you may not be able to see it. Sometimes, you can get harlequin markings bleeding through on a chestnut or chin, but not always). If you cross back to the harlequin, some of the babies will get harlequin from both parents and be harlies. To get magpies, the babies have to inherit chin and harlequin from both parents. If you were to take two of these babies and breed them together, some of their babies will get chin from both parents, and some will get harlequin from both parents; some will get the full color genes from one or both parents, too. And if you are lucky, some babies will get both chin and harlie, and be magpies. Be warned, though - it seems that if there is a certain color that you are hoping to see in a litter, the rabbits are determined not to give it to you.

Thanks I have kept two back female and male I did sell my chin Buck as I though I only needed to use him once my luck should have kept him but with keeping baby's I needed the room,I will try breeding the two together see what I get hopefully magpies would be nice also would you do the same keep the baby's and breed them again for colour ? Thanks for the advice to its so hard when you first start breeding I would love to be able to produce magpies

Old thread, but lots of great knowledge on here!! Wondering if anyone is still on and can guide me. I understand the basics of VC/VM, BEW and Non-Carrier... I got a girl who will be of age in April... thinking of breeding her, maybe. What would be her best possible mate? BEWs are not show quality, right? But highly sought-after pets from what I gather. Show quality is no marks?? Shows sound like fun to me, maybe 4h project, maybe pets...

My girl is a Holland Lop Blue Tort VC Doe.
Her mom is a Tri-Colored Doe, her dad a Blue Tort VM Buck