new Zealand rabbit genetic question

[Molly Sunshine]

To answer your questions. Yes it is very possible that she could have blue or black babies. Your does siblings were all white, because when you breed REW to REW you always get REW. Also I have 3 does who have raised 10+ kits. One just raised 12 successfully. Never lost 1. However it is common to lose 1-2 our more in a large litter. We will be culling down to 7-8 in the future. Also with smaller litters you get larger healthier kits who reach weight earlier.

 

[Bunnylady]

While it is possible that a NZW might carry the genes that could produce blacks and blues, experience makes me think that chestnut and steel are the more likely outcomes from this breeding. But hey, you never know, sometimes REW's give you some crazy surprises.

The more babies there are in a litter, the smaller they are at birth, and the slower they grow. Evidently, a doe only produces so much milk, no matter how many kits she has; studies have shown that the litter as a whole gains about the same amount of weight until the kits start to eat solid food. Too few kits can be a problem, too. Kits in small litters (2 or 3) wind up really fat; they can also have deformed bones and digestive problems that may even lead to them dying.

It won't matter to the doe how many kits she's feeding, it's mostly the kits that are affected. The commercial production model has the kits reaching slaughter weight at a certain age, if you are trying to match that, the optimum litter size is about 6. If you are raising these rabbits for your own consumption, the precise growth curve won't be as important to you; larger litters will just take a bit longer to go to the freezer or table. A lot of people will breed several does to kindle at the same time, and play "put and take" to average the resulting litters into something closer to the optimum.

 

[luciann]

Can someone maby tell me what cross my NZ is?

 

[Timmy]

Why do you think it's a New Zealand?

 

[Hansbear]

Bunny Lady
I have a New Zealand red doe and a broken red buck that I crossed, and one of the doe kits produced is a broken red with greyish seal points, all her red offspring have the same markings.

[/IMG]
This is the female

 

[Bunnylady]

Bunny Lady
I have a New Zealand red doe and a broken red buck that I crossed, and one of the doe kits produced is a broken red with greyish seal points, all her red offspring have the same markings.

[/URL]
This is the female

Dark shading where it shouldn't be like that is called smut. Red in the New Zealand is supposed to be a combination of Agouti, non-extension, and wide band genes (A_B_C_D_eeww). Agouti confines the black pigment to the ends of the hairs; non-extension plus wide band pushes it the rest of the way off, so you wind up with a rabbit that is basically red all over. I can think of two ways that you could get smutty reds in the New Zealand. 1) missing a wide-band gene, so there is a little bit of black still in place (which would be most noticeable in places where the hairs are shortest, like on the face) [A_B_C_D_eeW_]. 2) Having self genes rather than Agouti. which would make them more or less wide-band torts (aaB_C_D_eeww). With those smutty dark ears, particularly with them looking dark on the inside of the ear, I think the second possibility is the more likely in your situation.

BTW, welcome to the forum!

 

[Hansbear]

Thank you.

 

[RabbitLady2]

Hi, there so I am a rabbit breeder in Southern California, I already raise New Zealand White, and Blacks, but am now looking to add Broken New Zealand to my rabbitry, my question is...If I breed a New Zealand White with a New Zealand Red, can I get a broken Red rabbit?

 

[RabbitLady2]

I would say that it is a cross between a New Zealand Red and a Mini Rex brown

 

[Bunnylady]

Hi, there so I am a rabbit breeder in Southern California, I already raise New Zealand White, and Blacks, but am now looking to add Broken New Zealand to my rabbitry, my question is...If I breed a New Zealand White with a New Zealand Red, can I get a broken Red rabbit?

The only way you'd get broken reds would be if your NZW was carrying the genes for both red and broken. Broken is a dominant gene; if it's there, you'll see it. The only exception would be a rabbit that is genetically also white (REW or BEW) - since broken puts white areas on a colored rabbit, if your rabbit is already white, how could you tell if it had another gene taking color out of some parts of the coat? Since a lot of NZW's carry the genes for steel, breeding a NZW to a NZR is most likely going to give you steels and blacks, and maybe chestnuts.