Rabbit Breeding questions- Who should I breed with who?

[bossynbella]

So I am making my spring breeding plans with my rabbits and have run into an issue I have never had before. I have way to many choices of who to breed with who and still be able to get pedigreed, purebred rabbits.

So I am hoping some of you will be able to give me some advice on who would compliment who the best. I don't have the best pictures, but might be able to get some more later tonight or tomorrow afternoon if wanted.

I will simply post pictures of them as well as a brief description. I would like the pairings that would produce not only the best looking rabbits ( to show) but also some cool/different colors if possible.
They are all Mini lops
The bucks
Alex - Senior chestnut agouti buck - 2 years old - proven buck - has thrown martinized pointed whites = with Ninja(love the color but it is a disqualification), as well as siamese sable =with Eva - agouti - black - and a gold tipped steel (with Eva)

These two pictures don't do him justice. He may not be a show winner but he is deeper and thicker then what these two pictures show. He is also shedding his coat in the second picture. I am going to get a better one of him soon. He doesn't seem to have a good crown though, correct me if I am wrong


Wall-E - Junior broken black buck - 6 months old -
at 4 months -

5months - he really filled out in a month and even more now. I need to get some new pictures

Horatio - Junior martinized pointed white - 4 months old - Alex and Ninja's kit. I may find him another home simply because his color is a disqualification and he has pinched hindquarters, But he is such a NICE boy (personality wise) that I keep thinking of using him for "pet " bunnies, if I should end up with one that looks show able that would be a bonus. However I already have more bucks then does.... anyway enough with my Horatio Dilema - here is the cutie
at 9 weeks

at 3 months - his crown is flat I think, but he has such a wide cute face, especially from the front and he loves it when you rub his chunky face and cheeks!

Does
Ninja - Senior doe - broken chestnut agouti - 2 years old - proven doe -

Eva - Senior doe - black ( though have been told she may be a self steel) -proven doe - 2 years old according to her pedigree (but after the kits she has thrown I wonder if the pedigree is true or not, we are her third or fourth home. She has had one litter with us and did an amazing job.

N1 - junior doe - chestnut agouti - 4 months old - Alex and Ninjas kit, sister to Horatio and N2 Christine -
9 weeks

3 months

N2 (Christine) - Junior doe - Broken chestnut agouti - 4 months old - Alex and Ninjas kit, sister to Horatio and N1
at 9 weeks

3 months

What I am looking for is... who has the best/worst crown, who has the best/worst hindquarters,etc. what is good and what is bad on each rabbit. I know none of them are great. But I am trying to slowly improve my stock by choosing good offspring, and adding in better lines as I go.

Thanks in advance
Melissa

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

I dont know anything about rabbits but I just wanted to say that yours are beautiful! I enjoyed looking at your pictures. Good luck with them!

Not to hijack your thread but how is Anne doing? I was thinking about her today, no idea why.

 

[Connorrm]

I would breed best type with best type and work from there. I wouldn't worried about getting tan pattern markings in your pointed whites...just pet them off.

 

[Laingcroft]

I raise Netherland Dwards so I don't know much about Holland Lops; fraid I'm not much help on crown or type than to say Wall E is narrow through the shoulders. try to pose your bunnies with front feet in line with eye and front of rear foot in line with point of hip to get a better idea on how they are put together. Observe them at rest too. Mine always seem to pose odd when the camera is out or they are on the show table

As for color genetics it's hard to say without knowing the animals behind them and Punnett squares help. Broken pattern is a heterogenic combination of En en so a broken animal will statistically produce 50% broken and 50% solid when bred to a solid. Steel is a dominant gene - if the animal doesn't show it then it doesn't carry it. The exception is the Self Steel which is probably what Eva is if she has produced gold tipped steel. To confirm that the kit is not merely a dark chestnut, there is no ring but black from the tipping down to the skin. Her black kit could also be a self steel. Someone, either Alex or Ninja carries the himi gene (ch) for pointing which is recessive to both the shaded genes (cchl - light chin) and (cchd - dark chin). The light chin -cchl gene is responsible for the siamese sable which kit would likely carry cchl and ch. The martenizing tan gene (at) is recessive to the A - agouti gene and dominant to the self (a) gene therefore each of Alex and Ninja carry either the at and a gene combined with the Agouti gene. Look in their pedigrees to see which have tan/martens and self parents/ancestors. Right now your possibilities are broken and self in sables, agouti, martens, otters and self. You'll need some recessives to add other colors to the mix - look to the pedigrees.

A good resource for bunny genetics is the yahoo group Rabbit_Genetics.

 

[bossynbella]

thanks! still hoping someone who knows lops comes by. I checked Ninja's pedigree and it doesn't have any martins or tans in it. All I have of Alex's pedigree is who his parents are and what colors they are. Agouti and a broken agouti. I do know that the people I got him from had his sister as well who was a cream color? They bred the two and had a litter with creams, agouti's and very very lightly marked pointed whites. So lightly marked they couldn't tell what the color even was before they sold them. So he seems to carry the himi gene. I have had a litter with Ninja before ( I bred her with my Siamese Satin buck) and she had no pointed kits, she had agoutis, chinchillas, and blacks, both in broken and solid. All of which she has in her pedigree, she also has a blue great grandparent.


Annie is doing great. She is looking so awesome, you can't even tell she had puppies she is back to her girlish figure. She sure eats good now. Much nicer then before where you had to tempt her to eat anything. I don't even have to add the canned to the food anymore.
I had an email from the family who took Miley (Ophelia) last week. She has never had an accident in the house. Is doing great on obedience and can even be trusted to run loose when they go for walks in the fields behind their house without taking off after the first thing she smells. He has also kept track of exactly how many people, and other animals Miley has met. They take her everywhere so its a lot! I love getting emails. Only one other family has kept in touch. I want to email them and ask how the pups are doing, but both of my dog books say not to.
Miley's dad promised me a Christmas picture, so if I get it I will post it for you all to see.

I was working on posing them today. They didn't want to cooperate, and I have misplaced my camera, but oh man is my Siamese sable cool looking. I love the color. I am having a heck of a time with ears on these lops though. None of them want to lop or stay lopped even though all the adults stay lopped at all times. Horatio and the two does I kept from Ninja and Alex's litter are doing the same thing. For a while at about 3 months they stayed down all the time. Then at about 5 months they started holding them up again. Horatio and chrissy usually have one up and one down, the agouti doe often has them both up. Will they fall down again on their own? Is there something you are suppose to do to make them fall?

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Quote:
It sounds like Ophelia settled in well and has a great family. I am happy to hear that Annie is also doing well. That is good that you no longer have to add canned food to her dog food anymore. Too bad that couldn't happen to my hound mix... My dog will do as much as pick out every little thing added to her dog food (brocolli, carrots, canned dog food ect.) and be sure to eat them first. She knows what is the 'good stuff'.

I wonder if it is a hound thing?
I look forward to seeing that Christmas picture of Ophelia if her daddy sends it.

Take Care.

 

[Wendy Gonzalez]

This is my first time having a doe pregnant. We tried to get her pregnant a couple months back but they all were a fail up til now. I Had No idea She Was Pregnant. She Gave birth to a cold Lifeless Litter of 2 . What Can i Do to HELP THE DOE in anyway shape or form for her to recover the delivery. She keeps making a nest for them doesnt take a break idk what els to do.

 

[cassie]

How long ago did she deliver? I would give her a nest box. It is possible that she didn't have all the kits and she is still pregnant. It is rare, but it happens.