What Rabbits Do You Have? Show Off Your Rabbits Here!

[Bunnylady]

Oooo, while the bunny color lady is on.....is the rabbit I posted up there just called black? There's no special name for the color is there?

Wool can make it a little trickier to tell what color you are looking at - I'm not quite sure if she's a black or a blue. What color are her eyes?

 

[PoultryPower]

She is black, she had a sister who was blue, big difference between the two. Her eyes are chocolate. I was just wondering if black was black. Thanks!

Here's another one, this is a sable point, correct? The one in question is the one on the right. Also, do you know of any good books that teach rabbit colors?

 

[Bunnylady]

She is black, she had a sister who was blue, big difference between the two. Her eyes are chocolate. I was just wondering if black was black. Thanks!

Here's another one, this is a sable point, correct? The one in question is the one on the right. Also, do you know of any good books that teach rabbit colors?

Yes, that's a Sable Point. The color usually shows up better when they get their adult coats in - baby colors are often lighter versions of the adult color.

There are a lot of books and websites that explain the genetics of colors, but I haven't seen any that have pictures that go with the colors (I have seen some under construction). But like I said, wool complicates things; English Angoras can get really tricky!

 

[PoultryPower]

Yeah I'm yet to find a good website with all the common colors. Usually i'll take a guess at what it is then google image it and compare the two.

 

[PoultryPower]

So I'm keeping the sable point. I was wondering if anyone had some quick tips for line breeding. How do I know when I need to outcross?
Should I breed the sable to her dad when she is old enough or is that too closely related?
I get the concept of line breeding I'm just not exactly sure how to execute it.

 

[Bunnylady]

The first and most important rule of any breeding program is to choose animals that are the best that you can get your hands on. Know the breed standard, and evaluate each animal according to it. Temperament is to some degree inheritable, which is why a cranky rabbit "votes itself out of the gene pool" around here, no matter how good it looks. The best way to "fix" a trait in a population is by line breeding, whether it's a good one or a bad one, so don't breed two rabbits together that have the same fault (and that applies whether they are related or not). Some people are squeamish about backcrosses (breeding offspring back to a parent) but are ok with breeding half-siblings together. But however you do it, you must cull ruthlessly (that word doesn't mean "kill," it just means to remove from the population, which you can do by selling or giving away!)Your goal should always be to produce "better", not just to make more.

 

[Simmonsfunnyfrm]

A dilute Chestnut is called an Opal.

Well the babies are one week old today and their fur patterns have evened out. The one that started out lighter has grown the same color as the other 3 chestnuts, so I still have 3 black and 4 chestnut. Here they are.


One of the chestnuts. They all look alike except one has a white sock on it's front left leg.



Solid black. The other 2 blacks will have white front feet.


Sorry about the bad lighting, but this is the whole litter.

 

[PoultryPower]

Very cute.
What is the purpose of this litter? Pet, meat, sell?

 

[Simmonsfunnyfrm]

Most of these will be sold as pets and meat breeders. They will make the best pets since the mom and dad are both calm and gentle, plus I am handling them daily. I do regret that they are mixed breed, but I think there is also something to be said for hybrid vigor in meat rabbits. We won't be butchering any of these since they are the first litter we've ever had and that makes them special, but our main purpose for the rabbitry is for meat. The doe I have due today will be producing strictly meat rabbits, since she is not very nice. I am going to get rid of her as soon as she weans her litter. I do hope to start working with pure breeds in the future, particularly standard satins but for just starting out I am happy with what I have now.

 

[chickens971]

iv had 2 lionhead rabits named kevin aand fred,adly fred died on the 11/9

and on march 25th kevin is 4!