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[shadow rabbit10]

Updated pic of my holland baby Chewy. Love this little guy. I had him out and about for a little bit today. I was getting worried about his ears cuz they weren't falling down, but it turns out it must be the cold weather. I brought him inside for a whole and they fell right down. Weird...

Weather doesn't effect ear carriage usually. Young Hollands do this because their ears are still light. You need to start pushing his ears down when you see them up. He will soon start keeping them down. My Holland did this with one ear.

 

[Bunnylady]

Weather doesn't effect ear carriage usually. Young Hollands do this because their ears are still light. You need to start pushing his ears down when you see them up. He will soon start keeping them down. My Holland did this with one ear.

Actually, weather can affect ear carriage. Harlequins have pretty large ears; when the weather is hot, it isn't unusual to see them with their ears drooping. I've had a few warm-weather babies that wound up looking like lops because their ears "fell" as a result of the heat; I've never had that happen to those that grew up during the cooler months.

Hollands often exhibit a bit of ear control, particularly when young. Judges are instructed to allow the rabbits on the table to relax before trying to evaluate ear carriage. When I first started with Hollands, it was rather common to get rabbits with what I called "Weeble ears" (they wobble, but they don't go down) or "airplane ears.

These days, most of them have wide enough skulls for their ears to naturally hang vertically, though it sometimes takes a while to get to that point.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

Actually, weather can affect ear carriage. Harlequins have pretty large ears; when the weather is hot, it isn't unusual to see them with their ears drooping. I've had a few warm-weather babies that wound up looking like lops because their ears "fell" as a result of the heat; I've never had that happen to those that grew up during the cooler months.

Hollands often exhibit a bit of ear control, particularly when young. Judges are instructed to allow the rabbits on the table to relax before trying to evaluate ear carriage. When I first started with Hollands, it was rather common to get rabbits with what I called "Weeble ears" (they wobble, but they don't go down) or "airplane ears.  These days, most of them have wide enough skulls for their ears to naturally hang vertically, though it sometimes takes a while to get to that point.

Thanks for correcting me. I never noticed it in my rabbits though, and I have a giant New Zealand. A judge told me that rabbits born in the summer will grow longer ears to stay cool. If you don't want long ears, don't breed in the summer! They use them to stay cool. Around here, lop rabbits who hold their ears up are referred to as having "helicopter ears"

 

[Lynzi777]

Actually, weather can affect ear carriage. Harlequins have pretty large ears; when the weather is hot, it isn't unusual to see them with their ears drooping. I've had a few warm-weather babies that wound up looking like lops because their ears "fell" as a result of the heat; I've never had that happen to those that grew up during the cooler months.

Hollands often exhibit a bit of ear control, particularly when young. Judges are instructed to allow the rabbits on the table to relax before trying to evaluate ear carriage. When I first started with Hollands, it was rather common to get rabbits with what I called "Weeble ears" (they wobble, but they don't go down) or "airplane ears.  These days, most of them have wide enough skulls for their ears to naturally hang vertically, though it sometimes takes a while to get to that point.

Well out of my 3 Hollands I have, one has longer ears and the other two are pretty short/normal. They were all born in the summer. My harlequin holland looks more like a mini lop with its ears being longer and she is the largest in size out of the three.

But I so push his ears down while I'm holding him, almost like I'm massaging them to stay that way. LOL just found it funny that when I took him inside yesterday they went right down.

 

[Bunnylady]

The Holland with the longer ears may be what we call a "false dwarf". Hollands are one of the breeds that use the dwarfing gene to get the compact animal described in the breed standard. The dwarfing gene is a dominant gene, which means that if a rabbit inherits even one copy of it, you will see the results.Unfortunately, it's a lethal gene - any baby that gets it from both parents will die, usually within 3 days of being born. So all the nice, typey Hollands are carrying one copy of the dwarfing gene, and one copy of the normal growth gene. Breed two of those together, and some of the babies will wind up getting the normal growth gene from both of their parents. These rabbits grow a little bigger than their dwarfed siblings (usually maturing 1/2 to 1 pound heavier) and have ears. backs, legs, and faces that are just a bit longer in scale. Not all "false dwarfs" weigh more than the breed standard allows, but their type is off - though not all rabbits with poor type are "false dwarfs," either. Sometimes, ya gotta know to know, ya know?

 

[Lynzi777]

The Holland with the longer ears may be what we call a "false dwarf". Hollands are one of the breeds that use the dwarfing gene to get the compact animal described in the breed standard. The dwarfing gene is a dominant gene, which means that if a rabbit inherits even one copy of it, you will see the results.Unfortunately, it's a lethal gene - any baby that gets it from both parents will die, usually within 3 days of being born. So all the nice, typey Hollands are carrying one copy of the dwarfing gene, and one copy of the normal growth gene. Breed two of those together, and some of the babies will wind up getting the normal growth gene from both of their parents. These rabbits grow a little bigger than their dwarfed siblings (usually maturing 1/2 to 1 pound heavier) and have ears. backs, legs, and faces that are just a bit longer in scale. Not all "false dwarfs" weigh more than the breed standard allows, but their type is off - though not all rabbits with poor type are "false dwarfs," either. Sometimes, ya gotta know to know, ya know?

Good to know...especially since I planned on breeding both my does. Maybe I won't breed the Harlequin and just stick with the Tort.

 

[Bunnylady]

Well now, this is where it gets interesting.

Some people refer to the false dwarf does as "brood does," and they can be useful in a breeding program. They don't have the dwarfing gene themselves, so they generally aren't showable, but that doesn't mean they can't give birth to showable babies. The doe herself only has copies of the normal growth gene, but if she is bred to a buck that has the dwarfing gene, her babies still can get the dwarfing gene from him. When you breed true dwarf x true dwarf, roughly half of the resulting progeny will be true dwarfs. Approximately 1/4 will be false dwarfs, and the other 1/4 will get two copies of the dwarfing gene and die (these are the "peanuts" you may have heard about). When you breed true dwarf x false dwarf, you still get roughly 50% true dwarf offspring. The remaining 50% are all false dwarfs, so they all have at least a chance to live - no peanuts to break your heart over (doesn't guarantee that they will live, of course, but at least they won't die because of that!) False dwarf does' litters average a few more babies than true dwarfs' do, so you have a few more chances with each litter of getting "the good one." Plus, it's a good bit less likely that a bigger doe will have kindling problems. For me, the trickiest part is being able to recognize good type in a false dwarf - knowing how much of her lankiness to discount simply because she didn't get the dwarfing gene.

 

[mysticus]

cold can affect ear carriage..my Shelties if the weather would be cold would have prick ears and beautifully tuliped ears when warm..
also cutting teeth, and ear thickness affects it too..

 

[Lynzi777]

Well now, this is where it gets interesting.

Some people refer to the false dwarf does as "brood does," and they can be useful in a breeding program. They don't have the dwarfing gene themselves, so they generally aren't showable, but that doesn't mean they can't give birth to showable babies. The doe herself only has copies of the normal growth gene, but if she is bred to a buck that has the dwarfing gene, her babies still can get the dwarfing gene from him. When you breed true dwarf x true dwarf, roughly half of the resulting progeny will be true dwarfs. Approximately 1/4 will be false dwarfs, and the other 1/4 will get two copies of the dwarfing gene and die (these are the "peanuts" you may have heard about). When you breed true dwarf x false dwarf, you still get roughly 50% true dwarf offspring. The remaining 50% are all false dwarfs, so they all have at least a chance to live - no peanuts to break your heart over (doesn't guarantee that they will live, of course, but at least they won't die because of that!) False dwarf does' litters average a few more babies than true dwarfs' do, so you have a few more chances with each litter of getting "the good one." Plus, it's a good bit less likely that a bigger doe will have kindling problems. For me, the trickiest part is being able to recognize good type in a false dwarf - knowing how much of her lankiness to discount simply because she didn't get the dwarfing gene.

Ohhh ok, I see. So I DO breed her, she shouldn't throw litters that are large like herself? I really don't know who I am going to breed to who yet. I may use one of my friend's bucks. I have a chinchilla buck and two does - harlequin and tort. And I read somewhere that you should really only breed the agouti group with other agouti colors? I could be thinking of another group. But I can't imagine what I would get if I bred a chin to harlequin or tort. You wouldn't be as familiar with colors as you are with this dwarfing gene would you?? ;-)

 

[Bunnylady]

Ohhh ok, I see. So I DO breed her, she shouldn't throw litters that are large like herself? I really don't know who I am going to breed to who yet. I may use one of my friend's bucks. I have a chinchilla buck and two does - harlequin and tort. And I read somewhere that you should really only breed the agouti group with other agouti colors? I could be thinking of another group. But I can't imagine what I would get if I bred a chin to harlequin or tort. You wouldn't be as familiar with colors as you are with this dwarfing gene would you?? ;-)

"She don't know me too well, do she?"

If you breed this larger doe, the odds say that roughly half of the babies will be big like she is, the other half will be the correct size (assuming that the buck is a true dwarf). That's also assuming that you do multiple breedings; if we are talking about only one or two litters the results could be skewed pretty far in either direction. If you are dealing with a doe of the correct size, about half will be the correct size, about a quarter will be too big, and about a quarter will die.

But chin crossed with harli or tort? I'd like to know a bit more with that one - do you have pedigrees?