# thoughts on new bunny?(pics added)



## therealsilkiechick (Oct 12, 2012)

i'm getting this magpie mini rex buck on monday and wanted to know what your thoughts on him are? he is 7mths old. i have harlequins in holland lops and mini rex a harli carrier but he will be my first magpie. i'm excited to add him to my herd i've wanted a magpie for many years and looking forward to the challenges of breeding his color and pattern.


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## mickey328 (Oct 12, 2012)

I have no clue on breeding or colors or all that but...he's sure purty!


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## therealsilkiechick (Oct 12, 2012)

lol, he sure is. i can't wait to see him in person w that velvet rex fur. i bet he is even prettier in person!!


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## Bunnylady (Oct 13, 2012)

My very first Harlequins (the breed), were a pair of Black Japanese. In their second or third litter was a Blue Magpie. My first reaction was "what the heck is that, and how did it happen?!" As he grew, it turned out that he was an Astrex (these days, Harlies in the US can only show in the normal coat, but I hear that in Europe they can also have Rex and Astrex [Rex with a bit of curl to it] coats). It seemed like every time I turned around, that rabbit was making me go, "huh???"  That was more than 25 years ago, a lot of water under the bridge since then . . . . 

Magpie is harlequin + chinchilla. You probably know that neither harlequin nor magpie is showable in the Mini Rex, though its broken version (tricolor) is showable. I've had a tricolor breeding program in my MR for donkey's years, and I've noticed that though the solid harlies may have color in large patches like the big guys, the tri's always have it in spots. At one time, even though I had a few Harlies that had Grand Champion legs, the animal with the best harlequin pattern in my rabbitry was a Mini Rex!

Congrats on your new guy!


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## therealsilkiechick (Oct 13, 2012)

i'd love to have actual harlequins but they are hard to find in my area and magpies are pretty much unheard of here. you can find harlequins in alot of breeds here even netherlands which is not really heard of yet in most places. i have to go 2 1/2 hours away to get him while i'm up visiting relatives. so we will be picking him up on the way home since he is on the way. i needed a buck that's unrelated and not a vienna carrier for some of my does.

oh my a blue magpie i'd of been in love,lol.  i love astrex rex we have had a few over the years they are my favs too because i like the unique ones. ya don't really see to many astrex anymore since usually they are culled out of herds, it's sad because they really are beautiful too. 

yep i know they are not showable unless the actual breed. i'm actually hoping to breed for tri-colors but since i love harlequins and magpies it's kind of a bonus having the other 2 colors as well. i want to breed the harlequin and magpie colors/patterns into my velveteen lops i'm excited to work on a new project. i've been breeding harlequin mini rex and hollands for a few years now but i mainly raise standard colors. so far my best patterned has been my hollands but i'm hoping to work on bettering the pattern for the rex now.

thank you, i'm really looking forward to adding him to the herd and working with him.


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## Bunnylady (Oct 13, 2012)

A number of years ago, there were several people around here that were doing harlequin ND's, they had some fairly nice ones, too. A friend of mine had a thing about chocolate _anything_, and really flipped out over my Chocolate Magpie Harlequins. She had some Dwarfs that she thought were Chocolate Mags, but I told her they were actually harlequin Siamese Sables (similar in appearance, but not quite the same thing). At that time, I had all the right colors in my herd to get Choc Mags, other than the harlequin gene, so she gave me some to see if I could breed "em. Unfortunately, they all had late-developing tooth issues (fine at 4 months, undershot at 6) and I decided that I just couldn't work with that.


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## therealsilkiechick (Oct 15, 2012)

i named him justice. here is pics of him after we got home. he is very mellow and loves to be snuggled. he st perfect for all the pics and was really good.


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## Syman Says Farms (Oct 16, 2012)

He is so very cute!!!!!


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## neener92 (Oct 16, 2012)

He is VERY handsome!


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## therealsilkiechick (Oct 26, 2012)

thank you! we have all fallen in love w/ him he is a great buck!! what is the best color to breed him to to get good magpies and harlequins from him? i bred him to cashmere but she is not due for a few weeks yet. if i don't have the right color gonna look for a new doe to add for him. thanks for any info. 

my does are:
star- she is black. background- lilac, tort-black, lynx, org/blk tri-color, rew, red. 
has thrown me- brk blk, castor, brk castor, blue otter, choc, black, lilac, tort blk w/ bucks that were bew, brk castor and choc.

sophie- she is tort-black. background- she is star's daughter so her's plus bew, rew

sammara- she is black- has thrown me tort-black, lilac, black, tort-lilac, tort-blue w/ my bew buck.

cashmere- she is choc- has thrown me litters w/ blu/crm harlie, blk/org harlie, choc harlie, blue, black, choc, broken choc, broken black w a brk blk buck, my bew buck and another buck can't remember which one i used back then.

justice- all i know from his background is org/blk harlie, choc magpie, choc harlie and blu/cream harlie


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