# Broken castor?



## bluemini (Oct 5, 2012)

How can I get broken castor babies? The female is a solid castor,so if I breed her to a broken would that get more brokens?


----------



## therealsilkiechick (Oct 5, 2012)

if you breed her to a broken she should be able to throw both solid and broken castors as well as both in other colors in their back grounds.


----------



## Bunnylady (Oct 5, 2012)

Bred to a broken, she should produce brokens and she should produce castors, but whether any will be broken castors will be anybody's guess. I've noticed that whichever color you most want to see is often the last one that turns up in your nest box, or it turns up on a peanut, or the one that is that color gets pulled out of the box and dies on the wire . . .  

Does this doe have brokens in her background? The broken pattern is set by the broken gene, but just how it is expressed in a particular rabbit is determined by a number of modifying genes. If this girl has brokens behind her, she most likely has the correct modifiers to produce good looking brokens. If she comes from a line of all solids, she may not have them, and may produce brokens with only a little white on the feet, face and chest (a variation of broken that is referred to as "booted").


----------



## bluemini (Oct 5, 2012)

Bunnylady said:
			
		

> Bred to a broken, she should produce brokens and she should produce castors, but whether any will be broken castors will be anybody's guess. I've noticed that whichever color you most want to see is often the last one that turns up in your nest box, or it turns up on a peanut, or the one that is that color gets pulled out of the box and dies on the wire . . .
> 
> Does this doe have brokens in her background? The broken pattern is set by the broken gene, but just how it is expressed in a particular rabbit is determined by a number of modifying genes. If this girl has brokens behind her, she most likely has the correct modifiers to produce good looking brokens. If she comes from a line of all solids, she may not have them, and may produce brokens with only a little white on the feet, face and chest (a variation of broken that is referred to as "booted").


Thank you. I know what you mean,I would pay top dollar for a tri color,well back about 2 years ago,went to check on them,one doe had a litter,1 tri,had it on the floor 

Im not sure whats in her background.I will have to check and see .  Thanks again


----------



## bluemini (Oct 6, 2012)

castor,black,black otter,red ....... which would make the chances greater of there being a broken of any color,if any ? All these are possible bucks,just not sure which I want.

The black otters mother is a broken and he was the only in the litter to be otter.


----------



## Bunnylady (Oct 6, 2012)

Broken is a dominant gene, which means that if it's there, you will see it. In order to get broken babies, you must breed to a rabbit that is a broken. The only exception to the "you will see it" business would be a rabbit that is a REW. Broken puts white on certain areas of a rabbit's coat - how could you see white areas on a rabbit that is all white already? That doesn't mean  that REW's carry the broken gene, just that you can't see it if they do.


----------



## Prairiechick (Oct 26, 2012)

Bunnylady said:
			
		

> Bred to a broken, she should produce brokens and she should produce castors, but whether any will be broken castors will be anybody's guess. I've noticed that whichever color you most want to see is often the last one that turns up in your nest box, or it turns up on a peanut, or the one that is that color gets pulled out of the box and dies on the wire . . .
> 
> Does this doe have brokens in her background? The broken pattern is set by the broken gene, but just how it is expressed in a particular rabbit is determined by a number of modifying genes. If this girl has brokens behind her, she most likely has the correct modifiers to produce good looking brokens. If she comes from a line of all solids, she may not have them, and may produce brokens with only a little white on the feet, face and chest (a variation of broken that is referred to as "booted").


Hi Bunnylady,
I believe we call this thing you described "Murphy's Law of Animal Husbandry"  Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong with your favorite or best.


----------



## Prairiechick (Oct 26, 2012)

Also, I wanted to add.  If you are trying to get broken kits, you don't want to breed a broken to a broken unless either or both have better than 50% color over the white.  If you breed sparsely colored brokens together, then you run a high chance of getting "charlies", those with too little color with the white, and improper markings on ear and nose and eyes.  This is not desirable if you are trying to breed to standard.  This sometimes happens even when you breed broken to solid(self), but the chance of it happening with two broken parents is much higher.  There again, if you get a charlie, it will probably be the best one you get from the litter.  That would be Murphy's in action too.
I am a little jealous.  I had some Castors, which are my favorite variety, and between an illness and then a weasel, I lost  them all.  Now I have a Broken Red I am working with to get them back.  I had a litter last month that resulted in a Broken Black peanut, a solid Castor and a broken Castor.  Peanut died.  Broken got out of the nest box somehow and died from hypothermia, then two days later the solid was out of the nest too long.  I re-bred her and she is due next week.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.  If they are of good quality, that would be even more awesome.


----------

