# English Spot?



## mama24 (Mar 14, 2012)

Anyone have these? I bought 2 at a flock swap for my photographer friends to use in Easter pics. The guy told me they were good meat rabbits, but I had never heard of them. The little I've found online says they are smaller. True? Good meaties or no? They were both supposed to be girls, but I got 1 girl, 1 boy. The girl is white with orange spots and streaks and the boy is white with mostly gray and a little orange. They're very pretty! They may be too cute to eat! LOL. So if they won't be good meaties, I may rehome them as pets after Easter pics are done.


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## lastfling (Mar 14, 2012)

An English Spot is an arched running breed, similar to a Tan.  They are a fancy rabbit and haven't been bred for meat, although like a Tan they could bring a meal to the table if necessary.  I had heard a tan would dress out to a  2 1/2 lb carcass.  I would suspect an English Spot to be somewhere in the same neighborhood.  They are pretty rabbits.


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## Mea (Mar 14, 2012)

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en...iw=1366&bih=587&q=picture english spot rabbit

   The above is a link to a Google page with pictures of English Spot rabbits.   Might give You an idea if Your new bunnies are Spots or not.


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## Bunnylady (Mar 14, 2012)

Mea said:
			
		

> https://www.google.com/search?hl=en...iw=1366&bih=587&q=picture english spot rabbit
> 
> The above is a link to a Google page with pictures of English Spot rabbits.   Might give You an idea if Your new bunnies are Spots or not.


Unfortunately, Google searches are not infallible. Not all of the rabbits in the pictures are English Spots.


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## mama24 (Mar 15, 2012)

They don't have the pronounced little spots I see in most of those pics. They look more like the 2nd pic that comes up. I think mine are only about 8-9 weeks, they're pretty small. They do seem to want out of their cage much more than the NZ and CA's I already have, much more active. They force their way out of the cage nearly every day to run around in the barn. They let us pick them up and put them back pretty easily, though. My kids even took them out onto the grass in the goat pen outside the barn and they hopped around, then ran right back to their familiar area around their cage, which I temporarily have them together on the floor until my stupid broody bantam hatches her clutch and moves on out of the way for more rabbit hutches! lol! I think my kids are getting attached. I suppose if they continue to be so friendly and easy to catch, I may just let them be barn pets with free reign of the barn and chicken and goat runs.


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## Bunnylady (Mar 16, 2012)

mama24 said:
			
		

> They don't have the *pronounced little spots* I see in most of those pics.


The little spots are the primary characteristic of the English Spot breed. The rather "racy" body type is also typical of the breed, but that's a little harder for people who aren't familiar with the breed to pick up on. There are many, many breeds that come in the broken pattern; the rabbits in that search that don't have the little spots are brokens of some other breed. Brokens can have a blanket pattern, a spotted pattern, or something in between. A lot of people see a broken, almost any broken, and assume it is at least part English Spot (if you scroll down through those pictures a bit, you'll see a big ol' broken lop that clearly isn't even part English Spot!) Here's another example:







(Sorry about that. I keep forgetting to size my pics on this forum.  ) This rabbit is not an English Spot. She is a purebred Mini Rex, just not a terribly typey one. Some people might see her markings and assume all kinds of things in her background, if they couldn't see that distinctive Rex coat. 

If your rabbits don't have the little spots, they may not even be part English Spot. The breeder may not know what he had, or he may have had an ES way back when, and calls everything that has spots an ES ever since.  Your babies may simply be mixed breed brokens; if the breeder said they are good meat rabbits, they may even be part New Zealand (which can come in broken). If they are fun bunnies to have around, enjoy them, whatever they are!


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## mama24 (Mar 16, 2012)

They have the spots, they are just blurry, not perfect circles like the pics I've seen of real English Spot. Well, here are a bunch of pics I took today. Please let me know what you think! Maybe they're just poor quality? They're very sweet and friendly. I am very surprised how they hop around and let us just come over and pick them up! The guy I got them from said they'd get as big as a New Zealand, but who knows. He said his doe, their mother, was 10-12pounds, but you never know if you can believe people when they're selling you something! I think we'll keep them either way since they seem to be good pets for my kids.  Our other rabbits aren't very friendly, which is good since I'm raising them for meat. Makes it easier for my kids to accept them on the dinner table.


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## currycomb (Mar 16, 2012)

i have a whole bunch of bunnies colored like that. no english spot any where near here. just some nice broken patterned bunnies, enjoy them, the are usually pretty tame when handled and fed treats


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## mama24 (Mar 31, 2012)

Now that they are getting older and growing really really fast, I am starting to think they may actually be purebred. But broken New Zealands.  They are starting to look a lot more like my albino New Zealands in shape and size for their age. They are going to be big meaty bunnies. We're still keeping them as pets. They are still uncaged and extremely tame.  They snuggle with my month old chicks in the barn and hop around eating grass with my goats. The only one they don't get along with is my Australian Shepherd/Husky mix puppy, who is fine with most animals, but just absolutely can't resist chasing a bunny!


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