Chocolate rabbits

[ChickenPotPie]

Yeah, that's a bit hard for me to wrap my brain around. Interesting, though.

 

[tortoise]

I don't know much about the letters, numbers, etc. From what I understood from the judge, because they had white toenails, that genetically made them a broken, not a solid. Of course Harlequins are weird so who knows, it might not even apply to regular colors.

So it would be a broken with over 90% color? I don't know the first thing about harlequins, only the showable colors in my breed. I don't even know what genotype harlequins have.

Reminds me to check some rabbit toenails...

 

[cattlecait]

That's what I took it to mean, an extremely overly colored broken.

 

[Bunnylady]

IMO, the judge is all wet. White toenails in the Harlequin are not caused by the broken gene (En), they come from one of the Dutch genes (Harlies and Dutch share a lot of history). You don't just get white toenails, the whole toe or paw may be white, and you can get face white too. The broken gene will not give you a little snip of white on the nose, or a blaze; I have seen many variations of facial white in my Harlies (I've been breeding both Japs and Mags for over twenty years). There is a big difference between the "booted" appearance of a heavily colored broken and the white "noses and toeses" that pop up on Harlies. Annoyingly, the gene that causes the white appears to be closely linked to at least one of the marking genes, because it is often the really well-marked kits in the litter that wind up with the white markings on them!

A few white hairs on a Harlequin does not make a tricolor, no more than a broken Tort is a tri! You can breed white-clawed rabbits to any solid color you like, and you won't get brokens, because the two genes are totally different. I have had white claws in my Jersey Woolies for 20+ years, and have never had a broken until I bought a broken buck last year.

I saw wwenen on one pedigree, no one could tell me what it meant

(w) is the wide-band gene. The Wide band gene makes the light colored band on the body hairs of an Agouti wider than normal. A rabbit that is ww would have very little surface color, almost like a very smutty orange. enen would be non-broken. And just fyi, harlequin is ej.

 

[cattlecait]

Bunnylady, thank you for explaining it all, I'm glad I know that now. I don't remember who the judge was, I wish I did, it wasn't someone from our area.

Question though - isn't a Harlequin color used as a "solid" to make tri-colors though? A tort is a shaded variety...I'm just asking.

 

[ChickenPotPie]

Torts are Selfs but don't ask me why. lol I'd love to hear the explanation, too. I have a lot to learn.

 

[Bunnylady]

Genetically, Tort is aaB_C_D_ee. It is Self-based (as opposed to Agouti- or Tan-based), but is usually placed in the Shaded group because groups are organised by appearance, not genetic makeup. Some Torts are very red on the back, and very black on the sides and face. If you overlay a Broken pattern on that (particularly a spotted Broken pattern), you can get a rabbit with distinct areas of red and black, which might at first look like a Tri. I once had a Broken Blue Tort Mini Rex doe like that. On her sides were these nice little blue spots, and she had several fawn colored areas on her back. You had to really look at her head and ears to realize that she actually was a Tort, and her coloring only resembled that of the true Tricolor, i.e. Broken Harlequin. Had she been a real Tri, she would have been showable, because MR Tricolors are recognised in Black, Blue, Chocolate, and Lilac varieties. However, the Blue Tort is/was not a recognised variety, so as a Broken Blue Tort (which is what she was) she wasn't showable. No judge would have accepted an argument that she was "technically" a Tri, they simply would have DQ'd her as a non-standard variety.

 

[willowacrerabbitry]

Hello..... just registered today, but I have been lerking and reading for a while now.


I raise Mini Rex rabbits.... and have a litter here that is Chocolate x Chocolate breeding. None of mine are pedigreed so I am not sure what all colors are in the background....but from this breeding, I got 5 Chocolate, 1 Lilac and One white.



Chocolates are my FAVORITE!!!

 

[willowacrerabbitry]

pictures of parents and babies can be seen on my website:

willowacre.weebly.com