HaloRabbits- Rabbit Journal

[HaloRabbits]

@HaloRabbits how do you genotype your rabbits?

For Color genetics each combination of genes yeilds a specific phenotype. Phenotype is what you see. For example a REW has "cc" for sure, but that is all you can be sure of by just looking at the rabbits. Sometimes the pedigree can give you more information. For example my does mother was Blue, which means I know for sure she was "dd", so I know my doe would have at least one copy of "d", since she isn't a dilute I actually know she is "Dd". The more information you have on the parents the easier it is, but since I am just starting it is proving a little difficult. I am going to continue though, and the more breedings I do, I will have a better idea.

BTW my Huksy/Shepherd mix is ~50 pounds too.

 

[16029]

@HaloRabbits I bred a REW mini Rex doe to a broken black buck. I got 1 solid black and 3 broken blacks. What would I look for on their pedigrees?These were the 2 rabbits that were bred. What does the doe carry. Can u tell what the babies carry by looking at the pedigree?

 

[Bunnylady]

@HaloRabbits I bred a REW mini Rex doe to a broken black buck. I got 1 solid black and 3 broken blacks. What would I look for on their pedigrees?These were the 2 rabbits that were bred. What does the doe carry. Can u tell what the babies carry by looking at the pedigree?
View attachment 31304 View attachment 31305

The buck's pedigree doesn't give you anything that you can't see in the babies - that they have the genes for black or broken black. On the doe's side, the only thing you don't already know just by looking at them is that they might possibly carry the genes for dilute (d), and tort (e), but those are only possibilities, not guaranteed. The fact that their mother is an REW means that they carry (c); her blue parent means that she carries dilute (d), but you can't be sure she passed it on.

 

[16029]

Sorry, I am a bit confused.

 

[Bunnylady]

Black is aaB_C_D_E_enen; broken black is aaB_C_D_E_Enen. Since everything on the buck's pedigree is either black or broken black, you don't know if anybody might be carrying anything else (like dilute, or chocolate, or some other recessive gene) that would fill in any of those blank spaces.

The doe is a REW, that's ____cc________, but her parents were a black and a blue, which are both self colors, so you know she's got two self genes in the A series (aa), since self is the only gene either of her parents have to give. With a black and a blue parent, it's pretty likely that the doe inherited at least one gene for black (B), but since black is dominant, even though there aren't any chocolate colors on the pedigree, you can't be absolutely sure that nobody is carrying chocolate (b), so you have to leave it at B_. Blue is the dilute of black, and dilute (d) is recessive to full color. You know the doe had to get a copy of dilute from her mother; but her father is black, so you don't know whether he might carry dilute. So you know for sure that your REW doe has at least one copy of dilute. The doe has tort on her father's side of the family; tort is ee. Her father isn't a tort, but his father was, so he might have passed an e on to the doe. So, looking at the pedigree, you know the doe is aa, probably B_, cc, d_, can't be sure about the E series but there's a possibility of e_, neither parent is a broken so solid (enen).

A lot of people will pencil in a note on the pedigree about the known genetics of the rabbit. This can help you know which crosses to do if you are looking to produce/improve a particular color, or which crosses to avoid. For example, I had a REW Holland Lop doe whose sire was a broken tort. When bred to a solid buck, she produced broken kits, so I knew she had gotten the broken gene from her father. You couldn't see it, of course, since she was white anyway, but because I knew it was there, I avoided the possibility of creating Charlies by never breeding her to a broken buck. Some things may not show up on the pedigree - offspring, siblings - that can give you a clue as to something that may be lurking that you don't see. For example, on your buck's pedigree, everything there is a black or broken black, but they might all have siblings that were chocolates or some other recessive color that could crop up in later breedings, but there is nothing in the direct line of descent to tell you where it came from.

If I were pencilling in a note about your REW doe's genetics, it would read: aaB_cc_d_(e?)enen.

 

[16029]

So then how do you show it? Like do you write it on the pedigree? Or is it to just let you know what colors the babies could possibly be?

 

[Bunnylady]

So then how do you show it? Like do you write it on the pedigree? Or is it to just let you know what colors the babies could possibly be?

See edited post, above.^^

 

[16029]

thanks, that is very interesting. Sorry it takes me a long time to catch on.

 

[promiseacres]

https://htch.us/p/4yh

hopefully this link works, but my pedigrees show a notes section. Not only do I list their known genotype, but also their ear stats since that's important to know for my breed.
This doe I know most of her genotype due to offspring and actually she probably EE (no tort) as she's had 12 kits with a buck that carries tort and no torts. It makes me happy to know their genotypes. Though always can be suprises.

 

[16029]

yep, it works, thanks