Bunnylady
Herd Master
When genotype is written with a line in it (En_), that means you know what the one gene is, and either don't know what the second one is or else it doesn't matter. For a lot of dominant alleles, two alike or one of each look the same. Black, for example - a rabbit that has two black alleles (BB) looks exactly the same as a rabbit with one for black, and one for chocolate (Bb). If a black rabbit has a chocolate parent or chocolate offspring, you know that it is heterozygous for black (Bb), but it doesn't look any different. So when we write B_, we know we are talking about a black rabbit; the other member of the pair is unstated.
Broken (En) is different. A pair of broken genes results in an animal that is often called a Charlie (after silent film star Charlie Chaplin, who had a mustache that the small nose marking of a Charlie reminded someone of). Charlies are almost all white, with almost no color on their bodies, and seldom have enough color to make the minimum requirement to be eligible for showing. The gene causing the broken pattern also influences other things, including the digestive system, and Charlies typically show reduced gut motility (their digestive systems run slower, so they are more prone to GI stasis).
Since you have had broken babies from them, you know your NZW's are carrying broken (En), even though you can't see it. But since broken is dominant, getting even one broken baby means that the parent is carrying broken, and one solid baby means that the parent is carrying non-broken. If you have some brokens and some colored, solid babies, and you are breeding to a colored, solid parent, you know that you are dealing with a rabbit that is Enen.
But to answer your other questions - yes, a rabbit can have both broken and steel. Broken (En) is an entirely different series from the one Steel appears in, and is found at an entirely different place in the rabbit's genetic code.
The text options on this forum don't include it; the proper way to write the notation for steel would have the s written above the line, like an exponent in math (you know, like writing "2 squared" or "3 to the 4th power"). The correct way to read such genetic notation out loud would be "E-sub-s;" a person familiar with the language of genetics would know that's a particular allele of the E series. Broken is En, after the English Spot, which is the breed the gene was identified in. It would have been simpler, maybe, if they had just picked some random, unused letter (q,maybe?), but since E was already assigned to the extension series, they needed some way to differentiate broken as being in a different series. So, it is En, with the n written on the level of the rest of the letters. Nothing like making it all clear as mud to the novice, right?
But yes; it is possible that your Silver Fox might be carrying Steel. Self patterned rabbits (aa) don't show Steel, so they could have it and nobody would know it. A lot of people out-cross the larger breeds to improve type or just increase genetic diversity; odd things can get picked up and carried on for many generations.
Broken (En) is different. A pair of broken genes results in an animal that is often called a Charlie (after silent film star Charlie Chaplin, who had a mustache that the small nose marking of a Charlie reminded someone of). Charlies are almost all white, with almost no color on their bodies, and seldom have enough color to make the minimum requirement to be eligible for showing. The gene causing the broken pattern also influences other things, including the digestive system, and Charlies typically show reduced gut motility (their digestive systems run slower, so they are more prone to GI stasis).
Since you have had broken babies from them, you know your NZW's are carrying broken (En), even though you can't see it. But since broken is dominant, getting even one broken baby means that the parent is carrying broken, and one solid baby means that the parent is carrying non-broken. If you have some brokens and some colored, solid babies, and you are breeding to a colored, solid parent, you know that you are dealing with a rabbit that is Enen.
But to answer your other questions - yes, a rabbit can have both broken and steel. Broken (En) is an entirely different series from the one Steel appears in, and is found at an entirely different place in the rabbit's genetic code.
The text options on this forum don't include it; the proper way to write the notation for steel would have the s written above the line, like an exponent in math (you know, like writing "2 squared" or "3 to the 4th power"). The correct way to read such genetic notation out loud would be "E-sub-s;" a person familiar with the language of genetics would know that's a particular allele of the E series. Broken is En, after the English Spot, which is the breed the gene was identified in. It would have been simpler, maybe, if they had just picked some random, unused letter (q,maybe?), but since E was already assigned to the extension series, they needed some way to differentiate broken as being in a different series. So, it is En, with the n written on the level of the rest of the letters. Nothing like making it all clear as mud to the novice, right?
But yes; it is possible that your Silver Fox might be carrying Steel. Self patterned rabbits (aa) don't show Steel, so they could have it and nobody would know it. A lot of people out-cross the larger breeds to improve type or just increase genetic diversity; odd things can get picked up and carried on for many generations.
