Rabbits for Fiber/Spinning

[Bunnylady]

Calling any Angora rabbit "brown" would be a bit of a stretch - 'beige' or 'ecru' would be closer to the actual color. People who breed the Angoras will tell you; there is only so much pigment in a rabbit hair, be it 1/2" or 5" long, and the longer the hair, the thinner the pigment gets deposited, thus the lighter the color. Most people have a hard time figuring out the color of a colored English Angora, because the only part where the color isn't washed out and pale is on the face and maybe feet. A lot of Angora breeders can't tell some colors apart on rabbits more than a few weeks old!

As an example of what I am talking about, this is a BLACK English Angora:

 

[Ridgetop]

The wool on that black Angora is a range of colors from deep steely gray to almost white. However, if you want to dye that wool the color will darken to a grayer tint of the dye. The wool on a brown angora will range from a soft beige to a creamy almost white, again giving a tannish shade to the dyed color.

Like Amberlops said, if you want to dye the wool to a color, use white wool. So you would want to buy white Angoras, rather than colored ones. You will not want to breed your does if you are planning on harvesting their wool since they will pull wool for the kits, and their coats will suffer while pregnant and nursing. If you want to have Angora rabbits just for the wool your best choice will be all male rabbits. Females that are not bred by 12 months old tend to get cranky. Males tend to stay even tempered.