Color Questions

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TinysMom

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Messages
15,929
Reaction score
42
Location
, Texas, USA
I'm sorry to start another thread - but I wanted to get the attention of Pam & other breeders.

It looks like (after being given two beautifully marked tri lionheadbucks) I may be starting a breeding program for tri coloredlionheads. However, I'm not sure what to mate them to(they're already "tris" so I'm not trying to create thatcolor). I also don't know how to decide who to keep and whoto rehome - or if I should keep them both for a bit.

Do I judge who to keep by body type? or by markings? Both are single mane hybrid lionheads.

Also - I'm going to be working on harlequins and magpies. AmI correct that as long as I have unrelated does and bucks I shouldbreed harle to harle and magpie to magpie? Or should I bringin another color?

Finally - brokens....I will have a broken black buck, a broken blue doeand a broken tort doe. I'm assuming I want to mate my brokensto my selfs (or torts in the case of the broken tort). Isthat correct? I know broken to broken will make acharlie...but I don't know if charlies usually have good markings ornot.

I think that is all for now. If I think of more questions, I'll post them here.

Peg
 
I really don't know too much aboutgenetics...however, Charlies lack the correct AMOUNT ofmarkings. Charlies have less than 10% color and that is whythey can't be shown.

As for whether you should keep something based on type or markings, itis really up to you. You should keep something that willincrease the quality of your lionheads. I can only tell youwhat I do...I raise Dutch & Jersey Woolies. I am verypicky about my dutch. I usually keep something that has goodtype, head, ears, etc. Markings are a second thought due tothe fact that you can take a horribly marked Dutch and breed it and geta nicely marked Dutch! Markings are hereditary, but for me, Ifeel that it is easier to get the markings than the type!

It is really about what you are looking for to help yourherd! Someone else my have a different opinion. Theabove is just my opinion as to what I would do.

Sharon
 
As far as my experience with bkn to bkncross.....I was concerned about it at first, but I really wanted totighten up a gene pool, and try to improve on body type so we did, andout of a litter of six there were two charlies, two broken, and twosolids.
 
TinysMom wrote:
It looks like (after being given two beautifully marked tri lionheadbucks) I may be starting a breeding program for tri coloredlionheads. However, I'm not sure what to mate them to(they're already "tris" so I'm not trying to create thatcolor). I also don't know how to decide who to keep and whoto rehome - or if I should keep them both for a bit.Harlequins, tris, reds & fawns can be used in tri-coloredbreedings. Tri to tri would produce some"charlies". Do not use any self varieties in a tri breedingprogram.

Do I judge who to keep by body type? or bymarkings? Both are single mane hybrid lionheads.For show quality in the Lions, you'd need to breed fortype. For pet quality, the prettier marking sell better.

Also - I'm going to be working on harlequins and magpies. AmI correct that as long as I have unrelated does and bucks I shouldbreed harle to harle and magpie to magpie? Or should I bringin another color?Jap to Magpie adds cchd (chin)to theJap lines, which would produce more Magpies down theline. One drawback of mixing the Magpies withtheJaps is that you may produce black japs with blue/grayeyes (a dq in the japs, but not in the magpie). However, thecolor isn't accepted anyhow -- so it really wouldn't matteranyhow.
Finally - brokens....I will have a broken black buck, a broken blue doeand a broken tort doe. I'm assuming I want to mate my brokensto my selfs (or torts in the case of the broken tort). Isthat correct? I know broken to broken will make acharlie...but I don't know if charlies usually have good markings ornot. Broken to solid is generally advised to avoid producing lightlymarked "charlies".
I think the main thing you need to do is todecide on your goals. This will help in making the decisionsof which rabbits to keep and which to sell. It can bedifficult to maintain a number of projects at one time and it alsotakes up a lot of cage space, may require intensive inbreeding and alsomay produce many animals not suitable forshow.Pam
 
pamnock wrote:
TinysMom wrote:
It looks like (after being given two beautifully marked tri lionheadbucks) I may be starting a breeding program for tri coloredlionheads. However, I'm not sure what to mate them to(they're already "tris" so I'm not trying to create thatcolor). I also don't know how to decide who to keep and whoto rehome - or if I should keep them both for a bit.Harlequins, tris, reds & fawns can be used in tri-coloredbreedings. Tri to tri would produce some"charlies". Do not use any self varieties in a tri breedingprogram.

Do I judge who to keep by body type? or bymarkings? Both are single mane hybrid lionheads.For show quality in the Lions, you'd need to breed fortype. For pet quality, the prettier marking sell better.

Also - I'm going to be working on harlequins and magpies. AmI correct that as long as I have unrelated does and bucks I shouldbreed harle to harle and magpie to magpie? Or should I bringin another color?Jap to Magpie adds cchd (chin)to theJap lines, which would produce more Magpies down theline. One drawback of mixing the Magpies withtheJaps is that you may produce black japs with blue/grayeyes (a dq in the japs, but not in the magpie). However, thecolor isn't accepted anyhow -- so it really wouldn't matteranyhow.
Finally - brokens....I will have a broken black buck, a broken blue doeand a broken tort doe. I'm assuming I want to mate my brokensto my selfs (or torts in the case of the broken tort). Isthat correct? I know broken to broken will make acharlie...but I don't know if charlies usually have good markings ornot. Broken to solid is generally advised to avoid producing lightlymarked "charlies".
I think the main thing you need to do is todecide on your goals. This will help in making the decisionsof which rabbits to keep and which to sell. It can bedifficult to maintain a number of projects at one time and it alsotakes up a lot of cage space, may require intensive inbreeding and alsomay produce many animals not suitable forshow.Pam
Pam,

I love the tris but I really hadn't planned on breeding them (anotherbreeder had to clear out some cages and begged me to takethem). Would they be any use at all to me in my harlequinprogram?

Also - I only want to breed harli to harli and magpie to magpie - nointermingling of the two. For the magpies, I will have oneunrelated pair and for the harlequins I will have two unrelatedpairs.

I agree with you that I need to figure out what projects I want to workon. That is a big dilemna for me right now.....as I have 2otter does, harlequins, magpies, brokens, and more!Decisions....decisions.

Peg
 
The tris bred to harlequin will produce moreharlequins for you as well as more tris. If you don't wantany more tris, then I wouldn't keep them unless you need them as asource for the harlequin ej gene. If you do use them, I'donly breed them to the japs -- not the magpies.

Pam
 
pamnock wrote:
Thetris bred to harlequin will produce more harlequins for you as well asmore tris. If you don't want any more tris, then I wouldn'tkeep them unless you need them as a source for the harlequin ej gene.

Pam
Thanks. I wouldn't mind keeping one of the tris and breedingto my harlequin does once in a while (maybe 3 litters ayear). But I didn't want to have to have four or five cagesset aside for tris. I really like these bucks though - someof the nicest personalities I've seen yet in lionheads....

ARG! Decisions are so hard. Thanks again.

I think a lot of my problem is I have too many duplicates...forexample, I think I have 6 black does...four of which are probablydilute carriers. I may try to sell four of them in Decemberat a show. I also have two fawn does and an orangedoe. I don't need that many - but deciding who to sell isn'teasy.

Yes, I need to sit down and figure out my goals for sure!

Peg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top