Black Flemish show bunny

I have a question....The Flemish we bought has a few very tiny areas of white. Can we show with these? It's like maybe 10 hairs on her "muzzle" and on her tail......

One more thing...The lady we got them from, was going to sell me this HUGE buck that was absolutely lovely, except his right ear would not stand up. It kept falling down, but she told me it would stand up in the show because he would be excited and that his sire had won several shows and had the same issue with his ears so even if it didn't stand up it was OK. Does that sound right? I really like the lady we got them from, but I don't know much about showing rabbits....

Finally, are shows usually overrun with Flemish??

Not sure about the white, but the ARBA standard says the surface color should be solid. So I think that would be a fault, if not a DQ. As for the ears, that doesn't sound right to me. Plus I'm not sure I'd want to use an animal like that for breeding, because it's probably hereditary. Do you have any pictures of your new doe?

I do not, yet. I think you just gave me something to do...right now! It gives me a good excuse to go out to the rabbit building and play with the babies, now! LOL....My new doe (named Ryder) is 3 months old, so maybe the spot will grow out with maturity??

Another question for you guys....Do bunnies ever eat TUMS? I give one to ea of my 3 chinchillas every month and was wondering about bunnies.....I don't do things with animals until I've read several examples of positive results or heard from several others...And then I'm still anal about what I do/give to them....

wendymac wrote:

Not sure about the white, but the ARBA standard says the surface color should be solid. So I think that would be a fault, if not a DQ. As for the ears, that doesn't sound right to me. Plus I'm not sure I'd want to use an animal like that for breeding, because it's probably hereditary. Do you have any pictures of your new doe?

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Hi, Wendy-

I know it's only one pic, but if you go here you can see it. I'm currently in the middle of revamping and building this site so please excuse the mess....LOL

I will eventually finish it!!:rollseyes

Can u see the white spot well enough? And she has a few white hairs in her tail, as well....Maybe she will outgrow them....

Anybody?? I would like to know if we can show her....

She may molt them out as she grows older, but it's rare. Generally it goes the opposite direction--that as they get older, they get MORE white hairs. But I think it would be a fault, called "scattered whites" instead of a full DQ. Don't know a ton about Flemmies though.

As for the buck, it doesn't sound right to me. I would double check her against her word--check the records to see. But I wouldn't breed an animal with an obvious problem like that. There are plenty of other, better bucks out there.

A judge has said to me if it is more that 3 hairs in one spot then it is classified as a white spot and it a DQ. I have a black tan buck that has a white spot on his ear and it has gotten worse as he has gotten older. I have watched his babies and so far none of them have any problems with it. His white spot is maybe 5-9 hairs.

I would highly recommend not getting that buck. I have heard weak ear bases being talked about when commenting for a judge and flemish. Flems are up eared rabbits and If an ear lops do not get him. Try and find another breeder is what I would recommend

I spoke with the standards committee and she said the following about the ear: "in regards to a lazy ear, if it is below the line of horizon, then it is a DQ, if the ear base is weak, that would be a fault. Please refer to your Standard of Perfection for more details."

So I'm glad I did not buy that buck. He was so big (and I like me some big bunnies!!! :biggrin2 but the ear was a deal breaker, for me...

Ah, well. The ones I did get are so lovely! I'm so glad I met the breeder and decided to share our lives with some bunnies.......

Thanks, woah..I did not get him.
I got a younger little boy, with ears that behave and from a different line....:big wink:

I started out really wanting the blues, but I ended up with blacks...Maybe eventually I'll get a blue...

Well blue is a dilute of black so if any of your blacks carry dilute, you may wind up with some after all.

HappyFarmBunnies wrote:

Well blue is a dilute of black so if any of your blacks carry dilute, you may wind up with some after all.

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I hope, so! My doe's momma is blue otherwise, the rest are all blacks! What does that give me..a 25% of getting a blue?? LOL

the best way to tell is to take her to a few shows and see hat the judges say (remember ever judge is diffeent so some will notice and others wont) one the ear thing it does sound likly I hav had/seen rabbbits like that

janedoe wrote:

HappyFarmBunnies wrote:

Well blue is a dilute of black so if any of your blacks carry dilute, you may wind up with some after all.

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I hope, so! My doe's momma is blue otherwise, the rest are all blacks! What does that give me..a 25% of getting a blue?? LOL

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Yup that means that your doe is a blue carrier. You would have to cross her with a blue buck or a black buck that is also a recessive blue carrier in order to get blues.

In Flemish, Blue is VERY recessive to every other color... if you definitely want to get blues out of your doe, you would have to breed to a Blue Buck. (And then you'll probably get 50% black-50% Blue)

If you breed to a BBack, youshould makesure that Buck is out of Blues also. On average, my Black/Black breedings result in 10% blue (no matter how strong the Blue Gene is behind the parents).

If you breed to a Black that carries Light Gray or Steel, you may get Blue Steels (Blue with white flecking)... pretty but a DQ. IF you get Light Grays from that breeding, they may have wrong undercolor (another DQ).

And the comments about the "white spot" are correct. 3 White hairs touching constitutes a "spot" and is a DQ. If it came from an injury, it won't get bigger. If it's an inherited trait, you may see more stray white hairs, white ear lacing, white hairs on the paws or between the toes... all DQ's... and possibly indicative that the Black carries Light Gray, Steel or White (even if it doesn't show on the pedigree). I've seen White show up 11 generations after.