Crowns

[katt]

was going to go to bed (ha! sure bed before 2 am. . . that would be a first)

but I figured I would take the time to try to explain what 'crown' is for peg (and anyone else).

the crown is basically a big bulk of bone between the ears. This boney growth will determine just what kind of lop you have.

some old photos to explain different crowns:

first lets talk about upright eared rabbits-

take Chaucer, now you might see some boney growth around the base of the ears, but if you feel inbetween the ears, you basically hit scull. Without any bone growth (or 'crown') there, the ears are free to stand upright, nothing is 'forcing' them down.

now lets look at a lop,

instead of having just skull between their ears, they have a mass of bone, this changes the way the ears develope, and causes lop ears. you could even say that lops have normal 'upright' ears that just are growing the wrong way.

now in a *perfect* holland lop crown, it will be well placed, and well sized. similar to this (although I have no real good photos of hollands on this computer, so bare with me with photos of some old brood/pet stock)

now a crown that is placed correctly (or at least better) but is to tight will give the 1/2 lop appearance, meaning that it basically doesn't have enough bone mass there to keep the ears growing down to the sides

and a crown that is placed to far back on the head often give the ears a 'rolled' look instead of the nice flat look

when dealing with crowns in holland lops, you want them to sit just behind the eye's so that the ears fall literally right after the eyes, you want the crown large enough that they ears lay out flat

does any of this help? any other questions?

 

[TinysMom]

what is a slipped crown?

 

[Debacus]

A slipped crown is when the crown is considered to be placed too far back on the top of the head so it's further away from the eyes than is considered diserable.

If the ears are too folded or rolled it's because there is a lack of width to the crown (from front to back)

And lack of width to the crown across the head means the ears are pinched, not being long enough to allow the ears to drop correctly by the side of the head.


See this article http://www.miniaturelops.com/crowns.htm

 

[TinysMom]

This is Cindy - she looks a bit different now in the fact that her ears stay down almost all the time.

She took two BOB this weekend at the show - and she has a BOV from the state show last month (she's four months old - almost 4 1/2 months old).

The judges on Saturday both stated that they loved her crown (they kept looking at her and posing her and stuff) and both stated (not knowing the other one had done so) that she had a promising career as a show bunny - as did the first judge who saw her last month.

Here is her picture:

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[align=left]Now here is the buck I want to use with her...the best I could find this weekend. I know he's not posed well - but can you tell me about his crown?

Would you breed him to her (I probably will for the first litter - my goal is to sell my litters and save the money for a nicer buck). If I remember right - he does have one leg.

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[align=left]Finally - can you tell me anything about this girl's crown?

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[wooly_queen]

I would say your tort buck has a slipped crown. I posted in your other thread too. Check out this link from Oak Ridge.

http://oakridgerabbitry.weebly.com/holland-lop-type.html

 

[pamnock]

Just to clarify - the crown is made up of cartilage at the base of the ears - not bone. Dense fur helps to accentuate the crown. Erect earred rabbits do not have a crown (it is only evident in some lop breeds.) In breeds such as the English Lop, a crown is not desired (so not all lops have crowns). The very thick substance of the Mini, Holland, and French Lop ear helps to form a pronounced crown.

Rather than tissue "forcing" the ears down, lops have a very weak ear base allowing the ears to lop.

Erect ear breeds with weak ear bases may also have a problem with lopping ears. A very strong ear base (such as mentioned in the Flemish standard) actually holds the ears erect.

Also, not only can a crown be slipped too far back (ears should drop immediately behind the eye), but a crown may also be slipped too far forward. This simply has to do with where the ears are placed on the head.

 

[Debacus]

Yes all too often you see people trying to breed with ears closer and closer to the eyes and end up with then too far forward, almost covering the eye entirely. It is not easy to get right, even breeding two very good specimens together is no guarantee you will get out kits with good crowns.

 

[Erins Rabbits]

Peg-
Here's a really great article on crowns. It's old, and it's illustated for very easy understanding.
http://showbunnyblog.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/lop-crowns/

 

[Sabine]

Wow I didn't know there was so much to know about the crown. Just looked at some pictures of Holland lops that I always thought looked really good but after reading this I can suddenly see the flaws.
Thought the links were very useful too. I am glad Peg asked the question

 

[pamnock]

Here's another excellent article written by the queen of Holland Lops - long time breeder and judge Chris Zemny:

http://www.hlrsc.com/Articles/judginghollandlops.html

 

[DeniseJP]

pamnock wrote:

Here's another excellent article written by the queen of Holland Lops - long time breeder and judge Chris Zemny:

http://www.hlrsc.com/Articles/judginghollandlops.html

An articleI keep in my library. Just my two cents....

Denise

 

[TinysMom]

Thanks so much for the links - they really helped me learn a lot. Of course - Sassy, Sher & Cindy were NOT happy because it meant I started messing with them to see what their crowns were like and trying to understand them.