Color combinations for trio?

[Suzy74]

We are going to a breeder on Sunday to purchase a trio of New Zealands (2 does and one buck) to start our small rabbitry. What color combination will result in the most variety? We don't want any pure white so we were thinking one black doe, one red doe and a broken black/white for the buck. Unfortunately the breeder doesn't have any blue or broken blue right now. I don't really know anything about rabbit color genetics, so any input is appreciated

 

[promiseacres]

Are you going to be selling? If yes and for what purpose. Color is fun. But if for show purpose crossing colors without thought can result in nonshowable or poorly colored rabbits. But if you're just raising for fun and meat. Go for it. If you want brokens then you need 1 broken parent which is best crossed with solids. Also it really depends on their backgrounds. Black is dominant so can "carry" blue, Red is also dominant but carry dilute which is "cream or orange" .

 

[Tale of Tails Rabbitry]

We don't want any pure white

You still may get red-eyed white (REW) offspring, if the pair being bred both have a recessive "c." With a broken, about half the offspring will be broken when bred to a solid.

A black could carry blue (dilute) so if bred to another dilute carrier, you may get blue offspring.

You would have a better idea if they are pedigreed or the seller shares breeding records.

 

[Bunnylady]

Breeding black to red could result in a variety of colors (most of which aren't showable), or it could result in all black. As @Tale of Tails Rabbitry said, knowing what's behind these animals can give you a better idea of what results you might expect.

 

[Suzy74]

We aren't going to show these rabbits, just looking for a fun variety of colors

 

[Tale of Tails Rabbitry]

Blacks can carry recessive genes so out of two blacks with both carrying dilute and chocolate, you can get blacks, blues, chocolates, and lilacs. But because black is dominate you will not know what a rabbit MIGHT have in recessives without some background or just have fun breeding and see what you get.

As to reds, others here would be able to comment with more experience and knowledge than I. My breed does not have red.

It is fun to have variety. However, more often than not, what you want is not you get with rabbits, but they do tend to favor diversity, so the odds are in you favor on that.

 

[Bunnylady]

We aren't going to show these rabbits, just looking for a fun variety of colors

Be aware - if there are kids involved, they will get attached to the "pretty" ones, and there isn't that great a market for pets the size of a NZ. If these rabbits are being raised for meat, it's easier to not get attached to the plain white ones.

Chocolate isn't supposed to be in New Zealand bloodlines, but we all know about things that aren't supposed to be there, don't we?

If this breeder is working with Blue, then the Blacks might be carrying it - if pedigrees aren't available, the breeder should at least be able to tell you if they have Blue relatives.

Red doesn't look like it, but it's an Agouti pattern color. A good New Zealand Red is a combination of Agouti, Non-extension, Wide Band, and Rufus Modifiers. If you aren't a genetics nerd, that may be Greek to you, but let's just say that you'll most likely wind up with a lot of "not Reds" if you breed Red to any other color. Chestnut is the most likely outcome, but a Black could be carrying Steel, so you might wind up with Steels, or simply Blacks that are actually Steels (but we don't really want to get into that, do we?)

 

[Tale of Tails Rabbitry]

Be aware - if there are kids involved, they will get attached to the "pretty" ones, and there isn't that great a market for pets the size of a NZ. If these rabbits are being raised for meat, it's easier to not get attached to the plain white ones.

Much wisdom in this and this is exactly why we started with NZ Whites, not my favorites and hard for a child to identify the differences. We started when my daughter was ten years old and she vowed never to eat rabbit meat, but things do change. Now she wants to learn to process.

Chocolate isn't supposed to be in New Zealand bloodlines, but we all know about things that aren't supposed to be there, don't we?

After the recent discovery of Chinchilla in my pedigreed Blue Silver Fox, YEP! I have stopped assuming what I think should/could/would be there and just try to figure out what is.