Rex are on the way...

I think if you are happy with them...
My first doe was supposed to be purebred Flemish, bred to pure FG and she threw harlequin coloured kits... so I learned the hard way...
BUT she is my BEST doe by a mile and her kits are marvellous~ first butchered ones happening this week.
They just aren't Flemish Giants.

That said~ I would say someone with dirty animals and not knowing gender at that age (I know it is tricky on young ones!!)... and obviously not knowing what a Rex coat is supposed to look like... I would say that like me, you got a pig in a poke
The does' coats are not at all rex, the buck is marginal.
So you got some meat breeders but I don't think there is any way you could call them rex, nor are you likely to get any proper rex coats out of them, as I *think* it has to come from both parents.
Good luck! I'd love to see them in a few weeks of your good care! opcorn:

They're definitely Rex mixes at the least, or just poorly bred. But they've got the face and look like Rex fur on the face too.

But if you're happy, and didn't spend too much, than good luck!

Dood":2vyqfpaq said:

I'd say more like rex crosses or rexes from crossbred parents

doe 1 is a broken black otter and not broken black

Doe 2 is a broken chestnut/castor and possibly a "Charlie" with two broken genes

Buck is a "booted" broken chestnut/castor

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That's what I'm thinking .... they likely have a non-rex somewhere very recent in their tree , appears to be a lot of protruding guard hairs.
I've experimented with a NZ/Rex cross and the resulting 3rd gen kits that did exhibit rex fur had similar guard hairs. It just wasn't as apparent in the first set of photo's.

Rex x NZ = Rex/NZ Hybrid (rex carrier that didn't exhibit rex)
Rex x NZ/Rex Hybrid = litters with both rex and non rex fur , those that did exhibit rex fur had lots of guard hairs which is what these remind me of.

I didn't bother to continue the experiment beyond that 3rd generation as they didn't retain the growth rate or size / improved shoulder that was the original intent of the project.
The second gen hybrids did grow like weeds.


Here's an image of one of those 3rd gen rabbits that did show rex fur .... It's black and harder to see the guard hairs than the white on another color but they are fairly obvious:




Here's one of my purebreds from OAF stock , easy to see when you zoom in on the photo the fur is much denser and more uniform:




I've often considered crossing a Rex with a Flemish Giant to get much larger hides. Just don't have the space to embark on such a project right now and finding good FG's is tough.

crookdbeak13":2vyqfpaq said:

Thanks Dood! I have the "pedigree" but it is questionable at best! As I said before, worse case scenario is I at least get some meat....

I thought the "broken black" was a broken black otter as well....but I am new to the rex colors so wasn't 100% sure.....

thanks for the clarification on the buck....as far as the other doe, she has a bit more color than my broken nz cross meat mutt had, but again, I don't know...

When I entered them into global pedigree, out of all the parents listed three parents were listed in global ped....

I am going to breed and cull hard and if they are not what I want I will replace them!

Click to expand...

Worst case scenario .... they wont taste any different! Just thinking about it is making me hungry!

Thats kind of how I look at it! They will taste good either way! They are very skittish still...but seem to be doing a little better today.

I have to wonder if part of their poor fur quality is maybe they were underfed or not fed important nutrients...
When I picked them up, the guy gave a gallon size baggie of premixed grains...but the only one I actually recognize is the BOSS.

I mixed that with some of the pellets that I feed and gave them each some hay last night.....they devoured it!!!! Today I decided to feed a little more pellets and less of the grain, and again...they have devoured it!

They appear on the small side so I am hoping I can get them up to size and maintain....Give them a test breed and see what I get...if I don't like it I will either eat them or sell them as meat mutts and attempt to start my Rex line over again!

MSD are you coming to VA anytime soon?! hahaha I would love to have that bun you posted earlier in the thread!

crookdbeak13":2nnynq18 said:

Thats kind of how I look at it! They will taste good either way! They are very skittish still...but seem to be doing a little better today.

I have to wonder if part of their poor fur quality is maybe they were underfed or not fed important nutrients...
When I picked them up, the guy gave a gallon size baggie of premixed grains...but the only one I actually recognize is the BOSS.

I mixed that with some of the pellets that I feed and gave them each some hay last night.....they devoured it!!!! Today I decided to feed a little more pellets and less of the grain, and again...they have devoured it!

They appear on the small side so I am hoping I can get them up to size and maintain....Give them a test breed and see what I get...if I don't like it I will either eat them or sell them as meat mutts and attempt to start my Rex line over again!

MSD are you coming to VA anytime soon?! hahaha I would love to have that bun you posted earlier in the thread!

Click to expand...

Good luck either way ....

I'd love to add that rabbit MSD posted to my herd too .... There are so few rex breeders in my area its hard to find new stock that will improve my line. Their biggest flaw being very common to the breed , weak shoulders. I really need to add a new buck .... but will wait until I find one that fits my needs.

That lilac pictured above is the great grand daughter of MSD's "Evil Blue."

Great discussion Being new to the Rex myself, learning lots!

I have bred my lilac SR buck to one of my questionable FG crosses... so we'll see what happens (I may just try breeding back to dad and see what we get for kicks ~ and meat LOL)

TF3":9uoyci4d said:

Great discussion Being new to the Rex myself, learning lots!

I have bred my lilac SR buck to one of my questionable FG crosses... so we'll see what happens (I may just try breeding back to dad and see what we get for kicks ~ and meat LOL)

Click to expand...

Crossing the rex buck with the FG(Nr) doe will produce offspring that carry but do not exhibit (show) rex fur as it takes two rex genes for it to be visible. Crossing the resulting offspring back to the dad will produce offspring , each with a 50% chance of exhibiting rex fur , depending on which gene the mother passes along either the rex gene or the non rex gene tho all will be carriers as since the buck is rex that's all he can pass on.

F1: Buck - RR Doe NrNr
F2: Buck - RR Doe RRNr

In F3 each kit has two possible combinations RRNr (wont show) RRRR (will show).

Hope that makes sense ....

I am hoping that I can at least see the colors that are "supposed" to be in the background of these bunnies! I know that the chance of tri colored should be low, but there is lilac and otter in the background as well as castor......and whatever else they left out! LOL It will be interesting! I transferred them from there the temp carriers, to the newest cages we just put up today...it is in the chicken pen, but away from my other buns!

Heres a pic of my newest litter of American Blues- they are 14 days old and they have REW and black in the background!!!
2 Bucks (1 REW and 1 Blue) 2 Does (Both Blue)