Talk to me about blue eyed whites, please

So I was gifted with three blue eyed white does, one blue eyed white buck, one red eyed white buck and one broken black buck mini rex yesterday. Not counting the tri-color pair.

All very VERY nice little beasts indeed.

But I seem to remember something about the color and its not being all fun and games when breeding them but I just can't remember what is it so thought I would ask y'all.

Are there any pitfalls to look out for or do I just breed them as normal?

The only issue is lethal white, where the rabbit dies only days after birth. Not had it personally but I always sell my whites just in case. If they are pedigreed, check the ancestry and check what colors the parents are just to male sure

For a mini-Rex, broken is an allowable color, so BEW is good. (If they were English angoras, then BEW is evil! Once it gets into your lines, there's no getting rid of it!) Keep strict pedigrees with notes on the BEW and their offspring in case someone wants to keep their herd clear of the Vienna gene, although, as mentioned, with mini-Rex, broken is an allowable color so it's probably not as much of a problem.

REW is dominant over BEW, so it's possible your REW is a BEW under that white wash.

When folks were starting with BEWs, there was rather a bit of intense (at best) linebreeding, I've heard. Which resulted in some less than healthy offspring, although I'd attribute that to the linebreeding/inbreeding and not necessarily the BEW. Mostly, I've been trying to eradicate the Vienna gene (the gene that causes BEW) so I can't really help you much with breeding details.

With no pedigrees you have no idea of course what their actual color is under the bew since it hides it just as rew hides color. Bew best kept to bew and Vienna marked/carrying rabbits.

She is looking for the peds now, the ones for the three white ones have gotten lost in her filing system. Once I have that in hand it will be easier to know what is what.

I did remember the recessive lethal with blue-eyed whites though so glad I asked.

Might split the rew and bew pair up and pair them with the tri-colors, just in case.

We have lost so many baby bunnies lately I don't think I could handle any more.

Blue eyed whites don't have any relation to a recessive lethal gene. There's no lethal whites in rabbits, that's a horse thing (the closest we have is megacolon in charlies, on a different gene entirely than vienna/BEW) A lot of people do outcross because a lot of BEW lines are fairly inbred though

What you have to be careful with with BEW's is vienna carriers! Some rabbits can carry the vienna gene but don't look like it (BEW is caused by the vienna gene), then end up throwing unshowable, vienna marked babies. Even if you're not planning to show, you need to be entirely honest that ANY rabbit with ANY BEW/vienna ancestry that you sell is a potential vienna carrier. Finding vienna popping up in show lines often means that the entire line is culled, as most show breeders won't touch vienna unless they are working with a BEW line because it is impossible to breed out.

Most people try to avoid crossing BEW and REW because REW breeders don't want vienna in their lines (so that if they cross to other colors they don't get white vienna spots) and BEW breeders don't want REW in their lines (because REW is one of the few genes that makes BEW not breed true, because two BEW can throw REW if they carry it)

I must have been remembering blue splash in chickens, sorry. :lol:

Good to know that they are good to breed.

Next question, what is Black VM when it is looking at me with little fuzzy noses?

Black VM to a BEW should result in 1/2 BEW one half VM, I think. In any case ALL of the offspring would have the gene for BEW since that's all the BEW can give. (Translation: mark it on their pedigrees!) Although, they're mini-Rex so they won't ever get into the breeding lines over here even though Mini-Rexes are a cute little bun.

Oh, as to what a Vienna mark looks like, look at the gray rabbit at the top of the page. The white on the nose tip and the little strip of white between the eyes are a classic Vienna mark. If they aren't marked that much, there may be white toenails on a colored rabbit. Sometimes they don't show the Vienna gene at all even though they carry it. Which is why breeders of breeds that don't allow broken colors are less than fond of the Vienna gene.

hotzcatz":j9eogn3z said:

Black VM to a BEW should result in 1/2 BEW one half VM, I think. In any case ALL of the offspring would have the gene for BEW since that's all the BEW can give. (Translation: mark it on their pedigrees!) Although, they're mini-Rex so they won't ever get into the breeding lines over here even though Mini-Rexes are a cute little bun.

Oh, as to what a Vienna mark looks like, look at the gray rabbit at the top of the page. The white on the nose tip and the little strip of white between the eyes are a classic Vienna mark. If they aren't marked that much, there may be white toenails on a colored rabbit. Sometimes they don't show the Vienna gene at all even though they carry it. Which is why breeders of breeds that don't allow broken colors are less than fond of the Vienna gene.

Click to expand...

Makes sense, thanks!

A moot point now as they are all for sale but good to know for the future.