Tri-colour breeding

JDB Rabbitry said:

I'm going to preface this thread with the fact that I'm from South Africa and we have accessibility issues with certain colours. We currently have 2 breeders actively trying to breed tri-colour mini rexes, one of which I've been working in tandem with to get into breeding myself.

I currently have a lovely little blue harlequin doe that I plan to start my tri-colour project with. She was show quality but had a small injury on her head so she can't be shown unfortunately. All of this is to say that she's a very high quality doe.

I'm not sure exactly what buck I need to put to her to get tri-colours. I know it needs to be a broken ej-carrying buck (obviously I can't get a tri-colour buck since we don't have any good quality ones yet). I just need help with figuring out what base to go with in a buck to produce the best tri-colours I can. Any advice? There's no lack of ej-carrying brokens in most varieties here.

Picture of my doe attached. She was 6 weeks old here, DOB is 01/01/2023 so not ready to be bred yet.

Click to expand...

Alaska Satin said:

You're right, she is very pretty!

Just out of curiosity, do you follow the ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association) Standard of Perfection (SOP), or does South Africa have its own standard bred rabbit association?

For tricolors, you do need a broken colored buck; you don't actually need him to carry ej, although that would get you a lot more tricolors faster. In fact a buck that was <ejej> or <eje> would be the best possible scenario. But at least in the American SOP, there are 45 points on type and 35 on fur, with only 15 on color (and in brokens - which a tricolor is classified as - that is divided into 10 points for color quality and 5 points for pattern). So, I would prioritize finding a broken buck with the best type and fur possible, leaving the color and pattern as a tie-breaker between rabbits that are otherwise similar.

All other things being equal, I would look for a well-marked broken buck in an agouti color, since harlequin expresses itself correctly with at least one agouti gene <A> present. Your doe already has at least one <A> since she's a harlequin, so at least some of her kits should get it; thus if you find a stunning broken black, for instance, it might be worth grabbing him even though he's a self. But if you can find an excellent broken castor or broken opal you should get black or blue tris; a broken amber might give you chocolate tris; a broken lynx might eventually produce lilac tris.

I would however, avoid chinchilla, since that will probably eventually give you magpies, and a broken magpie isn't a tricolor.

Again, I'd look first at type and fur, but if possible, avoid self, otter or marten brokens, or even self, otter or marten carriers if you can get that information. If you end up producing self <aa> kits, they will be "torted" japanese or tris; same with tan pattern <at_> which would give you torted japanese otters and tris. These recessive genes can be hard to get rid of, so if you can start out without them, you'll probably get a higher percentage of show quality offspring.

Click to expand...