A few questions on making a Harlequin New Zealand?

[tm_bunnyloft]

For Dinner......

 

[GBov]

For Dinner......

Well, there is always that :lol:

 

[ZRabbits]

Lovely Harlies. And I thought the "for something" was for meat when it comes to NZ's? Isn't it a plus to have a freezer full of rabbit?

Definitely would try the Blue Rex to see what comes out in the nest box. Hoping Patches is feeling better.

Karen

 

[GBov]

Lovely Harlies. And I thought the "for something" was for meat when it comes to NZ's? Isn't it a plus to have a freezer full of rabbit?

Definitely would try the Blue Rex to see what comes out in the nest box. Hoping Patches is feeling better.

Karen

My hubby goes on (and on and on and on aaaaaand on) about how the rabbits have to make a profit or at least break even so having a line with no commercial value gives him something to point at and say "Those ones are not needed, you can get rid of them and save yourself X, Y and Z on feed and cages."

Ugh, sometimes that mindset creeps into my brain like a virus. :lol:

But this morning I have managed to shake it off and am going to keep them, despite the cage shortage. After all, they are MY RABBITS!

 

[skysthelimit]

Do you have an agouti buck? Instead of the Red, the agouti will darken the color.

 

[GBov]

Do you have an agouti buck? Instead of the Red, the agouti will darken the color.

What color is agouti?

Have spent a very long day setting up a water system to all my cages and my brain isnt working any more.

 

[skysthelimit]

Agouti is a pattern, not necessarily a color. In this case for the harlie, Chestnut agouti would be best.

 

[GBov]

Agouti is a pattern, not necessarily a color. In this case for the harlie, Chestnut agouti would be best.

Is steel agouti?

This cold is making my head feel like mush but I seem to remember that it is?

If so I have a nice combo I could use.

But I have a nice Harli buck who is now old enough to breed, would it be better to cross him with her and then cross the kits with the NZ crowd?

 

[skysthelimit]

Yes, but unpredictable and not very useful in this situation.

Yes to the last statement. For better color.

 

[GBov]

Yes, but unpredictable and not very useful in this situation.

Yes to the last statement. For better color.

Better color would be great as this batch of kits was very dissapointing.

 

[Devon's Mom Lauren]

Its the doe herself who doesn't seem to have a lot of rufous factor.. thats what you need is more rufous, not a new pattern unless it has over the top rufous present.

 

[skysthelimit]

Its the doe herself who doesn't seem to have a lot of rufous factor.. thats what you need is more rufous, not a new pattern unless it has over the top rufous present.

Yes, choose one with really deep red, and if you have a pedigree, a pedigree of really deep red.

 

[DumansArk]

GBov I love Tiger's color! As for having to be "for" something to be worth it... they are Good for Looking at! PRETTY!

 

[GBov]

GBov I love Tiger's color! As for having to be "for" something to be worth it... they are Good for Looking at! PRETTY!

Pretty IS enough, isnt it lol.

I crossed my NZ red buck with her and got two nice red kits with a few very thin stripes of black. So the nice red color I want but pretty booring and hard to see with the pattern.

Will they, crossed back with Tiger's full (and could be twins for color/patern) brother, give me the nice patern as well as their nice dark red?

Have to say I am pleased with how fast they are growing!

And fingers crossed, it looks like Honey (Tiger's tri-color Mum) has given us a tri-color when crossed with our NZ red bucks last pairing. Shall get pickies when they come out of the nest.

 

[WallTenter]

I just found this thread but read through the whole thing - I too have Harlequins and I too have been crossing them with other meat breeds to get a meatier rabbit with better growth and better hips, legs and shoulders I know type is not judged heavily in the show room but it is pleasing to my eye therefore it will be in this rabbitry

I wanted to let you know don't be discouraged at all by the poor color on your Harlequins. If you breed them without the Agouti gene in there strong they will look like that, but when crossed back you will start to see better banding. Remember with Harlequins the definition of and deepness of color is more important than the actual bands - you can have very plainly banded harles throw wildly banded kits, you never know!

When I crossed my Harlequin to a NZ (I had a blue NZ/Pal buck) I got lots of really brindled sooty Harlequins like it looks like you have there. I just had kits from these does and man they look way nicer. Plus they are much faster growing than my purebred Harlequin kits so I feel like it is "working" and I've brought in a bit nicer head with that cross as well.

If you look at my posts I recently posted some photos of a couple of buck kits from one of my NZ/Pal x Harlequin does and a Harlequin buck - you can see they do have Harlequin markings in full force

Have faith, and have fun! Looking forward to continuing to read about your progress!

 

[GBov]

I just found this thread but read through the whole thing - I too have Harlequins and I too have been crossing them with other meat breeds to get a meatier rabbit with better growth and better hips, legs and shoulders I know type is not judged heavily in the show room but it is pleasing to my eye therefore it will be in this rabbitry

I wanted to let you know don't be discouraged at all by the poor color on your Harlequins. If you breed them without the Agouti gene in there strong they will look like that, but when crossed back you will start to see better banding. Remember with Harlequins the definition of and deepness of color is more important than the actual bands - you can have very plainly banded harles throw wildly banded kits, you never know!

When I crossed my Harlequin to a NZ (I had a blue NZ/Pal buck) I got lots of really brindled sooty Harlequins like it looks like you have there. I just had kits from these does and man they look way nicer. Plus they are much faster growing than my purebred Harlequin kits so I feel like it is "working" and I've brought in a bit nicer head with that cross as well.

If you look at my posts I recently posted some photos of a couple of buck kits from one of my NZ/Pal x Harlequin does and a Harlequin buck - you can see they do have Harlequin markings in full force

Have faith, and have fun! Looking forward to continuing to read about your progress!

Thanks for the encouraging words, sometimes I need them

Crossed Tiger back to her full brother stripes and she jsut had three kits last night. I know you can never tell at this age but they all look something special. Shall cross him with the two reddest of her last litter by the NZ red as soon as they are old enough and see what I get.

Honey - Tigers mum - shall cross this time with Stripes as well and see what we get there while waiting for her last litter to get old enough to chose the keepers.

This breeding lark is fun but it sure takes up some cage space :lol:

I am picking up some NZ Red kits tomorrow and shall see if I can do a trade for a nicely marked harlie buck from the lady I got the two latest harlie does. Her rabbits are MUCH bigger than my harlies and have a different shape to their heads.<br /><br />__________ Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:12 pm __________<br /><br />My harlie buck pushed out of his cage today and the dog ran him to death.

Am heartbroken, he was due to breed our tricolor tomorrow.

Have his one and only litter doing well but, at only 5 days old, its still early days yet.

Having never liked our dog - some dogs are just hard to like - its proving hard to even look at her, this is the third rabbit she has killed. They are safe enough in cages so far but once on the ground they are dead meat.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

My harlie buck pushed out of his cage today and the dog ran him to death.

Oh no!!!

I'm so sorry. Poor bunrab.

What kind of doors are on your cages?

I have in and up swinging doors on the 24 holes in the bunnybarn, and even unlatched the rabbits can't usually get out. I did have one doe that managed to escape and break her leg in her quest for freedom, but overall they can't figure out how to open them. Since the door opening is smaller than the door, they can't push their way out of a corner of the door either.

 

[GBov]

My harlie buck pushed out of his cage today and the dog ran him to death.

Oh no!!!

I'm so sorry. Poor bunrab.

What kind of doors are on your cages?

I have in and up swinging doors on the 24 holes in the bunnybarn, and even unlatched the rabbits can't usually get out. I did have one doe that managed to escape and break her leg in her quest for freedom, but overall they can't figure out how to open them. Since the door opening is smaller than the door, they can't push their way out of a corner of the door either.

Mine open out and down. Have only had two bucks ever figure it out, this one today and my first buck who use to live loose in the back yard most of the time. WITH the dog! I locked him up once because he was sooooo disgusting from staying under the doe cages and getting pee-ed on that I put him in a cage to clean off and chill down his oversexed self but he pushed right out. The next time I put him in a cage with two latches and that kept his bum in.

I guess I will put more catches on this cage for the replacement buck but its hard to find one to match him. His color was a bit muddy but his shape and personality were great.

Just spent 15 min quietly grooming the new angora doe to calm down. Its mental here right now, am setting up a trial separation with hubbs so, with all the stress, the dog has gone a bit nuts. She probably thought the "toy" was a great gift to help her run off a bit of her crazy.

 

[skysthelimit]

oh no, I am so sorry. I haven't had a dog kill a rabbit, but when Chase started killing my chickens, I bought a shock collar, and anytime he got within two feet of the coop I zapped him. Then I let the chickens out, and anytime he went near on I zapped him, then when he looked at one I zapped him, and after two weeks he was cured.

 

[GBov]

oh no, I am so sorry. I haven't had a dog kill a rabbit, but when Chase started killing my chickens, I bought a shock collar, and anytime he got within two feet of the coop I zapped him. Then I let the chickens out, and anytime he went near on I zapped him, then when he looked at one I zapped him, and after two weeks he was cured.

I trained her the same way for chickens but until the last four months or so has been totally safe with rabbits. This is new to her. And that is why I dont like her, after training a dog should NEVER forget that garbage is off limits, livestock should NEVER be harmed, food on the table is NEVER to be touched. She has forgotten all that and no amount of retraining has brought it back.

She is broken in the head, not her fault but she just is.