I agree with Sagebrush, those are some seriously cute kits!
I have an update on my current agouti-foxy litter.
I decided that my opal buckling must have fathered the blue and lilac kits, and my chestnut must have fathered the black, chestnut, and chocolate based kits. Because an opal buck cannot throw chocolates or blacks with a lilac colored doe. I'll just assume the SF lines that my chestnut buck came from carried chocolate. He was purchased from another breeder, so I don't know his lines as well as I do my own.
I've read a study that indicated junior bucks average smaller litter sizes than fully mature bucks. I wasn't sure either was really ready for the job. (But the doe still laid down nicely for them) I think...I must have been desperate to get some kits and put the doe in with both jr bucks. I'd say oops, but...it seems to be a success. I have nine healthy looking kits!!! I only remember seeing the chestnut buck finish, so I recorded him as the father. It seems the opal was more successful! I'll have to track the growth rates to see if one buck's kits grow faster than the others.
Notice the SEVERE SHORTAGE of agouti pattern kits, despite both bucks being agouti pattern? They were the only two bucks I had (except the v-lop, who stays in the house), so...no possibility of a third buck being involved here. What should be 50% agouti or steel is closer to 10%. If this was one or two times this has happened, I'd call it luck, but these ratios have been consistent for a couple years with no odd litters of normal ratios to offset the balance. I'm always excited to see ONE agouti patterned kit...or a visual steel. As far as I know, none of these rabbits have non extension. I've test bred sporadically for non extension colors and haven't ever seen any of these lines turn up non extension kits.
The doe carries one copy of steel from her SF sire. And none from her test-bred-steel-free Lilac mother. None of the bucks have steel (obviously, because they are visually agouti patterned)
I think I might be struggling with the Ed steel gene. Which would make more of my steel kits look like selfs. Some of these kits might still show me some steel ticking later, but...don't count on it. Oh well...that chestnut kit will carry both dilute and chocolate and is visually free of steel. If only it grows well, has a foxy coat, behaves docilely, and breeds willingly with good mothering instincts and no aggression if it's a doe. Yeah...progress has been SLOW. :roll:
The v-lops are growing too. I think I might have some of the cutest and perhaps the world's ugliest kit in one litter.
I'm calling him Igor
Oh, and I went ahead and re-named the thread so that it didn't sound exclusive to newborn kits!
