Hi, I’m a youth looking into breeding himalayans for show. I have had pet rabbits for a few years and have always been interested in showing but due to lack of space and money we’ve never been able to until now. I chose himalayans due to their gentle temperament, small size, ease of judging and handling, and importantly that they arent highly competitive where I live. I don't plan to be highly competitive or own a massive rabbitry or anything like that; I'd just have one litter at a time and only keep the very best of the best that could improve my herd. I have done lots of research in most areas so far, but can't seem to find information on what kind of program I should have as a beginner. Some of the sources I have found say that line breeding is not recommended for beginners, though that's what I planned to do from the start. I've heard from many people that what they do is breed two unrelated rabbits, keep the best offspring, and then breed those offspring back to the parents to enhance desired traits. Is this acceptable and healthy practice to do for many generations continuously? What are considered no-no's in breeding? And for himalayans, is it true that you should always been strictly within the same color groups (black-black, black-blue, blue-blue, chocolate-chocolate, chocolate-lilac, lilac-lilac)? Any tips and information at all will help
Welcome to breeding for show! It's great fun and an opportunity to learn all kinds of neat stuff. Himalayans are a great choice, too; in my experience they
do have wonderful temperaments and are easily handled.
Line-breeding is a well-proven strategy for producing consistent quality, and most of the breeders I know use that approach. You can go many, many generations linebreeding without any genetic problems, unless your line has problems to begin with, but actually linebreeding is a great way to uncover and eliminate those.
When I'm helping youth breeders get started, I suggest getting their original breeding stock from one breeder (preferably a successful show breeder if there is one in the area), who knows their rabbits, their strengths, weaknesses, and developmental characteristics. This kind of breeder can help you select animals from their lines that will complement each other. They will also know how closely related their stock is and will be able to help you linebreed successfully. In fact, getting to know a breeder who is willing to mentor you is probably more valuable than any stock you buy!
I would not suggest getting unrelated animals. The main reason for that is that you don't know what's behind these animals in terms of strengths and weaknesses, which means can't know if the separate lines will work well with each other. Most of us who have been doing this for a while have experienced the disappointment that comes when you breed two fantastic unrelated animals and come up with nothing but junk.
In my opinion, it is much better to start with stock from the same line. Basically, you won't be starting from ground zero, because there has already been work done on setting good traits and minimizing or eliminating bad ones. On the other hand, when you cross two unrelated lines, you never know what's going to pop out, good or bad. You certainly
can start with unrelated animals, but it
usually makes your work longer and harder to get to the point of consistently producing top-quality animals.
When I want a shot of "new" blood in my Satins, I usually go back to one of the breeders I got my original stock from, or to breeders I have sold stock to. I know my lines, so I can predict what the results will be when I bring in an "outcross" that is actually distantly related to mine. I have done complete outcrosses, even to the point of outcrossing to another breed, to bring certain characteristics into my herd. But it took several generations to get back to show-quality animals and longer than that to get consistently high-quality animals in all litters. In fact, my advice would be the opposite: outcrossing is not for beginners! That would be especially true if you are only going to be having a few litters a year.
Regarding the colors, I don't know of any reason to stay strictly within the varieties. Blue is simply a dilute of black, so if you breed blacks you will could end up getting blues anyway. Same with chocolate and lilac. They are all selfs so there really should be no problem breeding any of them with each other, unless you persoanlly don't like one of the colors.
