"half lop" English Angora ears

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hotzcatz

hotzcatz

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Aloha Rabbit Talk folks,

This is our first litter and they are going on nine or ten weeks old now. Two of the kits now have a "lazy" ear, an ear which doesn't stand up like their other ear. Is this something which can be fixed? I'm pretty sure the English Angora standard says both of the ears must be upright although I'm not sure if it is okay for the tips to bend over from the weight of the wool. However, these two kits have one ear which is held horizontally, not upright at all. Would this be genetics? Diet? A phase they will grow out of? This does disqualify them from being show rabbits, doesn't it?

Should they be reclassified as "woolers" and sold instead of being bred?

It is amazing how much there is to learn about rabbits!

A hui hou!
 
Congrats on the English Angora litter! I bet they are adorable (my favorite age with them was between 6-10 weeks) right now. :)

As far as the lazy ear thing, it can be caused by a few different things, so unfortunately I don't have an easy answer. With angoras there are some lines that do have weak ear cartilage. You are right in that they would be DQed and I wouldn't sell one with a down ear for breeding or for show just in case it is genetic and the ear doesn't come back up. Should be good woolers or pets though. :)

Flopping ears can also be caused by hot temperatures and sometimes littermates or Mom can damage the ear and cause it to droop, but if it is more than one kit than I would be suspicious for sure because it is better safe than sorry, especially if your goal is show or breeding stock. If I were you, I would probably repeat the breeding and raise the litter indoors or during the cool part of the year. If you are still getting flopped ears on multiple kits then I would probably try a different buck or doe and try to figure out who is passing it down. If you can isolate it, then I would part with the breeding animal(s) that carries the trait or I might bring something in with a wide head and a good ear base to support the entire length of the ear or select only the offspring with that trait to keep from here on out.

I hope this helps and best of luck!

Lauren
 
If the kits were going to grow out of it, how long do you suppose it would take them to do it? When are rabbits "adult"? Somewhere around six months? I'd think if they were going to grow out of it, they'd do it by the time they became adult. That's just a guess, though.

Well, there's not a whole lot of difference between the heat of summer and the dead of winter around here. It gets up to just over eighty but generally well under ninety in the heat of summer. A cold winter's night is usually somewhere just under sixty but above forty five or fifty. It doesn't really get any cooler in the house than in their cages since they have a shady tree and some nice breezes where their coop is.

If the ears don't come up, I do have some folks wanting some wooler rabbits so perhaps that's what will happen. We don't have a lot of different genetics to work with yet, so mostly I'm just trying to cull heavily and only keep good stock around. It's hard to know when to cull, though, since I'm new at this.

I've rebred the two who had this litter, mostly since those are the only two adult rabbits I have. The buck did an outside breeding, though, and I get pick of that litter so hopefully I'll have some new - although still related - genetics to mix in. If those kits have the same lazy ear, then I'll have to see what can be done.
 
It usually takes 2 weeks at most for them to grow out of it. I have heard of people taping their rabbits ears up, but I would only do this if their ears still aren't right after a couple of weeks.

Emily
 
I have no idea how well it would work on a rabbit, but lots of people tape puppy ears (either to stand up or lay in the right position). Also, it's pretty common to shave Yorkie ears so the hair doesn't weigh them down. Just some suggestions.
 
Someone told me rabbits who are born in the summer grow longer and heavier ears than rabbits that are born in the winter. ???? Is that true, do you think? If so, then all the litters should be winter litters so their ears will stay up.
 
Yes, I do think there is truth to this for sure. Rabbits ear's are a major part of their ability to control temperature- they have a huge network of blood vessels in the pinna (the external part of the ear) that can dilate or constrict to release large amounts of heat or hold the heat in during cool weather. For English Lops, we like warm weather litters because their ears tend to be a bit longer than those same litters born in winter, but again we are going for ear length and width whereas you wouldn't want that in most other breeds.

That said, even with warm weather as a factor, the ear base or cartilage in an angora should not be so weak that the ear flops consistently if they are born in warmer temperatures. I raised English in Georgia for a little while and I have never seen a lopped ear around here, though in the summer in can get VERY hot and humid, too. I have seen this before in other places and breeders have worked hard to eliminate it from their herd. I know you have a very limited gene pool, but I would cull for it if I were you, especially because you have less breeding stock to choose from to begin with, so only the best of the best can become breeding or show stock. You can plan winter litters to see if it will help but as you said there is a slight difference in temperature and I really think your best bet would be to make ear strength/thickness with a solid base part of your criteria for selection.

Best of luck,

Lauren
 
Aloha Lauren,

Yup, I've been culling for ears. I'm still working out what the breeding program should be, there's a Vienna gene in our pool and I'm undecided whether to try to breed for BEW or to try to chase the Vienna gene out. However, in the ear department, now that it's cooled off some and the babies have gotten older all but one ear is standing up now. Yay! It's also an ear of one of the culled rabbits and the owner just wants it for wool, so it's all good. Whew!

The ears on all three teenagers are all up as well as the ears of the two babies, so hopefully we can find something else to cull for.

Do you think the ears will go back down again next summer?
 
Hi again,

I can't say for sure without being able to put my hands on the rabbits about the ears. They probably won't go down when the weather is warm, but I suspect they might flop from time to time when the rabbit is relaxed if they are still on the weak side. I am not sure if you have been around Hollands/ML's etc., but it would be the opposite of a short-eared lop, when they tense up from time to time the ear can stand, lol. I am glad to hear the ears have come up except for the one though- if you are breeding only those with the strongest ears and best ear base then that shouldn't be a terrible thing to eliminate from your herd with culling. Yay!

That said, the vienna/BEW gene is MUCH more difficult to eradicate. Even when it is off the pedigree, it can still crop up in weird places from time to time. I would consider just breeding for it- after all, pure white wool is a dyer/handspinner's dream! :)

Lauren
 
When you're showing bunnies they look for balance. That means the ears should be below the peak of the body. Hot weather will cause the ears to grow too long. If the rabbits ears lop and do not respond to a couple of weeks of support then I would not use them in my breeding program. I also raise BEW English angoras and after 4 yrs of breeding I do not have a problem will dropped ear. I will support their ears for 2 weeks. If they do not come up then they will be culled.
 
How do you support the ear while waiting for it to get stronger? Tape the two together?
 

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