Harlequins...please help me

[Jessykah]

Someone has offered me some harlequins. She is 5 hours away, and is coming to buy my dutch buck for $20. She has offered me harlequins. I do not know any details yet. She said in an email:
"I am looking for buyers for my purebred pedigreed Harlequin rabbits,... looking for people willing to breed them as they are such a rare breed."
Questions:
(1) Are they a rare breed, needing preservation like she says?
(2) Is it worth it for me to raise and preserve them?
(3) Do I have to be a part of the ARBA?
(4) I raise New Zealands and Calis. I don't really NEED Harlis right now. Why should I add them to my herd?
(5) Are they good to cross with my other rabbits?
(6) What are the advantages/disadvantages to raising them?
(7) Do I have to get into learning the genetics, and do I have to conform to the SOP? Because that would be a lot of work for me.
(8) What should I pay for them?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Cattle Cait]

They are uncommon, but I wold not consider them rare.

Harlequins are a beautiful, rewarding, and frustrating breed. I would not recommend them for crossbreeding into your other breeds because they aren't the best meat producers. They are listed as having a commercial body type, but so much emphasis over the years has gone into the markings that body type quality has been lost. That being said, they are fantastic mothers. They have good sized litters and milk very well, so they might be worth it just as foster moms.

A well marked Harlequin (showable) could cost $35+, but a non-showable one should not cost more than $10. Harlies have great temperaments and are fun to raise for showing, but the markings are so difficult to get right that it can make you tear your hair out trying to produce a good one. Because the showable/nonshowable ratio is so skewed, you will get plenty of mismarks to eat, but they won't dress out like your New Zealands.

You do not have to be a member of ARBA to show. It would be worth your time to conform to the SOP with any breed, not just Harlequins, if you intend to raise purebreds.

 

[Dood]

:yeahthat:
Many rabbits now come in the harlequin colour so demand for the Harlequin breed is pretty much non-existent and the difficulty in getting proper makings can be very frustrating, both are good reasons for why they are rare.

 

[tailwagging]

you can see what is show Q in the neat box! and what to eat.

 

[ladysown]

Harlequins are a great breed for all the above reasons. I loved my harlequins, but found the showing them became problematic as most folks would choose to show other breeds. I had built mine up over time to be a decent meat rabbit and then got a buck who didn't grow as he should have (due to people messing with the breed in the past I'm sure). Finding a healthy replacement was problematic so I just said nuts to this. Kept the does until I found a buyer for them since crossed with generic meat rabbit I had great kits from them, even good kits when breed to a lop.

I got out of them this year and am doing just straight mixed breeds.

 

[akane]

I looked in to some harlis once for the interesting pattern and I thought the color genetics might be fun to cross in to some of my meat mutts but the type really sucked and the breeder was dishonest about it. They had narrow, pinched heads and weak shoulders. None of the ones he was selling had the proper pattern either. He tried to say they would show fine but everything he was showing instead of selling looked much better. The ones he'd brought to show he would only sell for around $100 each. I wouldn't call them rare but I couldn't find another breeder at nearby shows so I gave the idea up rather than drive several hours for them. If you have space and they are cheap they can be an interesting side project and don't sell too bad to the pet market once you make people aware the colors exist. Most don't go looking for harlequin colored rabbits until they've seen one somewhere.

 

[Frabo]

They were added to the Livestock Converancy last year, under study.

Here is what it says on their page..."

Harlequin rabbits were once known as Japanese rabbits, but in fact are French in origin, and were imported to the US in the early 1890s. Although they never achieved great popularity as a utility breed, they appear to be great mothers, and their adult size of 8 lbs would make a smaller, but still rather nice carcass. There are likely fewer than 8 large scale breeders of Harlequin rabbits in the US, and fewer than 100 annual registrations in the United States."


I love the breed, good mothers, nice temperament, I find mine to be good meat rabbits, as good as my Rex. My vote is get them and give them a try!

 

[Random Rabbit]

A large part of the "prob;em" with Harlequins is that when showing them... the judging is All over the place. The standard shows examples of what the desired marking are... but No single rabbit will have All of them. Judges muddle thru... each giving weight to various parts of the standard.

Color and Markings are 75 % of the points awarded. Type is only 10% Many judges do Not follow that and try to judge as a NZ. Guess they just cannot help themselves.

People looking to purchase Harlies... will request a Perfectly marked animals... Making longtime Harlie breeders laugh out loud..... Why ever would they give up their Best prospects ??? Especially when most will not pass on the markings.

Harlies are Beautiful... but tremendously frustrating to breed and show.

 

[lonelyfarmgirl]

I agree with random rabbit. working on harlequins is a labor of love only. Their value on the purebred market is fairly worthless. the markings are very very hard to get right and the body types suck across the board. Up here where I live the population is heavy. I see alot of them. Harli nationals was here last year so I got to see some of the best. They still kind of sucked.

I have some in my colony that I am using for color crossing. Some are friendly some are not. A couple are great mothers a couple are not. One I can't seem to get bred to save my life. They are no different in those respects than any other breed.

So to answer your original question, unless you REALLY want them, dont waste your money, and I mean feed, time effort, rather than purchase price.

On a positive note, there is a VERY active facebook group called Worldwide harlequin breeders, or something like that. Tightknit group, nice people.

 

[PSFAngoras]

I have a friend with them. She loves her harli's, super sweet and social. Great mothering capabilities. Her last litter was in the bottom most cage of her stack, and they figured out how to spring their door latch open. She would just walk out there, say hi, and they all would follow her back into her rabbit barn and she could just pick them up and put them back. (Pretty big deal when you live on 40 acres.)

That being said, everyone else is right. Attempting to get perfect, show quality harli's is a PITA.