Lots of Questions

[Redbird]

I bought a doe in early December on Craigslist to breed with my NZ white buck. (my only rabbits)
she is a mixed breed and came pregnant - delivered 12/09/13.
Her colors are blue and brown but evenly mixed, like a regular rabbit wearing jackrabbit fur. if that makes sense?
All the babies made it (7)she was a real good mom, super happy with her.
2 browns, one that looks like Amer.blue color, and 4 whites w/ cali markings coming in. I assume she will always throw mixed.
they're only 4 1/2 weeks or so, but after I sex them, I was thinking about keeping a doe from this litter.

(forgive me if I say something really dumb)

So because she was already pregnant from another rabbit (apparently Cali buck) I can keep a doe to breed to my NZ and have 2 does right? does that even matter? since I really just do this for our own meat?

as stated, I mostly just want to raise them for meat. However since the babies have come, the wife is totally backing out on the rabbits. (she wasn't 100% anyway). first shes like "we can't kill this one. its too little, i'm keeping it. it's mine." we can't just keep rabbits for no reason! only breeders and eaters. So I did my best to use sound logic and explained we can't keep the little one unless we're going to breed with em, and we can't breed it because it's the runt of the litter. We can't keep the weak genetics, we want the good ones. needless to say... sadface.
An hour later, seemingly out of nowhere, "I'M NOT EATING ANY RABBITS!, so be prepared to cook 2 dinners every night!" whawhat!
Yesterday she comes home all excited and says " I have a co-worker that wants the little rabbit!"
I say "Oh really!" I'm thinking jeez now she's trying to give our meat away! lol
then she casually drops the kicker "she's a vegan." hahaha

Colors/breeds - So the wife is more interested in money than meat, and would like to sell as many live rabbits as possible before they get old enough to butcher.
now to someone who buys a rabbit for a pet, snake food, or to eat themselves even though its sold as snake food - color/breed probably won't matter much.
If a person was trying to source a rabbit to breed with, then they would likely want a specific breed like Cali or NZ, which got me thinking maybe I should source a NZ white doe to go with my NZ white buck, then I would be able to offer purebred bunnies to this type of customer. Then one doe would deliver whites consistently (that could be sold as whites), and the other would have colors and whites. (this is most likely what I'll do, but I'll wait for your replies)

Personally I really like the way NZ reds look, kinda like the blues too though. so I am drawn to the 2 brown/1 blue bunnies in my litter too. I'm pretty sure any doe I kept from this litter would throw mixed babies because mom is a mix and dad was a cali, so genetically they're all swirled up right? (EX: if I keep a brown doe, and breed to my white buck, her offspring won't necessarily be only browns and whites right? other traits, like the blue colors, could come through from moms side?
Sorry, anyway, before I do something stupid like keep a doe because of her coat color, how does a first timer properly pick a "winner" IF I do decide to keep a doe from this litter? haha IFthe wife leaves one TO keep!!!
should I weigh them all and pick the biggest?
maybe just overall appearance?
please help me avoid common mistakes made when selecting breeders

I have many more questions and things I read and hear that I want to double check with you guys, lol but we will start with this.

Thank you everyone for your time, opinions, and advice

 

[skysthelimit]

Hello.
Welcome to the world of raising rabbits.

You have lots of questions, and each had a different answer depending on what you want.

I'm not sure what you mean by the color of the doe, I would have to see it before I would guess. Based on the color of the doe, if it's a standard color, you can get some type of idea what colors she carries genetically. She will have whatever colors are genetically in her make up.

Inbreeding is not really a big deal with rabbits especially if the plan is for most to become meat.

Depending on what you want, fryers or roasters, the age they are ready to be sold is still around the age they are ready to be butchered.

It seems for pet people, color matters a lot.

For the guy I sell buns for snakes, he says the snakes won't eat black bunnies, so it might matter.

If you want a pure bred, and you think there is a market for it, go for it. There might also be a market for meat mixes too, so decided based on what you like, cause you gotta see em and feed em every day lol.

In order to answer the brown doe/white buck think, I would still need to know what "brown" really is, that could be several colors, and the genetic outcome is different for each.


For a meat herd, you probably want the fastest growing, meatiest looking doe to keep.

Well these are all just my opinions, best wishes on what you decide.

 

[Dood]

If you keep a Cali marked (AKA himilayan) or a white (AKA Red Eyed White = REW) and breed her to another Cali or white you will ONLY get Cali or white. These two colour genes hide all other colours so technically, and genetically, they will be brown/chestnut or red or blue rabbits but hidden under a white coat

You have a couple nice looking reds there. If you've got a buck and doe or if you keep a buck and breed him to his mom you will get more reds in the litters along with some whites and possibly one or two of an other colour.

 

[Zass]

In my opinion at least, mutts are mutts and purebred are purebreds. Being self blue does not make a rabbit a blue American, and being a ruby eyed white does not make a rabbit a new zealand. Your reds could be bred to a purebred New Zealand red, but will carry dilute(blue) and REW, and who knows what else, and pass it on to their offspring. The wideband gene is also important in producing quality reds. In other words, yes, they will continue to carry all the wrong colors (and other genes) and those colors will pop back up anytime the lines are crossed.

It's not very nice to sell people rabbits as purebreds when they aren't. Plenty of people do it, but really, it's kinda mean.

Those are handsome and healthy looking mutts though! I do love the look of red rabbits

Your best off not mixing them up unless you REALLY know what your doing. (unless it's just for meat or you sell then AS mutts, then mix up whatever you want and have fun )

Also, If your breeding rabbits to sell, get the wife to get used to eating rabbit meat or find another outlet for culls, because live rabbits provide a rather limited market. There are only so many sympathetic vegans in any area, after all, and a breeder who culls heavily produces the best rabbits for sale. (and will get more repeat customers)

Even show quality purebreds can end up in freezer camp if your market dries up. And grand champion line purebred buns can throw junk that no one would want. So consider your breeding skills before investing in expensive rabbits.

 

[TwoAcreDream]

I like the looks of the red babies

 

[GBov]

Having spent much of the last 15 years cooking two dinners, sometimes its not so bad to cook two just so long as YOU get one you really want!

Once you have teriyaki rabbit belly jerky or garlic roast rabbit or any of the other ways rabbit is fantastic, cooking it will be a joy no matter who eats it or not.

I use to have to dispatch rabbits when the hubby (now ex ) was away. He would always come up with reasons why "that bunch" didn't look ready. Too small, can sell them live, arnt you to busy this week to process them, you have probably heard them all by now. :roll: So pick the biggest two does to keep back - the sex change fairy usually drops by for a visit if you only keep one - and process the rest when she is away shopping or working or what ever.

If they are your rabbits then they are YOUR rabbits!

And if she turns out to love rabbits that much alive, make her some cages and let her raise a nice pet breed for herself. Rabbitosis is super contagious after all! :mrgreen:

Oh, and remind her, if you want babies, you have to breed bunnies. If you breed bunnies, you have to have a plan for the babies. Not all babies will sell so, well, it just makes sense to eat some. Yum!

 

[Redbird]

I'm not sure what you mean by the color of the doe, I would have to see it before I would guess. Based on the color of the doe, if it's a standard color, you can get some type of idea what colors she carries genetically. She will have whatever colors are genetically in her make up. I'll post a pic of mom for ya.

Inbreeding is not really a big deal with rabbits especially if the plan is for most to become meat. awesome, that's what I needed!

Depending on what you want, fryers or roasters, the age they are ready to be sold is still around the age they are ready to be butchered. right, I think she just doesn't want to have them die if they could have been sold.

It seems for pet people, color matters a lot.

For the guy I sell buns for snakes, he says the snakes won't eat black bunnies, so it might matter. !!!whoa, thanks for the insight. picky animals hadn't occured to me.

If you want a pure bred, and you think there is a market for it, go for it. There might also be a market for meat mixes too, so decided based on what you like, cause you gotta see em and feed em every day lol.

In order to answer the brown doe/white buck think, I would still need to know what "brown" really is, that could be several colors, and the genetic outcome is different for each.

For a meat herd, you probably want the fastest growing, meatiest looking doe to keep.

In my opinion at least, mutts are mutts and purebred are purebreds. Being self blue does not make a rabbit a blue American, and being a ruby eyed white does not make a rabbit a new zealand. Your reds could be bred to a purebred New Zealand red, but will carry dilute(blue) and REW, and who knows what else, and pass it on to their offspring. The wideband gene is also important in producing quality reds. In other words, yes, they will continue to carry all the wrong colors (and other genes) and those colors will pop back up anytime the lines are crossed.

It's not very nice to sell people rabbits as purebreds when they aren't. Plenty of people do it, but really, it's kinda mean.

Those are handsome and healthy looking mutts though! I do love the look of red rabbits

Your best off not mixing them up unless you REALLY know what your doing. (unless it's just for meat or you sell then AS mutts, then mix up whatever you want and have fun ) right they will mostly be for meat. I don't think we'll sell too many really. I understand mutts can "look" like a fullbred, but they're still mutts. I wouldn't sell NZW babies, unless it was a NZW on NZW, then the litter would be authentic whites correct? I don't want to do any shady stuff.

Also, If your breeding rabbits to sell, get the wife to get used to eating rabbit meat or find another outlet for culls, because live rabbits provide a rather limited market. There are only so many sympathetic vegans in any area, after all, and a breeder who culls heavily produces the best rabbits for sale. (and will get more repeat customers)
This was over my head. can you explain?

Even show quality purebreds can end up in freezer camp if your market dries up. And grand champion line purebred buns can throw junk that no one would want. So consider your breeding skills before investing in expensive rabbits.



Having spent much of the last 15 years cooking two dinners, sometimes its not so bad to cook two just so long as YOU get one you really want! LOL

Once you have teriyaki rabbit belly jerky or garlic roast rabbit or any of the other ways rabbit is fantastic, cooking it will be a joy no matter who eats it or not.

I use to have to dispatch rabbits when the hubby (now ex ) was away. He would always come up with reasons why "that bunch" didn't look ready. Too small, can sell them live, arnt you to busy this week to process them, you have probably heard them all by now. :roll: So pick the biggest two does to keep back - the sex change fairy usually drops by for a visit if you only keep one (good tip, thanks)- and process the rest when she is away shopping or working or what ever.

If they are your rabbits then they are YOUR rabbits!

And if she turns out to love rabbits that much alive, make her some cages and let her raise a nice pet breed for herself. Rabbitosis is super contagious after all! :mrgreen:

Oh, and remind her, if you want babies, you have to breed bunnies. If you breed bunnies, you have to have a plan for the babies. Not all babies will sell so, well, it just makes sense to eat some. Yum!

Thank you for all of your help. I just assumed most folks would want a real breed and there'd be no market for mutts. It seems options could helpful in certain situations

 

[GBov]

Breeders who cull heavily and only keep the VERY BEST for breeding, produce the very best breeders. Such a breeder gets many repeat customers because they sell the best and eat the rest.

 

[Redbird]

wow can you tell I'm new?! I can barely tell who wrote what...and I just did it. haha sorry

Next question is rabbit meat. does it have a taste? I love lake fish (walleye, bass, northern, crappie, bluegill, etc) I HATE seafood. all of it. smells/tastes like ocean death. the wife loves seafood especially crab (pblahhh) I cook it outside haha
anyway if rabbit has a taste, is it subtle? or extremely noticeable like seafood

whats the texture like?
chewy and stringy like venison
firm like pork chops, layers of muscles like chicken?
what's your "can't fail, super delicious, always requested recipe" that I could make to help ensure the family likes rabbit meat?

I'm determined to be confident in the tastiness of rabbit, and have an answer/rebuttal for every question/concern.
otherwise the girls will just poke it with their forks haha

Pics of mixed doe from Craigslist

 

[Zass]

rabbit meat is subtle, and is textured a lot like chicken used to be, before commercial chicken lost all it's texture...if that makes sense to you.

It doesn't taste like chicken though, somehow it lacks whatever it is about poultry I dislike, but it still works well in recipes where you would normally use chicken.
and it makes a wonderful stock or broth. (bunny noodle soup is good)

I won my kids over with oven baked BBQ bunny.

I'll be honest, my first couple meat litters sold for snake food because no one really wanted to eat them.

The first rabbit we were actually able to eat was one that went totally spastic when handled and bit for no reason, she was delicious!
Eventually we became more and more comfortable with it.

Your doe is an opal! (I just love those)
That's a dilute(blue) agouti, who is obviously carrying self, non-extension and REW. Nice find!

My opal mutts are flemish giant and new Zealand mixes.(mostly)

 

[Peach]

Rabbit meat it yummy! And can replace chicken in almost any dish.

The belly flaps make good jerky or dog treats.

The loin makes delicious tenders with some shake and bake

Honestly, it's a lot like chicken. Depending on the age, they can be a little tougher. I remember when I first tried it, and it was HORRIBLE! Then some more experienced members warned me that rigor will spoil the taste. So, now I let the meat sit for 1-3 weeks in the freezer, defrost for 2-3 days, and then cook. Taste great!

I also got a handy dandy meat grinder for the kitchen aid and it makes old 2 year olds taste great (Tired of slow roasting and crockpotting every time lol) ! We cooked into eggs, pasta,etc.

I'm sure there are more ways, so I'll testing more as opportunities arise. My brother made almond crusted chicken and it was delicious with a small balsamic spring mix salad and homemade mashed potatos.....yum! I'll be trying that with some rabbit loins soon!

 

[Redbird]

Your doe is an opal! (I just love those)
That's a dilute(blue) agouti, who is obviously carrying self, non-extension and REW. Nice find!

My opal mutts are flemish giant and new Zealand mixes.(mostly)

First, YAY! :clap: I'm so glad you could tell me what she is, thank you!

the rest is greek to me, LOL
what does opal mean? is that her color?
dilute agouti?
self? non extention?
I thought the cali markings where coming from the buck since I didn't see white in her, but I have no way to know what the buck was for sure

do you think she with always give me multi-colored litters? even when bred to my NZW? (cool!)<br /><br />__________ Sat Jan 11, 2014 1:33 pm __________<br /><br />

Honestly, it's a lot like chicken. Depending on the age, they can be a little tougher. I remember when I first tried it, and it was HORRIBLE! Then some more experienced members warned me that rigor will spoil the taste. So, now I let the meat sit for 1-3 weeks in the freezer, defrost for 2-3 days, and then cook. Taste great!

I also got a handy dandy meat grinder for the kitchen aid and it makes old 2 year olds taste great (Tired of slow roasting and crockpotting every time lol) ! We cooked into eggs, pasta,etc.

AHHH! I don't want that! can you clarify for me?
rigor - does this mean I need to dispatch as fast as I can and get it in the freezer be fore rigor sets in?
Is it the freezer time that makes it bad? Or is the freezer helping tenderize?

I JUST GOT A KITCHENAID FOR CHRISTMAS!!! woot! I'll be investing in the sausage stuffer for sure.
Thanks again!

 

[Peach]

Honestly, it's a lot like chicken. Depending on the age, they can be a little tougher. I remember when I first tried it, and it was HORRIBLE! Then some more experienced members warned me that rigor will spoil the taste. So, now I let the meat sit for 1-3 weeks in the freezer, defrost for 2-3 days, and then cook. Taste great!

I also got a handy dandy meat grinder for the kitchen aid and it makes old 2 year olds taste great (Tired of slow roasting and crockpotting every time lol) ! We cooked into eggs, pasta,etc.

AHHH! I don't want that! can you clarify for me?
rigor - does this mean I need to dispatch as fast as I can and get it in the freezer be fore rigor sets in?
Is it the freezer time that makes it bad? Or is the freezer helping tenderize?

I JUST GOT A KITCHENAID FOR CHRISTMAS!!! woot! I'll be investing in the sausage stuffer for sure.
Thanks again![/quote]

Not at all! It's a normal and will happen regardless Although now when I process, I let the rabbits sit in clean bucket of salt and water as I go. Then I'll go into the kitchen, rinse off and cut off excess fat, maybe pull out a stray organ, chop up the rabbit accordingly,date the bags, grind up certain parts, package, and off into the freezer they go!

TIP OF THE DAY: Don't put guts in a trash can in the summer before the trashman comes. LOL I'm not sure why I did that, but I got hell for it. Sometimes if we have a bon fire going, I just throw the guts,heads, and fur ( I need to learn to tan it or something. I feel bad throwing them away!) in there. We live in the suburbs, so I try to leave no traces. We had one rescue dog that loved the heads, so we just tossed them to her. My boxer on the other hand, doesn't want it unless it a fresh belly flap or it's cooked :lol:

 

[Dood]

Rigor is a process that effects all dead mammals AKA rigor mortis. Soon after death the body goes hard due to muscle contractions and it takes a few hours to a few weeks, depending on the size of the animal, for the natural cellular enzymes to slowly breakdown the chemicals causing this tension- it is also called "resting", "aging the meat" or "hanging"

I rest my dressed rabbits (skinned and gutted) 2 days in the fridge but our beef is aged 21 days.

I find male rabbits to have a stronger flavor so I always butcher them before 16 weeks. I also don't like the flavor of rabbit fat but it is easily removed from the abdomen.

Rabbit is a white meat and I find it denser and finer grained than chicken and not as flakey.

Opal is a pattern and a colour. She has an agouti pattern and a dilute black (AKA blue) colour = opal

 

[stone soup farm]

Grind it and make bunny burgers or use the ground for taco or burrito meat. That is an easy intro to rabbit and then you can experiment from there. I butcher mine and then freeze most and leave 1-2 in the fridge for 2-3 days to let rigor pass. You can crock pot any rabbit in almost any sauce and it will be delicious. I de-bone mine or break it up into legs as the vertebrae and ribs were hard to separate once the meat was fall off the bone.

I love mutts, especially while learning and figuring it out, you just tell them as that. You can sell breeding stock and depending on your area. Once you get a few litters under your belt and a few meals, then you may want to get purebreds and see if you want to phase out the mutts or not.

Your goal for meat should be 5# of live weight by 8-10 weeks, 12 weeks at the latest. Any of the litter that gets close to that should be the ones held over as breeding stock, and then you work your way up from there (or invest in stock that is already there). The reason for the 8-10 weeks is that after that your cost for feed to gain goes down.

Best of luck and sorry your wife has gone all softy. Hopefully she will see the benefit of raising your own meat.

 

[GBov]

Any recipe that calls for pork or chicken works well with rabbit.

I rest rabbits in the fridge for three days and then break them down into four legs and the saddle (the really meaty bit on the spine) into one bag to freeze. These packages are for later meals, bartering or selling to friends and family.

The ribs and bits go in the stock pot with root veggies and cooked slowly all day long. The bones and bits are strained out and the stock is frozen for use later on.

The bellies go into a bag to which I have added ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar and a dash of hot pepper and are squished about for a few hours and then slow dried in the oven. No mater how many you do, it will NEVER be enough!

I now peg hides to dry for later brain tanning.

The guts, feet and heads go to the dogs but ONLY heads if we are going somewhere the next day, guts make my dog gassy! :shock:

Livers, hearts and kidneys are a SUPER treat! Gently fried in garlic butter they are out of this world tasty.

And we like the taste of rabbit fat here so non of it is trimmed off. It adds richness.

Rabbit meat is a fresh tasting meat with a fine, firm texture. Each part of it is slightly different, front legs are richer than back legs, for instance.

I have 21 ready to go to freezer camp right now, cant WAIT to have it back on the menu!

 

[skysthelimit]

[
what does opal mean? is that her color?
dilute agouti?
self? non extention?
I thought the cali markings where coming from the buck since I didn't see white in her, but I have no way to know what the buck was for sure

do you think she with always give me multi-colored litters? even when bred to my NZW? (cool!)

I can't help with taste, as I don't eat my rabbits (YET), but I can with color.

The letters represent the colors. It's more complex than this, but I don't want to come off as too strange for our first encounter, lol.

(A) Agouti is the dominate wild rabbit color (think brown cotton tails). The hair shaft is banded with more than one color, usually three bands. Agouti comes in black(B), brown(b)(chocolate), dilute black (Bd) (blue) and dilute chocolate (bd)(lilac).

An (A) agouti rabbit can genetically have several other colors in it's genetic code, because it's dominant and can hide almost all colors. But you can't carry agouti genes if you are not an agouti, not matter what's in the family tree.

You can tell what colors are "carried", by the offspring.

(a) Self is a solid color with no banding or rings in the fur. Just plain black, blue, chocolate or lilac.

If you got Reds, the dam carries non extension, meaning the colored part of the extends to the end of the shaft, and you only see two colors. (there is another way to explain it that makes the use of the word non extension make more sense, but I have a bit of a headache).

White, REW is a masking gene (cc) that hides the color of full colored rabbits (C_). All rabbits can carry white. The NZW is white on the surface, but who knows what color it really is, you won't know till you breed it to a colored rabbit.

It takes two genes to produce a color. The doe has all those colors in her, and she can pair up with any other rabbit and make a quite a mix. With the exception of two REWs, most rabbits are going to produce colors other than what they visibly are when bred.<br /><br />__________ Sat Jan 11, 2014 6:10 pm __________<br /><br />The Cal marking most likely came from the buck. Most of the time, when an Agouti carries himi (cal marked), you can see it visually, but not always.

 

[Redbird]

Any recipe that calls for pork or chicken works well with rabbit.

I rest rabbits in the fridge for three days and then break them down into four legs and the saddle (the really meaty bit on the spine) into one bag to freeze. These packages are for later meals, bartering or selling to friends and family.

The ribs and bits go in the stock pot with root veggies and cooked slowly all day long. The bones and bits are strained out and the stock is frozen for use later on.

The bellies go into a bag to which I have added ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar and a dash of hot pepper and are squished about for a few hours and then slow dried in the oven. No mater how many you do, it will NEVER be enough!
I like that. Dinners, broth, jerky, dog food. boom.

I now peg hides to dry for later brain tanning. I've seen some vids on youtube for tanning process, but before that I can just air dry? should I salt it first?(I live in AZ, it's super dry here) I would like to use as much of the rabbit as possible and would eventually try tanning too. I planned on rolling and freezing until I could process. What kind of things do you make? I was thinking a beanie hat would be sweet. I thought about making a throw blanket too, but my wife is sensitive to dander.

The guts, feet and heads go to the dogs but ONLY heads if we are going somewhere the next day, guts make my dog gassy! :shock:

Livers, hearts and kidneys are a SUPER treat! Gently fried in garlic butter they are out of this world tasty.

And we like the taste of rabbit fat here so non of it is trimmed off. It adds richness.

Rabbit meat is a fresh tasting meat with a fine, firm texture. Each part of it is slightly different, front legs are richer than back legs, for instance. I've never had rabbit yet, so that's interesting to learn! thanks.

I have 21 ready to go to freezer camp right now, cant WAIT to have it back on the menu!

I'm definitely anxious to try it!<br /><br />__________ Sat Jan 11, 2014 5:13 pm __________<br /><br />

I can't help with taste, as I don't eat my rabbits (YET), but I can with color.

The letters represent the colors. It's more complex than this, but I don't want to come off as too strange for our first encounter, lol.

(A) Agouti is the dominate wild rabbit color (think brown cotton tails). The hair shaft is banded with more than one color, usually three bands. Agouti comes in black(B), brown(b)(chocolate), dilute black (Bd) (blue) and dilute chocolate (bd)(lilac).

An (A) agouti rabbit can genetically have several other colors in it's genetic code, because it's dominant and can hide almost all colors. But you can't carry agouti genes if you are not an agouti, not matter what's in the family tree.
So if she carries the A gene, then she is part wild rabbit?

You can tell what colors are "carried", by the offspring. Reds and Blues? Is it possible for more colors to surface later?

(a) Self is a solid color with no banding or rings in the fur. Just plain black, blue, chocolate or lilac.


If you got Reds, the dam carries non extension, meaning the colored part of the extends to the end of the shaft, and you only see two colors. (there is another way to explain it that makes the use of the word non extension make more sense, but I have a bit of a headache). LOL ???

White, REW is a masking gene (cc) that hides the color of full colored rabbits (C_). All rabbits can carry white. The NZW is white on the surface, but who knows what color it really is, you won't know till you breed it to a colored rabbit.


It takes two genes to produce a color. The doe has all those colors in her, and she can pair up with any other rabbit and make a quite a mix. With the exception of two REWs, most rabbits are going to produce colors other than what they visibly are when bred.

__________ Sat Jan 11, 2014 6:10 pm __________

The Cal marking most likely came from the buck. Most of the time, when an Agouti carries himi (cal marked), you can see it visually, but not always.

 

[Dood]

So if she carries the A gene, then she is part wild rabbit?

No.
Wild "rabbits" in North America are actually a completely different species than the European rabbit that all domesticated rabbits are descended from. They are not interbreedable and cottontails are more closely related to hares and jack rabbits than your bunnys. The agouti gene is called "wild type" because it is what the colour the original, and most of the current, wild rabbits in Europe look like.

The Cal marking most likely came from the buck.

Actually your REW buck cannot carry himilayan so your opal doe must have this gene

Reds and Blues? Is it possible for more colors to surface later?

Yes.
They could be hiding othrr recessives that didn't crop up in this litter. Statistically you should also get 50% females and 50% males but it is all a roll of the dice, you could get all blues next time as genetics is a game of chance.

 

[skysthelimit]

Well technically domesticated rabbits come from the wild European rabbit, and that is the common color, the original dominant gene color, before humans started messing around to get other colors. Brown blends in with the scenery, white would quicky get eaten, lol.

Agouti also applies to other animals that have that wild brown ticking pattern. For example, I also have Agouti patterned German Shepherds, they are called Sables, and they come in a golden tan, a red sable, a black sable and a grey wolf like sable (most like the chinchilla color in rabbits).

An agouti can carry

Agouti, self or otter (but only one or the other), Chocolate, dilute, white, chinchilla, shaded colors, the possibility for making Red or Tort, and if I am missing something Dood will fill it in.



I've had a massive headache for the past few hours, and looking at the computer screen makes it worse, but I think I'm saying it all right.

__________ Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:15 pm __________

With the information you have, it looks like AaB_CcddEe,

so she's A-agouti,
with two blue babies she carries a-self
Opal is a B-black based agouti
but no sign of b-chocolate
Opal is a C-full color variety
as opposed to c-white the masking gene (or chl the shaded gene)
Opal is also dd- dilute
she is E-full extension or she would have been a different color
but carries e- to produce Reds.<br /><br />__________ Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:18 pm __________<br /><br />Some other colors depend on the sire and how genes line up.