Matching colors

[bunnychild]

Hiya! I have what I *think* is a blue chinchilla french lop. I am getting into meat and for meat pens rabbits have to be the same variety, so what color doe should I get so that I will get the most meat pens?
Also if I am wrong on Big Louis' color please let me know. Many thanks.

 

[luvabunny]

To me the picture looks like a regular chestnut agouti. Very, very, very common color for this breed.

Also, a very dominant gene. Get another chestnut agouti, shouldn't be hard to find at all, and you will get buckets of them.

 

[OwnedByTheBuns]

Yeah, that's a chestnut agouti. He may *just* be a chocolate chestnut agouti, not sure from the picture. DEFinitely not blue chin. I have a few chins, they are very light gray.

It is a very dominant gene, which is why I was astounded that my chestnut agouti doe never gave me ANY Chestnut Agoutis.

From what I can see, he has good conformation. <br /><br />__________ Sat Sep 07, 2013 8:22 am __________<br /><br />This is the only website I refer to: http://www.hoppinherdofhares.com/agouti.html

 

[Dood]

Big Louis could be an Opal (blue chestnut) as he does have a dilute and 'powdery' look to him but its hard to tell in this photo. Try taking a picture outside on a sightly overcast day to capture an accurate colour in pics.

He is definitely not a blue chinchilla - the chinchilla gene removes all red/brown/yellow pigment (unless they get the sooty gene but then they only get a bit of smut on their backs)

Here, meat pens are based on conformation (three 8 week old siblings who have the same meat frame and up to 5 lbs) and not colour but if you want to have more opals you should breed to an opal coloured French Lop

 

[skysthelimit]

Meat pens are usually from particular breeds as well, the commercial meat breeds. Seems a lot of judges are bias towards NZ, Cals, Florida Whites and mostly white rabbits.

 

[bunnychild]

He is definitely not a chestnut. He is too grey to be chestnut. I have two chestnut Jersey Woolies and he isn't anything like them.
French Lops are a meat rabbit. That is why they are so massive.
According to the ARBA standard of perfection a meat pen is judged on meat type, condition, uniformity, and fur.
Here is a picture in better light. He is finishing up his molt so they is a little bit of off color in places but it is mostly the new coat.

 

[Dood]

His white-ish belly is a tell tale sign he is agouti / chestnut based.

Opal (Blue chestnuts) do look grey
- http://www.free-pet-wallpapers.com/Free ... p-doe.html

 

[Prisma]

Looks like an opal to me as Dood said, I doubt he would be useful for a meat pen. They are VERY large, would say they will go over the weight limit easily at the age you have to have them at.

Any wooly breed will have a lighter appearance than a "normal" furred breed. Wool will diffuse color a bit, even black tort hl to a black tort English angora looks very little alike to me. Lions are a good example of this, blacks can have really deep body color but their manes can be almost blue in appearance.

 

[bunnychild]

They look like Netherlander dwarfs before the wool grows out that is when you figure color for a jersey wooly.
I can except Opal that sounds okay but when I heard chestnut I don't think grey rabbit.
The age max on meat pens is 10 weeks and the max weight is 5 lbs. They should be able to fit the requirements.

 

[OwnedByTheBuns]

Agouti French Lops look NOTHING like agouti woolies.

But, I think he is an Opal. Definitely not a chestnut agouti.

 

[bunnychild]

I did compare a picture of Big Louis side by side with an opal, blue chinchilla, squirrel, and blue silver tipped steel. I think he looks the most like an Opal so thank you for the help.
And chestnut JW aren't as different as you say. I had a chestnut FL briefly and the color was very similar to the head of the JW which is not diluted like the rest of the body.
But thank you again for the help.

 

[OwnedByTheBuns]

Well, that is crazy, because my two chestnuts looked WAY different than that. Their fur is brown on the tips and black on the bottom pretty much. Maybe yours were chocolate chestnut? Let me find a pic of my agouti.<br /><br />__________ Sat Sep 07, 2013 9:32 pm __________<br /><br />Here is my chestnut agouti. Excuse the words, this picture was for my forum.

 

[bunnychild]

She passed as a plan chestnut. Same as the Jersey Woolies. I wish I had a picture of her.

 

[skysthelimit]

French lops are a meat breed, but they are not one of the normal breeds in meat pens, thats the point.

Rex and Silver Fox are commercial meat breeds too. But a lot of people complain that a judge won't look sideways at either one of those breeds, especially if they are not white. So if you are going to breed for a meat pen, and want to know what color, white would be it.

 

[bunnychild]

At the fair this year we didn't have any white meat pens. The was a silver fox meat pen that sold for $250

 

[skysthelimit]

That's unusual, not the norm. Most of us get laughed out the fair for SF meat pens, though my friend took one this year again. She keeps trying.

 

[bunnychild]

It's starting to become more popular here. When I first started rabbits (4 years ago) no one had meat pens. This year we had 4.