NZ and Mini Rex breeding questions...

Jessykah · Jun 2, 2011

I want to breed a NZ with a mini rex for good litter size and good meat-to-bone ratio, just to see what they would turn out like. They would probably have a slower growout time and weight, but that's ok if i only do it for 1 litter i suppose.
I could use a BEW NZ buck and a harlequin mini Rex doe or a tri broken mini Rex doe.....
Or I can use a Brown eyed white NZ doe (not sure what's in her genetics), or a NZB doe (which has NZW and NZR in it's genetics I think), with a mini Rex buck that is red and white, or one that is lilac and white, or one that is broken tri....
I am thinking that i should use a NZ doe and a mini Rex buck, instead of the other way around, so that maybe the litter size will be greater and the doe's milk production greater, as I read that the doe determines the litter size.
Any advise? What would you think would work better? The rabbits are all bred now, so i am just planning for their next litters.
Not sure if this should have went in meat rabbits section?

ladysown · Jun 2, 2011

i'd breed the bigger doe to the smaller buck UNLESS you have a big mini rex doe.

moonkitten · Jun 2, 2011

If you are breeding for meat, I don't think the colour of the parents matters. They will all be edible. :lol:

I would use the most determined mini rex buck on the best NZ mother. It may be a bit of a stretch for the buck so you want one who will get the job done no matter how much bigger the doe is. You want the doe to be the best mother/milker for the faster growth of the kits.

Jessykah · Jun 2, 2011

Well i want to use the hides for tanning, so I think the colours matter when it comes to that. I will be making a blanket. I like the red and white buck for breeding as he is very eager, but i think that red coats fade a lot more with tanning in acid. So i suppose i will use a NZ doe and a MR buck. Just have to figure out which doe and buck.
Thanks for the input eh

akane · Jun 2, 2011

Unfortunately NZ are fairly limited in coat color genetics.

A BEW will give you random colors. There's no telling what will come out and a possibility of just getting a litter of chestnut agouti or black. BEW covers up all the other genes so we don't know what it will produce when bred to a rabbit that is not BEW. You will only get more BEW if bred to a rabbit with BEW.

NZW is the same way. It's a REW covering all the other genetics but recessive so you only get more REW if the other parent has or is REW.

I'm guessing what you are calling NZB is chestnut agouti which if it has NZW and NZR in the background it is carrying nonextension and rew. It will throw at least 50% agouti. Whether that's only chestnut agouti or also red and other agouti colors depends if you breed to another rabbit with nonextension. If bred to a rabbit with rew you could get more rew.

As for the bucks given the does the lilac is unlikely to throw any interesting colors. If your NZ are covering self you could get blacks and otherwise you will get chestnut agouti unless the rex is hiding something else. If the broken is true red and not broken castor you could get red and broken red when bred to the NZB plus a bunch of chestnut agouti/castor (they'll be slightly redder than most chestnut agouti but not quite castor) and brokens of those. ej is recessive so tris and harlies will not produce the first generation since that's unlikely to be carried by any of the NZ. You would have to breed those offspring to each other or back to the MR to get more tri and harlie markings.

Mostly no matter what you breed you will probably get chestnut agouti, red, black, and possibly REW, potentially any of those in broken (except REW cause you can't see it), and some slight modification to some colors like the chestnut being more red from the rufus modifiers for the castor. Anything else can't be predicted based on those colors without more information in to their pedigree and/or previous offspring but NZ don't carry much else usually.