NZ Color question

[Mama583]

I plan to keep a female from a current NZ litter. The one I really wanted (REW) looks like a male. I then found a pretty broken red that is female but read that reds can be small. Would that be true for broken red as well? I also have a chestnut agouti female but read that breeding her to anything would produce all agouti. I plan to sell some from time to time to help cover feed costs and don't feel agouti would sell well. I am very new to all this so I may be misguided. Any direction to some good, reliable reading literature about New Zealand genetics would be appreciated.

 

[Mini Lop Mama]

I haven't had NZ's before but I do know quite a bit about rabbit genetics and have never heard that color has anything to do with their size.

 

[Mama583]

I haven't had NZ's before but I do know quite a bit about rabbit genetics and have never heard that color has anything to do with their size.

Thanks. I did think that sounds odd.

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

I haven't had NZ's before but I do know quite a bit about rabbit genetics and have never heard that color has anything to do with their size.

Yeah in my Himis I have mostly normal sized ones, but in the same litter I had a normal sized one, a runt, and a HUGE Buck. All Himis, all direct brothers

 

[TroubleMakerAcres]

I plan to keep a female from a current NZ litter. The one I really wanted (REW) looks like a male. I then found a pretty broken red that is female but read that reds can be small. Would that be true for broken red as well? I also have a chestnut agouti female but read that breeding her to anything would produce all agouti. I plan to sell some from time to time to help cover feed costs and don't feel agouti would sell well. I am very new to all this so I may be misguided. Any direction to some good, reliable reading literature about New Zealand genetics would be appreciated.

I agree with Mini Lop Mama, I don’t think the colour has any effect on size of the rabbits. Regarding your agouti rabbit, the “wild” rabbit colour is made with the most dominant of colour genes, you won’t get all agouti breeding her, it depends on what dominant/recessive genes the doe and chosen buck carry. New Zealand’s recognized colours, according to the ARBA, are REW, black, blue & red, and the broken versions of those colours. Your agouti female may be lovely and even if she were the perfect example of a NZ, she isn’t a showable colour, so some people may not feel she, or her potential agouti kits, are a “real” NZ. Google “rabbit colour genetics”, I did and found it fascinating!

 

[eco2pia]

I used to raise NZreds. they were developed in some lines by crossing in Thrianta genes, and the Thrianta rabbits are very small. I suspect the "Reds are small" idea comes from that history. My reds were NOT small at all.

 

[Mama583]

I used to raise NZreds. they were developed in some lines by crossing in Thrianta genes, and the Thrianta rabbits are very small. I suspect the "Reds are small" idea comes from that history. My reds were NOT small at all.

Great to hear! Thank you!