silly rabbit genetic lamentations

[eco2pia]

So, as many of you know I have a NZ red doe, and a broken NZ red buck.

I do like red an awful lot. I also like chinchilla gray, black otters, black tans and pointed siamese sables. But my space is really limited. Unfortunately I am not fond of plain chestnut--the wild color.

As I have been snooping around, I find that almost anything I would breed a red buck to would give me either red, chestnut, or REW. :?

Is that true? correct? I will be sticking to reds anyway, but just got curious. It does look like ermine would come from red...Thanks to the fun link akane posted earlier today.

 

[Cattle Cait]

I don't know the technicals for genetics, but I know a girl in our local club bred a broken red to a red and got chestnut. That's all I know lol.

 

[ottersatin]

Eco2pia,
What you are calling Chestnut is a Copper Satin.
These often are produced by Reds. They are also fine to breed back to the Reds.
Ermine could show up if the genes are hidden in the line.
Colors can make a surprise appearance from as far back as 45 generations.
A Red though it appears to be a solid is actually an Agouti.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[MaggieJ]

My litters from Alice (black doe with white touches on nose and chest) when bred to our NZR buck, Jasper, have been running about half and half red and dark. Some are almost black but one is a gorgeous velvety brown tipped with black. Alice is a mutt so no idea how that affects the outcome. But here, no chestnut so far. The red kits seem a bit lighter in colour than their daddy.

 

[Jack]

The red is 'wideband agouti' which means that the orange in a basic agouti is extended the length of the hair shaft, kinda think the middle band overgrows the rest.
I had a red that decided to go breed with a black broken rex mix, I end up with red white and black non harlequin, and a orange and white, and two black with orange ticking, that looked like a steel, except it was orange instead of white....
steel, that isn't something I want in the gene pool, I hope it came from the rex.

 

[akane]

Red carries all the genetics for standard chestnut agouti except for the nonextension gene. Unless you breed to another color with nonextension, like torts, you will get chestnut agouti. What else you get depends on what the rabbits are carrying. If your reds carry nothing but red you will get nothing but red and chestnut agouti. If your reds carry recessives you could get just about anything since red hides most colors. Odds are low though unless a color actually shows up on pedigree. While it's possible a rabbit carries some genes from way far back the odds aren't high you will see it.

 

[eco2pia]

Thanks for everyone's input, akane's explanation says about what I was thinking I understood, the non-extension is the only recessive gene for red, so first generation is either going to be red/fawn/orange(depending on the number of modifiers) or agouti/chestnut/wild-rabbit-colored-whatever-you-call-em's...

There is a REW in the bucks pedigree, so who knows what was donated there, but he has for sure one REW gene.

I need more cages, and that's the truth!