What is the fluffy-ist rabbit breed?

[GBov]

I have mostly NZ and they are AMAZINGLY fluffy when fryer age but the older they get, the less fluffy they become. They stay soft and nice but the extra fluffy goes away with their older coats.

So I started to wonder what breed/s of rabbit keep that extra fluffiness of youth?

My Blue NZs stay the softest the longest but, for tanning extra fluffy hides, who is best? My fryer hides really are not worth tanning, they are soooooooo thin and delicate. Right now I am drying them to store until I get my clippers, then I shall shave all that lovely soft fluff off for felting and give the dogs the raw hide for treats.

Silver, a rex Netherland dwarf cross, has amazing fur but she is off limits as a hide, she is my daughters pet. :lol: But I would like something like her fur for my jacket project.

Would crossing a Rex buck onto a NZ give extra fluffiness to kits past 20 weeks? <br /><br /> __________ Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:39 pm __________ <br /><br /> If I can cross what I have my rabbitosis aquiriosis gets thwarted and I have to work with what I already have! :lol:

 

[DogCatMom]

Parsley Graybuns is an American Chinchilla, full adult. He's plenty fluffy!

And, of course, English Angoras / Giant Angoras / German Angoras have pretty long, thick coats with furnishings on their faces and ears as well, unlike French or Satin Angoras.

 

[GBov]

We have a French Angora - Matilda - and she has long silky hair and very fluffy under hair but isn't the fluffy I am talking about. Fluffy like a powder puff fluffy.

Third time lucky (fingers crossed) with breeding her to a NZ buck, shall try with Rex next.

Its just a silly thing, trying to find fluffy to equal the soft of Rex but why not, eh?

 

[akane]

Try looking at the few breeds with rollback coats instead of flyback. The extra thickness from the rex and the rollback from the ND side is probably why that rabbit is so soft.

 

[Zass]

I've seen rex crosses where some of the kits inherited the density of the rex coat, but of course, retained normal fur length.

Very nice pelts. I'd be producing some if I had more space.

I think a 1st generation rex/angora cross would be SUPER fluffy

 

[PSFAngoras]

The rex cross kits I had were pretty nice pelts. Mom was a satin mutt, with super thin fur, but the rex added a nice consistency. I like my SF cross doe's kits when she's crossed with the angora bucks. They've a really nice density to them too, and a tad bit longer than her coat, though nothing like the angoras. I was thinking on putting her in the freezer and just having my NZ doe for a meat momma as the SF is a PITA to get bred, but she has decent litters and is a great mom when I can get her bred, and I'm highly suspicious that the NZ crosse with the angoras won't produce as nice a quality pelt.

 

[GBov]

The rex cross kits I had were pretty nice pelts. Mom was a satin mutt, with super thin fur, but the rex added a nice consistency. I like my SF cross doe's kits when she's crossed with the angora bucks. They've a really nice density to them too, and a tad bit longer than her coat, though nothing like the angoras. I was thinking on putting her in the freezer and just having my NZ doe for a meat momma as the SF is a PITA to get bred, but she has decent litters and is a great mom when I can get her bred, and I'm highly suspicious that the NZ crosse with the angoras won't produce as nice a quality pelt.

Pelts are becoming more important to me too now. As if just meat wasn't complicated enough! :lol:

I wonder how Rex, NZ, Harlequin and F. Angora would combine for fluffy color?

 

[skysthelimit]

I would think NZ would cancel out the Rex and Angora. Three different types of coat fighting for supremacy.

 

[akane]

Outcrossing cancels out the shorter rex coat but often the increased density stays. All my rex crosses were extra fluffy. When you combine that with a longer or stiff coat like the rollback breeds and standup fur of the silver fox you can get interesting results.

I think it's part of the process of making curly coated rabbits but I didn't want to devote enough space and time to explore my NZ x checkered does crossed to rex.

 

[WildWolf]

Just have to say, Silver Foxes have extremely plush fur. They don't have roll back or fly back fur- they're the only breed whose fur stands up straight when you brush it backwards! They're plush-y all their lives. But it's plush-y, not velvet like Rex.

 

[akane]

I find my supposedly rollback fur NDs stand straight up until rubbed back down. I play with their fur all the time. Give them mohawks and stripes along their sides. :lol: Wish I could have gotten such coats on my american sables. Their coat quality has greatly suffered and I had some amchin crosses I was going to use to try to fix the coat but we dispersed the herds before I could get a litter.

 

[skysthelimit]

I've never tried crossing the Rex with anything, never had a need to. The SF x Angora kits don't seem like anything special now. They pretty much look like SF with no silvering. They are only 4 mos, so I will see when they reach senior prime.

 

[GBov]

Rex fur is wonderful but I really love fluffy too. With an epic fail today - NOT the does fault but sad nevertheless - I shall try crossing her with Mag Pyre, my broken black Rex buck, and see what effect it has on the fur and grow out.

I breed for meat so the furs are secondary but really fun so I am trying to bring them into the program on purpose instead of accident, if you see what I mean?

 

[lonelyfarmgirl]

I raise angora, which are plenty fluffy, but in this case I vote for silver fox.

 

[skysthelimit]

I need to get some picts of the SF cross kits. besides not having any silvering, you would not know they weren't pure SF. Not at 16 weeks.