Which HL to keep??

[ladysown]

Bella

WhizBang (bang)

slowly moving to improve my holland lops without bringing in a lot of tort. So whatever I keep I want to be an improvement.

These are the two I showed you earlier to figure out the colours on them. I love the chin colour and would like to breed more of them, but I have a young kit coming to me that will be a chin so I don't need to keep three bunnies that are similar colouring.

Both are female. Kit coming is yet unknown.

What I know.
WhizBang will be brood sized for sure. She is a bigger doe, I have her full sister (broken black otter) that I will be keeping as she is tiny and one of typier kits I've produce. I kept Bang solely for her colouration. Bang is a very quiet doe which temperamentally I like. her sister is quite busy and can be bossy. Knowing the line I prefer quiet to bossy as the line tends to the bossy end of the scale. bang is frequently found sitting up pretty like hollands are supposed too, though she HATES to pose.

Bella. Will be a smaller doe, tends to be flatter than her niece Bang. I like her colouration more, but the one I have coming will be a a full relation to her and do I really want to have two of the same breeding? She is already showing signs of being a bit bossier, but won't be like her mom (YEAH!!). Silver was a bossy doe, excellent mom though. She will be quirky I think.

I have someone willing to pay more than I normally charge for one of them, so I have some additional incentive to make a choice. I can choose which one to sell. So I"m asking for some second opinions and would like to know the reasoning behind what you say.

 

[PulpFaction]

I like Bella by far. More compact, better head, better crown. I like her eye better, too, but I don't recall what the standard calls for off the top of my head.

 

[Pickles]

WhizBang is just GORGEOUS!!
I would keep Bang simply for her Beauty & of course, her temperament. Nice temperament is a huge plus with me!
With both does the ears seem a touch long, but truly they are both very nice!

 

[eco2pia]

I like Bella's expression too, and her size. I think both colors are beautiful, and I know that I have read a big bodied doe has larger litters, so I can understand your dilemma!

But Bella is what I love about Holland Lops--the chunky head and mischievous face. Speaking from the position of someone who would consider HL's pets and not "useful" livestock (mere vermin!), I would pick fewer animals with that face, rather than more that might not have it.

 

[ladysown]

ah but you see this "vermin" pay for my entire herd - feed, supplies, everything. what I make from every other breed I own is what pays for my lad's homeschooling.... so picking the right stock from what you call 'vermin' is VERY important to me.

 

[PulpFaction]

What are you meaning when you say "improving"? Are you talking about moving towards the show table, or pets? (I forget, you breed them for pets, don't you?)

If my market was the pet market, I would keep the better mother with the better temperament. If by "improve" you mean moving towards better HL type and breed character, Bella wins hands down, IMO. (Without having my hands on her, anyway. Also, disclaimer, not an HL breeder!)

 

[eco2pia]

ah but you see this "vermin" pay for my entire herd - feed, supplies, everything. what I make from every other breed I own is what pays for my lad's homeschooling.... so picking the right stock from what you call 'vermin' is VERY important to me.

Oh I know, there is plenty of money in holland lops here too, I was just joking. I have to call them vermin, or I would own "one", which of course would rapidly become 20...I must stick to meat buns for now...I have to keep repeating that, lol!

My assessment was just that Bella is the picture I see when someone says "holland lop" and she is what I would want if I were going to own one--that is what makes them special. Like Rachel said, if you are breeding for pets maybe Bang looks better with her larger size and better temperament, but unless Bella is truly nasty, I would still pick her even as a pet breeder. I want a holland to look like a holland, not a mini lop. That is just as important to me as a pet owner, because the holland look is what attracted me to the breed in the first place.

Now if you will excuse me...must stick to meat buns, meat, must stick to meat buns....must!

 

[ladysown]

nah...come on up here...I'll set you up with a prettier black otter...

when I say improve I mean rabbits that will overall be better for the show table.

I went from pet stock quality mini rex to the show table with them, and then the market completely dropped out of them and culling (to dog food) GOOD babies was a difficult thing, so now I've moved to working with the holland lops, trying to get them structurally better while staying within my budget.

I'm pleased that the kits I have this year are much better overall than what I produced last year (at least size and the ability to actually sit "UP"). Though posing them... I can't get them to stay in that "UP" position.

 

[LilFish_JWQueen(:]

Well if your trying to Improve show wise keep the chin cause i dont think the other is a showable color (i dont recommend to mess with color wen tryin to have a chance on the show table HLs are too competitive) even if u just want to breed it it can still give u unshowables and mess up yur breeding program. And the chin has better type. Which since the hollands are so competitive and u want to do well on the table(if u dont then keep whatever color u want) and even though the colors are getting better with jus starting out get yur type down first then color.

 

[ottersatin]

The Chin also looks like it has much better type!
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[Devon's Mom Lauren]

I agree with Ottersatin... the chin also has way better crown placement and better crown.<br /><br />__________ Thu Sep 08, 2011 4:36 pm __________<br /><br />I agree with Ottersatin... the chin also has way better crown placement and better crown.

 

[5dognightfarm]

I also suggest keeping Bella. I'm pretty certain the other color is recognized (nearly every color is recognized in Lops, I was once told to breed whatever to whatever because it's almost guaranteed that it's showable) but I do like the Chin's type better.

 

[ladysown]

the sable chin has been sold, I kept Bella. The only thing I wish (at this point in my breeding) is that she would sit up better than what she does. But she has a wider head than many of my kits so I see that as a step forward.

 

[ottersatin]

ladysown,
I hope you made the right decision.
If not than you sold the best and kept the rest
as I have seen a few others do at times.
That's not a bad thing, it's a GOOD thing
at least for the purchaser. :twisted:
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[ladysown]

the thing that's nice about this sale is the buyer asked if she could come bred and then offered me two kits back (when my fee is just one kit back)... so either way i get to keep her genetics.