Wild kit colors!

[Diamond]

I got a nice surprise when I bred my steele (black base coat) New Zealand doe to my orange New Zealand buck. Three of the kits came up brindled! Also got three with black skin and one white (throwback on mama's lines)

What fun it is to have colors!

 

[AnnClaire]

Ooooh, can't wait to see them grow up ... that sure is a smorgasborg of color :cheesysmile:

 

[Duckcomando]

Wow. I plan on crossing my NZR buck to a NZW doe later. Can't wait to see what colors I get. Both my buck and my does have black in their lines.

 

[Bad Habit]

Yuck. Harlequin. I've just got two harli kits to sell, and then my herd should be harlequin free!!

 

[Diamond]

Yuck. Harlequin. I've just got two harli kits to sell, and then my herd should be harlequin free!!

You think they are really harlequin? Isn't there an actual harlequin breed (as opposed to random color in a crossbred litter)?

I'm just raising meat rabbits, and find the calico/ harlequin type pattern an attractive contrast from the blacks and whites (and California's). It's like planting a garden and seeing all the pretty flowers come up!

 

[Bad Habit]

Japanese harlequin. The colour, not the breed. 100% positive, I've had enough born here to know, lol. I like the last one though, not so much black.

Harlequin = breed.
harlequin = colour.

 

[Diamond]

Japanese harlequin. The colour, not the breed. 100% positive, I've had enough born here to know, lol. I like the last one though, not so much black.

Harlequin = breed.
harlequin = colour.

....kinda like the difference between a Paint horse and a pinto, huh?

 

[rawfeeder]

Yuck?? ...I think harlequins are beautiful, would love some here in my rabbitry Beautiful babies!

 

[Bad Habit]

I dislike harlequin, and they're really hard to sell around here.

 

[dragonladyleanne]

Everyone has their personal preferences. Me, I am not fond of REW's, they creep me out (demonic), and love the dark or silvered solids and the "Siamese" marked rabbits.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

i just heard from a NZR breeder that unless youre breeding NZRxNZR then you will get a bunch of random weird colors. and none of them worth anything...
here is where i heard it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWXxYrgt ... e=g-user-u
i been following his videos a while. seems like a smart guy on the reds.

dragonladyleanne-
i dislike the REWs too... somehow i have several red eye rabbits and 2 red eye guinea pigs :x fingers crossed i can sell them and get some non-creepy rabbits and gpigs!

 

[Devon's Mom Lauren]

Some people use NZ's in their Harlequins (the breed) to improve body type. Looks like the doe you have has been a product of that type of cross. The red buck has two non extension genes ee, so the the ej gene that the doe carries was able to show. I have nothing against this practice of using another breed to improve something but the resulting generations should be moved forward into the new breed they are improving, NOT sold back as the original breed!! However Steel is not a recognized New Zealand colour either, so really not a surprise there are other stray genes there. Its nice to get these colours and they are really cute, but I hope if they are to be sold that they are labeled as crosses and not purebreds. There are always new people getting into showing who are just learning. A lot get discouraged and leave the fancy over this kind of thing and I think the more that stay in breeding, showing, meat producing etc. etc. the better for us all.

 

[Diamond]

Fortunately I am not selling for anything but meat production and meat rabbit breeding stock. The doe is a lovely girl, big and mellow mama, and her kits all hit the 6 pound range (or more) at 12 weeks. The gal I bought her from is trying to breed "chocolate" color New Zealands (???) so there is likely just about anything hanging around in the genetic background!

Here is Mama, "Macy" I call her Steele because there are a lot of white-tipped hairs throughout her coat, they just don't show well in the pictures. I am thinking that the red buck has the most influence in my odd kit colors, I have a number of 'true' steele (look like a hedgehog at first glance!) meat rabbits pop up in the litters out of my black NZ doe, plus some agouti and torte.<br /><br />__________ Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:44 am __________<br /><br />This person is either culling or is in the "YUCK! HARLEQUIN!" club:

http://portland.craigslist.org/yam/grd/3465464176.html

I am picking them up today, can't raise rabbit meat for that price!!

(Mantra: I will not keep one, I will not keep one, I will not keep one......)

 

[MaggieJ]

I think they are adorable... and so nice and plump too.

The nice thing about raising rabbits for meat is that you can enjoy all the variety in the nest box without having to worry about breed standards.

 

[skysthelimit]

I think they are adorable... and so nice and plump too.

The nice thing about raising rabbits for meat is that you can enjoy all the variety in the nest box without having to worry about breed standards.

True. I have a lot more rabbits than I would normally have, because of color crossing rules. I have to have more bucks because it has to be chin to chin, castor to castor, etc. I could half those bucks if I wasn't concerned about acceptable colors.

 

[ZRabbits]

Think the wild kit colors are neat!

Karen

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I love the dark red color on the lightly marked harlequin! It will be neat to see how they mature. Congrats!

 

[Dragongreg]

I think they are just really cool!!! We crossed a black NZ with a creme d and got similar results, but with a lot more strips in them. Four were harlequin colored and three were jet black. We even got the opposing colors on the ears and face. While we breed for meat rabbits, its fun to peek into the box and see what kind of surprise awaits. Kinda like Christmas morning

Have fun and do it again,