Alright, I\'m new to this whole rabbit breeder terminology. I keep seeing people describe their bunnies as \"broken.\" What exactly does that mean? I keep thinking that their parts are broken, meaning that they got fixed! HAHAHA! But I know that\'s not it!
Chrissy
No...that\'s not it.
Broken refers to a color pattern where the basic color (whether it\'s self, agouti, etc.) is broken with white. The Broken pattern comes from the English gene modifier (En). It is dominant for solid coloration (en). When you get the pairing of En-en, you get a Broken patterned rabbit. Most Brokens have a spine marking, circles around both eyes, a butterfly or nose spots on the muzzle, both ears colored, and either a blanket or spotted pattern on the body.
If you happen to have two En modifiers paired, you get what they call a \"Charlie\" - an extremely lightly marked Broken (usually with no nose markings or a \"Charlie Chaplin\" looking marking under the nose).
The painting to the left, is a Broken Satin doe (blanket pattern). Her two babies are light-marked Brokens with a spotted pattern (you really can\'t see the spots, though).
Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com
That makes much more sense!
Thanks
Chrissy
You\'re welcome. I did notice a typo...The following statement should read as follows:
The Broken pattern comes from the English gene modifier (En). It is dominant
over solid coloration (en).
Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com
I believe our Thumper has the broken markings. I\'ve attached his picture here. When we bred him with a solid black doe, we had all black kits. Some of the shiny coats I\'ve ever seen.
Yep. Thumper is a Broken.
It\'s weird about genetics. It\'s like rolling the dice. When one En (Broken) gene is paired with a solid (en) gene. The animal will be Broken. According to the laws of chance, this should happen about 50% of the time. But...
Because the genotype of a Broken rabbit is En-en, by chance it is possible that only the en half of the equation will meet up with the en (the only possible occurrence) in the solid rabbit - hence, ALL the kits will be solid. By chance, the opposite could occur - only the En half of the equation from the Broken will pair up with the en of the solid rabbit. In this case, ALL the kits will be Broken.
It\'s a puzzle, but in the end, the laws of chance say you can expect about half of the offspring in a Broken/Solid mating to be Broken.
Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com
Ps: (Maybe Thumper should take a trip to Vegas. LOL)
From someone who knows nothing about breeding or \"broken\" rabbits, let me just say that Thumper is too cute!
Thumper is our only buck in a family of 6 rabbits. He\'s a very happy man. We tried to bring him in for the winter, but he hated it inside. So, he lives in his hutch in the barn. We took Midnight out for a visit on Feb 1, so we\'re expecting a litter about March 3. She\'s the solid black doe, so I\'ll let you know the colors in about two weeks. Any bets on all black kits again?
PS - I think he\'s quite cute too. And he has a wonderful personality!
No bets. (If I was that good, I\'d go to Vegas myself!) LOL
Charlcie