Latest Mini Satin Litter

[Charlcie]

Thought I\'d post some pics too...not the best quality, but they\'re of the kits (2 days old), Mom (White Mini Satin - \"Moon\"), and Dad (Black Mini Satin - \"Vader\").

She had 8 - 5 Black, 2 White, & 1 Copper.

[attachment=161][attachment=162][attachment=163]

Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com

[harplady]

Very cute! When you mix two solid colors, do you ever get a spotted or broken color?

[Charlcie]

No...unless you consider White a \"solid color\". A white or albino rabbit is really a color or pattern that has been \"covered up\" by the albino gene. (Think of it as throwing a white sheet over the rabbit. The rabbit appears \"white\", but it\'s true color has been covered up.)

So...Two truly solid (or \"self\" rabbits), cannot make a Broken (genetically impossible). But if you bred an albino to a solid and that rabbit was actually a masked Broken, then you could get Brokens.

Clear as mud? LOL

Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com

[harplady]

Interesting! Makes me wonder how the first brokens came about?!! It makes sense though. When a white person marries a black person, the result isn\'t a spotted baby! LOL

[Charlcie]

Like most of our interesting colors and patterns, Brokens are the result of a mutation called the English (En) gene. The English Spot is a breed where these markings have been bred for and perfected. Breeds such as the Checkered Giant and Rhinelander also (though the Rhinelander also implements the Japanese (ej) gene), are based on the presence of En.

Normal colored or self rabbits contain the en-en pairing which is, though normal, recessive to the En gene. When you breed a Broken rabbit (En-en) to a solid, you get a ratio of about 50% Brokens (En-en) and 50% solids (en-en). If you breed two Brokens together, you can get 50% Broken (En-en), 25% solid (en-en), and 25% Charlies (En-En). Charlies are really lightly marked brokens (light eye circles, colored ears, little or no body markings, and a \"Charlie Chaplin\" mustache-like marking). If you breed a Charlie to a solid rabbit, you will get all Brokens (En-en).

The fact that the first appearance of the English gene appeared in a domestic rabbit is what kept the gene going. Mutations do happen in wild rabbits, but those rabbits are very unlikely to live long enough to breed and pass on the gene since the coloring is not condusive to camoflage against predators.

This more than you probably wanted to know, but I just find the subject very interesting.

Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com

[MischeifNite]

I was just saying to my DH yesterday that I really want to start paying more attention to the genetics of coloring when we breed. So all of what you just stated is plenty helpful!

And to prove your point - Thumper is a Broken (blk/white) and Honey is a solid (tan). Their 6 babies go like this: 2 broken blk/white, 1 broken grey/white, 2 solid black, one solid grey. In other words 50% solid, 50% broken!

[Charlcie]

It often works out just that way. But...

We are talking mathematical probability, so it is possible in a given litter with a solid and a broken parent, to get all solids, all brokens, or any percentage in between.

It\'s like playing \"heads or tails\" with a coin. You could toss the coin and it could land \"heads up\" 10 times in a row, but mathematically, there is a 50/50 chance of either heads or tails turning up.

Genetics is like Vegas...We know what the probabilities are, but still it is all up to chance. We just can\'t accurately predict which sperm is going to fertilize which egg and each germ cell carries one half of the equation that will equal a new, individual rabbit.

All in all though, you can expect 50% Broken when you mate a Broken and a solid animal.

Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com

[MischeifNite]

All I can say to that is - WOW!!!

Either way, you have a beautiful litter of babies.