There are three big milestones in the life of a kit.  Being born alive.  Thriving until about ten to twelve days old when the eyes open and ears start lifting— so  very cute!    Weaning at around six to eight weeks.  Of course, the first one is very important, and all of them are wonderful, but I think I am partial to day when we can see each other eye-to-eye  and they begin to look and move around more bunny-like with their quick and not so controlled hops. It is kind of like the day a baby begins to walk. I am fairly confident in the colors I am seeing now, so here is my list of their phenotypes (how they appear so far): BMB1 - Chinchilla Agouti BMB2 - Chestnut Agouti BMB3 - Black Gold-Tipped Steel BMB4 - Solid Black  BMB5 - Solid Black with SF fur This is the first time I have had Agoutis, so it was fun to find tiny kits with white ears and bellies, but it was not what I was hoping to see thrown from NZW-B for my...

NZW-B is going to a new home in two to three weeks and I have bred him twice successfully. I cannot provide a pedigree on him but I can give his new owner what I know about his genotype, even if that is not really something that he will need if he only breeds New Zealand Whites as planned. However, plans change and now I wish I had kept more detailed records previously because I might have noticed some things far sooner and made different choices with breeding, but it was not our focus at the time. As I wrote, things change. NZW-B is a New Zealand White, which means that he has hidden alleles, with the exception of the ones on the C-locus, until bred and the phenotypes (the colors seen) in the offspring provide information. This works best if the genotype of the partner is known also (but I just learned what one thinks she knows about genotypes of her older does might not be completely accurate even then). This is the short answer about what I do know with certainty so far: ...

Our weather has been unusually cold for the Southeast, actually the entire country. Here it has been dipping into the teens at night and hung in the 20s to 30s during the day, so we placed various materials around the cages as wind breaks, which also reduced the available light in the rabbitry. That is why I did not see, until this week that BGG4 was not just black any more, but it seems she is beginning to show a color on the tips of her fur on her sides. I thought silvering that would be highly unlikely because most sources claim that two recessive "si" genes are required. Her father was a NZW that would hide all such genetic markers, however I have learned since that there is far more to the silvering gene concept that I might address later. Anyway, when I first saw it, I was thinking I was seeing steel. That did not make any sense to me, because I thought steel would show immediately, while silvering can begin to appear as early as four weeks and can take m...

Goal: Determine if NWZ-B carries the "En" (broken) gene. Result: No Brokens in the four offspring. Conclusion: Not enough evidence to prove NZW-B does not carry the "En" (broken) gene. Another test breeding with a self (solid colored) doe would be provide more evidence. I knew it was unlikely, but I still tried a breeding with one of our new junior NZW bucks, NZW-B, and our youngest brood doe, Golden Girl, on September 9th. It did not take. The buck may have been too young as he was just three months old at the time, but Golden Girl had an entire year off from breeding, so the fault could have been one or the other or both. Usually, I would not try breeding a buck quite that young, but we have had accidental pregnancies from NZW bucks about that age and I had no bucks older. So, I rebred the same pair on October 9th and got results on November 9th! Golden Girl had not kindled as little as four kits previously, but I was pleased with their sizes and health. ...