The recent litters have me musing about how brokens and solids work together again. I'm probably repeating some of what I've said in a previous blog, but I can't remember exactly. It was long enough ago that it might be new to some readers.
One theory suggests that solids out of broken affect pattern. Supposedly, a solid out of broken will carry the broken parent's pattern. Dreamer's litter supports this. She had all brokens with her rather messy pattern. The sire is the black on loan, and I know his history. He came from a line of messy pattern.
Messy is what I call the kind of pattern often DQ'd for scattered white. It's not really scattered white, it's a freckled blanket that feathers when the guard hairs grow. Judges see it as scattered white. It's a frustrating double standard. I'm told that 6 or more white hairs in one place is considered a foreign spot on a solid rabbit. But the broken standard says that white spots in a colored area are allowed. These feathered freckles are spots and they are quite a bit more than 6 hairs. The spots are white to the skin.
I should mention that my over-50% brokens have a large solid area of color on the body. There are no white hairs to be found there. The messiness begins around the edges of the blanket where the freckles appear. It is NOT scattered white.
Back to the theory. I'm now wondering if solid out of broken has the ability to pull more brokens. It's pretty unusual to get all brokens in a solid x broken litter which happened in Dreamer's. On the other hand, I also wonder if pattern is a 50/50 thing. Rayven is solid out of broken x solid. She has never thrown a broken in 3 litters. Her full sis Rana, also solid, has (none alive). Did Rana get the pattern but not Rayven?
Which brings me to my theory that solids with no brokens in the background also affect pattern. But now I wonder how that is. I used to think (read it somewhere) that all solids carry a broken pattern as part of the genetic color code. It might even be related (strictly my speculation here) to the insidious spotting gene. I've had solids that gave great pattern almost every time, and some that never gave a broken keeper. Is it maybe that they actually don't carry a pattern at all? If this is true, it might explain why my little black buck usually pulls the pattern of his broken mate, and it was actually herself that threw the good pattern. Maybe other solids were just paired with mates that didn't throw pattern consistently?
In conclusion. Breeding broken dwarfs is still a crap shoot! I'm getting better type on the messy patterns (of course I am), and the cleaner spot or streaked patterns leave a lot to be desired. I plod along. I'm bound and determined to produce better brokens.
Nestbox News:
A few more babies.
Foxy Lady x Lil' Bit Farms LB92 - 1 broken otter. Nice pattern. Foxy and LB both have pretty clean pattern so I hope this kit will be a breakthrough. She also had a dilute broken. It was alive at birth but it got pretty cold that night. I barely got to the other in time to save it. Fostered to Infinite Detail so I can repeat this breeding right away.
Infinite Detail x Lil' Bit Farms LB92 - 1 blue, 1 charlie. Normally I'd cull the charlie but I decided to grow it to see what I've got. I. Detail is a broody-lookin true dwarf. I thought she was a BUD but she always throws peanuts. She and LB share a Darkside ancestor and I'm hoping they will mesh. That's the main reason for growing the charlie. I've yet to come across a true charlie. I've grown a couple to breeding age, but they proved to not be true charlies, just charlie-marked, so I quit trying. Maybe this time I'll get lucky. Of course, if the type isn't there, I won't bother. Oh yeah....there were also 2 peanuts. You know they had pattern! Grrr.
A couple others were misses. I was getting a bit worried that Camaro was shooting blanks. This is the first time I've used him. Both his does missed, and the one was proven. Yesterday, I tried rebreeding some, and I got mixed up. I put Anaba with him and when she fussed, I looked at her card. Yeah, I had already put her to him. Duh. I hope her vocal refusal means that she took this time.
Speaking of vocal rabbits. Don't often come across chatty bucks. Other than the squeak or moan of a successful mating, bucks don't have much to say. LB is an exception. He's pretty loud when he "gits her done", but then he goes on to talk to his doe some more. Wonder what he's whispering in her ear.
In other news:
Got the Fairview show this weekend. Even though I don't have much to show, I'm looking forward to it. From what I've seen in the grapevine, looks like a lot of people are planning to attend, so I'll see friends. Ugh, I have to tat a jr I plan to enter. Dislike having to drag out the tattooer for just one ear. I suppose I could tat a couple others I'm not showing or at this point planning to keep.
Last thought for the day:
I've seen a trend lately and don't know what to make of it. Actually not all that lately, but it struck me again so I'll mention it. Facebook. I'm not a big Facebooker. I check in, comment sometimes, but not a real user. I've seen a lot of breeders post their sale lists on FB instead of their website or forums. Is that really all that effective? You have your friends list, but aren't many potential buyers excluded? Do you only sell to "friends"? FB doesn't come up in a rabbitry search because most FBers use their real names. So all others would only find you via a breeder list or google for rabbit sites, and if you don't post your sales on your site, you just might lose a buyer. I don't email someone to see if they have something not listed on their site. I just assume they don't, and I bet there are others like me. I also don't accept or request friends just to have access to their FB. Some people seem to collect all the friends they can. If you have rabbits for sale and a website, post them on it and give everyone who is not a "friend" the opportunity to find you. A website are still a valid and important way to put yourself out there, ya know.
tnt
