Blue Eyed White Genetics

Since I just had a litter of BEW Woolies, I thought I'd blog about the genetics of the BEW, or Vienna, gene. First, let's start with the basics.

VV - Non-vienna carrier, or in other words an ordinary rabbit. Will not be able to throw Blue Eyed White babies.

Vv - A vienna carrier, also known as a 'VC' or a vienna marked, 'VM'. VC's show no signs of carrying the vienna gene and can still be shown. VM's sport tell-tale signs of carrying the gene, wether that be blue eyes on a normal colored rabbit, or white splashes on a normal colored coat. They are sometimes referred to as 'sports'. Both of these will throw BEW when bred to another 'Vv' or a 'vv'.

vv - A Blue Eyed White Rabbit.

Here are the different kinds of combos you can do with those three different versions of the gene.

VV x VV = 100% VV
VV x Vv = 50% VV, 50% Vv
VV x vv = 100% Vv
Vv x Vv = 25% VV, 50% Vv, 25% vv
Vv x vv = 50% Vv, 50% vv
vv x vv = 100% vv

When I first started my BEW breeding project, I got a BEW buck (vv) and a Blue Doe (VV). The resulting litter consisted of 4 Black Otters, all of them Vienna Carriers (Vv).

I then retained a Black Otter doe (Silent Spring's Jinger) and upon reaching breeding age she was bred back to her BEW sire. That would be a Vv x vv breeding. The expected outcome would have been 50% BEW and 50% VC/VM offspring. The actual litter was three BEWs and one Black VC. Luck was on my side that time! But each one is the luck of the dice, I could repeat the breeding and end up with an all BEW litter, or a litter of just VC/VM's.

The next step in my breeding program would be to keep a BEW baby and repeat the whole process over again. I know, it's a very slow process! That's why someone who breeds BEWs needs to know what they're doing or if they're planning on breeding them on a larger scale, be prepared to have lots of extra holes for unshowable Vv offspring.

- Michael

Unbearable Temperatures

So far this week every single day has been triple digit heat! I like summer because I don't have school, but I hate having to take care of the rabbits! Thank goodness they only get sunlight in the morning hours, and not during the hottest part of the day. The misters have been doing a great job, much better than at my old house. I've also been going out there several times a day wetting their ears. Since rabbits don't sweat, they have to rely on other means to cool off. If you wet their ears or rub ice on them, it will cool the blood in the veins and be transported to the rest of the body. The effect will be a cooler bunny.

Today was pretty uneventful, I went to the Votaw's home and went through their extremely adorable Mini Lop babies! The litter was very consistant and nice! I picked one out for Jennifer that is super cute, I've nicknamed her 'Gizzard'. I also registered a few of their bunnies for them and then headed home.

Nothing much happening for the rest of the week, except for the Fourth of July! Jennifer is coming up on Friday to pick up Jim Bob, Michelle, Joy-Anna, Hope, and 'Gizzard'. I've also got to drop off Cody to Kara to go up to Emily in Sacramento. It's going to be a relief not to have to deal with some many bunnies anymore with this heat.

Jinger's litter is my last litter until I resume breeding in the fall. Hopefully by then I'll have a nice new buck to breed my does to. :) More on that later though.

- Michael

New Litters!

Today we had our first Jersey Wooly litter of the year (our last litter was the very end of last year) so I am extremely excited! Jinger had four, three blue eyed whites and one black VC! She is doing a great job for a first timer, she pulled plenty of fur and had them all in the box. I've often thought that mothering abilities run in the line....Pudge, Jinger's dam, was also an extremely successful mother. We can't wait to watch these babies grow! Our first BEW's!

In Mini Lop news, I am having a major herd reduction. Most are already spoken for, but I have a few nice bucks available. Sidney's litter is maturing nicely, there are four does and two bucks. I'm keeping my eyes on the chestnuts and the broken chinchilla. The broken chestnut was the runt and is probably just going to be a pet, which should suit him well. He's extremely sociable!

I am also slowly moving to a new domain name, due to geocities closing. My new address on the website is

http://www.silentspringsrabbitry.com/

Please update your bookmarks! It's a mess right now, but give me a few weeks and it'll look much better! :)

- Michael