# Vienna Markings/vienna carriers - genetics question(s)



## TinysMom (Jan 14, 2008)

Normally I send questions like this to Pam because as an ARBA judge and genetics guru - she's fantastic with this. (I'm going to ask her to look at this thread and post).

However, I'm going to post it here so that others can learn from this too. 

I have a handful of rabbits that I bought last year and I really didn't think about how the fact they come from a father that has vienna markings would affect my lines. (Bad bad Peggy - I knew better).

Here is the situation. For all of these rabbits - the dad is a vienna marked blue rabbit. In the litters they came from (some had different moms) - there were vienna marked babies. There also were some non-marked babies. These were the non-marked babies.

I risked buying them because in the back of my mind was the thought, "There is a 25% chance they're free of the vienna gene" and these were blue rabbits and chocolate rabbits and chocolate tort rabbits - colors I wanted to add to my herd.

As I said - I probably didn't think everything through clearly enough.

The rabbits I have in particular are:

Chocolate tort buck - has given me several litters and the only time I got a vienna marked baby was when he was bred to a vienna marked doe. I did get a couple of "mismarks" in another litter but that doe has also given mismarks before?

Chocolate buck - very nice body type - hasn't kept his mane as well as I'd like so I'm debating on using him. He has gorgeous chocolate coloring though. I did try to breed him but the doe did not take...even though she lived with him for a week.

Black doe - she carries both dilute and tort. 

Those three are full siblings even if they are from different litters age-wise.

Blue doe - shares the same father - but different mother. 


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I was thinking about breeding the blue doe back to the chocolate buck or chocolate tort buck and seeing if I got vienna marked babies. But then I realized I wouldn't know if it came from mom or dad. ARG.

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So to get to the point of this lengthy message....or points.


Is the only way to test-breed going to be breeding them to a BEW?
What about the buck that had 9 litters and only vienna marked babies when bred to a vienna-marked doe? Would he be safe to use? Should I still testbreed him to a BEW?
Should I just pet these out and move on? (Or decide to do a BEW program even though there are no BEW certificates of development (yet))?
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At this point, I'm at a standstill with some of my breeding. I have two bucks that carry chocolate or are chocolate but they might have the vienna gene. I have one chocolate doe that is gorgeous but she is an older doe and probably should be retired soon (she's 2.5). She is the doe that didn't take when she lived with the buck for a week. 

I had wanted to work with chocolates and otters but I'm beginning to wonder if I should just give up that dream since it seems like what I have won't work well for chocolates and while I love otters - well - I don't have much I can use for them right now.

Help?

Peg

P.S. I am on a waiting list for chocolates that are free of the vienna gene - but I don't know what I should do about this anymore. I really did want to pull a COD on chocolate in 2010, when I am eligible. I was going to try to breed high quality ones that kept their mane - starting now.


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## Bramblerose (Jan 14, 2008)

Pam is definitely the one to answer this one, her reputation as a color genetics whiz precedes her, she's forgotten more than I'll ever know. That said I really like BEW's, and would myself see this as an opportunity


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## pamnock (Jan 14, 2008)

If you're considering pulling a COD, I'd focus primarily on that variety. You really need to be dedicated to a particular variety to see the process through.

To test for the BEW's, you're best off breeding to a BEW. If you get BEWs, you know that you have a sport. Of course, you might just get all sports, and your question may not get answered in the first litter :rollseyes But breeding to BEW puts you closer to your goal of producing BEWs rather than wasting litters by breedinga suspected sport to selfs.

Ideally, just breed BEW to BEW - 

If only it were that easy and all BEWs had good type & manesonder:





Pam


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