# What Colors should I breed? - Holland Lops



## jacknjill

What color buck I should breed my Holland Lop does to? I have not grasped all color genetics yet. Both bucks have great type. I do know a harlequin is not showable, but I love the wild colors.


MY BUCKS:
-Black
-Broken Blue
MY DOES:
-Chestnut
-Magpie Harlequin (I believe it's the magpie harlequin)

More thoughts on this --- If I bred the harlequin doe to either buck, not having any harlequin/tri in their pedigree, would she have a 0% chance of producing ANY tris or harlequins? What might she produce? And my Chestnut, would she produce more chestnuts, black, any possibility for chinchilla??


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## StitchLover

I'm no expert on genetics but usually half of the traits come from dad and half from mom so if you breed the harlequin the chances are probably 50/50. Maybe a little lower. Definitely not zero though. Not sure on the chestnut. It really depends. I'd recommend the chestnut and broken blue if you're looking to show.


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## woahlookitsme

First off what are you breeding these for? If they are going to be for show you might as well forget about color. There is an adage in the rabbit breeding world to build your house before you paint it. This means you should focus on type and the health of the rabbits before any color. 

With that said even if you are breeding for pets you still want to consider health first and then maybe type and color on the same level. 

The color background of the rabbit is important as well. Mixing any of these colors for pets would be fine but for show you have to look at what they might throw. For example if your black has any shaded color in its background and you breed it to the chestnut you will end up with poorly colored rabbits because it will make the ring colors in chestnut babies look muddy. If you breed for show then you could mix the broken blue with the magpie to get tri colors. Tris are showable but they must have one broken parent.


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## jacknjill

Yes, both bucks are great, momma's are brood does, this will be their first litter... so I wanted to have fun with colors if I sell some as pets and keep only one, say out of both litters... That seems to be the way holland lops go.
Thank you for both of your comments... I will breed both to the broken blue.


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