Occasionally one of a litter turns out to be a complete mystery as regards colour and very possible not a colour that is kept in a particular rabbitry. It is likely, therefore, that it will not be recognisable to the less experienced angora breeder. This year I had two blue-creams in a litter of sooty-fawns and a sable from a blue-smoke mating. Since I would not have contemplated crossing a blue-cream and a sooty-fawn or mating a sable with either a blue or a smoke, it was a complete mystery to me how they had managed to appear in the litters. (Top picture smoke baby)
Pedigrees of all stock concerned do not indicate that these colours were intermingled with my original angoras. One can only presume that these are one of the quirks of nature and that the past expert breeders of the past started some of the standard colours of today from these youngsters. I suspect that none of these youngsters would come up to the standard for their particular colours being either too light or too dark or not even quite the right shade and a probably best kept as non breeding wool rabbits or pets.
Below I have described youngsters of all the standard colours as they appear on the day they are born and the following few days so that they can be recognised immediately.
- White – Pink all over but after a few days definitely white all over
- Chinchilla – Black all over except pink on the underside & at the back of the ears. After a few days the greyish under-coat can be seen under the black tips.
- Brown-grey – As the chinchilla but a definite golden tinge. After a few days a good golden colour with a white underside
- Blue-grey – As the chinchilla except the under-coat appears blue after a few days
- Golden – Pinkish but with a definite golden tinge. After a few days a good golden colour with a white underside
- Sooty-fawn – Pinkish with a golden tinge together with sooty smudges on face, ears, legs and underside
- Cream – Pinkish with a cream tinge. After a few days a definite cream with a white underside
- Blue-cream – Pinkish with a cream tinge together with blue smudges on face, ears, legs underside
- Blue – Dark blue all over
- Smoke – Black all over
- Sable – Bluish of varying shades depending on whether dar, medium or light sable with a definite sepia tinge.
- Chocolate – Chocolate all over growing darker over the next few days.
- Cinnamon – Chocolate all over except for pink underside and at the back of the ears. After a few days the golden undercoat can be seen under the chocolate tips.
Know your litters when they arrive by Mrs G.Holford sourced from the 1983 yearbook