Genetic Color Help

Genetic Color Help
*from rabbitgeek notes oct 27 2007
There are a couple of genetic calculators online

Here is Welsh's site for the genotype calculator.
You can use it to get familiar with genetics.
http://www.welshrabbitry.com/matrix.php

Here is another calculator
http://www.mammarabbit.com/rabbit_genetics.htm
It has most of the basics down but not all of the genetics are
included such as dutch, steel, and others but may be helpful.

Computer genetic calculators are handy, including the Evans
program, but they are not perfect. Understanding color genetics
will help guide you through the maze.

Color genetics is a lot like the dice game Yahtzee. You try to get
sets of numbers to fill your scorecard. Sometimes you can "hold"
or "fix" some of the variables by holding some dice before the
next roll.

This is the similar in genetics. You can hold some of the variables
by using certain rabbits with known color genetic traits, and the
rest is a roll of the dice to see what you actually get in the litters.
Some people compare it to playing poker with two decks of cards.

Some of our French Angoras were very good at throwing
multi-colored litters that we called "party packs." Very exciting
to see what kind of colors developed. The skin color when born
can often turn into something unexpected and all we could do
was wait for the kits to grow into their coats.

I can recommend a little book called "Color Genetics of the
Netherland Dwarf Rabbit" by Bobby Schott. This little book takes
you through many of the basic color genetic principles in easy to
understand language with lots of good examples and some simple
pictures.

Although the book is written for Netherland Dwarfs, the color
genetics are the same for most breeds of rabbits. There are
variations in color names in different breeds.

Pam Nock has a website with lots of color charts
to help get used to the color genetic codes used.
http://nockrabbits.com

Here is a yahoo group where color geeks hangout
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/rabbit_genetics

That should keep you busy for a few hours.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios