Redbeck Publications
rabbit coat colour genetics
Rabbit coat colour genetics – Rabbits wear their history in their fur. Every colour, band, and shade comes from a set of genes passed down through generations. The study of coat colour genetics helps breeders predict how colours combine, why unexpected shades appear, and how to avoid hidden faults that can ruin a show line. Most rabbits carry more colour information than you can see. A black kit might hide agouti, chinchilla, or wide band genes beneath the surface. Understanding these layers lets you breed with purpose instead of luck.
The Colour of a Hare explains how the main gene series—A, B, C, D, E, and beyond, work together to build the patterns seen in domestic breeds. It connects practical breeding results with genetic logic, turning theory into something you can recognise in the nest box. Whether you breed Belgian Hares, Rex, or mixed stock, the book shows how to read what the coat is telling you and how to use that knowledge to strengthen your line.
The Colour of a Hare
A straight walk through rabbit coat colour genetics.
People hear the title and think it is some soft little book. It isn’t. This is the piece that explains coat colour the way you actually meet it. In nestboxes. On show benches. In those quiet moments when a kit appears that makes you question the parents, the pedigree and sometimes your own sanity.
Rabbit coat genetics has been dragged around the houses for years. Bits of truth. Bits of myth. Plenty of confident nonsense. I got tired of it. So I wrote the book I wish someone had handed me twenty years ago. Something that cuts through the talk and shows you how the colours really work.
This book starts where the breeding starts. With the A-series. Agouti. Tan. Otter. The marks you see long before you understand what they are telling you. Then the B-series with its quiet chocolate carriers that sit in a line for years until the right pairing exposes the truth. Then the C-series with Himalayan, sable, chinchilla. All the coats that change your plans if you do not know what sits behind them.
From there it moves through the D-series. Dilutes that never behave the way beginners expect. Then the E-series. Dominant extension. Non-extension. Harlequin. Steel. The ones that cause more arguments than any other part of the rabbit. By the time you reach wide band and the We gene you will see why some colours drift lighter with every generation and why others refuse to shift at all.
You get the lethal crosses as well. The ones people don’t talk about openly but everyone bumps into sooner or later. You get the mis-marks that reveal what the pedigree hid. You get the human side too. The choices that shape a line for better or worse.
The aim is simple. Once you read this book you should be able to open a nestbox lid and read what you see without guessing. The colours become clearer. The surprises become useful. The whole thing stops feeling like witchcraft and starts feeling like a language.
Rabbit coat colour genetics isn’t theory. It is the lived side of genetics. Why a black throws chocolates. Why an agouti litter looks like a bag of different rabbits until the coats settle. Why steels creep into lines you were certain were clean. Why Vienna marks show up exactly when you want them least. Why some youngsters tick heavily then clear out. Why others stay stubbornly muddy. And why every breeder eventually has that moment where a colour arrives that makes no sense at first glance.
What this book covers
- Agouti
- Tan
- Otter
- Black
- Chocolate
- Chinchilla
- Sable
- Himalayan
- Red-eyed white
- Blue
- Lilac
- Dilute
- Harlequin
- Steel
- Non-extension
- Dominant extension
- Wide band
- Modifiers
- Ticking
- The We gene
- The Vienna gene
- Lethal crosses
- Mis-marks and mismatches
- Why kits change colour as they grow
- Why coats shift through the first moult
- Why some patterns vanish and others refuse to hide
Sample from inside the book – rabbit coat colour genetics
I bred a black doe once. Solid as they come. Bred from a line that never threw anything except more blacks. I paired her to a buck with the same reputation. Straightforward. Predictable. A pair you could trust.
The litter arrived and there it was. A single chocolate kit looking up at me as if to say you didn’t check everything, did you. Moments like that teach you more than any chart. They tell you the line carries what the coat hides. They tell you both parents were holding the same recessive truth. They tell you to stop trusting the surface of things.
The shed teaches quicker than any lecture. That kit sent me down the road that led to this book. If you’ve bred long enough you will recognise the feeling. If you’re new, you’ll meet it soon enough.
Everything above is explained in plain speech. No jargon unless it earns its keep. No pretending genetics behaves itself. It doesn’t. But once you understand the mess, you can use it.
If you want the full walk through the rabbit coat colour genetics
The book is available in paperback, hardback and PDF. It is written for breeders, exhibitors and anyone who wants to understand what the coats are actually telling them. Once you learn the language, the rabbits make far more sense.
The Colour Of A Hare
A straightforward guide to rabbit coat colour genetics. Clear, practical, built for the shed and the show bench.
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What it gives you
This book strips the jargon back to the bones so you can see how colour really works, then use it. It covers the main series, the common modifiers, and the traps that waste seasons. It’s built for real breeding decisions, not armchair theory.
If you’re pairing stock for type and colour, this will help you plan litters with intent and read what turns up in the nest without guesswork.
If you’d like a deeper guide that explains every gene, cross, and modifier in plain English, you’ll find it in my book The Colour of a Hare.
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Format: A5. Approx. 120–160 pages. Black-and-white interior with clear diagrams. Suitable for breeders, exhibitors, and serious pet owners.