The Chin and Broken Chin Mini Rex
Bechtol's Silk & Lace
BOV Chin. at Mini Rex Natl's. in Benton Texas, 2005
Other wins:
Chin jr doe, 5th
Chin jr. buck 2nd
I had 4 shown and thus placed.
Show condition: Keeping the chinchilla fur in show condition can also be a challenge. This color is affected by light and sun. While showing your juniors and seniors they should be kept in the darkest part of your rabbitry. I'm sure you have seen rusty, tinged or faded appearance at times on the show table. This is caused by too much light or sun bleaching the pigment out of the hair and causing a dead looking coat. Don't confuse this with moulting. When the moult begins the coat loses its lustre because the body no longer supplies the needed oils to the fur and the old fur will begin to slough off. Your Chinchilla could moult out a sun bleached coat, but it would take a long time and your rabbit would probrably be too old to show. So the easy solution is just to move them out of the light.
Faults: A fault that is very undesirable in chinchillas is too many white guard hairs or white ticking that gives the appearance of salt and pepper. These should be culled and not used for breeding or this fault will be permanent "stickler" in your lines.
Color crossing: Over the years, even though many varieties of Rex contain the chinchilla gene, we, ourselves do not generally color-cross out chinchillas. We have found this to be troublesome and may produce many unwanted faults down the road. If you find a line becoming too dark in color, our experience, finds using a Seal buck (Which carried the dark chin, gene in contrast to the chinchilla's medium gene) can usually correct this in the next generation. The babies should be lighter, but, any seals in the litter will probably have a silver tinge and should be culled. If the seals look alright, by all means keep them. You will not have to use this breeding again for several generations. Another answer would be to save a nice light-colored buck to use with the darker does. This also is generally successful, but keep an eye on your ring width. What you should be aiming for is a nice medium silver color.
Choosing: When grading the babies, you must have a little more space and patience as the agouti changes many times. What might not look good at at 3-5 weeks, may look great at 10-12 weeks or vice-versa. We grade at several intervals: 1. A look over at 3 weeks, but no decisions. 2. 6-8 weeks we mark any that will be culled, such as faults in type. We mark the bucks and does. 3. 9 weeks - cull out fryers, tattoo show and breeder stock. Usually by 9-12 weeks old you can almost be sure the ones you have chosen to keep for show and breeding will remain so. Occasionally you will change your mind.
I am reminded of a buck we once saved (the only buck in the litter) that was way too light. By 8-9 months old you would have never thought he was the same buck. After his junior moult his coat came in much darker and he went on to win 3 senior legs on his Grand Champion. So, don't get discouraged. This may not always happen, but agoutis can surprise you sometimes. Chinchilla color creates a challenge for the breeder. Sometimes it is exasperating and many times breeders give up too soon, just before they are about to reap the results of their efforts. My advice is to keep perservering as I have for the past thirteen years. You too will be rewarded.
Visit me at ... My Mini Rex
Sincerely,
Treasure
