english spot colours

Question
I have 2 pure english spots who have produced a litter of 8 6 of them are the perfect gold english spot but i also have a pure black one and a rusty red one i am looking for a answer as to how this ocurred any advice would be really appreciated

Answer
I am guessing one parent is gold and the other is black?

English spots are a broken patterned rabbit. This means that they follow the broken pattern genetic rules.

Two brokens bred together can always produce solid coloured babies as well as babies with too few markings. This is because the broken pattern is incompletely dominant. This means the two main genes controlling the pattern need to both be present in order to have the proper pattern. Two solid genes, and you get a baby with no spots. Too spotted genes, and you get a baby with too much white. One of each, and you get a baby with the right amount of colour.

Because properly spotted rabbits have one of each gene, two spotted rabbits can also produce solid coloured babies as well as babies with too much white. Now, when a solid coloured rabbit and a "charlie" (the ones with way too much white) are bred together, it will produce a litter of all normal spotted rabbits.

So, to put it in simple terms, it is quite normal for purebred English spots to have babies with no white markings at all. Some breeders keep the best of these babies for breeding stock, while others sell them as pets rather than breeding them.

As for the actual colours, the rusty red one is probably a tortoise. Tortoise is the non-agouti version of gold.