Mini Lop Breeding

Question
Dr. Stephen Roush,
I have a broken chestnut Mini Lop doe that I show in 4-H at our county fair and took Grand Champion with last year.  I had a chestnut buck, and bred the two this spring and got two nice bunnies, a broken chestnut and a chinchilla.  My buck unexpectedly died a little while ago, and so now I am planning on getting a new one for this doe.  I was wondering what color of buck would be the best to cross with her to get some other colored rabbits.  
  I also was wondering...The little chinchilla buck my doe had has some weird fur color.  It is chinchilla, but there are some black or dark gray lines over his back, and on his face the tips of the gray hairs are brown, or chestnut.  It is really weird looking.  I was just curious if that was something terribly wrong to take to the fair or if he will grow out of it and it's just his "baby hair".  

Thank you,
Brandi  

Answer
Brandi...Getting a Chinchilla from the two rabbits is highly unusual. Are the parents related? Her chin color means she is the result of two recessive genes (Cchd)that are not extremely common in the general rabbit population. Since the remaining doe is a broken chestnut (in Minilops, it is actually called a broken agouti..as Chestnut is a Dwarf term), and you know she carries a chin gene, so if you want different colors, try crossing it with a silver marten. Silver Martens are actually chins, but with an 'At' (tan patterning) gene... If the mother carries a recessive 'At' or 'a' (solid) gene, you'll get more silver martens, and chins, as well as agouti, and some will be broken also... but if you get only agouti (either 'chestnut' or 'Chin', you'll know she is 'AA" and all you will ever get from her are agouti patterned animals..albeit some will be broken... Hope this helps.. Steve