The little buck is doing quite well. He has good size and very good density. He reminds me of his mother in so many ways. But while he has "good" size, she was huge. This might have happened anyway, because his father was only about 9 lbs, but it could well be because of his questionable start in life too.
I achieved my goal of softer coat with him and he is a worthy addition to my red breeding program at 84% German and a known red carrier. His sister remains small. I have no idea if she would have been small had she been raised normally, but she is extraordinarily small for a German cross of any kind. She has, however excellent density and I believe a large buck might pull size from her, as her mother was a very large doe.
One very interesting thing about both babies, though is that they do not groom themselves. In one way it is a blessing, because wool block is a constant worry with angora rabbits. I am guessing that trait must be something that the rabbits learn from their mothers.
Neither are shedders, so they have retained the non-molting property and they both have very soft coats, more like English angoras, than German, but they have more German-type density. This is exactly what I was going for. The buck will soon be used with my softest coated full German doe and I hope to "fix" their great texture and density in my new lines.
I don't know if I will use the doe because she is small. I might do further English crossing with her, because there seems to be a market for English type rabbits. But I am worried that she will have learned no mothering skills, so I have no idea if she would be adequate as a dam for a litter.
Overall, I'm quite pleased with them. I do feel, thought that their growth was stunted. Even though the buck seems to have good size, his mother was huge, over 13 lbs, and I would have expected the largest baby in her litter to be no less than 10 lbs. But he is just below that.
This will be the last post. I consider the experiment a success, and something I didn't think was even possible. If I were doing it again, I'd start the Albon as soon as the excess gas and bloating occured. I do think it helped. But I'd still use the same formula and methods. (If goat's milk were not available.)
If you have further questions, email me at bunnies4wool@yahoo.com.