Champagne D'argent - The Silver Beauty

 

The unique thing about champagnes is that they change color as they grow with age.

 

Average Weight

Senior Bucks-8 months of age and over, weight 9-11 lbs. Ideal weight 10 lbs

Senior Does-8 months of age and over, weight 9 1/2-12 lbs. Ideal weight 10 1/2 lbs

Int Bucks-6-8 months of age, not over 10 lbs

Int Does-6-8 months of age, not over 10 1/2 lbs

Jr. Buck & Does-under 6 months of age, not over 9 lbs. Min weight 4 1/2 lbs.

Pre-Jr. Bucks & Does-under 3 months of age, not over 6 lbs.

 

 

Body type and Condition

Champagnes should have a medium length of body, their shoulders should be a little narrower then their hips, and the top line should have a small rise and from there it should slowly curve starting at the nape of the neck. The curve should reach its peak at the center of the hips, and then round down to the tail. When you pose the rabbit he should be as round as possible. When you run your hands down the back you shouldn't feel the back bone at all and the hips shouldn't stick out much at all. Basically when your hands run down the back and your index finger and thumb are running down the sides your fingers shouldn't catch on the rabbit's hips. They shouldn't be bony, but not to excessively fat/flabby either, they should be muscular as possible. You can feed them an average amount of food with a few treats and then make sure they get plenty of exercise; this should be enough to give them good flesh condition.

 

Coor changing - growing up Champagne

As newborns, champagnes are pitch black, with the occasional baby that might  have a few stray silver markings on his feet ,underside, ears, or neck. I found that at about 3-4 weeks old the babies start to slowly change.They usually start on the feet or belly, sometimes elsewhere, from there the silvering travels up the legs and the belly on to the neck, head, and body portions. I have found that the ears, and back of neck usually change last. Every day you can see the new color growth change, that is how fast they change.

 

At about 9-12 weeks or so they should be mostly changed, with a few black spots here and there. On most Champagnes their forehead and ears are the last parts to change color. So as they grow into their teenage stage they will usually have black markings on their head. The more evenly the baby's color changes the more even the hair coloring will be as an adult. It depends on each rabbit how fast or how slow they change color; this is why, as Jr.'s the judges mainly pay attention to body type, and the meat quality, instead of coloring of the baby, but if need be they will consider the coloring if there is a tie breaker. 

 

At about 6-8 months the rabbit should be fully changed and ready to compete for their coloring. In my opinion, it is better to show your champagnes between 6 months and 2 years because as they age their coloring gets lighter and lighter until they look almost white, cutting down on their chances for winning.

 

As adults they should have uniform of color as possible, no smudges, white spots, black/white stray hairs, ect. They should have a darker bluish looking under color, with a silver whitish top color. It is ok for them to have a darker muzzle, ears, tail, and feet, but not too much darker. As for darkness of color it really depends where you are located. For the Arizona shows they tend they like them lighter in color, and for the New Mexico shows they like them darker in color, I personally like darker color as stated in the Standard of perfection, and that is what I am concentraiting on getting more of in my herd.