Popielno White

Попельнянський білий

The Popielno White (królik popielniański biały) is the only surviving native Polish rabbit breed. Breeding began in 1950 at the Institute of Animal Production's station in Chorzelów, using 40 Polish albinotic rabbits that averaged only 2.5 kg; size was raised by a single reciprocal cross with the Belgian Giant Grey at the end of the 1950s. The work moved to the Polish Academy of Sciences station at Popielno in 1955, which is where the name comes from, and a uniformly white herd was achieved there in 1964 before the rabbitry moved on to Jastrzębiec in 1965. The evaluation standard was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Economy in 1989 and rewritten in 2022. Adults weigh 3.5–5.7 kg, with red eyes, erect 12–13 cm ears and a very dense, springy snow-white coat 2.5–3.0 cm long. The breed survives inside a Polish genetic-resources conservation programme that recorded 529 does in nine herds in 2026 and still classifies it as endangered.

Datos rápidos

Grupo de tamaño: Medio
Propósito: carne
peso del conejo macho: 3.5–5.7 kilos
peso de la coneja: 3.5–5.7 kilos
Peso adulto: 4 kilos
Camada (promedio): 6 gazapos
Rendimiento de carne: 60%
Edad de sacrificio: 13 semanas
abrigo: normal
tipo de cuerpo: commercial
Orejas: erect
Origen: Poland · Chorzelów and Popielno
Reconocido: 1989

Colores

white

Temperamento

hardy

adaptable

good mother

hechos notables

Named after the Popielno research station where a uniformly white herd was fixed in 1964, although the rabbits left Popielno in 1965 and the station now keeps Polish primitive horses and Polish Red cattle. During the fixing of the type litters were cut back to two kits and pregnant does were over-wintered outdoors in wooden cages to improve coat quality in their offspring. There is no ex-situ gene bank for the breed because no effective method of freezing rabbit semen was available when the programme was written.

Recomendaciones de cría

Judge breeding stock alive from five months of age, in daylight but not direct sun; weight is recorded to 0.1 kg.
Keep adults inside the 3.5–5.7 kg band — weight outside it disqualifies, and 'too low body weight' is the most common criticism recorded by Polish judges.
Plan on 6.35 kits born alive and 5.41 weaned per litter, and 1.72 litters per doe per year, as the national herd average; the best-managed herd reached 2.6 litters and 16.9 reared per doe per year.
Do not cull does early: does over 48 months averaged 17.1 kits a year against 12.2 for does aged 13–24 months.
Expect about 2600 g at 90 days on complete pelleted feed, or the same weight at about 120 days on farm-produced feed.
A herd inside the conservation programme needs at least 12 basic-herd does, or 8 if other rabbit breeds are also kept, with individual mate selection to limit inbreeding.

Fuentes