Plan: Breed Lancelot x Misty Blue using an introduction approach. Goal: Change Lancelot's status to proven; try to get Misty Blue to accept breeding without assistance; testing Misty Blue to see if she carries Chocolate: a Lilac kit. Conclusion: Misty Blue lifted for Lancelot as two fall offs were witnessed. About an hour later, she again was receptive and two fall offs were witnessed. Before the breeding, I cut the nails on Lancelot and Misty Blue as well as weighed them both. I checked Misty Blue's genital area which appeared a deeper color. This suggested that placing her in the cage next to Lancelot a few days before breeding had the desired result, because Misty Blue has been rather difficult about accepting a buck in the past. aa Bb C_ Dd E_ sisi aa B_ Cc chd dd E_ sisi Although Lancelot is the younger of my two bucks by just three weeks, he is also the largest. He is just over six months old so it could be a bit early for him, but judging by the int...

NZW-B is going to a new home in two to three weeks and I have bred him twice successfully. I cannot provide a pedigree on him but I can give his new owner what I know about his genotype, even if that is not really something that he will need if he only breeds New Zealand Whites as planned. However, plans change and now I wish I had kept more detailed records previously because I might have noticed some things far sooner and made different choices with breeding, but it was not our focus at the time. As I wrote, things change. NZW-B is a New Zealand White, which means that he has hidden alleles, with the exception of the ones on the C-locus, until bred and the phenotypes (the colors seen) in the offspring provide information. This works best if the genotype of the partner is known also (but I just learned what one thinks she knows about genotypes of her older does might not be completely accurate even then). This is the short answer about what I do know with certainty so far: ...

BMB-5 has been quite surprising. I was hoping to discover more about NZW-B's genotype, but I did not expect to find out something hidden in the genotype of my Blue Silver Fox, Misty Blue. However, seeing is believing. These two of the BMB-5 kindle are Agoutis. The one on the right is a Chestnut and the other is a Chinchilla. A Chestnut Agouti has this genotype: A_ B_ C_ D_ E_ Because the sire has "cc" and the dam has "aa" and "dd," this Chestnut must have: Aa B_ Cc Dd E_ A Chinchilla Agouti has this genotype with "c chd " for dark (c chl  is for light): A_ B_ c chd _ D_ E_ Because the sire has "cc" and the dam has "aa" and "dd," this Chinchilla must have: Aa B_ c chd c Dd E_ As you can see, the Chinchilla allele removes almost all the yellow, which is the base color on the hair shaft so where the yellow shows on the Chestnut, silver (white) shows on the Chinchilla. Lovely colorin...

Goal: Determine if NWZ-B carries the "En" (broken) gene. Result: No Brokens in the four offspring. Conclusion: Not enough evidence to prove NZW-B does not carry the "En" (broken) gene. Another test breeding with a self (solid colored) doe would be provide more evidence. I knew it was unlikely, but I still tried a breeding with one of our new junior NZW bucks, NZW-B, and our youngest brood doe, Golden Girl, on September 9th. It did not take. The buck may have been too young as he was just three months old at the time, but Golden Girl had an entire year off from breeding, so the fault could have been one or the other or both. Usually, I would not try breeding a buck quite that young, but we have had accidental pregnancies from NZW bucks about that age and I had no bucks older. So, I rebred the same pair on October 9th and got results on November 9th! Golden Girl had not kindled as little as four kits previously, but I was pleased with their sizes and health. ...