New Merle Litter Born

by bethmccallister Sat Mar 31, 2012 3:12 pm

I've had some breeding issues with the black merles so I'm really excited! The last litter of 5 was born a couple months ago, they were all healthy and pink on day 2 but day 3 they were all cold and laying there. Mom didn't even try to dispose of them, they were perfect but cold and gone...I was worried I might need to retire her and she's the only merle doe that I have who wants to cooperate. This new litter is her 3rd and final litter and I'll need to retire her.

I've been colony breeding this line which is probably were the problem is. Except instead of the problem of having overcrowding and too many culls I got only these 3 litters out of one of three does. The other does were her sister and mother.

This time I gave her a different buck from the same line (technically her grandfather) and the babies are all healthy with fat little milk bellies on Day 4. I'll take pictures later but wanted to celebrate a little first!

I've got 8 bubs, 3 Bucks and 5 Does, all dark eyes so I'm thinking possibilities are Black, Beige, Ivory, with a 75% chance of all being Merle. There is one piebald buck that I'm excited about too even though I hope he isn't both merle and pied. They so far all look to be rex except for one standard possibility. There is also Chocolate floating around so we'll see in a couple more days when fur comes in.

by Love2read Sat Mar 31, 2012 6:12 pm

Congratulations!!! Big smile

You've got the best Merles in the country and they're such sweethearts. <3 Hopefully your Merle breeding program will pick up soon so you can spread your little darlings out to more breeders. Wink

BTW, the RY/Merle Carrier doe from Meribelle just popped the other day, so it looks like we'll get to wait together to see if we've got any Merles! Best of luck to you!