Colony Style breeding

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I'll let someone else answer that question Chris. I would imagine that the mom who gave birth first would have her kits bond with her vs the other female.

Well my first attempt at colony breeding went well until the other female had one kit about 6 weeks after the first female.
The second mom was helpful raising the quads of the first female. However a day or so after she gave birth to one kit, she then started chasing the four kits. So I separated both mothers. I'll note that I also pulled the male the day the quads were born. I realize the possibility of a breed back. Both girls are first time mothers. Not sure why this happened. I'm content with the results of healthy kits. And I always have a back up cage for any chin spats.
 
One way is to do what I do - to make sure which kits are whose when the kits are the same color. I mark the inside of the ears with a 'safe' marker. Then I write down which is which so I don't forget. You will have to 'refresh' the markings every week or so because they do fade
 
I also leave them all together. I've been colony breeding since I first started and have had 2 or 3 breedbacks in all that time.

Though they do often share parenting duties, the kits always gravitate to their "real" mom first. I too mark the kits with a sharpie marker down in the inside of the ear, then at weaning time, I tag them.
 
saphire said:
Out of curiosity... I assume some are all standard chin colonies. If two females have their kits at the same time and you are not there to see and identify the kits right away.
How do you differenciate who belongs to who for the pedigrees?

I want to try colonies, but am unsure for that reason.
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I have not really had that happen. The closest was one female gave birth in the AM and I knew she had 2 the other had 3 that night. Usually they are a day or so apart and at first the babies stay with mom. Another advantage here any way is Daddy is usually a standard and has 1 standard girl with him, the rest mutations so I have been lucky they are born Minimum days apart and often are different colors or different sexes.

When my colony girls give birth if I have more than 1 pregnant girl (like due soon pregnant) I mark the babies as soon as I see them to be safe. They may go to everyone and nurse off of anyone but they really do prefer their own mommas
 
i usually seperate my male from my girls right after they give birth not only to prevent a breedback but also give mom a break...the male is usually persistant..i once had a male who was trying to mount the female while she was in very active labor...I do find the males are often great helpers with the kits tho so if you dont mind taking a chance of breedbacks I would leave him in...I personally take mine out every other time...

also with the standard colonies the suggestion of marking ears is a great one and works well
 
I'm curious. . .in this case would you remove this female from colony breeding?
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If a female in the colony shows any aggression I remove her. The female in question above, I lost that male and broke up the colony. If I could put that colony back together, I would. You just have to watch for any aggression and if so remove that animal.

Out of curiosity... I assume some are all standard chin colonies. If two females have their kits at the same time and you are not there to see and identify the kits right away.
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I actually don't have any all standard colonies, I mostly breed in runs, but I find colonies helpful for certain animals, or maybe space issues. I might not want to give a male a full run to only put one or two girls with him, etc. The mom's know their babies, and vice versa. The babies will always choose mom over another chin. Even if a colony was say a standard male with a standard female and a white female, the white female could have a full litter of standards and you still wouldn't know by looking at the color.
 
I had that issue with my first colony (not knowing who the mom was). My mosaic (the female aggressive chin) was the one who gave birth.... but i thought it was my BV becuase she had been with the male for quite some time and was huge. I came home and saw my BV beat up and the kits hiding in the food dish ( mortifying to come home to). The kits were gray, it didn't click instantly that my BV and Beige male weren't the parents, but that it was my mosaic and the 3 month old standard that had produced them. The kits weren't nursing from the mosaic when i found them, obviously traumatized from the fight between the females. Because i thought the BV was the mom i tried to put her and the kits in a separate cage but she snapped at them.

Actually the way i finally found out who the mom was. I took them both out and flipped them over to see who looked like they'd just given birth, and sure enough the mosaic was the mom....
 
did you have 2 males and 2 females in the colony? I'm assuming the BV was male and the 3 month old standard was male as well? (and a Black Velvet mated to a mosaic can produce standards ;) ).
 
no, the males were not in there together. As per my first post, the mosaic had been with the standard before she was put in the colony.

And the BV is a female, my mosaic is female aggressive, which is why my BV got beat up. As stated i tried to put the kits with the BV becuase i assumed she was the mother but she snapped at them.......The Beige is the male.
 
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I also have a few colonies and some of them are fine littering together, others are not. I have found that it is often the first time mom's that have the biggest problem being in a colony when littering or with kits. Some of them don't seem completely sure what the little things are or what to do with them. So to try to minimize problem I will usually pull my first time mom's out, if they are in colonies to let them litter alone. Or pull them out if a colony mate is going to litter first. I tend to switch my colonies around every so often, so I don't have too many problems breaking up colonies and putting other ones back together. As far as telling when they are pregnant for sure, a lot of my girls will let me put my hand under them while they are sitting on a shelf so I can feel for kicks. I don't palpate, more just rest my hand there for a bit and feel for kicks. Once I feels kicks I know I have they should litter in a month or less.
 
Again please refer to my first post. The standard was sold to me as a female, my mosaic needed a cage mate becuase she'd been alone for months and i wanted a female companion for her. I found out 5 days later that the standard was a male and he was removed but the "deed" was done. No i didnt happen to check the chins sex when i bought him because i assumed people would know the difference if they are selling it.
 
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