This Has To Be A Record!

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mark miller

mark miller

Miller Chinchillas
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
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249
Location
Seward, Nebraska
I was researching through my Grandfather Chapin Hand herd record book and came across a female that produced 16 babies all in 1 calender year. Her litter record was as follows: Jan. 12 (2 males 1 females) April 30 (2 males 2 females) Aug. 19 (2 males 2 females) Dec. 8 (4 males 1 female). Records indicated she raised 13 of the 16 babies all on her own. Obviously, this was achieved with breedbacks, large litter sizes, and 1 amazing mother. I've never had a female produce anything close to that many babies in 12 months. I don't really know if it's a record or not, but was amazed when I discovered it and wanted to share the amazing feat. Has anyone else ever had a female produce anything close to 16 babies in a 12 month period?
 
That's a lot of kits.

I have a beige female that could have possibly put out close to those numbers if I hadn't taken her out for a break. I thought that two breedbacks with quads and quints was more than enough. She had a single in her first litter (she was bred within the first 5 days she was actually in breeding), 4 in her first breedback and 5 in the second breedback. Definitely not 16 though, but if I had let her breedback again, it could have been close.
 
This is not a record I would like to see anyone attempt, or get anywhere close. That is awfully hard on an animal.
 
I agree this is not normal practice by us either. Generally I shut off the male from the female after 1 breedback. This female came to us from a herd my Grandfather purchased. She was raising the 3rd litter when he got her and had already been bredback for the 4th. Her 1st 2 litters were from 1 male and the 2nd 2 litters were from a 2nd male. I rarely ever have 4 babies and have only had 5 once. The amazing part about this female was she not only had multiples every litter, but she also had the milk to raise quads twice in a row on her own. She lost 1 of the first litter of 3 and 2 of the last litter of 5 because they were small. I'm sure this was very hard on the female, but she raised 13 of the 16 babies on her own. She must of really been a good milk producer and a great mom. I don't condone that many breedbacks in a row for any female chin, but did find this as a amazing feat in raising babies.
 
This female came to us from Vernon "Pick" Wyatt's herd. Pick only had about 35 breeding females, but consistantly produced over 100 babies a year by utilizing breedbacks and prolific breeding animals. Pick was an ECBC sanctioned judge and raised chins for almost 40 years. He knew their limitations but, he also knew how to optimize his production. I remember this female, she was large and very healthy, very calm and tame. Even after the fourth consecutive litter, she did not look skinny or run down. Some females can handle nursing babies better then others. In their natural habitat, chinchillas would have been exposed to a male after every litter, so I'm sure consecutive breedbacks were a very common occurance. I agree most female chins could not handle this many babies in one year (I have some that can't handle 3 babies on their own) that's what made this really stand out to me as a remarkable record by this mother chinchilla.
 
Wow and yikes in the same sentence. I've never had that many kits born to a mom..not even close. I usually pull the mom if they have triplets.

Jessica
 
Interesting information Mark. I wonder if this sort of breeding was the norm back then? One of my MCBA magazines had an article with a picture of people attending a show or meeting. Not sure which one. Was an older picture. And there had to be several hundred people in the photo.
I can think that most of the folks in that photo had dreams of hitting it big in the fur market. So I'm going to take a gamble and say that people were really breeding for alot of chinchillas. Fur is part of our American history.

One that same line of thought. I also have no idea about todays fur ranch operations. I'm guessing holes stay open more often then I would ever imagine. I respect their business and line of work. And I understand that animals need to be pelted in prime.

Sounds like your grandfather understood his animals gifted ability to breed. I'm guessing conversational information shared with other major breeders back then is what has gotten us where we are today.

On a lighter note: As a woman who has given birth....I give my girls a break. I can't imagine having kids running all over me for months. Hee Hee
 
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This documented information was not intended for feelings of pity for the animal or judgement and disdain for the original breeder and their methods. I've heard many people say chinchillas can only have up to 3 litters a year. This proves they can have 4. I've also never heard of a female chinchilla having 16 babies in 1 year. These are astonishing, but documented facts that I wanted to share with you. This record was from 1986. The mother lived for 5 years after and had 18 more babies so, there were no ill effects. It's just a remarkable litter history in a 12 month span. Something I found incredible and worth sharing.
 
There are just some things that should be kept to yourself and breeding the heck out of a female to see how many babies it can produce is one of them, JMO.
 
Thank you for sharing, Mark. I too find this information very interesting. I don't think people finding this interesting means they're going to run out and try to force a female into having this many babies. I think something a lot of people like to ignore is that breedbacks are not uncommon, especially among larger breeders.

Now, no breeder will continue with breedbacks if the female looks worn down. NO breeder wants to kill their females. You can tell if a female can handle breedbacks by their weight and the condition of their coat when they have kits. I have a female that will more than likely have three litters this year. She hasn't dropped one gram other than baby weight and her coat is in great condition. She LOVES her babies and she never looks miserable when pregnant.

I've heard people say a MILLION times in the real world and on this forum about how some people are just "made to carry and have babies". Why can't this also apply to chinchillas? Some are naturally GOOD at growing and rearing babies. Granted, I can't talk to my chinchillas, but there are some that just look miserable with kits on them and yet, I have some females that put on huge amounts of weight when they have kits with them and they perk up like they actually enjoy their babies.

Mark already stated the female's condition was not poor after rearing that many babies. As a long time breeder, I trust his evaluation of an animal's health. I, for one, do not feel sorry for this chinchilla. Even with those multiple litters, she was well taken care of...any female has to be well taken care of to be able to rear that many kits. Not to mention she's a ranch chin. It's the BYB's chins you all need to feel sorry for, they get YEARS of back to back breeding with ill kept cages, poor food, bad water, and little to no hay. I've taken in plenty of them that the females are skin and bone with scraggly coats and huge bloated bellies from yet another litter of babies.
 
That's quite a number. There was another breeder that told me some of his had four a year if they were on the right cycle.
 
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