Kit Pick help-- to preserve and promote harlequin

[TF3]

My kits are 3 weeks old now.
Mom was supposed to be pb Flemish, but she isn't and I have harlequin kits. I want to hang on to the harlequin colouring while breeding back into Flemish.

By my figuring, the dam is a fawn FG cross (or technically brindle? Harle?)-- she has bro sling in one leg and shoulder. If I assume she is genetically : A_B_C_D_eje enen (assuming a small 'e' carrier because her brindle is so limited)

The kits come from 1 or 2 bucks (bought dam pregnant), both were white with grey -- one smudgy on points and the other broken (at a glance, but no broken kits, maybe he was brindled).

I have 3 that appear fawn but have blue/grey undertones like smudgy buck. They are all sold.

I have seven others from mild brindling to heavy harle markings.

I have read that lighter markings are more likely 'eje' and heavier have a higher chance of 'ejej'. Can anyone confirm this?

At this point I have two does for sure-- they are 80-100g heavier than the rest of the litter(desire Flemish size). One has little marking on her head but heavy, almost even body markings (front legs are nearly black). The other has balanced facial markings (mask, ears) and a lot of body brindling.
The bucks are less marked, but the largest one with most markings is more like mom.

I wish I had a better marked buck! But if I put him back to mom, I can see what I get?

At this time my Flemish buck (he is pb!) is light grey:
A- B- cchd cchd D- E- en en "w w"

If I breed the harle does to him I could get harle if he happens to be 'Ee', right? Or Magpie if kits got cchd?

I think I'm just gambling with the grey buck.

Are half-sibling Breedings as fraught with problems as full siblings?
What would you suggest to not his a harlequin dead end?

Thanks!

 

[Dood]

have read that lighter markings are more likely 'eje' and heavier have a higher chance of 'ejej'. Can anyone confirm this?

false

Personally I don't think there is or will be a pet or show market for FG harlies but if you plan to eat most of them and just wanna have fun with colour then go for it

I would work on getting a FG size before focussing on colour. Breed the does to the pure FG buck and keep back the biggest buck from this litter to breed back to their moms - you should get some fawns and/or harlequins and/or frosty and/or magpie

I'm not sure where you got the idea that breeding siblings is bad but most livestock species don't suffer inbreeding issues because any serious defects are eaten and often the parents as well or at least they are culled from the breeding stock

 

[TF3]

Thanks!

I'm just playing around and yes, prepared to eat them as needed.
At this point I could have sold this litter twice over already so I expect for a while and breeding back to FG size I will have a market one way or another.

I am going to breed the fawn doe to the FG buck in a few weeks to see how they do. So keeping a buck from that makes better sense than one that doesn't have much to offer from the current litter -- thanks!