Hey all!
I'm extra pleased today - Two litters of kits appeared, one of which is my highly anticipated, first ever French Angora litter. My angora doe outdid herself and had eight happy, healthy little kits.
My "Mutt" doe jet had six honking massive kits. The largest is 2.5oz at birth. :shock:
The Angora kits are a godsend for me. I imported my trio from Arizona in November, and two of three had some health issues due to the extreme stress of moving some 1600 miles and changing somewhere in the range of 40 degrees in average temperatures. Esther, however, was not phased by the trip, and suffered no health issues. She took after one fall off with a rather dizzy buck (he was developing a head tilt - this was a breeding of desperation, as January is not ideal), and then kindled EIGHT kits, at temperatures well below freezing, in the nest and well covered with fur... I swear, she is a goddess among does.
I've decided to shelve both litters - Jet's last litter froze after being scattered (Party wipe). While I think she could successfully raise her own litter, and has in the past, I think having both litters shelved will give me options as to which doe to give kits to. The little Angoras are intensely precious to me - if something happens to Esther's milk supply, I think I want to have the option to sneakily make Jet feed them. So I'll get her used to the whole "shelving kits" routine as well.
*phew* Oh my gosh guys, wish me luck here. Now I have to get them to the "Well furred hopping ball" stage.
Also - cannot wait to see what the colors turn out to be. The angora kits look a different that my mutts, so I can't say with certainty what colors I have, but one of the pink ones has a "rusty" tinge to the fur, so I think I have a red, some sort of white, maybe, and then a bunch of ?maybe blue? It's like I'm starting all over here...
I'm extra pleased today - Two litters of kits appeared, one of which is my highly anticipated, first ever French Angora litter. My angora doe outdid herself and had eight happy, healthy little kits.
My "Mutt" doe jet had six honking massive kits. The largest is 2.5oz at birth. :shock:
The Angora kits are a godsend for me. I imported my trio from Arizona in November, and two of three had some health issues due to the extreme stress of moving some 1600 miles and changing somewhere in the range of 40 degrees in average temperatures. Esther, however, was not phased by the trip, and suffered no health issues. She took after one fall off with a rather dizzy buck (he was developing a head tilt - this was a breeding of desperation, as January is not ideal), and then kindled EIGHT kits, at temperatures well below freezing, in the nest and well covered with fur... I swear, she is a goddess among does.
I've decided to shelve both litters - Jet's last litter froze after being scattered (Party wipe). While I think she could successfully raise her own litter, and has in the past, I think having both litters shelved will give me options as to which doe to give kits to. The little Angoras are intensely precious to me - if something happens to Esther's milk supply, I think I want to have the option to sneakily make Jet feed them. So I'll get her used to the whole "shelving kits" routine as well.
*phew* Oh my gosh guys, wish me luck here. Now I have to get them to the "Well furred hopping ball" stage.
Also - cannot wait to see what the colors turn out to be. The angora kits look a different that my mutts, so I can't say with certainty what colors I have, but one of the pink ones has a "rusty" tinge to the fur, so I think I have a red, some sort of white, maybe, and then a bunch of ?maybe blue? It's like I'm starting all over here...
