The sage of litters continues (or, What The Heck Is With All These Singletons?)

So I said I like those small litters. Well, 4 more litters this week and I have 7 babes to show for it.

I am starting to lose my patience.

It's not the singletons, necessarily, that bother me. It's when the singletons aren't what I want when things get difficult.

Katrina started off last week by delivering a gorgeous little show Coronet sow. GREAT!!! Just what I wanted! "Surprise" is developing excellently and at 10 days old I am fairly certain she'll be taking her mum's place in the breeding program.

Things went downhill from there ...

Maggie delivered one babe on the 23rd. Maggie, being Maggie, lives to make my life interesting. She is the life of my barn and I will never get sick of her, and she's gorgeous. She throws excellent babies and they're big. Unfortunately, she has one at a time and she takes forever to breed. I knew she was having only one, again. When she finally delivered, I was excited to see what she produced. A red/white Coronet, I could see from outside the cage. Almost a van. Well, I told myself, that's okay. Maybe it's a sow. A sow would be fine. No - it's a boar. A cute boar, but a boar nonetheless. I need another boar like I need a hole in my bed. Sigh.

Penguin decided to frustrate me even more three days later. I bred her to Nyles for a test breeding - Nyles may carry Silkie.

Well, Penguin had only two pups. Both Peruvians, both black/whites. Which doesn't really tell me whether Nyles carries Silkie OR whether Penguin carries the red gene. Sigh.

Tizzy did deliver a litter of three last night - not so bad, and they look nice. Here's hoping for good development.

Shaelei, Summer, and then Chilaili should deliver next. They're all having more than one pup - fingers crossed.