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This is a mating between Brandywine Ravensbourne, Agouti Essex, and Brandywine Effra, Agouti.
The purpose of this mating is to continue the Essex markings, which I am in danger of losing. I'm hoping for some nicely marked Essex, but it's possible that I've lost the show quality markings.
Effra is currently in the nursery cage with her sister, Wandle, and is looking absolutely enormous. She doesn't look like she has swallowed an orange at the moment, more like a grapefruit!
Effra has built a big nest in the back corner. I
came down this morning to find Eff working on the nest, and no sign of
her sister Wandle.
Then Wandle's head popped up out of the middle of the nest.
The two girls raised litters cooperatively in December, so I'm hoping that Wandle will help Effra this time. She's now been warned out of the nest, and Eff is sitting in state in the middle.
One day old: Effra is doing well and is being a very attentive mum. She was unwilling to leave her babies last night, but came out for a while this morning, giving me a chance to check the babies. We have nine babies, of which one is very small and has not fed. Effra has him in the nest, and he is nice and warm, so there is still hope he will manage to latch on and feed.
Here are the babies in the nest
In my hand. The bub I'm worried about is in the bottom right.
Here's a wonderfully well fed little one
and Effra having a well earned breakfast.
There's one baby who looks like it has a really nice blaze. None of them are black, but that's as far as I'm going on the colours.
We now have eight babies, as the little runty girl has left us. It didn't look as if she'd managed to feed at all. :(
Effra and Wandle came out for freerange with the rest of their cage group this evening, and Wandle put herself home in the main cage so I let her stay there. Effra is too busy to notice anyway.
2 days old: Effra came out for a run around this morning, so I had a little visit with the babies in the nest, and borrowed a couple to photograph. One of the boys has a lovely even blaze. I wonder if he'll have good shading too? Too much to predict for a 2 day old baby.
3 days old: Eight babies
Dark unmarked baby, 9 grams.
Dark blazed baby, 9 grams.
Light unmarked baby, 10 grams.
Mid coloured baby, 11 grams.
Mid coloured baby, 8 grams.
Dark, wide blazed baby, 8 grams.
Dark headspot baby, 9 grams.
Light headspot baby, 9 grams.
Effra's nest.
4 days old: Just the two pictures today.
All the babies in the nest
The blazed baby
The other blazed baby seems to be turning into a head spotted baby. We'll have to see how it ends up.
I'm still waiting before I commit on colours, and not sure of sexes really either. :P
5 days old: Today's photos
6 days old: The babies are changing by the day. Their little hands and feet have unwebbed now and have separate fingers, and their little ears are unsticking from the side of their heads. They have a fine down of hair so their colours are beginning to show.
I've been failing to take those photos that people seem to get of lots of bubs in a line.
First of all they lined themselves up, but it wasn't quite right.
Then I had a go, but by the time I had the camera in my hand, it looked like this!
Here's a little heap of babies from the corner of the pile
and I took some individual photos of all except the baby with the big blaze, who I now think is agouti. The camera died just as I got to the last baby!
The agouti blazed who is now a spot
Cinnamon, maybe?
Pale headspot
Blue-ish, but is it Russian or British blue? The photo is paler than in real life.
Got to have one agouti - it's the law!
Black Essex
Another cinnamon-ish
Cinnamon Essex?
One week old: Agouti blazed Essex girl. This girl has lovely symmetrical markings and nice smooth graduation at the moment.
Blue girl (honest, she looks blue when the camera isn't pointing at her)
Mink/cinnamon Essex girl
Cinnamon boy
Black Essex boy. Never seen a black Essex before.
Cinnamon Essex girl
Agouti boy. 
Agouti splodgy Essex boy. Slightly mottled on his sides, but really not that bad if the nose colour joins up properly.
Two cinnamony minky Essex girls again, trying to compare colours but the camera lies!
I think I need to be patient and wait for colours.
9 days old: I took a nest picture and three pics of the squirmy rat pile. I would have videoed them, but my camera dial seems to be stuck. I hope it hasn't got ratted!
The girls' nipples are now showing, so I definitely have four boys and four girls and my initial sexing was rubbish!
I stopped Effra taking one of the babies down to her reserve nest under the boys' cage this morning (she's been building it for days whenever she's out!) but then realised there were only seven babies in the cage. I pulled her nest apart looking for number eight, but no sign. Eff had an incredible amount of bedding in a tube under the boys' cage, and the little blue girl was stashed at one end, getting just slightly cold all on her own.
I made what I thought was a good nest in the cage, but it had obviously upset Effra as she scattered the kittens around the cage before rebuilding a proper nest in the corner and gathering them all back in again.
Decisions! I need to decide which pairs to keep. With the boys, the black Essex is staying, but then it's a choice between the agouti and the agouti Essex boy. The Essex boy isn't very well marked, but I'm going to have a completely agouti litter around Christmas time so I will have an abundance of agouti cuteness. I think I need to try to choose on type. The cinnamon boy isn't staying as I am moving away from cinnamon towards Russian blue, and it will be easier to keep to simple unmixed colours with my iffy colour vision.
With the girls, the blazed Essex agouti girl is staying. The blue girl will stay if she is Russian blue, but not if she is British blue. The other two girls are probably mink Essex and cinnamon Essex. The minky girl has better markings, but we'll have to see.
I just weighed them this morning, as I have weights for my previous litters at this stage so I can compare. This litter are about mid range in the weights.
The cinnamon boy was the heaviest at 32 grams, followed by the blue girl at 31 grams. Agouti boy was 30 grams, then agouti Essex boy at 28 grams and black Essex at 25 grams. I can't remember what blazed girl weighed offhand, but the two other girls were both 25g.
The headspot girls are both looking very blue, possibly one blue and one blue agouti. The blue self girl is lighter than them, so she may have both blues in there as she does look like she has the thick Russian coat. Lol, I'm still guessing really!
ETA Blazed girl weight 26g.
I had a photo session this morning. This should be the last set without eyes open.
Little headspot girl
Blazed girl
Pale blue girl
Big headspot girl
Black headspot boy
Effie garnishing the nest with kale
Cinnamon boy
Agouti boy
Blaze/spot agouti boy
I'm really wanting to keep the agouti boy at the moment, because he feels sooo solid, even though he's not the heaviest. The blazed girl almost looks roan. Maybe the blaze will get smaller as she grows, the way the spots always do?
12 days old: I think small headspot girl may be blue agouti, whereas big headspot girl looks more mink now.
Agouti Essex boy is just starting to open his eyes, so we should have peeper pictures tomorrow; Friday at the latest. The babies can now climb out of the rat pouch, which makes photo taking harder as I can't wear the ones I'm not photographing.
12 days old (evening): We took this photo of Ginnie holding the babies.
Here are the babies in the rat pouch.
13 days old: Some of the babies are opening their eyes.
The babies are now well able to escape from the pouch.
Everyone has their eyes open, and chaos ensues. Photos tomorrow.
15 days old: Lots of little eyes!
Agouti boy
Black Essex boy
Cinnamon boy (he's less blurry in real life!)
Roan-a-like Essex girl and splodgy Essex boy
Blue agouti Essex girl
Light coloured girl, not completely sure of her colour.
Mink? Essex girl
What's the secret?
Baby pile
Got video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtLbhxC9c7c
Another video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOyDAQAICzQ
The babies are completely gorgeous! The one I t hought was mink Essex looks as if she has a russian type coat, so now I don't know what she is. The light baby also has russian fur, I'm thinking maybe she's russian dove, as we have all the ingredients. Not that it really matters what colour they are, as they're all gorgeous!
We have a photo of the little cinnamon boy, who wasn't in focus in yesterday's pictures. He's trying to suckle on his brother's ear. Don't think it was working!
Effra is being wonderful with the babies, and also with us. She seems to trust us completely with them, and doesn't mind us picking them up when she's there.
I've found a lovely big sheepskin that I had when my children were babies to go in their cots. Given that the youngest is now 18, I thought I'd better wash it first, but it looks like it will make a lovely surface for photographs. :)
17 days old (from yesterday)
Brothers in action
Essex girl, now named Tamar (or Tammy)
The two Russian somethings, Dart and her sister
Babies in a huddle
Ashburn and Torridge
Cinnamon boy
Blue agouti Essex girl
Pair of bums, plotting
Agouti Essex boy
Ashburn and Torridge again
Rumpled babies
Hiding in the corner
Help! Rat attack!
Back in the nest
I is a big girl now
A wash before nap time
I'm seriously considering keeping the cinnamon boy rather than the agouti. He's my little friend, and sits on my hand waiting to come out every time I put it in the cage.
22 days old: Time for a photo session! I couldn't choose just one photo of each, so here are two of each baby.
Black Essex boy
Agouti Essex boy
Cinnamon boy
Mummy, Effra
Agouti boy
British blue agouti girl
Russianish Essex girl
Russian something girl
Blazed Essex girl
23 days old: OK, I give in. I'm going to keep all four boys.
I love the agouti Essex boy because he looks like his dad and grandad, I love the black Essex boy because he has a nice headspot, even though his tummy is splodgy, I love the cinnamon boy because he's always first onto my hand and first into mischief, and I love the agouti boy simply because he's agouti. Aaargh. It's a good job I already have a home for two of the girls!
So we're going with Devon rivers for this litter:
Tamar/Tammy for the agouti blazed Essex girl,
Dart
for the Russian something Essex girl, I think she may be russian agouti
Essex, definitely a different colour from the other Russian coated
girl,
Torridge/Torry/Tolly for the agouti Essex boy,
Otter for the agouti boy,
Ashburn/Ash for the black Essex boy,
Culvery/Cully for the cinnamon boy.
I think the other two girls are Russian dove (poss Rdove agouti) and British blue agouti.
25 days old: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol4cHi1vwG8
30 days old: Way overdue for an update.
First the girls
Dove girl
She's the biggest of the four girls, and is very cheeky and bold. 
Blue girl
This little lady is the smallest of the girls, and is quite shy, although friendly.
Dart
Dart is a cheeky, busy girl. I'm now fairly sure she's Russian blue agouti Essex.
Tammy
She's a brave and bold little girl.
and the boys
Ash
A quiet but busy little man.
Tolly
Now the biggest of the boys. Again quite a bold little boy.
Otter
A quiet little boy. Very very dark agouti.
Cully
My little cinnamon friend.
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Ratty Corner is the home of Brandywine Stud, NFRS Registration 2011-04
Last modified: Saturday, 18-Sep-2010 01:10:24 BST
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