The Mink line has been something that was a Hot Topic for us at Maharaj. We acquired 2 breeding pairs from Wheatfields Rattery in 2017, to assist with maintaining and improving the line, little did we know that it would be a challenging project. 

Unfortunately the bucks we received passed away prior to our pairings in 2017, thus creating a little panic with how we would approach the line. We had been working on a Black Self line which we then decided to use a Black Self Buck (MHJ Onxy) to the Doe (WF Abriana) we had received. These offspring would then be the start of trying to produce Mink - litter born 25 March 2018 (MHJ Midnight and MHJ Sky).

MHJ Midnight and MHJ Sky were now vital in ensuring that  "Mink" would be produced in a litter from them.On the 31 July 2018, MHJ Sky produced a litter consisting of 9 Black, 3 "Brown" and 1 Siamese. Excitement was a word which doesnt quite explain the feeling we had when looking at the litter, had we finally produced Mink?

We decided that we would provide Pretoria Rattery with one doe and a buck, but unfortunately the buck was a Siamese which we had not realized at the time, and the doe was returned to us as she was classified as Chocolate and not Mink. Our hopes had been dampered a tad, but we decided to still do a pairing of a sibling "Brown" buck (MHJ Lempo) we had kept and the "Brown" doe (MHJ Layla) returned to us from Pretoria Rattery. 

Fast forward to 13 January 2019 and the "Browns" produce a litter consisting of "Browns". This litter did not prove what the colour variety was, but it did provide us with enough "Brown" kits to do a test pairing when they matured. The offspring we kept from this pairing are - MHJ Kito - Buck, MHJ Alika - Doe, MHJ Lehana - Doe which would be vital in determining what the colour variety was that we had produced at the Rattery. 

We therefore decided to do a test pairing by using our proven Chocolate Buck (MHJ Charlie) to our "Brown" Doe (MHJ Alika).

1) If the pairing produced a full litter of "browns" - it would be noted that MHJ Alika is indeed Chocolate and we would then continue to breed one line of Chocolate.

2) If the litter produced black and brown kits - it would be noted that MHJ Alika is indeed 50% Chocolate, which would still require us to prove what other recessive gene she carries.

3) If the litter produced a complete litter of blacks, then it would be proven that MHJ Alika is not Chocolate, but indeed Mink. 

Anticipation grew as the time got closer to MHJ Alika having her kits..... Finally the day had come and MHJ Alika gave birth to 12 kits on the 6 July 2019. It was now a waiting game for us here at Maharaj to see what colour these kits would be.... Finally the colour was visible on, Sunday 14 July 2019..... ALL THE KITS WERE BLACK.... 

Finally we had managed to prove that MHJ Alika was not Chocolate and that we indeed had Mink within the Rattery. 

We shall now be pairing MHJ Kito (Buck) to MHJ Lehana (Doe) to ensure that we maintain and improve on the Mink line within our colony.