Before I share my bit I’ve learned from starting my collection, obviously it goes without saying how you start your recessive project (or any project) is going to depend a lot on the bankroll/budget you have available. If you can afford to invest in visual breeders right from the start, more power to you. If like myself you have to pick and choose where you put your money a little more when starting up, hopefully this is helpful.
I’ve taken the approach that I believe to be the best one of spending more on fewer breeders to start out and invest into genetics up front rather than getting more breeders at cheaper prices and wait 2-3 generations to really get the breeders I want. I like that part of it, I’ve been very picky with my first 5 animals and I know it’s going to pay off down the road.
I love piebalds and decided that would be the first “project” I would pursue. Where I wish I had done something a little differently is I elected to go with Het pied females, leaving my powerhouse male I’d eventually get to be the visual. Now it’s not the end of the world but I didn’t fully think through at first that it’s going to take 3 years to produce visual females this way and hold them back and get them up to breeding size, whereas if I had spent a little more on each female to get visual pieds I could have gotten a het male with all the same kicker genes I want (for considerably less) and could produce a visual male holdback that would be ready for breeding in just 1 year, fast tracking my project.
I have my pied male picked out so this project is set, I’m moving to ghost/clown stuff next and I’m thinking I will make this adjustment of buying visual females and a 100% het male with the intention of producing a visual male used for future breeding within the first year. Maybe this is common sense to you guys but I just hadn’t thought of the extra time to get a female holdback ready.
Also I BELIEVE you can do this and not spend much more overall. Visual recessive males with 3-4 kicker genes or more are PRICEY, significantly more pricey than het males with the same kicker genes. If you shop around I think you can put $60-$80 more into each 1-2 gene visual female and get most of that back with your savings on a het male.
Anyway, I know many people starting out want to jump into recessives so it’s something to think about. Any other general start up tips feel free to add below guys thanks.