# Dutch Mice at Blackthorn Stud



## SarahY

I have taken up breeding Dutch for exhibition, and thought I'd post a few pictures of my mice. Sorry for the crappy pictures, my camera won't focus on them for some reason, I think it's the white bodies.

A Dutch buck kindly loaned to me for stud, bred and owned by Mick Shutt:









Dutch buck (with spot on back) and doe given to me by Keith Berry:






















































The doe has started displaying a lovely round pregnant belly, so all being well I should have patchy pinkies within the week!

Sarah xxx


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## tom95

Beautiful dutches Sarah  !
That's pretty, but very difficult to breed variety, I know it is almost impossible but I'd really like to see dutch in red or any other colour than black or chocolate  
Let's show us your new dove tans :mrgreen:


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## Seawatch Stud

Nice one Sarah. There are so few Dutch around at the moment, I couldnt get any. I have arranged with a couple of people to get some by Harrogate. They are an important historical variety and it would be tragic if they died out. I hope you do well with them. You sure do like a challenge!.


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## SarahY

It certainly would be tragic to lose them! I'm thrilled to have them here, they may be hard work but it'll be more than worth it. I will hopefully have some to share in the next few months, I'll let you know Phil 

Tom, I posted some dove tans in another thread, just for you  Pictures are awful again though, sorry!

Sarah xxx


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## SiamMeece

Very nice! I don't get to see Dutch mice very often, the only time I ever saw them was a couple of years ago on an exhibition where a breeder had a couple available after importing them from the UK.


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## SarahY

Today my Dutch doe is nursing a litter of eight healthy, well fed babies. I'm so pleased  I'll post pictures when there's actually something to see, we all know what pinkies look like! :lol:

Also today I shall be saying goodbye to Mick's buck, he's going back home with SarahC tomorrow. He's done a great job; all of his wives have little pregnant bellies now.

Sarah xxx


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## Matt Haslam




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## Rhasputin

I wish I had the space and patience to breed marked mice!

At least it's easy to tell, when they're pinkies, who's gonna look good!


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## Jack Garcia

I wish I lived close enough to give you some extreme blacks. They're born with pigment so you don't have to wait as long.

Something about the way the color is separated on the head of a Dutch mouse makes me just want to stare at it all day. Hehe...


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## laoshu

oh lovely sarah xx
I look forward to seeing the pics of the new ones once they show their markings


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## SarahY

Yeah, they're pretty special looking. They look like a completely different species of mouse when compared to my dove selfs and tans! It's lovely having marked pinkies again, I used to breed marked rats and there's nothing like checking the nest everyday as the markings come through. Then, a week later, you find out that the one you thought was going to an awesome example of it's variety has a totally rubbish under! 

It makes me chuckle that the NMC logo is a drawing of a Dutch mouse - and it looks nothing like one! It's like someone said to the artist "oh yeah, they look like the Dutch rabbit, _you_ know." :lol: :lol:

Sarah xxx


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## Jack Garcia

I think that if mice were to be split into completely separate breeds, the Dutch would be the best contender for breed status.


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## SarahY

Here's my new Dutch buck from Mick Shutt, kindly chaffeured down from Preston by SarahC - thank you!

You can the saddle is slipping back over the spine, but he has quite nice cheek patches. They don't intrude on the whisker bed and only slip under the jaw on one side. Also, the ear is only just included, but his fairly light cheek markings will make a nice contrast to my other Dutch mice, both of whom are quite heavily marked on the face. Also his back foot stops are too high. He's lovely and fit though, and has the beadiest big eyes:




























You can see his under is fairly straight, just a couple of little pulls, and you can see the one cheek patch slipping below the jaw:










I'm very pleased with him!! :love1

My Dutch babies are now two days old and I can _just_ see very faint cheek patches on one of the bigger kittens, so I should be posting pictures of them with visible markings tomorrow!

Sarah xxx


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## Jack Garcia

SarahY said:


> I'm very pleased with him!! :love1


I don't blame you!


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## SarahC

he's great.Hopefully there will be a revival of dutch as there is for brokens.


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## SarahY

*FANFARE* Here they are! Looks like I have chocolates and/or blues as well as black!




























Two very promising looking mice:










:gwavebw :gwavebw

Sarah xxx


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## mousemad

YAY! Go Sarah  
Thats why I like breeding marked mice, every litter is so exciting....and very frustraiting :lol:


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## SarahY

It certainly is!!

Sarah xxx


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## SarahC

oh I am green,green and more green :mrgreen: They look promising.


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## Seawatch Stud

Dont forget whos first in the queue Sarah..............You can start me off with those two if you like lol!!! :twisted:


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## SarahY

Don't worry Phil, you're still first on the list! But these are all MINE! Mwhahaha! 

Todays Pictures:










And there are now _four_ pretty decent Dutch mice (on the top anyway :lol: ):










Sarah xxx


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## laoshu

whoo .. them are some pretty mice right there!


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## WoodWitch

laoshu said:


> whoo .. them are some pretty mice right there!


Aren't they just?
I would love to see a pinkie that wasn't just pink in my shed, but have no interest in marked mice so I never will.


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## Wight Isle Stud

when I started my road back into the fancy I was a bit upset at the lack of the old varieties, with many show schedules going unfulfilled, especially in the marked and AOV section. There was even a dutch mouse club, and could be lots of different breeders in each class. With breeders like yourselves I am excited for the future .


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## SarahY

Thanks everyone! *Beams with pride* :lol:

I've never left a mouse with eight babies before, I usually cull to four or five, but the dam is doing a great job. I'm giving her lots of extra food, she must be the most spoilt mouse ever in my stud. There are a couple that are a bit smaller than the others, but they're not 'runty'.

Sarah xxx


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## WillowDragon

I am very interested to see how Sarah does with these too Gary!! If anyone can do it, she can.

And if she can turn Dutch mice into not so quite mental mice, then maybe I might have to steal a few in the future!! 

K xx


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## Jack Garcia

Why are they mental?


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## WillowDragon

They are teeny little 'quick to jump out of your hands' mice... I prefer my lazy big selfs LOL

If a mouse escapes during a show... its usually a dutch :lol: :lol:


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## Jack Garcia

Haha! Some of my blacks are like that. More "high-strung" than the others. Not bad-tempered, just a little bit crazy.


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## SarahY

> If a mouse escapes during a show... its usually a dutch


Yes, well... If stewards always put the clips backs on the Maxey fronts they wouldn't get out. I've had two escapees because the Maxey fronts were not secured. That annoys me, I've trusted the safety of my mice to the stewards and takes milliseconds just to turn the fastener round and keep my mouse safe.

They are highly strung, bless them. Very curious and active little mice as well. But mine have become used to being handled since I've had them and have calmed down a lot.

Sarah xxx


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## SarahY

Here they are aged 10 days! From left to right: 2x Chocolate does, 2x Black does, 2x Chocolate bucks:










The chocolate buck on the far right has an under so straight it looks like it was painted with a ruler. I had to cull the two smallest mice, they'd got too thin for my liking. All the information I've ever read on Dutch states the does are poor mothers but that's certainly not true in this case! I've only seen the dam out of the nest voluntarily on three occasions in the last 10 days.

Sarah xxx


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## SarahC

well done Sarah.I've always found them to be good mothers,I've never gad a litter eaten and I haven't found them to be wild either.That I think comes from breeding lots and running them on in big boxes without enough handling.


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## SarahY

Thanks Sarah  She's been an awesome mother, on occasion I've actually had to gently push her off the babies :lol: Doesn't bother her at all, she's been great and very calm. She just climbs straight back on top of them when I'm done and that's the last I see of her until I handle the babies again.

Sarah xxx


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## laoshu

they are looking lovely! 
your mice collection/variety is expanding


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## Lottiz

My God.... I have a house full of wonderful mice...but I want those too. I WAAAANT!


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## icedmice

I've so please you've branced into dutch!

They are such handsome mice. Fustrating to breed but worthwhile when you get a good one and yours are looking fabulous!
I wish I could pinch a few. Shame mice can't be imported, I'd kill for an abyssinian.

I've been working over the last year and a half on a dutch line in Australia because the dutch we get are 99% of the time flukes from pet stores.
I've started getting more consistancy. Nearly all have "pants" and blazed noses. There are less random spots occouring on the flanks.
I find some of mine curiously lack undercolour! and there is still too much colour on the face but we're getting there.










These are 5 generations removed from pet store random dutch all are either long coat or texel with a very interesting texture to the coat, it's matte in appearance and feels very cottony to the touch.
It's clear careful selection has definately started producing more consistancy in markings.
The initial litters had brokens, BEW and banded.

It is challenging to breed them for conformation, their markings are their defining feature anyway and they don't need big ears to stand out  .


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## mousemad

Sarah your mice are looking great x


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## WillowDragon

Oh my Sarah!!! They are GORGEOUS!!!! I love the choccie dutch 

Can't wait to see them in all thier pingy glory in few weeks!!


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## SarahY

Thanks everyone! 

Sarah xxx


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## SarahY

More pictures, taken yesterday evening while I was cleaning out:




























All the Dutch babies are doing really well. They're so incredibly springy; very, very different to my giant self babies :lol:

Sarah xxx


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## Matt Haslam

which one's are mine then? :lol:


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## WoodWitch

SarahY said:


> More pictures, taken yesterday evening while I was cleaning out:


Looks like odd eyes!
I know it's not though, all things must match at Blackthorn Stud :lol:


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## SarahY

*Wails* SHE *DOESN'T* MATCH! I think it's time to bring out the black marker pen... :lol:

I know initially we thought it was just the flash reflecting, but her left eye is actually dark red. You can see it sometimes when you're handling her and in every photo I've taken of her, her right eye is black and her left eye is red. I don't know if she can see out of it or not, but either way she's fine 

Sarah xxx


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## WoodWitch

It's the "Mouse Who Sold The World"

:sorry


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## Lottiz

:love1


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## SarahC

there we are Sarah.It will be a while before I have anything that can compete.Sorry about the quality but you get the
idea


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## SarahY

Oh Sarah, what a beautiful combination of colours! That is an extremely pretty mouse :love1

Sarah xxx


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## SarahC

thanks.Feel free to delete this from your thread now you've viewed.


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## Luc86

SarahY your dutches are great!!! I also bred tans and dutches in Poland, but I have a long way to success in dutch variety :roll: Maybe you can give me some advice :ugeek:


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## icedmice

SarahC said:


> thanks.Feel free to delete this from your thread now you've viewed.


Why would she do that!

This is great, for someone with a very new and undocumented dutch line myself I find it fascinating and reassuring that I'm on the right track even when I get the odd wonky one.

That spotting on the flanks is a nuicence though. But adds to the fun. Makes it a brilliant variety for the advanced breeder because they are so challenging to get right!


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## SarahC

I didn't think any one else would be interested and I didn't want to clutter her thread with my stuff.I am going to pair up the next generation after Xmas,perhaps there will be better markings then.Alas 99% are black eyed which wasn't what I wanted.I'll post pics when they arrive.


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