genetics help

[HollandHopz]

Hey everyone,
I have a question that I haven't quite been able to find the answer to online. I bred my chinchilla doe to a black tort buck and the kits were (or appear to be so far) the following colors: 3 chestnut, 1 black (self chin?), and 1 cream.

the babies in question are the black and cream. Is the black a self chin? How can you best use a self chin in your breeding program? I am also wondering how we ended up with a cream with no cream on either pedigree?

Anyways any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SableSteel]

The black could be a black or a self chin. Given its littermates, it's more likely a black than a self chin. Self chins often have blue-gray/marbled eyes instead of brown, otherwise it can be hard to tell, especially in hollands (if that is what is the breed is, judging by your username). Hollands are pretty lenient on colors, I'd advise breeding for type over color. If the self chin (if it is a self chin) has good enough type to keep, breed it to whatever you'd breed a black to (except, avoid otters).
Are you sure it's cream and not orange? Orange is a bit more common. They're two similar colors, cream is just the dilute of orange. Orange is a combination of the non-extension gene (found in black torts) and the agouti gene (found in chestnuts, chinchillas, etc), so it makes sense to get an orange/cream from that pair even with no orange in the pedigree.

 

[HollandHopz]

Thank you for your response, yes Hollands. They're only four days old so I cannot be sure on the eye color yet but will keep an eye on it. Both parents were bred for their type and i'll only be keeping the best from this litter. I was just wondering if there was any underlying reason i should NOT keep the black if he/she turns out nice.

That is a good point about the orange possibility, the kit is very light colored, almost white. I guess i'll just have to wait a bit.