Breeder Style and Cattery Management

[Ivy Norsk]

I posted something over in a different thread in the Feedback forum that was really less about feedback than it was about general discussion. (And Kayleigh answered similarly.) I thought I'd put this thread up here to discuss the differing approaches we all have to running our catterys and the ramifications we think that might have.

In the other thread I wrote this bit

Quote: "A side observation about new traits, auctions, and breeder's style of getting the new traits. I am still unboxing scarecrows. I do about 4 at a time in waves. I am going to auctions and the new traits are up for auction and people are saying, "Oh My Goodness! Why is nobody bidding on this new eye?! This price is insanely low for a new trait!" But of course I'm not going to bid on that eye or whatever - I might have it sitting at home and just not know it yet. Many many (most probably) people do not buy 25 LEs (or more) and unbox them all on the day when they come out. That size of a Cattery can be prohibitive to run. I know the people who do it in bulk are doing it so that they can hit the big bucks right out of the gate for highest return, but there seems to be a kind of blind spot that not everybody is breeding in bulk that way, and there really is a delay for purchasing the new traits until people know whether or not they Have them.

I'd like to clarify that in my Cattery I find that I get antsy if the new LEs and their mates are taking up more than a third of my total number of cats. I'm happier when they only make up a fourth or so of the total (including descendants for sibling and back-breeding). Otherwise, I find myself growing frustrated that I'm not working on "my" projects and am dealing with boxes that are 2T, 3T, and 4T gen cats that I didn't want in the first place. Sure there are happy surprises with LEs, and they are cute in and of themselves. But I just like to keep their numbers down.

[Kayleigh McMillan]

I've abnormally much LE's running for my normal doing 6; for most this is peanuts, I think.
I was so lucky to find the Sunset Eye pulled with Purple Rain from which I know Purple Rain is what that kitty hid and showed so Sunset is a pretty dominant eye I can't proof that ofcourse.
But anyway I like to work with pure eyes and I like the Sunset eyes to work with so I unpacked a traiter with Mocha Eyes and hopefully Sunset can hide behind Mocha.
The boxes I collected with pulling Sunset and which actually show Sunset went to menagerie because I don't like to sell eyes to people for 3K+ which are inconvenient to breed with because Purple Rain may pop when they work with it while they really obtained that desired Sunset.
This is how I buy as well by the way I don't like a recessive hidden behind the desired trait I obtain.
Was it so I saw at auctions or in stores nicely bred LE traits I sure as hell bought them because as Ivy said to breed LE's takes space which we can't use to continue our beloved projects and it isn't to say our LE's have a new trait it remains a gamble just as buying them

EDIT I am easily satisfied though because I loved all the ScareCrows (most of all the Cypress & Yellow Corn) and I most of the time love what my starters hide even though it may not be new.
But I am the weirdo who has a weakspot for older traits and traits combo's.

[Kayleigh McMillan]

I think this is a very interesting topic.
Thank you for starting it Ivy!
I am curious how others think, breed and manage their cattery!

[Serena Stroikavskoi]

I'm like Kayleigh, though I do have some still in boxes of 'traits' I like and will eventually breed into a pure trait. It will take a bit more work as they are going to be more work to 'down breed' for the dominant trait I want. I have been out of the mainstream though for a bit due to burn out the race for the best. Which everyone has a different view of anyway. So now I do my own thing on a lower scale.
I usually have 1/4 low traited (including starters and/or collection) kitties. I prefer to shop the love shacks or some catteries looking for the ones I like. I use to be a big fan of the 'lottery' on the collections. Lately though I have liked the less wanted ones than the more rares lol. But I'll still play if I see one I know is going to be hard to get, it's more fun to spend the lindens on a gamble than buy one that is priced in the stratosphere.
My project kitties are usually out on a revolving method since I have about 7 of them. I'll pull out and breed out a pair for awhile and then switch up. Keeping only 3 or 4. One though that is constantly going is my trait pullers line. So they are about half my cattery while that last 1/4 is foobar (mix/match) kitties lol.