People love using labels to describe and mark things, events or even each other. It’s easier to stick a tag on something than to understand it. The same thing happens with genes. If a gene creates an unusual look, then it gets labeled as “designer”, which by the way, is still a very elegant way of naming things. This is nothing new in the breeding world, it was always like that. Let's start with a little history lesson and go back to the 1920s. The chocolate and lilac genes.

You scroll past another video. Two queens maybe three nursing together. The comments never change — hearts, smiles, so beautiful, such love. In feral colonies this happens when it has to. A mother dies, one rejects her babies, another can’t make enough milk. The food is often scared and limited . that’s when they mix litters together.  It’s instinct and survival. But in a proper breeding program it shouldn’t happen unless something breaks — illness, milk loss, complete reject