The statement I was told was that they stopped used fancies AS breeders
not that they don't have fancy kits arise.  Since the breeding of fancies
in the past was so common all over the U.S., beginning with private
breeders and at least smaller farm which had small appearance directed
breeding projects (but mostly with private breeders), even many ferrets
who do not look fancy can easily have hidden genes, which means that a
number of fancy kits can be born even to those breeder ferrets who not
look fancy.  In such a case the proportion can become quite stable in the
population, and the rate of fancies born may not be able to be gotten
back down to the level of the past.  It can be easier to create a shift
in the proportion of specific alleles than it is to undo it when those
alleles can be hidden due to variable expression, recessive nature, or
both.  Hope that you understand now that "breeding" in this case refers
to using the fancies as breeders themselves, not to the fancies which
are born due to hidden alleles.
 
I do not know if this is the case in relation to there breeding programs
but the person who told me has a strong history of being reliable, and
genetically it is easy enough to know why fancies would continue being
born even if they are changing their practises.
 
If there is validity in the logical-sounding idea of Danee's that the
more such mutated alleles an individual has, the more chance there is
for health problems than using only ones that are not overtly fancies
as breeders, then that might explain some discrepancies which had been
noted.  There are multiple genetic locations known in mammals for the
neural crest mutations we'd been discussing, so a ferret bred from
pandas or blazes or a combo (each of whom appear to be dealing with
KITT, WS, and/or at least one other neural crest type of mutation) could
hypothetically carry a hefty number of such mutations should the multiple
loci aspect apply to ferrets as well.  If so, then breeding from ferrets
who at least have standard markings could hypothetically reduce the
number with possible serious health or longevity consequences compared
to using pandas or blazes as breeders.
 
I find the notes that albinos seem to have the hardest time selling in
shops in so many locations to be interesting even though some areas have
fancies sell first and others have standards sell first.  There is a
store around here which seems to mostly purchase chocolates with standard
markings or minimal spotting, and another which tends toward darker ones.
It seems that stores, distributors, or both can do a certain amount of
choosing when they prefer.
[Posted in FML issue 4068]