Update, 26 July 2026: Otto is female. This entry was written when we still believed she was male, so it describes a pairing — Otto with one of the girls — that can’t happen: we have three females here and no male. We’ve left the entry as it was written rather than quietly rewriting it, and corrected the rest of the site. The full story is in Otto is a girl.

Some very happy news to share, and — as always here — the honest version of it.

We found Otto’s company. After a patient search, two females have come home to Heart & Hatch. Asta is a super dalmatian on a sunny yellow base, with bold, inky spotting all down her back. Liva is a lily white — the trait I’d hoped for most. Both are healthy and already full of personality, and right now they’re doing the least glamorous but most important thing: settling in quietly, with a careful quarantine before anyone meets anyone.

And there’s a lovely surprise. The breeder we bought the girls from was kind enough to send us home with a small clutch of eggs as a gift. I want to be completely clear about what that means: these eggs aren’t from a pairing of ours. They’re a generous gift, not something Heart & Hatch bred — so there’s no lineage for me to claim, and I won’t. What I can tell you is that they’re now incubating in our care, and I’m hopeful — fingers crossed — that they’ll hatch. It’s the first time we’ve had eggs under our roof, and I’m learning as I go, so I’m holding the excitement lightly.

Our own first clutches — Otto paired with one of the girls — are still ahead of us, and I won’t rush any of it. But this is a real step, and a genuinely exciting one.

I’ll keep documenting it honestly, the wins and the lessons both. If you’d like to be first to hear when there are hatchlings, the waitlist is the way.

— raised with heart, by the breeder herself

Asta and Liva are home — and there are eggs on the way

Be first when the next clutch hatches.