I have a doe that gets a little out of her mind sometimes yesterday she kidnapped the other 2 does 5 kids and wouldn't let them back to their mothers. I separated her from the others and a couple of hours later she had one of her own. Has this happened to anyone else?
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There is no way she can feed that many kids, so you are correct that her kids won't get enough. I would lock her up with only her kids for a week or so. Hopefully she'll forget about the others and won't let them continue to nurse. If she just has one, you should probably milk her every morning to keep her producing at her max. One kid won't be able to consume all of it, so her supply will go down if you don't milk her. Also, be sure the one doesn't have a favorite side and make her lopsided.
Brian W Robinson said:
Thanks so much for your response the crazy doe still nurses all the babies including her own but I worry that hers won't get enough milk
Totally normal. When they're close to giving birth, their hormones start flowing, and they sometimes think that any kid is theirs. Our kidding pens are separated by pig panels, and sometimes when a doe is getting close, and a doe in the pen next to her gives birth, she goes nuts trying to get through the panel because she is convinced those are her babies!
Just this spring I had a similar situation with sheep. I was driving home and saw two ewes in the pasture, each with a lamb nursing. I stopped, and it was obvious both belonged to one mom. The other one had not given birth yet. I came into the house and told my husband that the other one was probably very close to lambing, which was why she was letting the one nurse. Well, next morning, she had her own two lambs, but she had made such a serious claim on the other one that its own mother rejected it. I should have removed the first ewe with her two lambs and put them in a stall in the barn right after they were born when I saw what had happened. Hindsight is awesome!
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There is no way she can feed that many kids, so you are correct that her kids won't get enough. I would lock her up with only her kids for a week or so. Hopefully she'll forget about the others and won't let them continue to nurse. If she just has one, you should probably milk her every morning to keep her producing at her max. One kid won't be able to consume all of it, so her supply will go down if you don't milk her. Also, be sure the one doesn't have a favorite side and make her lopsided.
Brian W Robinson said:
Totally normal. When they're close to giving birth, their hormones start flowing, and they sometimes think that any kid is theirs. Our kidding pens are separated by pig panels, and sometimes when a doe is getting close, and a doe in the pen next to her gives birth, she goes nuts trying to get through the panel because she is convinced those are her babies!
Just this spring I had a similar situation with sheep. I was driving home and saw two ewes in the pasture, each with a lamb nursing. I stopped, and it was obvious both belonged to one mom. The other one had not given birth yet. I came into the house and told my husband that the other one was probably very close to lambing, which was why she was letting the one nurse. Well, next morning, she had her own two lambs, but she had made such a serious claim on the other one that its own mother rejected it. I should have removed the first ewe with her two lambs and put them in a stall in the barn right after they were born when I saw what had happened. Hindsight is awesome!