I've heard it said that your doe can show any, all or none of the typical signs of getting ready to kid. Our FF "Teresa" was at day 146. I was watching her constantly, either being out with her, or watching on the video monitor which has been on in the house 24 hrs. Her ligaments were totally soft yesterday morning, so I knew we'd likely start to see other signs within 12-24 hours. She was completely normal, ate breakfast,socialized,no pawing, no getting up and down, no discharge, no visible discomfort of onset contractions, no fixed gaze, etc-nothing. Then, at ten to five, she laid down. Seconds later, there was a bubble and lots of fluid. She got up and walked to the corner of their pen, laid down and there were two feet and some pushes-and at exactly five o'clock, a buckling! Then, as I was helping clear its face, mouth and nose, while she licked at him, there was one silent push and another little buckling torpedoed out at three minutes after five! The entire "visible" process lasted exactly 13 minutes. I thought I would share this as proof that some does can truly show (other than softened ligaments with Teresa) "none of the signs". I'm really glad we had the video monitor, and I was watching as closely as I was, because otherwise, I'm quite certain we wouldn't have known, and missed this wonderful moment! And- I guess it pays to check, re-check and then run out to "just check again".
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Thanks Julia, and I will never forget, after this, the ligament rule!
The best and only truly foolproof sign is the loss of ligaments. Great that you were paying attention to that! Congratulations, they're beautiful!
Thanks Rachel! It was day 146. I took notes on the days leading up to the day of labor, of even the slightest difference in her, and I DO mean SLIGHT! I'll keep them, for sure, and maybe in time be able to figure out a pattern for what turns into a very quick and sneaky actual labor and delivery with not a trace of a sign at THAT time, then all of a sudden -ta da!
Another thing: Make a note of what day in her pregnancy she kidded somewhere you will be able to go back and check! I've found that after a couple kiddings, you can see a pattern whether does will be early, on time, or late kidders. I have one doe that goes as LONG as she can, and another that seems to kid about two days early.
Aww- Thanks, Patty. How do you ever decide who's going to be the wether for "company"- and our other doe is due within the week, so the decision will be even harder, I'm sure!
Congratulations! :) I love the white faced one. So sweet!
Thanks Rachel and Deborah! Yes, I thought that very thing. There would have been no way she could have tended to them both at the same time, and she was concentrating so well on the first one, I had to clear up and semi-dry the other one quickly, and stick in in between her and the one she was licking. I'm glad you're pointing out and confirming that the Nigerians can tend to kid REALLY FAST. Hopefully this helps someone. Always good to be "in the know".
Congratulations! I have a line of does in my herd that kids like that. They don't usually make a sound until the head is coming out. I've made a lot of mad dashes across the yard, and after dozens of births from those does, I have still never made it before that first kid was out. One time there were THREE born before I got there.
Awwwwww!! So cute!! Speedy delivery is why I try to attend all my goat births! They can come so fast, there's no WAY a doe could clean them off in time...