Hello All-
So we are getting close and I am freaking out a bit, as this will be all of our first births. I know I will never be "ready" until it is all over, but I really want to make sure my ducks are in a row about after care. Should I give the kids probiotic paste right away regardless of how they are doing, or just gauge their health? Same goes for the new moms - vitamin paste them regardless, or if only in distress? I have drench and paste tubes ready to go if needed, and weak kid kit also, but the nerves are building. Thanks for your input.
Replies
Thanks for your response... what cute lil nuggets! Comforting to know that in -17 everything turned out ok, currently here in Wyoming it is -18 at sunrise... always worrying. Sometimes I think that maybe if I didn't do so much research and learn about all the things that could go wrong I would be better off! Chickens aren't this scary... Thanks again.
Oh, so sweet. Thank you for the photo of these darling babies.
(Also thank you for the detail on the bottom of the cattle panel; I might not have enclosed the bottom if I had not seen this so it is timely since I have not yet divided off stall space. Though we enclosed the hay manger panels on both sides, it didn't even occur to me to enclose the bottom of the dividers. Some times we overlook the obvious.)
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Oooooh they're just adorable!! Can't wait for my first ones this year (in 2 more months!).
Just thought I'd share this for a bit of inspiration! It was the little gold doeling that got chilled.
Take a deep breath ... and relax! Remember 95% of births go just fine! :) The only thing you need to do is dry off the kids (especially if you're in a cold climate) and make sure they start nursing within an hour or two of birth. The #1 reason kids have trouble starting to nurse is because they get chilled, so you just want to be sure you get them dry ASAP. There is nothing you can buy that is as good as mama's colostrum, so that is the #1 priority!
We just had twins born at 3 a.m. this morning with -17 Fahrenheit temperature! And even with a heat lamp, a blow dryer, and a heating pad, one of the doelings got chilled and had zero interest in nursing. When I put my finger in her mouth, it felt cool, and she didn't suck on my finger. After an hour and a half, I told my husband to come inside and get a milk pail and bottle so we could milk the mama and give the baby a couple of ounces of colostrum. While waiting for him, I wrapped the baby in the heating pad. Within five minutes of giving her the colostrum in the bottle, she was up and bouncing around, and half an hour later she found the teat on her own and was nursing. There is a reason they say colostrum is liquid gold!
Also, if you're ever in a situation where it is that cold, you will need a container of very hot water to put the bottle in to warm up the colostrum because it cools off the instant it hits the bucket when it's freezing outside. So, once you have the colostrum in the bottle, you put the bottle in a container of very hot water and swirl it until it feels like it's body temp, then you give it to the baby. You don't want to give the baby ice cold colostrum because that will cool her body down even more.