I am trying to decide how to configure the inside of my new barn. I have a 24x36 ft space to work with. (I have a 36x36 barn, but the other 12x36 is for milk room, hay and straw storage, feed, etc.). I have three does that I am fairly certain are pregnant (no further heats, saw the deed accomplished with post-coital "hunching" behavior, etc.) and one doe that I honestly don't know about. <<no obvious heat, a surprise buck-attack, thought she was bred, then a month later he got her again because I thought she was already bred...plus none of that "hunching". So I'm thinking 4 12x6 kidding pens...and they get to stay in those pens with their kids for what?...several days? a week? Then my thought was to re-configure one of those areas into a 12x12 night-time nursery for when I begin to (please, please) milk the mothers. Does this sound about right? And I was thinking of purchasing those Snuggle Safe disks from Valley Vet to keep the kids warm...has anyone tried those? I really, really hate the idea of a heat lamp in the barn...
Jackie
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Your space sounds wonderful! When we finally created kidding pens, they were smaller -- two 5 X 10 and two 4 X 10. I really don' t like the 4 X 10. We have two additional pens that I call "nursery pens," which is where we move the does in groups of two or three families. One pen is 8 X 10 and one is 10 X 10. The 8 X 10 is okay for two does and kids; the 10 X 10 will hold three does and kids, but 10 X 15 is better, which is what I have in my main barn.
I keep the does separated from the herd with their kids as long as possible up to a couple weeks. The kids are old enough by then to be able to handle it when a doe butts them away after they attempt to nurse on the wrong mama. I try never to introduce a single doe back into the herd. If you can put together three does or more, the head butting is minimized for individual does. If you just add a single doe back into the herd, it is not uncommon for the other does to gang up on the one being reintroduced.
I don't remember where you're located, but we're in Illinois and have temps down to zero in the winter. Kids don't really need a heat lamp after they're dry. We have made little huts for the kids to snuggle up in. They seem to have some instinct that tells them to search out the most closed-in place. We have also made little kid coats out of the sleeve of a sweatshirt when it is especially cold. The wrist band becomes the neck band for the kid. Cut holes for the two front legs. Make sure the fabric is not covering the boy's belly, so he doesn't pee on it, and you're good to go!