My two kids (Penny's lol) are two weeks old tomorrow. I have been milking her ocassionally when they leave one side full. I would like to start separating them overnight and milk her. This is her third pregnancy (is litter the right word for goats?)
They will not eat pellets, but do nibble at hay and pasture I think. Should I wait until they will eat some pellets to separate them at night? that's a long time with no food for them.
I have two adjoining stalls with a panel of fencing between them so they can see/touch and right now Momma and babies are on one side and my 6 mo old doeling on the other. During the day they all go to pasture together. Doeling gets along pretty well with the babies. Would they be better off spending the night with her for a warm body to snuggle? Or should I put doeling in with mom and leave kids alone? Sometimes when the doeling gets too rambunctious Penny will intervene on the babies' behalf so I am not sure I should put them in alone with Truffle (the six monther).
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Well Truffle is certainly not "queen" or "bossy", but she is reliving her childhood with Penny's babies except she does not understand that she's three times bigger than they are. I suppose I'll just put them together and sit and see what happens when mom's not there.
I have a chicken like you described that goat- I call her "Minnie" because she is very small and mellow. She adopted and befriended all the abandoned pullets that I took in (all of whom were eaten by a hawk, except Minnie thankfully survived) She taught them how to roost and forage. Before she befriended them, they would just sleep on the floor of the stall in a pile because they didn't know to get up on the roost- bator babies I guess.
You have to use your own judgment based upon your observation of how the older doeling is with the babies. It can vary from goat to goat. Right now Clare my la mancha has become an awesome auntie to her deceased sister's babies. I'm afraid it would not have been the same if it had been Clare who died instead of Viola. Clare is a very mellow goat, but her sister was herd queen and super bossy!
Start out by separating the kids for only eight hours. They should be fine. Somewhere on here is a post with all the details about separating to milk. But you start out small every other night and increase to 12 hours every night, provided the kids are doing well and continuing to thrive. It's okay if they're not eating other foods. My bottle babies go 12 hours at night with no problems.