Ok, it's getting close and I'm getting nervous again. Can you tell me when and what signs to look for that I need to help out? The doe that is giving birth soon has a terrible record of mispresentations. First kidding with twins, one had its head bent facing its tail. So I always panic. In one book about their births, it shows the head first, legs back as a passable birthing but I was told by someone with experiene that if You don't see feet, go in and get at least one. Opinions please!
Help my nerves.
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Tammy, I had the same thing happen last summer with my first kidding-- the third triplet had her feet forward and her head turned back to her tail and we lost her by the time we got her out (vet assisted). Since it seems this position is RARE (according to Deborah and others on here), chances are, you and I will never have to go through that again, right? My first FF is due in a few weeks and I'm nervous too, but chances are good that all will go well this time, right? Hang in there and let us know how it goes for you, and I'll do the same ;)
Thank you very much. I will calm down then and watch the clock . I may have panicked last time for nothing. We haven't been as cold as your area. But its been wet with non stop rain yesterday and on and off rain today. Not freezing though. Whew!
If you see something for 15-20 minutes and it isn't progressing at all, you might want to check things out. I have had LOTS of does give birth to kids that were presenting head only. Maybe once every 3-4 years (with 15-20 does per year kidding) we have to go fishing for a front leg when a head only comes out and the body won't fit. Normal sized kids are fine birthing like that; it's only if a kid is too big that it needs to come out perfectly with the feet under the chin. I actually had a yearling give birth to a kid presenting head only yesterday morning. We've had dozens of kids born tail first or hind legs first. I have never had a kid positioned the way that you described, so it is really rare. I'm sure I'll see it someday, but it's not common at all. I've even had two goats give birth to kids that were presenting ear first!
I personally have a two strikes rule, and the only time I've relaxed on that, I wound up paying for a c-section to deliver two dead kids, so if you have a doe that can't seem to get the kids out by herself, my advice would be to sell her to a pet home where she will never be bred again. Life is too short to have a doe that makes you break out in a sweat when she goes into labor. I totally expect my does to do it all by themselves with me there to just dry off kids.
I don't know what your weather is like, but my main problems this year have been kids getting chilled at birth and having zero sucking reflex. I couldn't even tell you how many below zero kiddings we've had this year! :( Thankfully we're done until mid-March, so I hope we'll finally be above freezing!
In general, I haven't helped out unless my doe doesn't progress after active pushing for a long time. So far, my does have been able to birth breech babies without my intervention. Only support.
Replies
Tammy, I had the same thing happen last summer with my first kidding-- the third triplet had her feet forward and her head turned back to her tail and we lost her by the time we got her out (vet assisted). Since it seems this position is RARE (according to Deborah and others on here), chances are, you and I will never have to go through that again, right? My first FF is due in a few weeks and I'm nervous too, but chances are good that all will go well this time, right? Hang in there and let us know how it goes for you, and I'll do the same ;)
If you see something for 15-20 minutes and it isn't progressing at all, you might want to check things out. I have had LOTS of does give birth to kids that were presenting head only. Maybe once every 3-4 years (with 15-20 does per year kidding) we have to go fishing for a front leg when a head only comes out and the body won't fit. Normal sized kids are fine birthing like that; it's only if a kid is too big that it needs to come out perfectly with the feet under the chin. I actually had a yearling give birth to a kid presenting head only yesterday morning. We've had dozens of kids born tail first or hind legs first. I have never had a kid positioned the way that you described, so it is really rare. I'm sure I'll see it someday, but it's not common at all. I've even had two goats give birth to kids that were presenting ear first!
I personally have a two strikes rule, and the only time I've relaxed on that, I wound up paying for a c-section to deliver two dead kids, so if you have a doe that can't seem to get the kids out by herself, my advice would be to sell her to a pet home where she will never be bred again. Life is too short to have a doe that makes you break out in a sweat when she goes into labor. I totally expect my does to do it all by themselves with me there to just dry off kids.
I don't know what your weather is like, but my main problems this year have been kids getting chilled at birth and having zero sucking reflex. I couldn't even tell you how many below zero kiddings we've had this year! :( Thankfully we're done until mid-March, so I hope we'll finally be above freezing!
In general, I haven't helped out unless my doe doesn't progress after active pushing for a long time. So far, my does have been able to birth breech babies without my intervention. Only support.