Not eating well (Bottle babies)

[Farmer Kitty]

Sorry to butt in. How do you give your chickens ProBios FarmerKitty?
Do you mix it w/ food? I got some, but it's a different brand, it's yellow (will have to go find it).

If it's the powdered kind, mix it in their water.

 

[username taken]

Really, really good that she is bouncing - that is what those random playful spurts are - that is goat happiness! And its what healthy kids do best - bouncing around like nutcases. So that is GOOD!

Is the little boy bouncing much?

Now, as for how much milk he is taking - that is enough for him to live on. If your weight guesstimate is right, he is quite small for a boer, so that may indeed be all he can manage. It is perfectly fine for now, and as he grows he will take more. The best thing to do is watch his flanks - you want them to be straight or slightly curved outwards when he is finished drinking - hugely bulging means too much milk, and sunken in means too little milk. Also, if you pinch up the skin over his ribs, if it oozes back into position pretty quickly you are getting enough liquid into him, if it stays up or goes back very slowly he is dehydrated.

Yep, little bit of honey in the bottle will do him good, also if you cant find the probiotics then just use a dollop of yoghurt in the bottle - does the same trick!

What I would suggest - to anyone who has a bottle baby - is to purchase a cheap set of bathroom scales - get them for $15 - 20 here. I strongly suggest weighing the kid/lamb (calves are a little more difficult lol) every week - this is invaluable for making sure the kid is growing, you can tell if something is wrong before they become symptomatic.

And finally - you seem like a pretty grounded person. I want to say that the buck kid does sound just like he is young and small and still trying to figure things out ... BUT I will also say that I have had some that have been fiddly on the teat, and for no reason whatsoever they die at 3 days, or 3 weeks roughly, and the way I figure it there was just something wrong with that kid. So I would gently say to you just to keep that possibility in the back of your mind. As a possibility only, its more likely he's just not figured it out yet.

Good luck with them (and pictures are always good!)

 

[mully]

Sorry to butt in. How do you give your chickens ProBios FarmerKitty?
Do you mix it w/ food? I got some, but it's a different brand, it's yellow (will have to go find it).

If it's the powdered kind, mix it in their water.

How often do you make it available for your chickens?

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Sorry to butt in. How do you give your chickens ProBios FarmerKitty?
Do you mix it w/ food? I got some, but it's a different brand, it's yellow (will have to go find it).

If it's the powdered kind, mix it in their water.

How often do you make it available for your chickens?

It varies. I also give ACV and you can't give vitamins or probiotics at the same time. So I tend to rotate through them and a batch of just plain water.

 

[Gone Country]

Is the little boy bouncing much?

He wasn't at first. But today I caught him doing some bouncing. He and the girl were hopping around and looked like they were trying to play with each other. Something else I was meaning to ask and curious about. When I'm feeding the boy, she starts doing her bouncing around all over the pen. And usually pounces me, and bouncing all around me. I guess that does mean shes happy and I guess learning I'm not a bad thing to be around?

The best thing to do is watch his flanks - you want them to be straight or slightly curved outwards when he is finished drinking - hugely bulging means too much milk, and sunken in means too little milk. Also, if you pinch up the skin over his ribs, if it oozes back into position pretty quickly you are getting enough liquid into him, if it stays up or goes back very slowly he is dehydrated.

That's what I've been doing. I believe I read it here about making sure there's no tummy bulge but not sunken in either. And wow, I didn't know you could do that trick on goats to check for dehydration! Guess there's tons of similar things between farm critters and small animals afterall. Maybe I won't fail at raising them! LOL

And finally - you seem like a pretty grounded person. I want to say that the buck kid does sound just like he is young and small and still trying to figure things out ... BUT I will also say that I have had some that have been fiddly on the teat, and for no reason whatsoever they die at 3 days, or 3 weeks roughly, and the way I figure it there was just something wrong with that kid. So I would gently say to you just to keep that possibility in the back of your mind. As a possibility only, its more likely he's just not figured it out yet.

I know all too well how fast young animals can just fade. Seen it many times when I worked gave shift at the animal ER. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to save them, nothing works. Just part of Mother Natures way of doing things to keep things in balance. Sad, but sometimes Mother Nature knows best.

Oh yeah, since I live in Texas and it gets really hot here (today was high of 105 and tomorrow about 102. Yuck!).. is there anything I should be doing to ensure the kids don't get too hot or anything? I have their pen set up so it gets shade all day from a tree, and keep fresh water available at all times. Not really sure if I'm suppose be doing anything else to keep them from getting over heated.

 

[username taken]

honestly, you sound like you are doing a fantastic job keep it up!

With the heat, I would just watch them for dehydration, also keep water available for them at all times. If they start panting or the skin pulling trick shows that they are dehydrated, you may need to offer water in a bottle, but I try to avoid doing that AT ALL COSTS as they need to learn to drink water from a bucket and giving it by bottle tends to make them not learn.

Yep, goatbabies bounce all over their mums, they surf on her back and on her belly when she is sitting down, so thats why the little girl bounces on you.

 

[Gone Country]

Ok so nothing really needs to be done that I'm not already doing. It just seems so nasty hot out there, and thinking of those poor little things in the heat drives me nuts. I won't even let my dogs spend more than 10 min outside in these temps. Wonder if I could convince my husband to let me bring them in the house...hmmm...

I guess my next obstable will be horns. Keep'em or get them removed. About half of grandfathers goats have horns, and the others don't. When these babies are old enough, they will go back to his herd where they have a huge pasture to roam around in during the day. I'll have to ask him if he wants horns or not. Luckily grandfather said he'd make the boy a wether when it's time, so not something I need worry about. *phew*

I'll get some new pictures this morning. They are just so cute! I'm suprised my children (son 9, daughter 14) haven't tried naming them yet.

 

[username taken]

unless they are a milking breed that is going to be shown, or boer market wethers for 4-H, no reason to dehorn them really

 

[Gone Country]

Yay!! He actually ate better this morning!! He drank 1/2 cup..instead of his norm of 1/4 cup. He actually showed interest in eating too. Usually when I'm feeding her, he just sorta stands there and watches. This morning he actually jumped in my lap like he was thinking 'me next! me next!'

Heres a few pics too.

Being all cute before they realized I had a bottle in my hand...

The Doeling

In this pic you can see how much smaller he is compared to her.

Me trying to feed him while she decided I needed pounced on. :/

 

[username taken]

oh man oh man oh man

they are just too cute! definitely boer cross, with a hint of dairy, spanish, kiko, something to that effect

oh yeah, he is tiny! but in that pic you can see what I mean about the sides - they are sunken in, in this pic. thats a good example of what I'm talking about