Graced with little does
This morning one of our first freshener does, Monkey, graced us with 5, yes, FIVE, doe kids. Two of them are a bit runty and need a little extra feeding; the other three are doing grand.
Here's a teaser; the rest are below the fold:
Brulee, one of Monkey's two runt doelings. She nearly died, but I think we have her on track now.
Coco and Caramel, two of Monkey's normal sized does.
Cocoa, looking for grain already!
Decadence, from the back.
Sundae and Brulee, the two runts. So danged cute. They fit in your hand!
After a few drinks from the bottle, the two were able to stand up and start to move around. We put them right up to their mother and she, and they, knew what to do. Here Brulee gets a drink while Sundae waits impatiently.
A size comparison. On the left, Cocoa, normal sized. On the right, Brulee, runt. She's just on the cusp of being too small to survive. But we'll see that she does.
Here's Sundae getting her drink.
The birthing went pretty well. She never needed any interference, just help cleaning, sorting and seeing they got fed. She had Caramel first, then Brulee, then Cocoa, Sundae, and Decadence. It took about 3 to 4 hours total from start to passing afterbirth. THen everyone had to have a nap. The littlest ones needed milk so they got bottle fed. Brulee came really close to passing, as she couldn't stand to get a chance at the udder. She can stand now, and has had a couple bottles and drunk from her mother. When I say 'bottles' I mean she drank about 2 thimble-fulls of colostrum and milk. Heh.
We have little boy kids also. They were born a couple weeks ago.
Here's Genevieve's two boys. Sudden in the back, Surprise in front. We weren't expecting them at the time they arrived, obviously
And here's Gen's boys with Princess Milan's boy, also not expected. His name is 'Oh Boy!'. He's in the back.
As you can see, it's a very colorful bunch of kids this year!
Oh, the names... Monkey is Ivy's daughter. Ivy is Milk Chocolate's daughter. So the doe kids are all Milk Chocolate's great-grand-daughters. We named them chocolate dessert type names in honor of Milkie, our most prolific doe, who hands that characteristic to every one of her offspring and offsprings' offspring.
Here's a teaser; the rest are below the fold:
Brulee, one of Monkey's two runt doelings. She nearly died, but I think we have her on track now.
Coco and Caramel, two of Monkey's normal sized does.
Cocoa, looking for grain already!
Decadence, from the back.
Sundae and Brulee, the two runts. So danged cute. They fit in your hand!
After a few drinks from the bottle, the two were able to stand up and start to move around. We put them right up to their mother and she, and they, knew what to do. Here Brulee gets a drink while Sundae waits impatiently.
A size comparison. On the left, Cocoa, normal sized. On the right, Brulee, runt. She's just on the cusp of being too small to survive. But we'll see that she does.
Here's Sundae getting her drink.
The birthing went pretty well. She never needed any interference, just help cleaning, sorting and seeing they got fed. She had Caramel first, then Brulee, then Cocoa, Sundae, and Decadence. It took about 3 to 4 hours total from start to passing afterbirth. THen everyone had to have a nap. The littlest ones needed milk so they got bottle fed. Brulee came really close to passing, as she couldn't stand to get a chance at the udder. She can stand now, and has had a couple bottles and drunk from her mother. When I say 'bottles' I mean she drank about 2 thimble-fulls of colostrum and milk. Heh.
We have little boy kids also. They were born a couple weeks ago.
Here's Genevieve's two boys. Sudden in the back, Surprise in front. We weren't expecting them at the time they arrived, obviously
And here's Gen's boys with Princess Milan's boy, also not expected. His name is 'Oh Boy!'. He's in the back.
As you can see, it's a very colorful bunch of kids this year!
Oh, the names... Monkey is Ivy's daughter. Ivy is Milk Chocolate's daughter. So the doe kids are all Milk Chocolate's great-grand-daughters. We named them chocolate dessert type names in honor of Milkie, our most prolific doe, who hands that characteristic to every one of her offspring and offsprings' offspring.