# Cockaroo Farmlet Kidding 2017



## WitchHazel (May 5, 2015)

I haven't been on here in a while (since this time last year!) due to a severe autoimmune flare. But here it is that time again: _almost_ kidding time! And that means waiting is getting _really, really hard!!!_ :shocked: So waiting threads are my only relief. And as long as I'm here, why not start a thread of my own? :type: All four are due the first week of April. Just over a month to go!

This year we have four does kidding. In this first photo are Junia and her daughter Shamat. This will be Junie's second freshening; last year she had twins without telling us. �� Shamat is a first freshener. She was bred a little earlier than we would prefer, but oh well. *sigh*

Edit: Sorry for the sideways pictures. I don't know what's going on or how to fix it. :scratch:


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## WitchHazel (May 5, 2015)

This is Folly, our flashiest doe: moon spots and blue eyes! Really hoping for some blue-eyed kids from her! She was bred very young last year, but by the time her owner started to realize, it was way too late to abort. So they bottle fed the kids and dried her off right away. She's doing wonderfully!


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

Nice to have you back! I'm sorry you weren't feeling well. Are you doing better now?

I have four does kidding in June, so I have a while to go. Hope yours all go without a hitch. When are they due?


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## WitchHazel (May 5, 2015)

And last of all, this is Lucia, our only Nigerian. She's a first-timer, too. She's already starting to look like a balloon! Lulu's not all that small for a nigie, so we're starting to wonder if she's carrying multiples. I'm so excited! We used a Nigerian buck, so hers will be the only pure-bred kids. They will be registerable! Wheee!!


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## WitchHazel (May 5, 2015)

And this is the buck, Denim Bluejeans something-or-other. We call him Bluebeard. This is the best picture I have of him. Darn critter is _really_ hard to catch! Gorgeous blue-eyed boy! He's not a people-hater, I've just been too sick to socialize him. We can't afford to keep a buck year-round, though, so we're selling him.


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## WitchHazel (May 5, 2015)

I asked Mom to take some pictures of the girls yesterday afternoon, so I could update this thread. When she go there, lol and behold, Lucia had two babies with her in the shelter! We thought we had another week, so there was a mad scramble to put the kidding stall together. Then we discovered that we didn't have a heat lamp, and the stores were all closing. It has been cold here, and soaking, sopping wet here, so everywhere you go, you have to squelch through 3-6 inches of mud. It took us about two hours to get them settled in and taken care of-- LuLu drank three (smallish) buckets of water! Then I came inside, changed, and collapsed into bed, trying not to throw up from the pain and adrenaline. Through the open window, I could hear Mom trying to herd the ducks back into their pen for the night, calling, "Duck, duck, duck! in a high voice.

And then I heard something else: a tiny, high-pitched little parrot squawk, answering her back. I fell out of bed and staggered through the house to the back door, cramming my swollen, rash-covered self into the rubber boots, and stumbled out to the goat pen, where Mom was already in the shelter, searching.

Turns out, it's dark in there.

Twenty miles back to the house, an excruciating search through the house, and another thirty miles back out to the pen, flashlights in stiff, swollen hand. Even more agonizing search through the shelter, with the other three pregnant girls mooing and jostling. The search turns up nothing. 

So I make the forty-mile trek back to the house, stumbling, squelching and whimpering the whole way, a flashlight in each armpit. I don't know how I go out of those boots, but eventually, I come crashing down into bed, in my no-longer-clean clothes, and drag the heating pad over from the side of my bed, to comfort my screaming body.

Ten minutes later, Mom comes in, a tiny, chilled third little doeling in her arms.

We layed her on the heating pad and covered her with a thick, soft tea towel. Mom had already made sure she had some colostrum in her, so we drenched her with warm honey water and took her temperature: 96 degrees.

I don't remember a lot after that. There was still a lot of work to do outside, so Mom went back out while I held the baby girl and dozed off. At nine o'clock, she still wasn't ready to go out into the cold kidding stall, so we placed her in a box with the heating pad beside my bed, while Mom dove into Portland to pick up my sister.

This morning, Mom told me she had taken baby girl out to Lucia when she got home, and watched her nurse. Today, the three sisters are thick as thieves, and all is right with the world. ❤❤


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## potogold (Feb 27, 2017)

That is wonderful!!


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## minibarn (Jul 20, 2010)

Wow what a surprise you got! Glad all is well with them now! Sorry you're not feeling good. Nothing like new kids to help you tolerate the misery! Good luck!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Glad everything went well.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Glad all are ok  Congrats!!!


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## WitchHazel (May 5, 2015)

This little stinker fooled us: she's a he! His testes descended overnight.


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## cbrossard (Oct 4, 2014)

Oh my goodness! Quite the adventure. I'm sorry you aren't feeling well, but glad that the kids are doing well!


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## WitchHazel (May 5, 2015)

Folly's ligs have gotten pretty mushy, and she looks like she might have dropped. She's very calm, unlike her normal, nervous self. So she's spending the night next door to Lulu, who absolutely hates having a neighbor.


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## WitchHazel (May 5, 2015)

No action on Folly yet, but Lulu rejected the runt of her trio. Looks like Geneva is going to be a bottle baby.


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