New Goat Kids!

Welcome back!

Wow! We had an exciting week during Spring Break!

Saturday there were two goat kids born at Welcome Home Farm. One was born early in the morning, one was born very late at night.

Did you know that baby goats are called kids?

I'll take some videos next week of the kids playing.

Here's Quin visiting the two new kids.

It's so much fun to get inside the little dog house with the kids!

The goat kids need to wear sweaters because it's been a little bit chilly. They stay warmer and grow better if they have sweaters on.

Do you see the red light on the left side of the picture? That light comes from a heat lamp. If the kids are cold they can sleep under a warm lamp. They also like to sleep inside the dog house because it's warm inside.

This kid's name is River.
Her mother is Misty.
She is wearing a red sweater to keep warm.
She's also under a heat lamp to stay warm.

River was almost dead when she was born. We don't know what happened, we don't know why. We worked very hard to keep her alive!

She was very cold when she was born a little after midnight. Matt and I took turns using the blow dryer to warm her up. We have to make sure she's warm before she can eat. People can eat if they are cold, but goat kids can't. If we feed them when they are cold they will die because their stomach doesn't work properly if they are cold.

Look at River's front leg near the wall. That's her right leg. Her leg was hurt while she was being born.

The leg in the back of the picture is just right! The hoof is flat on the floor.
The hoof in the front of the picture is bent.
We had to put a splint on it so that it would heal.

We used a tongue depressor for a splint.
Sorry the picture is so bad! I had to take it while I was feeding her.

Do you remember the name of the covering on the hooves of newborn animals with hooves?
It's the eponychium!
Here is a link so you can hear how to say it.
River had quite a bit of it on her hooves. Matt took a picture so you could see it.

River was very weak even after we warmed her up. She tried to stand but couldn't do it. Matt had to feed her with a syringe because she wasn't strong enough to suck on a bottle, or to get milk from her mother, Misty.

She was so weak that she couldn't swallow very much milk, either. We were finally able to put her under the heat lamp at 3:30 in the morning. She was born at 12:15, just after midnight.

Matt had to go out at 4:30 and again at 5:30 to feed her a little bit more, and to make sure she was staying warm.

I went out at 6:30 to feed her and she was finally getting strong enough to drink a little from the bottle. It was a lot of work to keep River alive for the first 24 hours! We had to feed her every hour or two.

Now look at her!

She can drink a bottle full of milk with no problems at all!

We still have to feed her every 3 or 4 hours because we don't want her to get sick.
Next week we'll feed her every 5 or 6 hours because she will be bigger and stronger.

Serenity is the kid in the blue sweater.
Annie is her mother.
Serenity was born early Saturday morning.
She was already drinking milk from her mother when I got out to the barn to milk the Echo, the cow.

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Here's the last two weeks of egg counts.

I'll make my graph this week and show you what it looks like next week. 

• Friday, April 1 I collected 10 brown eggs, 4 green eggs, 0 duck eggs, 1 little egg, and 1 tiny pullet egg
• Saturday, April 2 I collected 6 brown eggs, 4 green eggs, and 1 duck egg.
• Sunday, April 3 I collected 12 brown eggs, 5 green eggs, 1 duck egg, and 2 little eggs
• Monday, April 4 I collected 8 brown eggs, 6 green eggs, and 1 duck egg
• Tuesday, April 5 I collected 6 brown eggs, 2 green eggs, and 1 duck egg.
• Wednesday, April 6 I collected 14 brown eggs, 4 green eggs, 1 duck egg, and 1 little egg.
• Thursday, April 7 I collected 6 brown eggs, 7 green eggs, 1 duck egg, and 2 little eggs.

• Friday, April 8 I collected 3 brown eggs, 3 green eggs, and 1 duck egg.
• Saturday, April 9 I collected 13 brown eggs, 4 green eggs, 1 duck egg, and 1 little egg.
• Sunday, April 10 I collected 6 brown eggs, 4 green eggs, 1 duck egg, and 2 little eggs.
• Monday, April 11 I collected 7 brown eggs,  2 green eggs, 1 duck egg, and 2 little eggs.
• Tuesday, April 12 I collected 6 brown eggs, 4 green eggs, 1 duck egg, and 2 little eggs.
• Wednesday, April 13 I collected 7 brown eggs, 6 green eggs, 1 duck egg, and 2 little eggs.
• Thursday, April 14 I collected 20 brown eggs, 14 green eggs, 1 duck egg, and 2 little eggs. (I found where the chickens had been hiding their eggs! In one of the dog houses!)

Next week I'll show you my graph. 

I hope you have a wonderful week!