I am very pleased to report that Happy is doing much better! She has been living in the kid pen with the babies so that she doesn't have to compete for food and so that she gets all the naps she needs. We recently brought Legacy back home....also in need of some intensive TLC and snacks....so they have been sharing the pen with the kids and keeping each other company. I will admit, the road to recovery for these girls has been rather unconventional...and I wouldn't suggest this method to anyone....but I was at my wits' end with 2 elderly does that stopped eating and lost their drive to survive. I started giving them snacks throughout the day. When I mean snacks, I mean I would give them
whatever they wanted to eat. Gummy worms, fig newtons, sliced fruit, dried fruit, cookies, crackers, churros, bread, cocoa puffs, frosted mini wheat cereal, tortillas.....and fixing them a milkshake every day. Poor goat nutrition indeed, but it beats them starving to death while laying next to a pile of alfalfa hay and a bowl of grain! Giving them a junk food snack every hour or two led them to start eating their grain and hay. Their attitudes have improved by about 200% and their appetite is good. Yesterday they even mingled with the herd all afternoon.
Happy also became a grandma this week. Ellie Mae gave birth to a beautiful set of twins....Fame and Fortune! Fame is the doe and we will be keeping her. She is a moonspotted red roan and is the spitting image of her sire, Pete. Fortune is the buck....he is beautiful red with black stockings but unfortunately the market is just full of bucklings this year and we can not keep another buck. We plan to wether him and let him go as a pet. Any takers?
And maybe our turkeys are not done for the year after all! 2 of our hens went off into the woods to nest. One hen lost all of her babies throughout the course of a week....the other hen was doing well with her 2 poults. Now both hens are mothering the 2 babies! They have really been keeping their distance so it's been tough to get pictures....but yesterday they brought the babies right up to the patio!
The babies are so camouflaged you have to really look close to see one of them between the 2 hens.
3 comments:
I dreamed about Happy the other night. So glad she is doing better.
Am delighted to hear that Legamacy is eating again...guess the problem was that we were not letting her smoke and drink Mountain Dew. Cherry Blossom has been an ABSOLUTE TOOT since she left, btw.
Glad they are doing better! Beautiful babies!! I looked and looked for the 2nd turkey poult but was only able to see one!!
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