The week before Easter Sunday we began watching the does even more closely by using our barncam set-up. We sure do love this technology!
Belle (only Belle!) was due on Sunday and as I checked the camera through the night I knew that labor would happen soon as she was very restless. Belle had triplets last year in a very rough assisted birth so our fingers were crossed for a easier outcome for her.
Sunday morning she gave birth to two adorable bucklings with no trouble at all - relief all around!
As the day progressed, not long after the bread for our Easter dinner went into the oven it was apparent that Poppy was going to have her kids that morning too, although we were not expecting hers for several days. It was a pretty quick birth of triplets, two bucklings and a doeling. Sorry, I only got two of them in this picture:
We had to quickly set up a second maternity pen for them and as they were doing well we went next door to the North House to enjoy our holiday meal.
Thank goodness for the barncam! I would not normally bring my phone to the dinner table but on Sunday I did and saw that Daisy had decided to get into the act as well. I arrived back at the barn in time for kiddo number one to greet the world. As I was helping Daisy dry off the little guy, I heard a splash and number two hit the ground! It all happened very quickly and I was hoping that was it but Daisy laid down and began to push - no way! Triplets again? If only! Two more kids joined the little family and Daisy finished up with two bucklings and two doelings!
Where to put them? The quadruplets were quite small and fairly weak. We decided to remove most of the items from the milking room and put in some bedding. This made a snug and warm place for the little family to spend their first few days. They required quite a bit of attention at first as we had to assist them to latch on to their mamma's teats. As you can imagine, this was a bit stressful and exhausting for their caregivers but after a couple of days they were bouncing around like little bunnies and finding the teats on their own. Here Kevin gets a cuddle while I am helping the other two.
On Wednesday morning we let everyone out of their individual pens. Big sisters Vinca and Bluebelle were a bit too rough on the littles so they are penned off for the time being. There was quite a bit of scrapping at first between Daisy and Belle to reestablish the pecking order.
Poppy just kept herself and her kiddos out of the way.
I will follow with a bunch of cute kid photos - enjoy!
One of Poppy's lads meets big sister Vinca - doesn't Vinca look thrilled?
Another of Poppy's lads - so sweet!
Two of Daisy's kids
One of Daisy's kids meets one of Belle's - there is quite a size difference!
One of Belle's - we have not had a kid marked quite like this before.
Thank you for visiting this blog post - it's fun to share the babies with you all. I will have another post out soon - these kiddos grow fast! Until then, be well friends!