preggo doe- day 28, belly moved? quick Q about fur pulling

[ohiogoatgirl]

i noticed this morning while feeding that my dutch doe's belly has kinda "dropped". as in its

still her usual baby belly but it seems to almost like it had moved from looking like it was

glued to her spine/rib area to now setting in the bottom of her belly. she seems kinda sunken

in below her spine now, and then there is her baby belly.

today is day 28 for her. march 21st is her day 35. i was sure to write it down on my calendar

when i bred her. now i know that with goats there belly will drop or move bit before they kid.

anywhere from a week to a few hours before they kid. and you can feel the ligaments in there

hip/tail area to see if they are getting any closer. and the mom's will usually start talkin

talkin talkin at their own belly.

anyone ever noticed anythin like this with rabbits? i'm wondering because this is the things i

see first since i already look for it with other animals.

also i was feelin her belly. i have not been able to note anything until today that i felt that

i thought was a kit. well today i was pokin as usual but then i stopped and just held her

belly. and i felt 3 or 4 seperate kicks on my hands :mrgreen: :bunnyhop: so now i am

fairly confident that she has some in there. haha.

now about hair pulling...

the weather is totally whacked this year. it has been about 25* to 45*F in february/march with

a few days reaching about 60*F. the past few days it has been 60*F, 65*F,... and today it was

44*F at about 8:30AM but it was about to hit 60*F already at about 10AM.

so i am wondering if weather/temps have any role in the doe's fur pulling. do they tend to pull

less in hot weather? if it gets warm fast will they not pull any fur? etc...

so far this doe has only pulled a few small tufts of fur. i realize that they tend to pull

anywhere from a week before up until as they are actually kindling. plus i have plenty of

different materials that i could add to the nest should the temps drop and she not pull much.

so i'm not worrying about it yet.

sorry for the essay :roll:

thanks!!

 

[AnnClaire]

YAY OGG!! Sounds like you are gonna have babies soon. My experienced doe pulled 3x as much fur in this warmer weather than she did back in december when it was quite a bit colder. The kits will migrate up and down in the nest to regulate their own warmth, so if you don't think the doe pulls enough, hold her down and pluck some more from her belly and thighs. If she is a first time mom, don't hesitate to pull extra fur.

Also, the most reliable indicator of birth is a "hay moustache" ... so I would suggest that you offer a good amount of loose hay from now until birth. The problem with this is that some does won't even start building their nest until right before birth :lol: And then, you could have a hormonal one like me that builds the nest and pulls fur 3 weeks before kindling ... at least I knew she had taken a week before palpation

 

[skysthelimit]

I can usually feel the kits in the last 5-7 days or so. Mine's don't start nesting until day 28 or or for the hollands 2-3 days before. I can usually tell when I find them sitting in the box, that's 1-2 days before kindling.

I do have two does that get kind of grumpy, and one that won't let me touch her at all, so I haven't been able to safely feel for anything, I'm just going on the grumpy behavior, thought we never had the best relationship anyway.