Questions on hand raising kits

[MamaDani]

We lost a doe on the 6th. She had had a litter on the 3rd. I didn't have another doe w/litter to foster to so I've feeding them the evaporated goat's milk/corn syrup/egg yolk formula. I lost 2 but the remaining 4 are doing great. They will be 2 weeks tomorrow. A few days ago they finally learned that the dropper was a good thing and they would suck the milk out. Then all of a sudden yesterday they fought the dropper. 3 of the 4 have opened their eyes so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. Last night I noticed one was very excitedly licking up spills so I got thinking maybe I should try letting them drink from a spoon/bowl?? I just don't even know how to go about teaching them to do that. This is also about the time that our other kits have started leaving the nest and nibbling on mama's food. Should I put some alfalfa and/or oats in their nest so they can nibble if they want? Their nest got messy/stinky (I guess mama cleans them more than I thought) so I replaced the bedding with a puppy pad and a low watt heat lamp so there's no hay in there. Oh, just a thought as well, maybe at some point soak some oats in the formula to offer them after they've had just plain formula?? When would be a good age to try that?

Here's one of them:

 

[katiebear]

I have never hand raised so first let me say GREAT JOB!!!! When my kits open their eyes is when I change out the nest box filler with clean grass to nibble at and also put in some old fashioned oats..pellets a few days later....Others have hand fed I am sure someone will step up with what to do next..

 

[EnglishSpot]

Kits tend to freak out about "normal" things once their eyes open because now they're SEEING that big thing over there and that big scary thing coming at me and that big scary tube coming at them!! Sometimes I wish they'd just close their eyes and everything would be ok!! LOL I've noticed the kits will clean themselves and each other up after being dropper fed--"mmm, you're so tasty!!" I change out the nest box by day 9, so you did the right thing there. As long as those kits crowd and sleep together, they're going to be leaving presents behind. If you do put the hay back into the sleeping area, they'll start to nosh on that too.

You're doing a great job!!

You can toss oats at them and some hay to nibble on and few pellets scattered here and there, but keep up the formula til they're about 4 weeks old. By then, they're minimally nursing on mom, but solid consumptions go waaay up. I've weaned at 4 weeks, but just don't change up their foods. One other thing I have done is put some fresh adult poo berries in with the youngsters, since they nibble on those and get digestive bacteria that way. If you have a healthy adult who is on the same food as the youngsters, in my experience it seems to help them transition easier.

 

[Miss M]

Like the others said, great job!!

What an adorable little coal black fuzzy you have there!

Like what's been said, you can go ahead and put some oats and hay in with them, and keep up the formula for another couple of weeks. And the adult bunny berries... if you can get a cecotrope, all the better.

Yes, you should be able to get them to take formula from a dish. You could lead them to it with the dropper, or place them next to it and touch their noses to the formula, something like that. I could never get mine to do it for some reason, but others have.

:greatjob:

 

[MamaDani]

I took the kids to the pool and dinner and then came home to find that we lost another kit. :'( So frustrating...especially with no signs of it going downhill. This morning they were all fighting being fed again so I gave them a chance to just drink the milk. They ended up sucking it out of a paper towel...very excitedly!! lol All had full bellies afterwards.

 

[Miss M]

Whatever works! How did you do the paper towel bit, exactly?

I'm sorry you lost another kit. Sometimes, you just don't know. Even adults can go downhill that fast.

 

[MamaDani]

I just kept guiding them to it. They'd walk on it, lick their feet, and then eventually realize it was food. Last night I tried the dropper bottle again (I put a kitten bottle nipple on the eye dropper) and they all took it without a problem so I just went with it. I will continue to try that first b/c then I know how much they are getting. I will be feeding them again in about an hour, wish me luck!

Here's a video I took yesterday. The one that's going to town on it I've been calling Speedy b/c he speed eats. lol ...just ignore the whiney dog in the background.
View My Video