Week old goats won't take bottle

[carrie_mc]

Just over a week ago two of my does each gave birth to twins. One set is doing great and they have a model mama. The second set seem to be struggling. Their mother isn't interested in nursing for more than a few seconds at a time and they are very thin compared to the other babies. I've been trying to bottle feed, but after 5 days they are still not accepting the bottle. I've tried a couple different nipples and different ways of holding them, covered their eyes and they still fight it. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I've bottle-fed goats before with no issue, but these guys are giving me a run for my money.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Tie up the mother with hay and water, so the kids can nurse.
You can help them, or, instead of thing up constantly, if you are around a lot, you could just tie hjer up, what, three times a day or so, and help them fill up.
After a few days yuou an loose her, and just keep a good eye, and see what she's doing, and adjust..

 

[carrie_mc]

Tie up the mother with hay and water, so the kids can nurse.
You can help them, or, instead of thing up constantly, if you are around a lot, you could just tie hjer up, what, three times a day or so, and help them fill up.
After a few days yuou an loose her, and just keep a good eye, and see what she's doing, and adjust..

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

People do it all the time with sheep, so it shouldn't be much different.

 

[cassie]

I feel your pain. Some does want nothing to do with their kids and chances are you are not going to change her mind no matter what you do. I once had a doe who would pick up her babies by the ear and throw them as far as she could whenever they approached her. I just tied her up close enough so she couldn't move and put the kids on her three or four times a day. I had to put my arm in front of the hind legs so in spite of her best efforts she couldn't kick the kids in the head.

Your kids are probably not going to take a bottle at this late date. Some kids you can change over from teat to bottle and some kids, particularly Toggenburgs, will starve themselves to death first. By the way, if a kid goes too many hours without eating it isn't hungry anymore. The longer it goes without food the less hungry it is. If you put a little corn syrup on the tongue it will break that cycle. Another thing that MIGHT work is to put some very warm (not hot) milk in a cup and touch the kid's mouth to it. Sometimes a kid that will not nurse will take milk this way.