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TinysMom wrote:
Well - I just posted in the main forum area - but I'll post it here now.

Athena gave us..........for our very first flemish giant litter....

....in time for Christmas...


(drumroll please?)




ELEVEN BABIES!

All are happy and healthy looking and mama is now chowing down on a carrot and quite happy and content.
Click to expand...

OMG!!!!! I just got home and of course I had to check your blog!!

Eleven!! Congrats!!! Wow!!! I'm so excited!!! And happy for you....I know your so happy and I'm glad Athena is doing well. :)

:):):)
 
Can she take care of 11 babies??

I'm thinking I read on another thread about bigger litters, being a problem. Too many babies, not enough milk, maybe. Can't remember.



Sophia due tomorrow, right? more babies coming again soon. Alot of excitement at your house!! :pinkbouce: :biggrin2:
 
paul2641 wrote:
Ahh Peg that video was really sweet, You have a really nice voice also lol! Americans do have accents!
Click to expand...
Thats cute you think we have accents. :)I'm from Ohio and I have a friend from Minnesota and I think she has a accent. She thinks I have one. LOl. When I listen to Peg I don't think she has much of a accent. LOl. ;)
 
SweetSassy wrote:
paul2641 wrote:
Ahh Peg that video was really sweet, You have a really nice voice also lol! Americans do have accents!
Click to expand...
Thats cute you think we have accents. :)I'm from Ohio and I have a friend from Minnesota and I think she has a accent. She thinks I have one. LOl. When I listen to Peg I don't think she has much of a accent. LOl. ;)
Click to expand...
Ha Ha I love the Oklahoma twang it so cute! Everyone has an accent, I think it is ridicuous when Americans say they don't Ha Ha!
 
SweetSassy wrote:
Can she take care of 11 babies??

I'm thinking I read on another thread about bigger litters, being a problem. Too many babies, not enough milk, maybe. Can't remember.



Sophia due tomorrow, right? more babies coming again soon. Alot of excitement at your house!! :pinkbouce: :biggrin2:
Click to expand...
You ask a very good question....and that is one that we don't know the answer to.

The hope is that Sophia will have fewer babies and be able to foster a couple of them...

Another option will be if mama splits the litter into two groups (some do) and then feeds them at different times - I have read of "really good" mamas doing that in other breeds (Californians in particular).

Something that needs to be looked at when asking a mom to raise such a large litter - is the health of the mom vs. the health of the babies. Can mom raise ALL of the litter without putting her own health at risk (that sounds more drastic than I mean it to sound)?

With that said - I have heard of lionheads raising a litter of 10 to weaning and when we had problems one year (long story) - Matilda wound up nursing 24 babies for three days (if I remember right) - until my other does kindled and could help out. No she didn't have all 24 babies...but the other does didn't have their milk come in - partly due to feed issues (I found out later other breeders here in Tx were having the same problem with that food at that time).

What I did was to split the 24 into 3 groups of 8 and take one set to her every 8 hours. She was a HUGE doe and was able to nurse them just fine and they were all growing and doing fine when they started being fostered off to others. She eventually wound up with just her 8 at the end.

I will say this about Athena - so far she is VERY promising as a mother. She made a very nice nest - pulled LOTS of fur (even from the bottoms of her feet) - cleaned up the nest mostly (I helped clean up a bunch of it when I pulled the nestbox out - because I'd distracted her from cleaning with a carrot) and is showing that she is protective of them. She will let me look at them - for limited periods of time - but she wants to know what I'm doing and watches me if I'm sitting right there (and chews on my shoes to keep me in line).

I had really hoped to have 10-12 babies from BOTH litters combined - so this is sort of shocking for me even though I knew it could happen.

Oh - and this is going to sound crazy - but from the little bit I looked at them - there are a couple that already caught my eye as far as their bone structure and initial size. (After I bred lionheads long enough - I could usually tell at birth the "more promising ones" based upon their body type, etc).

Anyway - I guess that is it for now for the update.

The videos of her pulling fur and gathering hay didn't come out well at all - way too dark. Sorry...


 
SweetSassy wrote:
paul2641 wrote:
Ahh Peg that video was really sweet, You have a really nice voice also lol! Americans do have accents!
Click to expand...
Thats cute you think we have accents. :)I'm from Ohio and I have a friend from Minnesota and I think she has a accent. She thinks I have one. LOl. When I listen to Peg I don't think she has much of a accent. LOl. ;)
Click to expand...
Well - let's see - I grew up in Connecticut - married in Maine (I love the accent of folks from Southern Maine) - lived in North Carolina - Oklahoma - Alaska - Maryland - back to Oklahoma and now SW Texas.

Maybe that is why I don't have much of an accent....


 
TinysMom wrote:
SweetSassy wrote:
Can she take care of 11 babies??

I'm thinking I read on another thread about bigger litters, being a problem. Too many babies, not enough milk, maybe. Can't remember.



Sophia due tomorrow, right? more babies coming again soon. Alot of excitement at your house!! :pinkbouce: :biggrin2:
Click to expand...
You ask a very good question....and that is one that we don't know the answer to.

The hope is that Sophia will have fewer babies and be able to foster a couple of them...

Another option will be if mama splits the litter into two groups (some do) and then feeds them at different times - I have read of "really good" mamas doing that in other breeds (Californians in particular).

Something that needs to be looked at when asking a mom to raise such a large litter - is the health of the mom vs. the health of the babies. Can mom raise ALL of the litter without putting her own health at risk (that sounds more drastic than I mean it to sound)?

With that said - I have heard of lionheads raising a litter of 10 to weaning and when we had problems one year (long story) - Matilda wound up nursing 24 babies for three days (if I remember right) - until my other does kindled and could help out. No she didn't have all 24 babies...but the other does didn't have their milk come in - partly due to feed issues (I found out later other breeders here in Tx were having the same problem with that food at that time).

What I did was to split the 24 into 3 groups of 8 and take one set to her every 8 hours. She was a HUGE doe and was able to nurse them just fine and they were all growing and doing fine when they started being fostered off to others. She eventually wound up with just her 8 at the end.

I will say this about Athena - so far she is VERY promising as a mother. She made a very nice nest - pulled LOTS of fur (even from the bottoms of her feet) - cleaned up the nest mostly (I helped clean up a bunch of it when I pulled the nestbox out - because I'd distracted her from cleaning with a carrot) and is showing that she is protective of them. She will let me look at them - for limited periods of time - but she wants to know what I'm doing and watches me if I'm sitting right there (and chews on my shoes to keep me in line).

I had really hoped to have 10-12 babies from BOTH litters combined - so this is sort of shocking for me even though I knew it could happen.

Oh - and this is going to sound crazy - but from the little bit I looked at them - there are a couple that already caught my eye as far as their bone structure and initial size. (After I bred lionheads long enough - I could usually tell at birth the "more promising ones" based upon their body type, etc).

Anyway - I guess that is it for now for the update.

The videos of her pulling fur and gathering hay didn't come out well at all - way too dark. Sorry...
Click to expand...
Just a random question, Would it be possible to foster a flemish giant kit to a Netherland dwarf?

Oh I thought the vidoe showed them off pretty well, they seem really dark, Will they all be dark or what is going to happen?
 
I'm sure that as soon as I say "no" - someone else will come along with reasons why it could be done.

So my answer is - I would not personally feel comfortable fostering a flemish giant with a ND. You have to remember - by the time a flemish is maybe a month old - they'd be as big or bigger than "mama".

It is all I can do to not go steal them and play with them a bit - and I may do that and take more photos of them - by putting them on something white...

More later...I hope!
 
TinysMom wrote:
I'm sure that as soon as I say "no" - someone else will come along with reasons why it could be done.

So my answer is - I would not personally feel comfortable fostering a flemish giant with a ND. You have to remember - by the time a flemish is maybe a month old - they'd be as big or bigger than "mama".

It is all I can do to not go steal them and play with them a bit - and I may do that and take more photos of them - by putting them on something white...

More later...I hope!
Click to expand...
Yes please more photo's,

But some times the teacher learns from the student let Momma at her own devices trust her and she will pull through for you, And the babies will flourish :pink iris:!
 
First of all - I'm sitting here with tears streaming down my face.....

She fed ALL ELEVEN babies somehow...I don't know how - but they are all looking healthy.

They should all be light grey like Athena and Mercury are...
 
Aww cute, imagine 11 identical big flemish babies! I'm so glad Athena seems to be doing a good job with them! That is brilliant for a first time Mother.
 
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