# Orphan Lamb in the house



## brianbeth84 (Oct 22, 2013)

I have a new lamb who was orphaned slightly after birth.  (He was born with crooked legs and mom pushed her uterus out, vet fixed, she pushed back out again, vet had to put her to sleep).

We have had a great 3 weeks and Oliver thinks he's a golden lab.  I have a diaper on him to get his pee but cannot find anything to fit to catch the poo.. Any suggestions?

He goes outside every day for a few hours with all my other lambs and babies his age so he realizes he's not a dog but it's getting cold here and he is starting to shiver... I fear that he is going to be in the house until Spring!

Any suggestions for pooping and containment?


----------



## purplequeenvt (Oct 22, 2013)

Ram lambs are hard to diaper.  I'd put one diaper around his middle for the pee and the another on normally (with a hole cut for the tail) for the poop. If he isn't too large, you might be able to find a diaper long enough to cover everything.


----------



## BrownSheep (Oct 22, 2013)

I would leave him outside with the others. As long as he has other sheep to lay with and/or straw and shelter he will be fine. He most likely shivering because he isn't use to the temperature change between outdoors and indoors.


----------



## brianbeth84 (Oct 23, 2013)

purplequeenvt said:
			
		

> Ram lambs are hard to diaper.  I'd put one diaper around his middle for the pee and the another on normally (with a hole cut for the tail) for the poop. If he isn't too large, you might be able to find a diaper long enough to cover everything.


I bought pull ups with Buzz Lightyear, cut a hole for his tail and it just slides right off him when he runs...:/

Today I put him outside with the others at 7am, fed him his bottle then and again 4 oz at 10:30.  I'll keep him out there until night time but I am going to bring him in overnight.. I don't want to go out at midnight to bottle feed him.  As I am researching it appears that I can wean him around 6-10 weeks,  He nibbles on the sheep feed but nothing significant.  I guess I worry because he is such a runt.

I can't figure out how to post pictures or I would.

Thanks for all your advice.


----------



## Ruus (Oct 23, 2013)

You have to have 10 posts I think before you can post pictures. Good luck with your little one!


----------



## brianbeth84 (Oct 23, 2013)

Thanks.  I tend to be a "creeper" and read a lot of threads but never post.  Thanks for the advice!


----------



## purplequeenvt (Oct 23, 2013)

brianbeth84 said:
			
		

> purplequeenvt said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Duct tape! 

We never feed our bottle lambs in the middle of the night. They get fed first thing in the morning, a couple times during the day, and then before bed. OR we feed them off a pail with nipples so they can eat whenever they want.


----------



## brianbeth84 (Oct 23, 2013)

Do you happen to have a picture of this? "we feed them off a pail with nipples so they can eat whenever they want"

I'm trying to picture what it looks like.

Oliver is in a dog crate in the living room and around 1.30 am he decides he's hungry and starts bahahaha until someone comes...


----------



## SheepGirl (Oct 23, 2013)

Google "Lambar" or bucket teat unit.


----------



## brianbeth84 (Oct 24, 2013)

THANKS!   Looks genius!


----------



## n8ivetxn (Nov 9, 2013)

This summer I had a bottle baby (ewe) - I wanted to bring her in the house soooo bad! But alas, I was told to leave her in the pasture/barn with everyone else....Now I'm glad I did! Good grief, she's a handful :/

I weaned her at 5 weeks. The first 2 weeks I thought I'd die, going to the barn at all hours of the night.....
You can wean them when they get the rumen going. She was eating good by then. I read an article on this, the guy was OSU sheep/goat guy, can't remember his name. It was a good article.

I did supplement her grazing with a handful of grain daily. I know the green grasses she was eating were good, but I felt like she needed a little extra something.


----------



## Sheepshape (Nov 10, 2013)

I had 5 orphaned lambs in the house last year (4 from a ewe who had one teat and went on to have 5 lambs!). There was a VAST amount of work for 4 days and nights when they went out into the shed.I would normally not give an overnight feed after the first night,but these guys were TINY....weighing only around two to two and a half pounds. They fed and grew very well (apart from the tiniest who weighed only 1.5 pounds and died within hours of birth).
I still have 2 of them who have made sizeable ewes.
I think generally the best advice is not to keep them in the house and to provide a bucket feeder of some type. Unfortunately I feel the need to hand feed them......
Diapers with a hole cut for the tail generally saves the worst of the mess!


----------



## n8ivetxn (Nov 10, 2013)

What a story! I would be seriously stressed out, trying to care for 4 or 5 premies! Of course it would have to be the ewe with one teat


----------

