heat lamps??

[GLENMAR]

This is my first time with kids this early in the year. Mine are due in about 2 weeks. The temps here are 45H/25L on average. Do they need a heat lamp?
I plan on separating the kids and bottle feeding. I have a 12 x12 horse stall with solid walls filled with straw. Estimate 2-4 kids.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I put out a heat lamp for mine. We use a little half box with a lamp over it as a little snuggle corner for the kids. We also got some clearance turtlenecks and cut a V into the bellys of the shirt to make a decent, washable coat for them.

 

[DonnaBelle]

We use the standard red bulb heat lamps if it's that cold. We hang them from a solid chain from the wood beam in the barn, about a foot over the head of the Mom, so she doesn't bang into it.

The kids will huddle under it, and so will Mom.

I think it makes them warmer, so yes, we do it. DH goes out at 10:00 pm, every night and checks the goats and the barn, course it is about 50 ft from the house.

After Mom kids, we take her full bucket of warm water and make sure she has some feed in her feeder, as well as fresh hay. I have seen a doe drink almost a whole bucket of warm water after they kid.

DonnaBelle

 

[lilhill]

We use heat lamps in some of the kidding stalls and warming barrels in a couple. The kids like to snuggle in the warming barrels if it gets too cold. Just be sure to secure your heat lamps so no accidents happen!

 

[Alice Acres]

No goats, but when we used to lamb this time of year, we used the infrared or white heat lamps. But our high temps were in the 20'sF, and -0'sF often at night. It was a must-have for them!
We also use them as brooder lamps for the banty chicks we get from a school every spring (they hatch them out for the kids to learn about it). The rest of our chicks have mama hens who raise them and keep them warm!

 

[20kidsonhill]

Yes, we are using heat lamps and getting ready to kid. We are using warming barrels with 250 watt heat lamp bulbs in them. We only use them for the first couple day after they are born. If it is 45 out during the day we shut them off and turn them back on in the evening if it is going to be in the 20's, but I would say being you have a thiner breed compared to a meat goat breed, your kids will get chillier than ours and require a little more warmth. Ours could prettymuch be born in the snow and as long as they stand and nurse they do great. In fact I have had that happen. Even at 3 or 4 days of age the kids will follow mom out in the cold and lay outside by the barn in the sun, or play in the snow. They wont lay down in the snow, they need a dry place to lay.

The first couple hours is most important to get them fed and warmed up. Kids with full bellies manintain their body temps. very well.

 

[Isthelifeforme]

I used them last year when the nights were below freezing with new kids. I also had hay cribs with about 8" of clearance below the bottom where the kids would go and huddle up for warmth (4 of them with hay all around). The mature goats were the ones under the heat lamps so I quickly stopped using them!

I saw them as a pretty big risk for fire. Made me pretty nervous.

 

[20kidsonhill]

I used them last year when the nights were below freezing with new kids. I also had hay cribs with about 8" of clearance below the bottom where the kids would go and huddle up for warmth (4 of them with hay all around). The mature goats were the ones under the heat lamps so I quickly stopped using them!

I saw them as a pretty big risk for fire. Made me pretty nervous.

We put ours in the barrels so help with fire risk. Heat lamps hanging loose are a huge fire risk. And it is partly why we use them as little as possible, even in the warming barrels. Also, when we just hung them and the doe and kids could get under them we had at least one smashed kid a year out of 30 or 40 kids. I realize you are planning on pulling the kids and bottle feeding so this would eliminate that problem. Also, might make your heat lamps a little safer, since they woudln't be exposed to the bigger goats.

 

[GLENMAR]

Thanks for the ideas.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Will my babies need heatlamps in February? It'll probably be in the 30's or 40's at night.