New Lambs

This morning I entered the barn to the usual morning cries of the sheep, however blended in with their bleats I heard two distinct newborn cries.  One was coming from the nursery/maternity pen and the other was coming from the open ewes pen.

Yesterday, in attempt to make more room in the maternity pen I moved Dark Carmella back into the open ewe pen as her udder was very small and barely developed.  I figured we had many weeks before we would expect lambs from her.  Meanwhile Queenie's fully developed udder had gone hard and we expect lambs from her very soon so in attempt to prevent crowding I moved Dark Carmella out.

So naturally I assumed the lamb in the maternity pen belonged to Queenie and the one in the open ewe pen belonged to Dark Carmella who surprised me by delivering early.  However I became confused very quickly when it was obvious that Queenie had not delivered and nowhere in the pen could I find the afterbirth.  Besides I was expecting twins from Queenie not a single and Queenie is an excellent mother she would not have allowed her lamb to wander around aimlessly crying out for her, so I looked at Ugly Betty, the only other ewe expecting and determined it was hers though she too still looked pregnant and showed no indication of just giving birth.  But there was no other potential mother.  The others all already had lambs at their side.  So only having the two to choose from, we determined it must have been Ugly Betty's.as she acted indifferent to the lamb but didn't reject it's smell when given a whiff,  It's not uncommon for first time mothers to reject their lambs.

We locked her up along with the unclaimed lamb and then went over to the open ewe pen and picked up that lamb and hauled it's mother, Dark Carmella back over to the maternity pen.  We did find her afterbirth and it was very evident she just gave birth even though she was showing first lambing syndrome and not accepting her lamb.  Though technically this wasn't her first lamb,  Last year when she was far too small, she gave birth to a single deformed lamb. Because of that birth we kind of were hoping/expecting twins this time around,

While we were locking her and her lamb up in the jug, my very tiny lamb, Annabelle, who I've been mothering and trying to help her catch up to her pen mates was wandering around outside the maternity pen while I went about figuring out mothers and newborns while finishing up morning chores.  I do this often so she gets more attention and get her full share of hay without getting plowed over by everyone else in the pen.  This morning she did something different.  She walked over to the open ewe pen and shockingly, slipped right threw the rails and into the pen.  She is that small.

That's when it struck me.  The lamb in the maternity pen wasn't born in the maternity pen but rather in the open ewe pen.  While waiting for his twin to be born he must have slipped out and wandered over to the maternity pen and slipped inside there and then got lost.  Discovering the afterbirth next to the rail in the open ewe pen only validated this conclusion.  So it appears Dark Carmella did give birth to twins afterall.  I immediately removed the lamb from Ugly Betty and placed it in the jug with his mother and sister and he began to nurse right away.

I am concerned with the lack of udder on Dark Carmella and will have to keep a close eye on their development.  Fingers crossed it comes in within the next couple of hours.