Lost our first doe tonight

chma4 · #1 05/25/07, 08:21 PM

We lost our first adult goat tonight. Apparently she got into the chicken feed yesterday. Polished off 25# and I was never told. My husband go t the call last night, and swears he told me, but did nothing about it himself. This morning when he did rounds, he said she was bedded up with her triplets. My step son didnt show up for his 4pm rounds till 8pm. When he did she was laid out. My inlaws came up and tried to keep her alive while I drove th 1/2 hour from my parents breaking the speed limit i am sure. When I got home she was gone. Lessons about communication and dependability were learned tonight. I just wish I had gone out and listened tp the voice in my head before i left today. My Carbon monoxide detector went off today. So in a rush, I grabbed my daughter and left the house till my husband could get home and check it out. Wish I had not depended on SS to be there on time. Hes only 11 =(. Everyone carries blame for this, but mostly me. I should have just followed my instincts and checked even though I had no cause.

ajharris · #2 05/25/07, 08:29 PM

I am so sorry for your loss. It is hard to lose one.

mary,tx · #3 05/25/07, 08:56 PM

I don't know why goats love chicken feed so much, but they sure do.

I'd think the biggest lesson would be looking for a better way to secure that feed from the goats. And keeping up to date on the CDTs, if you haven't.
Sorry you lost her.
mary

chma4 · #4 05/25/07, 09:18 PM

She had her CDT last month when she kidded. The chicken feed is in the chicken pen. the hole is 12 by 9 inches so chickens can get in, and feeed is in a metal can with a tight lid. Not sure how she squeezed her fat butt in there. Everyone else looks ok. I have Cand D antitoxin, but didnt know about the break in. By the time I got home, she was on her last breaths. I gave CD and tried to release gas with a needle but she was too far gone for any of that. Her back end was cold and gums were white. Thanks for the condolences

naturewoman · #5 05/25/07, 10:58 PM

So sorry CHma4. I had to downsize the opening to my chicken house (where the feeder is hanging) from about the opening size you had to an opening about 6" x 7" to keep the goats out. The chicks can still go through, even the big breeds. It might help to keep that from happening again.

Idahoe · #6 05/26/07, 12:06 AM

I lost two 2nd freshener dams a week ago from your same scenario. I even injected antitoxin into one's rumen, besides everywhere else, and tried to decompress the gas with a needle. You just want to scream. I'm so sorry, it's a terrible loss.

Jyllie63 · #7 05/26/07, 06:39 AM

I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sort of new to raising goats, but had heard that goats can get sick or die from eating chicken feed. I just don't know why. I want you to know that sharing your experience probably saved my goats lives. There was a break in (raccoon?) to our bag of chicken feed and I probably wouldn't have thought twice about moving the open bag. But now it's on the LOCKED side of the garage where my goats can't get into it.

Idahoe · #8 05/26/07, 10:24 AM

Goats will innocently eat themselves to death on chicken feed or chicken scratch. Yes, please lock your stuff up, even if the goats don't *know* where it is, and haven't found it yet! It's one of those "lessons" that aren't worth the learning if it happens to you, but thankfully it does help others to hear what happens.

If it does happen, a "wait and see" attitude will kill your goat. It's an emergency the moment you discover they got into it. That's what I learned the hard way, too. The OP was not informed, but I can't say that was the case for me.

Jyllie63 · #9 05/26/07, 10:43 AM

I do wonder if it doesn't affect all goats the same way. We had a goat a few years back and I definitely remember her getting into the chicken feed on more than one occasion and it never had an adverse affect on her. At that time I had no idea that it could be bad for her. I was just aggravated that I had to go buy more chicken feed