Cria birthing season is fun...  and laden with anticipation.  Right now, we are eagerly waiting the arrival of Maddie's cria, and now Tess is due to deliver, too!
 
Average gestation for an alpaca in our area is between 340 and 350 days.  Note that I qualified that number with the word 'average'.  Average is key.   Gestational length in alpacas can be quite variable.  We have had babies born as early as 317 days, and as late as 359 days - that's quite a range!

Today, Maddie reached 357 days.   I wonder if she is going for a Pronkin' Pastures record?  I expected Maddie to deliver right around the same time Willow delivered.
In the past Maddie has never gone longer than 342 days.  Needless to say, I have been on cria watch for some time now!   Each morning, the minute I get out of bed,  I pick up my binoculars and focus on the pasture looking for any new additions.  Each day, much to my disappointment, Maddie's belly looks bigger and more mis-shapen than the day before.  All day long, I make trips back and forth, just checking, until I finally give up in the late afternoon. 

Maddie has waited so long that I am now watching Tess for signs of delivery, too!  Tess is at day 341 today.

Meanwhile,  Forrest and Laycee (the crias that have been born) are thriving.   They are both gaining weight steadily and are active and healthy.  Farm visitors  are smiling and laughing at their cute faces and cria antics.  

Keep you fingers crossed for two babies very soon!  I'm hoping for a 'two-cria' day!

Willow has delivered her cria!  The anticipation of this particular cria's arrival has been intense!  Willow is my favorite girl in the herd and  this is Willow's very first pregnancy.  She was bred to our herdsire Chocolate Chip.  We had high hopes for this cria. 

Yesterday, the wait was over.  At 348 days gestation, Willow delivered a lovely, healthy, and large (18.8 pounds!) cria.   It's a girl - and we couldn't be happier!

Poor Willow...  She is a small girl, but her belly was huge!  I knew when I put the girls out on the pasture, that Willow would be delivering sometime today.  She is in the early stages of labor here.

Even though inexperienced, Willow handled delivery like a pro!  In less than half an hour from the time the above photo was taken, she had delivered her baby.

It was still cool and cloudy, and baby was cold, so we moved to the shelter where I could warm  her with the hair dryer.  Willow is so sweet and calm.  She waits patiently and gets to know her baby while allowing me to handle her. 

Although it's hard to tell in the pictures, the baby is a lovely mix of light fawn and white colors.  Not really a pattern, but a more subtle blending of colors.

At just an hour old, baby takes her first steps.  A greeting for Mom and she's ready for the 'milk bar'.

With a bit of milk in baby's belly, and a clear bond with each other, Willow takes her baby to the lower pasture for the afternoon.

The rest of the herd is very excited to meet the newest addition!

We are pleased to introduce the newest addition to our herd -  Laycee of Pronkin' Pastures!

I’m sure you noticed that I never told you the new baby’s name.  That was intentional. 

Our first two days with the new guy were really tough - we weren’t sure he would make it.  And even the next couple of days, though better, still weren’t great.  It doesn’t take much for a fragile cria to crash. 

In his first few days, our little guy had a good suckle reflex, but showed little more than a passing interest in nursing.  This isn’t a good thing for baby or mom, and threw us into a bad pattern.  Since the baby wasn’t nursing, Lily’s udder became quite full and she became uncomfortable.  Once Lily was uncomfortable, she no longer welcomed his little head tentatively poking around under there. 

A little human intervention and some medication got Lily back on track, but our little guy just wasn’t very persistent.  Once again, his lack of interest got Lily to the point of being uncomfortable and required more intervention by us.  Around and around we went!

By Saturday morning, we were headed down a slippery slope.  He had lost nearly a pound since Thursday.   We continued to do the best we could to keep Lily comfortable, and supplemented baby just enough to keep his energy up but his tummy looking for more.   We walked a fine line between supplementing him with a bottle so that he didn’t get too weak, but not giving him enough to make him full or to expect to get his groceries from another source.  We wanted him to keep looking to Mom for that. 

I’m not sure what caused the turn around, but when I came out to check on Sunday morning, I was delighted to see our little guy nursing!  Evidently something clicked overnight because his weigh-in showed that he had gained about 2 tenths of a pound!  This is not a huge amount, but is so much better than losing weight! 

He is now gaining each day…  From 18.6 pounds at birth, he dipped down to a low of 17.8, and is up to a whopping 20 pounds today!  I’m hopeful that he is on the right path now! 

Since we think he’ll be around for a while, we’ve given him the name 'Forrest of Pronkin’ Pastures'.  And in case you are wondering…  that’s Forrest - as in Forrest Gump. 

the weather report shows that we have had more rain in the first 8 days of June than we normally have in the whole month, but that didn't keep our Lily from selecting this particularly wet morning to have her baby.

On Thursday morning I let the girls out to the large pasture.  They usually go out there and wander and graze and  spread themselves out around the pasture.  As I was cleaning in the paddock area, out of the corner of my eye,   I caught sight of an alpaca running out there.  Then saw that the entire female herd was all huddled up, and I knew what the excitement was all about... Lily was delivering her baby! 

Delivering the cria in this position is not the normal way it is done.  Normally, the dam is standing.  But we call Lily 'our drama queen' for good reason - because she really is a drama queen!   She is the first girl in the herd to cush, lay down, or scream  in protest  whenever she is unhappy.   If it were any other female in the herd delivering like this, I would have been quite concerned, but knowing Lily, I know this is just 'her'.  She is an experienced mom and has always given birth quickly and with no assistance.  This time she has delivered an 18 pound boy.  

Once the baby was on the ground, and Lily was ready to follow, I brought them up to the barn to dry baby off and take his temperature.  Baby's temp read less than 97 degrees - too low for a baby alpaca - and time to get baby warmed up quickly!   I dried baby off with a towel, followed by warming with a hair dryer. 

Next step, into the 'cria hot tub'!   Yes, baby is put into a tub of warm water to help raise it's body temperature.  But before entering the tub, baby is put into a heavy duty plastic bag to keep dry. 

Thankfully, I called my faithful friend, and she came to our rescue.  I could not have managed the 'hot tub' by myself.   She kept baby calm and dry, while I brought warm water out to the barn.

He got to feeling pretty good in the hot tub.  And what a sweet face!

Just out of the hot tub, he takes his first shaky steps while Lily has a little snack.

While baby was in the hot tub, Lily left the cria care to me, and took care of passing the placenta.  She is happy to meet her new baby.

Lily and baby get to know each other.

Later that afternoon, baby takes a break.  It's been a very long day! 

To be sure he stays warm and dry overnight, we put a coat on baby and tuck him and Lily in for the evening.   

Last week we had a sad, and scary, day at Pronkin’ Pastures.  We lost one of our hens to an eagle.  Her name was ‘Fancy Pants’.  Fancy was a pretty white Brahma – a breed of chicken that has feathers on their feet.  Her feathered feet reminded me of bell bottom pants of the 70’s, thus the name ‘Fancy Pants’.

When we first got our chickens we made them a coop and a small covered run.  But it wasn’t long at all before the chickens scratched up all of the grass in the run and were left with a boring bare dirt enclosure.

The chickens began looking longingly at the grass in the small adjacent alpaca paddock, and we felt sorry for them.  So we decided to let them go out into the paddock to ‘stretch their wings’ and do a bit of 'free - ranging'. 

We hoped that the area was small enough, and close enough to 2 buildings that our chickens would still be safe.  

We have been lucky for quite some time, especially as our hens have ventured out further and further from their intended area - happily scooting under fences and between fence posts,  scratching and clucking away. 

But last week luck ran out....   A bald eagle landed in there!  Right in the littlest of our alpaca paddocks!  Our little hens ran for their covered area and into their coop, but this eagle was persistent and followed our little hen - on foot - right into the  ‘safe’  enclosed area. 

The eagle was busy when Ron went out for evening chores.  The rest of the girls made it into their coop, and Ron quickly shut and locked the door, but poor Fancy made it  only to the covered run.  The whole thing was ugly. 

Poor Fancy feathers everywhere...  And you definitely don't want to see Fancy...

and an unhappy eagle in an extra large 'cage'.  

While the eagle entered the chicken pen easily enough, he didn't have a good understanding of how to get back out....

He paced back and forth, but it took him several attempts to find either of the 2 open gates. 

Just a tiny turn to the left and he'd be out of there!

Finally, he 'gets' it...

And off he goes....

The alpacas watch the whole ordeal from a distance.  The whole incident has an effect on the chickens, the alpacas and us....  This is an experience we hope never to repeat.

Well, here I promised to post on a regular basis and now 3 moths later I am just getting back to it!  I am sorry!  So many things have happened lately to take me away from writing.  Hopefully, I am back on track now!

In regard to alpacas, here's what you missed....

We have added two new girls to our herd!  Meet Tess & Damaris.

Tess is pregnant and due to deliver sometime in July.  She is dark brown in color and looks unlike any other girl in our herd.  In addition to being very cute, Tess has given birth  to some lovely, high quality crias.  She is bred to a handsome male named Black Ryder, so we expect a dark cria, but you never know!

Damaris is sweet as can be and has also produced several quality crias.  When visiting the farm where we purchased Damaris, I was able to see Amazing Grace - Damaris's  2011 cria.  Little 'Gracie' really is amazing with beautiful fine silver fiber, soft hand, and exceptional staple length.  Damaris will be bred again to Captain Kirk,  Gracie's sire, so I'm hoping we'll be  lucky enough to get a 'Gracie' of our own.   

Both girls have settled in beautifully in their new home.  I think they like it here, and we are thrilled to have them.  They bring genetic diversity to the herd as well as offering the potential to improve the fiber quality in our herd.  

Because alpacas are fiber animals, and we are actively processing and using as much fiber as possible, we we are striving to add animals that produce a good usable fiber throughout the course of their life, not just the first few years.

Our veterinarian paid a visit last week...  She performed ultrasounds on several of the girls.  Seven ultrasounds, 5 confirmed pregnancies!   I can hardly wait to see the babies this year!  In addition to Tess, Willow, Maddie, Lily, and Caelia are all expecting with due dates mid-June to mid-July.  It will be fun to see the little ones grow up together.   I'll be keeping a close eye on all these girls, as I'd hate to miss witnessing the birth. 

It looks like warmer weather is finally making an appearance.  The alpacas enjoyed soaking up the sun today, and I just couldn't resist including a couple of photos of that too.

As much as I enjoy being outdoors when the weather is so nice, it's time to focus on other business.   This week will be dedicated to Fiber Fusion Northwest and the Whidbey Island Fiber Quest.    As vendor chairperson and webmaster, I am actively involved with the planning of Fiber Fusion Northwest - and there is lots to do in that regard right now!   I am also participating in the Whidbey Island Fiber Quest taking place May 17-20.   Based on previous Fiber Quests, we expect many fiber enthusiasts to visit over the course of the weekend.  

These are both fun events for any one interested in fiber or fiber arts.  Take a look at the websites to learn more about them! 
Fiber Fusion Northwest - www.fiberfusion.net
Whidbey Island Fiber Quest - www.whidbeyfiberquest.com