No new arrivals since Saturday night. As my friend Jo commented, the girls appear to be on strike. 

Some footage of Thalia’s triplets at play.

Sharing a few moments from last night's barn check. I arrived in time for  "last call".

Thalia's triplets are still the only three lambs in the barn, so they're getting all kinds of attention. Thalia deserves a gold star for taking excellent care of her little ones, who are all alert, on their feet, nursing, and checking out the rest of the flock through the slats in their lambing jug.

I'm hoping Thalia's milk supply will be adequate to feed them all without bottle intervention. Although bottle lambs are cute – they're also a ton of work. It's much easier and healthier to supplement momma's diet and let her do the work.

We're checking their weight so we can be sure they're gaining, using the fishing scale (below) with a special sling attached. This little minnow weighs 5# 6 oz. – the smallest of the three. She is Saffron and was the last born. The biggest lamb is Cobalt 8# 8 oz followed by Crimson (my first arrival) who weighs 5# 9 oz.

Thalia's udder is perfect and her milk has come in (hooray!), and in good supply. With three lambs, someone always has to weight her/his turn.

As I said, they're getting lots of attention. The first time ewes have been poking their noses into Thalia's pen for a sniff. And Crackerjack has looked into the pen many times to scope things out.

And while it's easy to become mesmerized by a pen of adorable newborns, I'm keeping an eye on the rest of the flock and watching for who might be next.

I see three potential candidates for next in line. What do I look for? Well, the most obvious physical change is a distended udder and swelling in other parts. Right before lambing, there's a contour change in the mother's midriff, a slight hollowing above the pelvis as the lambs descend toward the birthing canal. This change is the hardest one to see, since the girls where jackets.

Then there are the tell-tale behaviour signs: standing apart from the flock, head down in a corner with a far-away look . . . .

Tell me who you think it will be. Join my lamb a-long contest. All commenters are entered into the pool for our grand prize – 2 skeins of Wool & Alpaca Twist and a copy of Lisa Lloyd's Thistle & Fox Socks booklet, drawing to take place after the last lambs have touched down.

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copyright 2009. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved.

Our very first lamb arrived right after dinner tonight. At evening feeding I noticed Thalia was in labor, though it didn't affect her appetite one bit. I went to the studio to change my sweater and by the time I returned to the barn she had delivered a sweet little ewe!

Who was then followed by her brother.

And a bit later, to my surprise,  a sister! I've not had many sets of Cormo triplets and I certainly wasn't trying for them. So I'm pretty stunned.

Thalia's showering them all with attention. She had them cleaned up fast. Wouldn't you know the first lambs arrive on a raw, rainy evening. I placed a heat box in their jug and bundled them up in little wool sweaters. The last ewe is smaller than the others and I spent quite a while making sure she nursed. I have a feeling she may need a little more help in that department.

As I put away the birthing kit I thought about names. Since they were first and arrived in three, I've named them for the 3 primary colors: Crimson, Cobalt and Saffron.

I can hear Thalia and the lambs snickering to each other as I type. When I finish posting I'll head back to the barn to see how they're doing.

And maybe to see who's next.

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copyright 2009. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved.

When I was expecting my first (and only) child, my girlfriends and co-workers had a baby pool. There was a chalk board in the break room at work where everyone took a shot at guessing the baby's arrival date, estimated time of arrival, gender, and birth weight. There was a pot, winner take all,  and you tossed in a buck for each guess. It was fun and a good diversion for me during the last long weeks of pregnancy, though I couldn't help but feel just a little pressure.

When it comes to lambing, your guess is as good as mine. When will they arrive? At what hour? In what numbers? Who knows? I'm exhausted already from just thinking about it and listening to the mothers chew their cud all night on the baby monitor. At this rate I'll be a zombie shepherd by the time the first lamb touches down.

Here's how you can have a little fun and help me pass the time:

For each week, see  if you can predict which ewe will  deliver next and the number and gender of her lambs.

Each Friday, we'll see who guessed most accurately for that week. And I'll enter the names of all blog commenters  into a drawing to win a grand prize: 2 skeins of Foxfire Fiber Wool Alpaca Twist sock yarn featuring fine wool from my flock blended with alpaca fiber  and a copy of Lisa Lloyd's Thistle and Fox Socks booklet (which features some amazing sock patterns designed for my yarns and very pretty pictures of my flock). You can enter anew each week. The grand prize drawing will be at the end of lambing season. (Does anyone care to guess when that may be? : )

Here's our team of ewes in order of seniority:

Pansy – 9 year old Cormo Veteran

Kodiak – 5 year old Cormo Cross

Our 4 year olds:

Calypso
Cassandra
Thalia

My only 3 year old (2006 was a thin year for ewes):

Verbena

And the 2 year olds (first time moms):

Tupelo
Pheonix
Corona
Zuni
Galveston
Aberdeen
Helena
Mystic

Lamb-A-Long with me. And watch what happens.

FYI, our ram Teaberry's courtship ran from October 31 to December 13.

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copyright 2009. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved.

If you're wondering what I've been up to the past few days,  it
hasn't been delivering lambs. The mysterious lack of action in the
birthing barn has me double checking the calendar. We're well within
the window, but the lamb count remains zippo.

What I do have is a barn full of restless ewes.

I'm keeping close watch on developments. Several of the ewes are really bagging up. If I were to bet on who'll go first, I'd say its Thalia, whose udder is the size of a bowling ball. Poor girl is having trouble walking. Ordinarily mellow, she was downright testy this morning, stamping her hoof at me when I came over to say hello. She's practicing defense for when her lambs arrive.

Here's the posterior view at breakfast feeder. See what I mean?

While not all are as fully endowed as Thalia (yet), they are all as big as houses. I've cut back on hay and increased grain this week simply because they have no  internal space and the nutritional demands are way up there. They can get roughly the same or more protein  from a small amount of grain without stuffing themselves and becoming so uncomfortable.

I can hear them straining and moaning at night via the baby monitor. None of us is sleeping well. At 2 am a pack of coyotes put everyone on alert. I know they live in the dell below the barn, I've seen their scat just outside the fence. Let's hope they respect the llama and the fences.

Two new lambcams make it easier for me to keep my eye on everyone, especially at night. With their installation last Friday, I now have two great views of the "exciting"  birthing barn action without leaving my bedroom.

A group of knitters and spinners paid me a visit on Sunday, a perfectly fine way to pass a rainy afternoon. Everyone wanted to watch sheep tv in the bedroom.

For now it's simply watch and wait. With the waxing moon, I'll be
shocked if we don't get slammed any time now, so I guess I better get
rested (and take my vitamins, as my friend Jo reminds me!).

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copyright 2009. Barbara Parry. All rights reserved.

I've spent the last two days catching up on projects in the studio and preparing for lambing. The expectant mommas are looking larger by the minute and I know the lambs can come at almost anytime. With the cold and blustery days we've had so far this week, I'm glad I haven't had to deal with newborns in the birthing barn. Not yet.