Sorry for the delay

I woke up early Friday morning, October 16th, to go find out if Princess had her babies. She was almost two days late and I thought for sure she had a false pregnancy...

I was devestated to find my Princess dead in her nest box. I ran inside and woke Brett. We both balled as we tried to grasp that we had just lost our Princess. He scrambled in from the barn with a tiny baby in his hands. Princess had had one baby before she passed.... We've spent the last 12 days, spending every waking (and sleeping) moment keeping our orphan alive with the help of our friends and family. Cathy and Jim (our breeders) gave us all the info and help they could and set us up for the long haul.

"Princess Annie" is on day 12 today and is doing super so far. It's been a long long week and a half. I've been up ever 2 hours every night now checking on her. I have kept a log of what she is eating and other things that happen with her growth that I'll post when I have time.

Cathy and Jim graciously gave us another doe to replace Princess even though we knew it wasn't something under their control. None of us knew this was going to happen or we would never have bred Princess... We all decided for us to adopt Lily's mom, Chocolate Mama. She's a 22 month Satin Angora Chocolate Doe. That way, we would have an experienced doe. Cathy and Jim encouraged us to breed her to Lily's dad so we'd get the same beautiful babies that were out of Lily's litter (lilac and copper agoutis). So we agreed and will be breeding her next month. They wanted us to have a good breeding experience.... We're waiting until Choco Mama is comfortable in her new home and we're waiting till Annie is off milk when Choco Mama's babies are born. Brett built her a large, beautiful nest box that is permenantly in her cage rather than a hutch box so there are no stresses of box changing just in case...

Everyone has been incredibly helpful and supportive. Brett and I get very attached to our animals and losing Princess was devestating. Princess Annie was the only thing left that we had of Princess and we were determined to beat the odds with this orphan baby. So far she is a real fighter and continues to thrive, even through mishaps. She will always be our Orphan Annie. We are even thinking about letting her continue to live in the house with us...

I have video and pictures to catch you up on but I am at work right now- I'll post them when I can. For some reason, this isn't letting me post pictures...