[horsemadmummy]

as we will have 5 ewes lambing can anyone suggest how many bonding pens we should have?  have read conflicting ratios so advice would be useful.

[Hardfeather]

That will depend on how closely they lamb.

[darkbrowneggs]

Just to make my own life easy I used to put a pen for each sheep (like you only had a small flock - around 10 usually.)  Each evening I would call in the girls and after a couple of days they would all head to their own seperate pen and spend the night there - obviously when I called them it was with the feed bucket

That way I knew each was getting her ration, there was no chance of changed lambs or not mothering - though mine were BWM which are excellent mothers.

Once they had lambed I kept them in a couple of days - perhaps a bit longer if the weather was very wet then they went out, but still got called in at night so mum had her ration.

Bit of lamb sorting out to do at bedtime, but with the ewe safely in the pen and the gate a bit ajar at the bottom they soon got together.

It made it very easy for me to manage, and there was never a need to catch anything up if I wanted to look at it

Sometimes if a ewe lambed in the day she would go back into her own pen by herself

All the best
Sue

[daddymatty82]

pen up after or just before iminant birth and leave for a few days to bond then if warm enough let out and all will be good. if you got 5 ewes be prepared for 5 stalls but just have 2 main ones. after all 1 ewe may set the rest off . lol in a perfect world maybe but you may get 2 down in 1 go. also a sign of the udder bagging up 24 hrs before birth  and look for star gazing

[shrekfeet]

with so few ewes I think you are adding an unnecessary expense. It is unlikely that they will be laming on the same night or that their barn will be so large that the lambs and mums get seperated. Save yourself the expense and give it a try without.

[lachlanandmarcus]

I reckon try to have at least one pen per 2 or 3 ewes, but bear in mind if re-using pens they need to be thoroughly cleaned out in between uses.

[Madcow]

We also have 5 ewes, I have 1 large pen for them all to go into at night, with 2 birthing 'units', so if they birth over night it may well happen in the large pen and then they are transferred into the birthing pen to mother up, but all is ok if they birth in the large pen, with so few ewes they mother up fine. This is all normally fine however this year 3 birthed on the same day so a new rapidly constructed unit was made with pallets and string ! All a bit Heath Robinson but it works for us 

[horsemadmummy]

with the ewes being shetland what size pens would you suggest?  both for large and individual?

[daddymatty82]

our shetland have one hurdle square  per ewe  so four hurdles in total

[horsemadmummy]

but are they 3ft 4ft 5ft?  was hoping 4ft sq would do it but need help?

[TheCaptain]

We have nine ewes but had 7 lamb in 7 days, which required some juggling!  Set up four permanent pens and one large pen for the eldest to go in once mum and done the bonding thing with her bambino for 24-48 hrs, although I did let them into the main pen and kicked out the expectant mums into the field during the day before penning them up at night before bringing the others in.  I built all of my pens out of wood from pallets, some of them 4 ft up to a couple of 7 footers; all it cost me was nails, screws, time and a lot of patience.  I've also banged together my hay rack and my creep feeder - gives my little barn a real olde age rustic feel!

[Freddiesfarm]

My bonding pens are 4ft sq.  When we have a mad rush on the temporary hurdle pens are 3ft x 6ft.  I have commercial sheep so that should give you an idea of the size. 

More important than size really is clean straw, draft free and dry. 

As everyone else has said, with so few you can get away with one big pen for them all at night and a temporary small pen for problem cases.