[dyedinthewool]

I've been offered a couple of 'molly' lambs - but have a couple of Q's

How often would they need feeding and for how long. Weeks/ months...

How much milk should they be getting at each feed. 

When should they start eating 'hard' feed. And is it a special feed.

How soon can I let them out into the grass paddock.

Presuming it will involve feeding during the night - so want to keep them close - like in the Extension we are building - it's water/wind tight but no heating, would that be alright.

Would they need heat lamp.

Will need to contain them in a corner and thought of the 'pallet style' box the slates came in it's about 2'6"" square and 2' high, would this do to start with - I can, once feeding is not so crucial (at night) move them into the barn in their own pen, where I have 3 ewe lambs separated from the  (5) breeding ewes. They can come and go to their paddock as they want.

How old do the 'molly' lambs need to be before I can introduce them to the others - once the ram goes home intended to put all the ewes/lambs in together.

[piggy]

Sorry does Molly mean orphan if so we had 8 last year in march,we had them at a week old and fed them 4 hourly through the day from 6am no night feeds,we had them in a stable on straw for the first two weeks then let them out for an hour at a time increasing the time slowly,at night we shut them in 2s in a dog cage with the bottom to half way up blocked with cardboard to keep the drafts out and i covered the top with one of my horses thick winter stable rugs.They were still on milk at 9 weeks but only 1 bottle a day then.Cant remember when they started having feed i think it was from about 2 weeks they just had lamb creep.

[dyedinthewool]

Yes 'molly' is an orphan lamb (think it may be a somerset naming)

thanks for that - did think i would surround the crate with old duvet and put some wire over the top so they can't jump out.

It was the 4 hourly night feeds I was worried about as with a mum  the could help their selves at anytime.  So it's okay if I didn't feed from 10.30-11.0pm until 6 am.

Many thanks for you help

Just got to get the hang of lambing now - very nerve racking when you read all the different things that can happen and all the things you need 'just in case'

[piggy]

We didnt on advice from the farmer they came from but others may disagree,be warned they become so tame and friendly you will not want to part with them,i have ended up keeping 2 as i couldnt bear to see them go,i have seen somewhere on the web that you can get buckets with teats on.

[piggy]

Here is Dolly