Corgi puppies the cutest farm update yet!

So we have some beautiful newborn puppies in here. They like under and it starts early. Isn't it Brian? You like under the rails? Squishing under there. I've got this little lamb in here. Hang on, got a bubby crying. What's the matter? What's the matter? You got a full tummy? I just fed you. Hey, I just fed you. Good baby. We got no mummy because Briar is on strike. She does not want to be a mummy. I'm going to have to nurse this baby because I don't like them crying. I feel so sorry for them. Oh, it's two stripes, little two stripes. Look at that beautiful face. Grandma will nurse you. I've got a little lamby in there that's got a heartbeat, that little plush toy to keep them company. I just have to say to these babies, I'll be back. Yeah, so we did try with Briar for nearly five days, four to five days. We were in the box every couple of hours having to hold her down, put puppies on her to let them feed. But there was a few things working against us. Briar turns out to not be motherly at all. This is the most she does. She gets in, she has a little sniff, she walks around and gets out again. She does that maybe twice to three times in a 24 hour period. She knows they're her puppies, but she just does not want to mother them. She doesn't want to clean them, she doesn't want to feed them. She just likes to look at them and go, oh, look, they're pretty puppies. And that's the extent of it. It's not something I've ever heard of before. And other breeders I've talked to have not come across it either. So yeah, she's pretty special, this one. Aren't you, Briar? How busy, Briar. You too busy to be a mummy, hey? You're a career girl. We love her just the same, but she won't be having any more puppies because this has been such hard work. Their puppies have had some belly aches. They've had what you would call colic in a newborn baby, which they don't seem to get when they're on their mothers. I guess because it's the perfect feed for them and the perfect delivery system through the breastfeeding means. But yeah, having to feed on the bottle and having to drink puppy formula is not the same as having mother's milk. So it's not been an easy job, that's for sure. We're both quite exhausted. These puppies are eight days old. They were awake yesterday and it's been two to three hourly feeds night and day around the clock for them. Plus for the first four days, we were trying to get Briar to feed as well. So that was in between the two hourly feeds for the puppies. We were trying to get them to feed off of Briar. The other thing that doesn't work in Briar's favour is that she has some inverted nipples. So that means that their nipples don't actually stand out. They don't pull out like a regular nipple does. And that makes it harder for the puppies to latch on. The other thing that was an issue was that she didn't have any milk originally. So she had to be on injections and tablets to make her milk come in, which it did eventually. After two days, she got some milk. But yeah, the puppies really had two good teats to feed off of and we put some of the stronger puppies onto the other teats that weren't as good. And they could feed off of them, but it was just exhausting having to put Briar in constantly and hold her on her back so that they could feed. It's just not something that you can keep up indefinitely. So we tried for four to five days and she wasn't improving any. She wasn't getting in the box and letting them feed at all. She wasn't even cuddling with them. She wouldn't lie down in the box. If she'd come in the box by herself, I'd sit with her. And as soon as the puppies came over to her, she was like, right, I'm out of here. I'm getting out. So yeah, it has not been successful at all. But we've only lost one. One little puppy died of Briar's. She had eight, but we have seven puppies of hers. There's five here that we're bottle feeding and Harriet adopted two. I'll show you Harriet. Here we have brilliant mummy Harriet. Aren't you a good, good girl? This is Harriet's last litter. She's been a brilliant mummy, each litter. We did have some scares with poor Harriet though. Poor Harriet lost a lot of blood when she was having her puppies. So that was super, super scary. Her blood count went from 40 down to 18. It's back up in the normal range now though. Her puppies are nine days old. So Briar's are eight days old. Harriet's are nine days old. So they're very, very close together. The closest litters we've had so far in our 20 years of breeding. But Harriet's puppies didn't all survive. There was a couple of very small ones which passed. And unfortunately, in only the second day of their life, Harriet actually smothered two, keeping them in too close to her body. It only takes seconds to smother a puppy. So even though we are right here 24-7, there is always someone watching them. Plus we have cameras going. Yeah, it's just unfortunately something that sometimes happens. They're in quite a bit of pain, unfortunately, when they have puppies. And they're tired. They're a bit out of it. Everything's new. And yeah, it's hard work for them. So that unfortunately happened. So she had seven puppies and was left with three. So we popped two of Briar's on day five when we gave up trying to get Briar to feed them. We popped two over here to Harriet to feed from her because she'd come around. She was a lot more alert and a lot more careful with the puppies. So we felt that while we're at this very early stage and watching them 24-7, that it was worth the risk to put two puppies of Briar's with Harriet. So now they have five each to look after. Well, we have five to look after and Harriet has five to look after. So yeah, we've got two. Fortunately, I know which two are Briar's puppies. I'll just show you this puppy here who's trying to get on the booth. I'll just move you around Iris. Iris is a land seal. She's enormous. That's one of Harriet's babies. This is Phoenix. He is one of Briar's puppies. And this little puppy here is one of Briar's puppies as well. I'm still coming up with a name for him. I haven't thought of one yet. But other than that, we have Archer, Iris, Phoenix and Forest. But they're all doing pretty well. Forest is pretty small compared to the other puppies, but he's gaining weight every day and doing pretty well now. We were pretty worried about him to start with. He lost a good bit of weight. All puppies lose weight when they're born. Just like a human baby, they all lose weight and then they gain it back again. But yeah, little Forest, we were pretty worried about him. We had him in the Humidity Crib and on oxygen. We've had a couple of them in the Humidity Crib and on oxygen to be honest. We've not known where it was going to stop with losing puppies with these two litters. It's been an absolute ordeal to say the least. It's been very stressful. But yeah, fingers crossed, I'm hoping we've turned the corner and it'll be all onwards and upwards from here. So all our other beautiful dogs have to stay outside when we've got newborn puppies because the mummies stress out about the puppies and that is something that can trigger them keeping the puppies in too close to them and smothering them. So I've been missing all my beautiful girls and I hope they've been missing me too. I'm sure they have. And Stormy. Yeah, you're not a girl, you're a beautiful boy. Yeah, you're a dad. Hey, Ariel. Hi, Ariel. Hi, gorgeous. Hi, Stormy. Hi. Hi, Stormy. You're so beautiful. Yeah. This is Scarlett. Hi, Scarlett. And baby Flora. Hi, Flora. And good old Bentley Boo. And where's Hazel? Hazel's having a drink. Hazel. Hi, darling girl. And of course, I've been missing these big kids. Out here, Dan's been an absolute legend. He's been doing everything outside. So he's been feeding and keeping these kids happy. Hey, hi, Feather. You want some carrot? I've got some carrot for you. Oh, you've got mud. Look at your muddy face. I know, I know, I'll get it. I'll get it. Hang on. Not sure what those kids are barking at. Here we go, my sweet pea. My gorgeous girl. I've got some for the other kids too. I'll just break it up. Is it peace? Here you go. Here you go, Chad. Go and get them. Okay, can't find it. Bite a bit off. Good boys. Hey, good boys. Good girl, Feather. I wasn't calling you a boy. Here you go, Rocco. Another piece. Gotta go find it so Feather doesn't chase you away. That's enough for you. That's enough for you. So yeah, I'm sure I look like a wreck. But that can't be helped. I got this beautiful girl out here. Come to see her. She's so adorable. Hey, aren't you? I've been missing her so much. She doesn't miss me, I'm sure. She just wants me to get her carrots. Don't you? I'm gonna feed her tonight because I really need some outside time. Yeah, I'm gonna feed you tonight. Dad's been feeding. He's been doing great. Yeah, he's been feeding all the horses, all the dogs, morning and night. He's been an absolute legend. And the ducks are coming up. I'll show you the ducks. Yes, Feather. Here come the duckies are coming up for their afternoon tea. That's four boys we've got there. So in the front is Jamie. Behind Jamie, oh sorry, that's Coco, then Jamie. Then the white one is Taylor and the black one is Jesse. It's about as close as I can get. Yeah, so closest. Feather pushing me. So at the front there you can see is Coco, then Jesse, then Jamie and Taylor. We called them all unisex names because when we bought them, we didn't know if they were girls or boys, they were too young. And they've turned out to be four boys. So that's interesting. But we shall get them some afternoon tea and feed them. So the boys are definitely ready to call our chookies. Here's the boys. Here's our chookies and Fabio, of course. Hi Fabio. That's Ruthie. That's Jasey. We've got Maisie around here, which is Jasey's daughter. And Gertie and Gwendolyn as well. I'll just, I need two hands to pop it in the bucket. The ducks might move away. They are not tame ducks at all. But they feed out of the bucket because they like to gobble it down in big amounts. And I put it on the ground for the chickens, but it's not really showing up in the camera. Come on duckies. That's Jamie in the front. Jamie's being the bravest. And Taylor, the white duck. Jesse is the black duck with the green head, the peacock green. So beautiful. And the one at the back is Coco. If I move back a bit, they will hopefully get their afternoon tea. Zoom in so you can see better. And these ducks coming in are called whistling ducks. They're wild ducks. They have the weirdest quack. It's honestly not a quack. It's a whistle. That's not what they're doing at the moment. But they have a real proper whistle. They're such cool ducks. Like look at their feathers. They're amazing. Those are wild ducks as well, called whistling ducks. They're so cute. How pretty are they? I love our duckies and our chookies. Just all adds to farm life. So I just went to check the eggs and there is three girls sitting in there. Maisy, Gertie and Gwendolyn are all sitting on their eggs. So I'll just grab the bucket. Yeah, they're all sitting on their eggs. So I'll just let them sit. I don't mind if we get baby chooks, but we never do. I think Fabio might be, you know, throw in blanks. Of course, we've had Fabio for about six or seven years. And he was an adult when we got him. And we've never had baby ducks ever. So yeah, it's fine. Good kids. That's Hazel playing with her daughter Flora and Scarlett barking at them. Scarlett's barking because she's desperate to join in. Stormy actually plays with Flora the most. He absolutely loves her. They love each other. It's so cute. Daddy and daughter, they play so much. It's just adorable. Look at that face. Look at all those faces. Look at Flora's baby face. She's so cute. I'm just slightly obsessed. That's all. Just slightly. Hey, gorgeous girls. Okay. That is just beautiful. Yeah, just beautiful. Good kids. Here's the other good kids. Hey, gorgeous. Hi, gorgeous. Yes, darling. You ready for your dinner? You're a good girl. Hey, Rocco, are you ready for your dinner? We get on and make it? We'll get on and make it. Okay. Okay, gorgeous. Oh, I've missed you so much. Missed you so much, darling girl. And you Rocco, I've missed you too, darling. You mummy's boy? Not really. He is daddy's boy. Well and truly. But that's okay because I can love him too. He is daddy's horse. You're mummy's horse. You don't care. You just want to be fed. Okay. So Dan's been doing everything outside. Absolutely everything. He feeds the dogs every night anyway. That's his usual job. But he's been doing the horses as well. He's been feeding in the mornings as well because Flora's a baby and she needs to be fed in the morning as well as at night. And he's been feeding the horses morning and night. And I've mainly been concentrating on the puppies inside. Coming out for some dinner? Come on. Come on, Flora. They all know their spots for their dinner. This area is just used to feed so that we can know how much they're eating. Their food gets weighed every night so that we know how much they're eating and that way we are able to adjust their foods if someone needs a bit more or a bit less. If someone needs medicine in their dinner, we can do that easily. Our dogs are never locked up unless it's for their own benefit and they're having their dinner all separately so that we can monitor everything. So Briar and Harriet have been and Dan's just done that. So that is Feather over there with Chad behind her. Yes, darling, just chew that up first. Chew that up. You've come a long way. When we first got Rocco, he didn't know anything about treats. He loves his carrot and apple now and his muesli bars. We like them to eat separate. Rocco here needs a lot more food to keep him a nice weight than Feather does, obviously. I mean, he's two hens bigger than her and a different breed. Rocco is a standard bred. Feather is a quarter horse and Chad is a Shetland pony. So Chad really doesn't need anything but I put a little bit of chaff in a bucket for him and wet it down and give him a little handful of high gain zero pellets, which are very low in sugar and starch. He literally gets a little handful of pellets, like a quarter of a cup maybe, maybe less. But just so that he feels like he's getting a little bucket feed as well. So yeah, we're going to get Rocco out here in a minute. Rocco has got a crack under his hoof, a little bit of hoof wall separation. So we've been, well Dan has been, Dan's horse, so he's been doing it previous to us having puppies anyway. We've been doing it about a month now and he's been putting the special waxy, they're called blue balls, I will get the proper name for them, but it really helps to kill any germs and it promotes healing as well in the hoof. And yeah, we're just getting that back and I'll show you that. So this is the stuff that we put in Rocco's hoof. It's an all natural product but it's fantastic. It's good for all sorts of things and that's why it's called blue balls. They just squash down and you can squeeze them into cracks. It's really great stuff, our farrier. Tim put us onto those, they're fantastic. Rocco is an ex-racehorse. So he is seven, seven this year, is he seven this year or eight this year? I forget. Eight this year, seven at the moment. But he had a racing career and he's just the most fantastic boy, aren't you? Yes, you are. No, go with dad. Go with dad. Off you go. Dan loves him to bits and he loves Dan. He really is a dad's boy. It's all standing there. That's the area there. This crack here, just point to it, there where the pick is, that's the area that Dan's been cleaning out and filling with beeswax blue balls. So it's just gonna squash the goop in there, do it all the way down. It just promotes healing and growth and kills any germs. So Dan's put it right down all the way around his hoof just to keep it all nice and healthy. It doesn't actually need this, but we're just being generous. So it's a bit hard to see in the video, but we've got some green pockets of grass left, but mostly it's pretty brown. Yeah, we're having to feed hay morning and night, plus their dinner. Honestly, it is just so beautiful to be outside. I've got my coffee. I'm going to sit outside, I'm going to fill their water up and spend a bit of time with them. Not to brush in, yeah, spend a bit of time with my girl out here. Rocco's funny. Rocco's got to have his hay down first because he just throws his bucket so his feed gets popped onto his hay and that way it's all in one pile still. It doesn't get spread out with him tossing the bucket in the air. So yeah, that's what he gets. But he's looking pretty good. Looking nice and shiny even though you're pretty dirty. Chad's pretty grotty. Look at his tail. What have you done to your tail? You've been rubbing it. What have you done here, boy? It's a mess. It's a mess. You're a wild mountain man, aren't you? Look at that tail. Look how grotty you are. You're a grotty boy, hey, but you're cute as. Cute as. Been having a bit of a rub, I think. Looks like. He's not usually an itchy boy, but mum hasn't been out here looking after him and he's a bit... got some rub marks, haven't you, darling? I might get some oil and pop on you while I'm here now. Because we do not want you getting all itchy and bitten. That's terrible. That would be terrible. Let me get that fixed for you. So this is the oil that I use. It's fantastic for everything, but that's what I've just popped on his itchy spots. Hopefully that helps him. It's not going to help every horse, of course, but it helps little Mirabel, another Shetland pony that we had, and hopefully that's going to help his itchy spots. These are worse on this side. You can see there he's got some rub marks where he's rubbed his neck. I am going to pick a spot, hopefully not get bitten by ants, and I'm just going to sit out here and drink my coffee with my two little loves here while they eat their hay. They've So gorgeous. This is just so good for my mental health to be out here with these kids. Makes me smile again after all the stress with the puppies. You just need a little break away sometimes. It's hard work breeding puppies and it doesn't always go to plan. Sometimes very heartbreaking and distressing. You sometimes get to the point you just don't know what to do now. What can I try now? It can be very upsetting and all consuming mentally, physically. This is just a nice little breakout here with these kids. And Chad's enjoying it too. You're going to sit on top of me. When I first got him I didn't have any other horses here for a week. So for that first week I spent a lot of time with him. Are you checking that out? And he would often, I'd be sitting in the paddock like this, and he would often just come and want to sit on my knee. Are you taking my hat? I need my hat. That's sunny. Yeah, he would come and he'd want to sit on my knee. He's such a cuddly boy, but he's too big to sit on my knee. He's not a lap dog. He thinks he is. He's so cute. Yeah, you're so cute. He's getting closer. Okay, under there. Let me get under there. Good boy. Good boy. Could you get any closer? Where do you want it? Under here? Is that what you want? Is that good? Is that good? He's a good boy. He's a good boy. That feels good? I'll get your little lips going. Good boy. Give you a nice big tummy rub, hey? I've got the camera zoomed back as far as it will go. He is nearly on top of me. He's a lovely good boy. Aren't you a lovely good boy? There we go. Look at this. Okay, okay. Yeah, that's what I want. Bum in face for bum scratches. That's lovely. Just lovely. Don't you dare poopy on me. I'm sure he wouldn't. He just wants a bum scratch. He's just putting himself where he wants the scratches to be. Classic. Funny boy. Look at this cute boy. Is he not just the cutest pony? He is so cute, aren't you? He's just so adorable. He's the cutest little fella. Good girl. So beautiful. Good girl. Good girl. Yeah, good girl. What is that? What is that? Good girl. Good girl. What is that? What is that? With everything organised, ready to start feeding again. So we use the cotton balls to toilet the puppies. After I've toileted them, I put some pawpaw implement on and on their little bottoms so their bottoms don't get sore. And we're just heating up the bottle in some hot water. This is Lightning, our red boy. I'm just going to get him to go to the toilet. One cotton ball. He's doing a wee. Puppies don't go to the toilet by themselves until about two weeks of age. They've got to be stimulated to go to the toilet. Yeah, I'm just wiping your leg down. Normally the mummy, pup mummy would keep them all clean, but we have to do that for them. Just wash your little leg. There we go.