feeding routine

I am wondering if I setting myself up for a problem. I have four doe fawns that I have been feeding. The first is 5 weeks old. She is good and healthy and giving pellets. She drinks 16oz. of goats milk at a shot, 4 times a day. She still seems hungry. The others are (1)5 weeks, and the other 2 are a month. Two of the three eat 16oz. 4 times daily and sometimes i give both of them another 12-16 oz. of Gatorade halved with water. Seems like a lot but they actually wolf it down and seem to want more. I give them all this because they had scours and one had coccidia and after the fear of them dehydrating, I give them plenty of fluids. Now they both are doing well and giving pellets/logs. The other month old one was very sick in the beginning and needed an IV from the vet and after I still had to inject her under her skin like 5 times a day to keep her hydrated cuz she would only eat 2-3 oz. at a time 5-6 times a day. Now she is up to 8-9 oz. 4 times a day, and gives adult looking pellets. They all have food, fresh dirt, and water available at all times.(Along with grape, maple, apple, or pear leaves) They eat the dirt but don't seem to touch the food or water. They all usually finish their bottles and sometimes want more. My question is should I cut back on the milk and Gatorade? I thought they should be eating or a least trying some food by now. They like the leaves though. I'm scared if I don't give them enough, they will dehydrate again. But going by Scott H.'s schedule, they should not be near 16oz. yet. I don't want to stunt them from growing but I would like to see them getting on some food. I try to stick some in their mouths but they just roll their tongues and spit it out. Sorry about the long post, but I like to give a much info as I can so anyone can gauge what is going on. Any thoughts or advice?

woody, they are so full of milk they don't have room or the desire to eat anything else. If they are all giving pellets, or "firm" poo then I see no reason that a "normal" amount of milk isn't enough. Our 5 week old fawns are getting 10 ozs 3x per day. They have a run outside with clover, grass, and dandelions in it. They eat pellets that we buy just for them. They have fresh water in buckets to drink from.

And our fawns are big. Fact is we had 9 doe fawns at our place last year on the bottle. 3 were sold and I don't know if the guy exposed them or not to a buck. 3 are here and one has fawned and the other 2 are ready to fawn. 2 were sold and the guy called yesterday to say that one had fawned and the other was about to fawn. The 9th fawn broke her neck on the fence in a freak accident.

That said I don't think I will be exposing fawns any more. Speaking of which, Michael you haven't called me

I think Roger is right on the head with the nail strike. Full milk bellies will not encourage them to try to forage an satisfy appetite with solid foods that are made available. Firm poo is a good sign they are healthy so I would cut back on fluids and give them a reason to try something else. As soon as they realize other stuff fills belly then you're in there.

I made the correction above but so anyone who doesn't notice I made the change... Our 5 week old fawns are at 10 ozs 3 x per day.

Well I cut back their rations and wow am I in the dog house. They are all looking at me like "What the heck is this? Where's the rest?" I moved back to 13 oz. and in 2-3 days I'll go down to 10. I'm gonna wait a week to cut them down to 3 times a day. Only to have them all on the same schedule. Then I should be right back on the original schedule. Hope it doesnt hurt them cause their doing good but now they definitely are hungry. I want them on regular food though so, I guess it's tough love.