My husband and I received our first Whitetail Fawn when he was a day old. A few weeks before bringing her home, we applied through the Department of Natural Resources for our wildlife breeders license. You should get this, and the breeding numbers of the male and female the fawn came from. We allowed this fawn to nurse from her dam for 24 hours to get some colostrum before bringing her home.
We put her in a dog crate for transport home. Fawns are very skittish and docile and are easily handled for the first few days. She was kept in the house for her first 3 weeks and then moved to an outside dog pen. White-tailed deer can jump up from a very young age. We recommend at least 4 feet. fence until 12 weeks of age and then a 9- to 10-foot fence thereafter.
White-tailed deer are fed goat’s milk replacer. This can be found at many feed or farm stores. For feeding, we use a normal bottle with a rubber nipple. You can also buy a long red rubber teat used for bottle feeding goats and lambs. The substitute bag will tell you how to mix the formula. We would mix up a large batch and store it in a container in the refrigerator.
We started our fawn with a 3 hour feeding schedule. It is very important that these fawns are fed at least 6 times a day for the first few weeks. Start with one ounce of formula. Our fawn lay down for the first week and didn’t get up or move much. To feed her, we placed her on a towel and fed her while she was lying down. We had a lot of problems with his feeding. She didn’t take the nipple well at all and we ended up using a syringe to force feed her for a few days. After she learned him, she ate like a pro. It is advisable to add 1-2 tablespoons of natural yogurt to each bottle to prevent diarrhea. Diarrhea can be fatal for a fawn and you can lose it very quickly. If the diarrhea persists, it may be necessary to speak to a wildlife or exotic animal veterinarian about medication.
The reason most people lose fawns is because they don’t know that they must clean the deer’s butt after every feeding to stimulate urination and defecation. It is mandatory that this be done. Fawns are unable to use their bodily functions on their own until 4-6 weeks of age. They can easily become septic and die if not cleaned. We put our fawn in a Rubbermaid tub with newspapers on the bottom. We used baby wipes to clean it and did so after every meal.
At about 12 weeks of age, you can wean the fawn from the bottle. We started offering venison pellets and water in a container starting at week 3. He started eating solids around 8 weeks of age. We also feed clover, corn and soybean hay to supplement their diet. Our bottle feeding schedule is as follows:
Day 1-3 2 ozs every 3 hours (force feeding as needed)
Day 4-7 4 ozs 6 times a day
Day 8-14 6 ozs 6 times a day
Day 15-21 8 ozs 5 times a day
Day 22-28 8 oz 5 times a day
Day 29-35 9 ozs 4 times a day
Day 36-42 10 ozs 3 times a day
Day 43-49 10 ozs 3 times a day
Day 50-56 12 ozs 2 times a day
Day 57-63 12 ozs 2 times a day
Day 64-84 16 oz ounce daily
Please note that each deer is different and adjustments may be required. The main problem with bottle feeding is overfeeding of fawns. All deer farmers do things differently, we have found this system to be the one that works for us.
