Phoebe and Beatrice are such good friends. Just because two sheep are the same age doesn't mean that they'll get along, but these two are a good match. 

Beatrice is outgoing, and has been accepted by the big girls, but she really enjoys hanging out with Phoebe. And without Beatrice, Phoebe would be lost.

For the past few nights, I've been separating the new girls from my old girls at night. My old girls are used to having my undivided attention, and they won't let the new girls get close to me. My evening routine has settled into taking hay and grain to the old shed, letting my old girls push the new girls out, and then closing the gate behind them. Then, the new girls are free to follow me to the new barn, where they get their own hay and grain.

I sat at the barn threshold with the grain trough in my lap. With their noses buried in the trough, I was able to pet Moon and even Beatrice. I didn't try to pet Phoebe the first couple of nights, because I didn't want to interrupt her eating. I just concentrated on keeping Moon from butting her away from the trough.

It helps that Moon isn't shy and will always walk over for pets--the two lambs watch her and it makes them wonder what they're missing. Beatrice had come over a couple of times to snuffle at my fingers, but both lambs seemed afraid of my hands. I can't blame them; I knew the breeder had been travelling this spring, and hadn't been able to cuddle them as much as she would have normally. And the last thing they remembered was being grabbed and hauled away from their mommies to be brought here. 

So for a few nights, I let them eat from the trough and only reached out to Moon and Beatrice. But last night, as I was putting the old girls in the old shed, Moon snuck by and decided to party with the other yearlings.*

Which left me with just the lambs! I got more hay and grain for the lambs, and they followed me to the new barn. Instead of the trough, I brought the grain in a scoop. I sat on the threshold again, which is basically at ground-level, and held the grain in my hand. They just gave me some suspicious side-eye, and wouldn't eat the grain. I sprinkled the grain on the threshold next to me, and Beatrice came over to vacuum it all up. When she started to look for more, I held out a handful of grain again. She'd only had a little grain and wanted more, so this time, she ate out of my hand. In the meantime, Phoebe finally came to the threshold that had been licked clean of grain by Beatrice. With the hand that wasn't feeding Beatrice, I sprinkled another handful on the threshold for Phoebe. As she was eating the grain, I took another handful and held it just above the threshold. And finally, finally, she took the grain from my hand.

When the grain ran out, I reached out slowly and started scratching Beatrice's nose. And then her chest. She froze, and I could see it dawning on her why the older girls would mob me for pets. I scratched her chest and started picking sticks and dried leaves off her fleece as her eyes glazed over and she started burping and chewing her cud.

Phoebe watched for a while, and then sidled up. I held out my hand, and then, I slowly withdrew my hand. I don't know if all sheep are this way, but when I draw my hand away from my sheep, they automatically follow my hand and step closer. Phoebe did exactly that and put her soft little nose in my hand. She had all sorts of leaves, hay, and other um, barnyard detritus stuck in her fleece, and she let me pull everything out. I got the feeling it was the first time she'd felt completely at ease here. She had a full tummy from being able to eat without having to worry about being chased, butted, or trampled by the big girls, and as I scratched her neck and chest, she flopped down and fell asleep immediately.

By this time, Beatrice was so over being shy that she'd bury her head in the hay basket, then come stand in front of me, dripping hay, and butt my hand to pull the hay off her. 

*And they did party, those punks! They pushed open the gate to the front field, and spent the night chomping on fallen apples and stripping the bark off the apple branches. They had so much fun all night that they've been sleeping all morning. Teenagers, honestly.