BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
Good luck with the chicks! And the butter is SOOO good!
DianeS - Listeria spreading, culling the rabbits
- Thread starter DianeS
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Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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Hope the bun makes it. I've raised them on a bottle B4, but never that young. I have 8 chicks in the kitchen right now. Hubby likes them. 
- Thread starter
- #53
- Thread starter
- #54
DianeS
Lovin' The Homestead
As I type this I'm in bed, sick. I've been sick since Tuesday (today is Friday). Probably the flu with the addition of a stomach bug at the same time. Horrid. 103 degree fever. So I haven't done anything at all since Tuesday except lay in bed and make trips to the bathroom. Thankfully I have an amazing husband who is not only taking care of the animals for me, he's doing it without complaining! One dog, three cats, 12 rabbits, and 29 baby chicks are all supposed to be my responsibility. I had just gotten the chicks on Friday, and the outside brooder is acceptably predator-resistant, but not perfectly so and I was intending on making it better this week = but couldn't because of this illness. PLUS I had just gotten two new rabbits on Monday night, not realizing I would be sick in bed the next morning.
So, that's what's going on here. So I'm in bed, doing nothing, when there is a knock at the front door. Drat. I know it's hubby's college textbooks being delivered. Too expensive to leave them unattended on the front porch, especially with how great he's being taking up my chores this week. I drag myself out of bed. I don't immediately fall over, so there is chance this will go well...
As I pass the back door, I glance outside, and see two stray cats stalking my chicks! I hadn't built it to withstand the weight of TWO cats! So I jam my bare feet into flip flops and fly outside, still in my (short) nightgown, to rescue the chicks. The cats glare at me, I slip in the mud, the cats hiss at me, I yell at them (at least I try to yell, it comes out as a whisper), and finally I spash my way into the chicken run, which causes the cats to flee.
I count the chicks, none had been injured or taken. Moving the rabbit cages in that area around will cause the brooder to not be able to be tipped over. As I head inside I pet the two new rabbits, realizing that I hadn't actually seen them in daylight yet. They look good.
I get inside and it dawns on me - I'm splashed in icy mud up to my knees, the cold air is making me cough again, I probably mooned the whole neighborhood when I bent over to count the chicks. But I'm happy. This is what we do, right? Protect our animals against predators? I'm not too sick to do that! Definitely not the brightest thing I've ever done, so I can't title it "the day Diane did something stupid" since there will eventually be too many of those to count. So this one gets called "the day the mailman saved the chickens" because he knocked on the door at exactly the right time. Hopefully he wasn't still around to observe the mooning!
Hubby has four boxes of books on his desk. I've gotten up to get every single one of them today, and checked the back yard every time!
So, that's what's going on here. So I'm in bed, doing nothing, when there is a knock at the front door. Drat. I know it's hubby's college textbooks being delivered. Too expensive to leave them unattended on the front porch, especially with how great he's being taking up my chores this week. I drag myself out of bed. I don't immediately fall over, so there is chance this will go well...
As I pass the back door, I glance outside, and see two stray cats stalking my chicks! I hadn't built it to withstand the weight of TWO cats! So I jam my bare feet into flip flops and fly outside, still in my (short) nightgown, to rescue the chicks. The cats glare at me, I slip in the mud, the cats hiss at me, I yell at them (at least I try to yell, it comes out as a whisper), and finally I spash my way into the chicken run, which causes the cats to flee.
I count the chicks, none had been injured or taken. Moving the rabbit cages in that area around will cause the brooder to not be able to be tipped over. As I head inside I pet the two new rabbits, realizing that I hadn't actually seen them in daylight yet. They look good.
I get inside and it dawns on me - I'm splashed in icy mud up to my knees, the cold air is making me cough again, I probably mooned the whole neighborhood when I bent over to count the chicks. But I'm happy. This is what we do, right? Protect our animals against predators? I'm not too sick to do that! Definitely not the brightest thing I've ever done, so I can't title it "the day Diane did something stupid" since there will eventually be too many of those to count. So this one gets called "the day the mailman saved the chickens" because he knocked on the door at exactly the right time. Hopefully he wasn't still around to observe the mooning!
Hubby has four boxes of books on his desk. I've gotten up to get every single one of them today, and checked the back yard every time!
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Both funny and sad.....I'm sorry you feel so bad... but one good thing~ your humor is full on and intact! 
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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Just hope that no one got it on video!
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- #57
Now why did you make me think about that?
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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I couldn't help myself. Guess I'd better crawl back under my chair. 
- Thread starter
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DianeS
Lovin' The Homestead
I have two brand new rabbits so new they dont have names yet. One is a Californian doe, about 2 years old. The other is probably an American Chinchilla Rabbit doe, also aged about 2 years. They are accustomed to being together, so when I brought them home I put them together into a super-large dog crate in the middle of the yard. This serves the dual purpose of letting the new rabbits enjoy their surroundings (and all the fresh grass that comes up through the bottom of the crate) as well as keeping them away from my other rabbits in case the new ones are carrying some germs that havent shown themselves yet.
The Californian rabbit is crazy for fresh grass. Cra-a-zy for fresh grass! I have plenty of it - I dont mow my backyard, prefering to keep it long so I can grab handfuls for the rabbits enjoyment.
Well this Californian and her friend had eaten down all the fresh grass they could reach in the crate, and the Californian wanted more. So she stuck her head through the side wires of the crate and nibbled some more. Then she wiggled her head around to get it further out and reach some more. Then she squeezed a little further, and got her ears out. Ahh, thats better! She could reach grass a whole inch further away. Now to pull her head back in and do the same thing in the next section of the crate
Oops. Now that her ears were out, she couldnt pull her head back in! Rabbit ears fold backward very easily, but they dont fold forward at all
Thankfully my husband went outside to peek at our new chickens right about then, and saw her. He pushed and pulled at her for a bit, but she couldnt budge. He called me, and I crawled into the dog crate and pushed and pulled from the inside. Then we worked together from the outside and inside at the same time. We tried pushing the ears in backwards. We tried turning her to the right, then the left. No dice. She was stuck fast.
With nothing left to try, we went to the hardware store for bolt cutters. The nice salesman asked what we needed to cut, and was rather dumbfounded when he heard the story but quite quickly pointed us to the type of bolt cutter he thought would work. We bought it and headed home. We worked a washcloth in between the rabbit and the wires to hold the hair out of the way, and my husband cut the wires. Success! I was able to lift the rabbit out and put her in a different area of the crate. After a few tentative movements of her head and ears, she started moving around and even nibbled some hay.
We blocked up the new hole, and left the bun to herself and her friends company. She's doing fine, no ill effects! Hopefully she learned her lesson and won't do that again.
The Californian rabbit is crazy for fresh grass. Cra-a-zy for fresh grass! I have plenty of it - I dont mow my backyard, prefering to keep it long so I can grab handfuls for the rabbits enjoyment.
Well this Californian and her friend had eaten down all the fresh grass they could reach in the crate, and the Californian wanted more. So she stuck her head through the side wires of the crate and nibbled some more. Then she wiggled her head around to get it further out and reach some more. Then she squeezed a little further, and got her ears out. Ahh, thats better! She could reach grass a whole inch further away. Now to pull her head back in and do the same thing in the next section of the crate
Oops. Now that her ears were out, she couldnt pull her head back in! Rabbit ears fold backward very easily, but they dont fold forward at all
Thankfully my husband went outside to peek at our new chickens right about then, and saw her. He pushed and pulled at her for a bit, but she couldnt budge. He called me, and I crawled into the dog crate and pushed and pulled from the inside. Then we worked together from the outside and inside at the same time. We tried pushing the ears in backwards. We tried turning her to the right, then the left. No dice. She was stuck fast.
With nothing left to try, we went to the hardware store for bolt cutters. The nice salesman asked what we needed to cut, and was rather dumbfounded when he heard the story but quite quickly pointed us to the type of bolt cutter he thought would work. We bought it and headed home. We worked a washcloth in between the rabbit and the wires to hold the hair out of the way, and my husband cut the wires. Success! I was able to lift the rabbit out and put her in a different area of the crate. After a few tentative movements of her head and ears, she started moving around and even nibbled some hay.
We blocked up the new hole, and left the bun to herself and her friends company. She's doing fine, no ill effects! Hopefully she learned her lesson and won't do that again.
- Thread starter
- #60
DianeS
Lovin' The Homestead
My husband kept saying that my life was strange enough (at least to my real-life friends) that I should start a blog about it. So I did! You can check it out at www.rantingaboutrectangles.com
Of course I'll keep posting on this journal, especially with things I want help with, but the blog will keep my friends abreast of the weirdness and hilarity that is often my life. Feel free to visit it and comment. In case you're curious, I'm using wordpress, and its working well for what I want to do. Of course comments on how to make it better are always welcome.
Hope to see you there! (And here!)
Of course I'll keep posting on this journal, especially with things I want help with, but the blog will keep my friends abreast of the weirdness and hilarity that is often my life. Feel free to visit it and comment. In case you're curious, I'm using wordpress, and its working well for what I want to do. Of course comments on how to make it better are always welcome.
Hope to see you there! (And here!)
