Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[Avalon1984]

Might be the change in weather with your hip. I have been feeling achey the last few days also. Maybe just getting old though

 

[pinkfox]

lol
once i got moving it felt better....but NOW...now my back is SERISOULY spazzing out.
why?
well i built the goosey/duck house today OWW lol.

the good news is structurally its done, i got some of the roof done too but couldnt get it finnished, by 7pm i was so done and my energy was GONE so i didnt want to go crawling round in the woods to salvage shingles lol.

but given the shingles are in rough shape over all i took trashbags cut them open and laid them over the roof, this way when i shingle over the top, if i do get the odd little leak it should run right off from under the shingles rather than soak into the osb board.
but got everything done and everyone moved in.
getting the gosling in was easy, i just call them and they come running so i pick em up and in they go...
the ducks however were a different matter, they wanted NOTHING to do wiht the new house, so here i am chasing them round the back yard trying to catch them one by one...yeah that was fun (if i wernt tired and achey enough lol)
i only feed them at bedtime though, and they love thier crumbles, so once they realize its safe and thats where food is theyll be fine

the structure is 4x8 with a dividing wall so the ducks have a 4x4 space and the geese have a 4x4 space.
they both have doors for the birds, but i also made it so that one side on each unit is completly removable, it just clips on with those little hinged hasps and clips to keep it all locked up tight.
the goosey side is 4ft tall at the highest and 3 1/2 ft tall at the lowest, theres 2 inch gap under the roof line on both the left and right sdes for ventilation but im thinking on that right side where it drops to the other roof, cutting that out, putting hinges on it and hardware cloth inside so i can open up for more ventilation.
the other side is the duck house, its 2ft tall on the right and 3 ft tall on the left, the large gap on front (and back) is covered in hardware cloth, both sides are generally out of the wind/rain pattern so it shoudl be fine. the walls of the duck house are the walls of the origional ducky house so that saved some money. but instead of having an 8ft long by 2 ft wide house, they now have 4ft x 4ft which is much better for them in terms of space.
the whole thing got filled with a good layer of hay, because of the level of the ground the back is about 1inch off the ground propped on bricks so im hopgin that will help with any drainage for run off and we'll see if the hay stays nicer than shavings.

so yeah, whole thing needs pink paint and the roof needs finnishing up but yay for doing what i set out to do
when ive got a little extra cash i plan on getting a couple more 1x2s and painting white and using them to trim it out and make it all pretty like!
the whole thing sits on pressure treated 2x4s too so no worries about rot. the OSB is set about 1"down onto the 2x4s, so the osb is about 3 inches away form the ground, hoping thats high enough from the dirt to avoid rotting ect.
Im going to paint the inside of the door/ramp wiht home made "none skid" paint (you just mix sand and latex paint) so the osb will be protected from soggy feet and it will give some traction.

then i took the gate off the old duck house (1/2 the old house was a wooden "hut" the ther half was solid back but a wldeed wire framed front kind of a covered run idea...)
and used that to to make this

yup...a GATE! woot. lol, i had a board across the gap form the main yard to the rabbit/duck/goose yard
so i took the peice whihc happend to be the perfect sie, losely cable tied it to the chainlink peice and then a little spring clip to hold it closed. workd perfect and no more dozer jumping over my blockaid lol

 

[Denim Deb]

Looks good!

 

[SSDreamin]

Good job on the goose/duck house Pink!

And way to repurpose with the gate!

 

[pinkfox]

thanks.

well today has been...interesting.
it starts in the wee hours. whent to bed at 10pm as i had to be up at 5:30 this morning as i was going to first mondays...
1:30 am theres knocking at my door...
persistent knocking too...
got up to see what the hell was going on and its my neighbors son...stood there...at 1:30 am holding a hot pizza in seran wrap and holding an empty ziplock...
"I made pizza and figured you migt like one...oh and can i borrow some sugar?"

i seriously wasnt awake or he may have foudn the door in his face...instead i shuffled off to fill his ziplock with sugar.
WTF?!
the only reason i can think ANYONE would be making pizza and needing sugar at 1:30 am is if they have a serious case of the munchies (and it would explain a few things) but next time im not going to be nice.
worse was it then took 2 hours to fall bat to sleep and by the time i did, the cat (who can now aparently tell time) was meowing, it was 5:15 and my alarm was going to go off any minute so i got up and started my day...*grr*

anywho...got on the road with a friend from the next town over, got up there and looked around. i took out only as much as i was willing to spend...and i spent it all. lol. (now wish id had more but lol)
i whent looking specifically for holland lops or cali/nz rabbits...
i came home...with a box of rabbits. lol.

looked around first, took out time, my frined knew what she was looking for and got what she needed but she was definatly more "hey i saw it lets get it before its gone" whereas i am a "what if someone down there has a better price. dangerous when it comes to fleamarkets i know...because you can loose a barkagin easily that way...but im such a price comparer...and im glad i waited. she headed back to her car with her score and i whent back to get a better look at some rabbits id seen.
seems going price on hollands is $15-$20 a peice, more on fuzzies and lionheads, going price for basic meaties (rews, so calis and nz/mixes) anything from $10-$15 depending on size.

i ended up brning home a 6-8 wk old newzealand and a 8-10week old Cali, 2 holland lop girls (a tort and a black) and a lovely litle tort (possibly tri) fuzzy lop (long haired holland) Buck. at about 1/2 the origional price point

right now the plan is the meaty girls wil be ready to breed come fall, ALL their babies will go int he freezer for me and the dogs...any left over standards that dont sell will join them.
the hollands will be bred to the mini rex, and ill eventually sell 1 of the hollands and 1 of the mini rex does to make space to hold back a couple fo the rex x lop mixes who will be the very ground level for my mini plush lop project.

there was a guy there selling wire cages for a fraction of what i could make them for so when mum and dad come out ill be taking them down there anyway for the one in June,bso ill pick up 2 wire cages for the meaty does to move into (untill then they have to live together). i can wait untill Fall then before i need a few more for raising.
planning on building some simple pens for raising the meaty in, wire floor raised a few inches off the ground so they cant eat the grass/clover down to nothing but stillhave freh gras/clover as it grows up and under. they will get set up in the area thats going to be the orchard for shade purposes and its ALL clover back there lol.

i Shouldnt realy have spent the money...but it was what ive been looking for and i havent found any prices i was willign to pay on craigslist ect so this worked out well.
The rabbitry is officially FULL.
got to do some work on the hutches tomorrow (im to tired right now and i realy should try to finnihs shingling the roof on the duck/goose house), can then move strawberry and silver into thier own new homes.

hoping i can get all of rowans litter sold this weekend too (ther ready to go saturday) right now it looks liek i have 3, mabe 4 on hold but without a deposit its all just blowing smoke. any that dont have a time/date pick up (or a deposit) will go to jackson with me on the 12th and hopefully sell them all there, id rather not bring them home with me lol.

going to breed rowan and blackberry next weekend then thats t for breeding untill late summer
i have bluebell and the 2 mini rex due at the end fo this month.

Whew. its been a busy day and boy its toasty out.
gonna get changed and do some more roofing. i dont think i have enough nails to do the goose and the duck rooves but ive already started the goose roof so at least need to finnish that...

 

[Denim Deb]

Hey Pinky, we're having pizza for dinner, want some? Oh, and can I borrow a cup of sugar?

 

[pinkfox]

as long as its not after 9:30 pm or before 8:30 am...
sounds good! lol.

well this afternoon managed t get the roof on the duck/goose house shingled...had JUST enough nails to cover both the roof pannels so YAY! should be good in case of rain now at least on the roof.
going to try and get it painted this week

next farm money project is hanging cages for the 2 meaty girls (haystack and Fiver)(for those familiar with watership down, haystack was one of the farm rabbits, she was a cali doe, and while fiver was male in the books. my fiver is so called because thats what she cost me, $5 aka "a fiver" in british speak)
grow out pens for meaty babies (going to do 2 4x8 pens that can be divided into 4x4 if needed) and hanging cages with a roof for quail.
im going to hold off on meat chickens in preference for focusing on rabbit and quail for now.
especially since i do realy need to also focus on clearing the land and fencing so the goaty girls have more room overall too.

as muhc as i want to do everything "right now" i have to keep reminding myself...theres only so much i can do at any given time.

 

[Denim Deb]

I know that feeling!

 

[pinkfox]

well took pics of "the new guys" this morning.

the meaty does
Haystack

shes a very lightly marked Blue Californian (or cali x nz mix) shes only 8-10 weeks old and already 4 1/2lbs (as big as the mini rex) and is already a meat brick...i think when bred to bigwig we shoudl get some nice freezer bunnies with some cool colored pelts for crafting with bred to bigwig she shoudl throw alot of otters (blue and black) as well as castors/red agoutis, but when bred to silver...she could throw anything under the sun lol

Fiver

shes smaller than haystack but also about 2 weeks younger. Fiver is a "pure bred" (no ped and the guy didnt seem too convinced) New Zealand White, shes got nice structure for a 6-7 week old rabbit though.
Given shes REW when bred to either of the rex boys she could give me an absolute rainbow of random colors.

then theres the "useless but oh so cute" ones.
these are the holland/fuzzies...and while there useless for meat production im hoping their babies will sell well in the fall/winter and im hoping they give me a good base for my plush program.

Pipkin (aka Pip)

Hes a "fuzzy lop" (essneitlaly a long haired holland) this little guy has a BEAUTIFUL head and great ear set, hes about 5 weeks old and is itsy bitsy. i have to say im kinda inlove hes sooo cute
i mean come on...lookit that face...

Clover

4 week old tort (possibly blue tort) doe. shes got a nice face (not as flat as some of the show hollands but still nice) but her ear set is still a little high (and way too controled) shes still a baby though and they tend to have airplain ears at this age so im going to give her a month to see what those ears do. if they dont settle well ill sell her on in place of a nicer doe...but we'll see. (i NEED strong lop ears for the plush program

Ash

4 week old self black doe. like with ash we have a nice face but 1 up 1 down crazy ears right now (there sisters) so ill be watching those ears.

And thats IT...the rabbitry is full.

And ive got some serious work to do on the rabbitry...somehow Blackberry has managed to knaw a small hole in the dividing wall between hers and the next door cage...so ive got to patch that (i have some ply left from the duck house. this means shes probably going to have to be moved into a wire cage at some point becuase i cant have her eating her house obviously. i also want to move Rowan to a wire cage because shes just flat out refusing to use her litter box. this is frustrating because i dont like rex on wire, but i figure i can get some large tiles form the hardware store once i get the wire cages and make them a nice big 16/16 resting platform.
This will leave 2 hutches open which i may put the meat girls in, (they were origionally going to go on wire) but hey, if i can sucessfully keep them hutched...that works for me.

got to do the hinges on the bottom hutch today (the one door i havent yet finnished) and do some playing around with the 3 bottom hutches too so i can get Strawberry and Silver moved into their new homes tomorrow. (need to add wire doors)

right now i have the haystack and Fiver in the hutch which will eventually be silvers, Pip has a house of his own on the bottom row of the mini rex bank. ash and clover currently share a house on that bank, the one open hutch will be silvers temporary home untill June when i can pick up a couple of wire cages to go under the buck hutches. at which time rowan and blackberry will go to wire hutches, haystack and Fiver will get their own homes in what was rowan and Black berries houses, and silver will then get to move in next to bigwig before he gets too cramped. once silver moves out ash and clover can then have thier own houses and the rabbitry is full. once i start breeding for plushes i will be getting some more wire cages for holdbacks for the plushy program, and eventually if i reach my goals ill have a trio of mini plush lops in the rabbitry too. but thats it lol.

tomorrow is bunny clean out day anyway so no problems there. got some work to do fixing things up today...
then next week is Paint the goose/duck house week lol.

oh well, off i go again.

 

[snapshot]

I like the cute useless ones best!