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

[pinkfox]

wl other than the feeding stations its done.
moved the buns in...
girls having a few scuffles between themselves which is to be expected but they seem to be loving it...there eating dried leaves sprawled out in suny spots...
*fingers crossed*
im actually realy happy so far.

got to run out in a few mins to pick up some supplies to build the feeding stations, and pick up a new bun from E, she bought this tri doe as a mini but shes almost as big as my standards an my standards are on the larger side of thier own breed standard so shes definatly not a mini...putting her in with bigwig. wont get any tri's from them (though i may keep back a tri-carrier buck just before bigwig retires in a few years.) but shell be eye candy for me if nothing else lol. and with bigwigs body size and structure and her being nicely sized already their babies should be nice pet sized rex

oh well, got stuff to do before it gets too late.

Oh and as another side note...had the nubian buck here 30 days and lilly and poppy havent come bac into heat...hopefully that means babies in the spring

 

[pinkfox]

well...im oficially switched to colony style...

Colony 1: Silver, Haystack and Blackberry.
(looking to add another doe to this group )

Colony 2: Bigwig, Bluebell, Strawberry and Hazel.

the "feeding stations" (i ended up savingsome money and going realy simple...yay totes. would have cost me more in gas to go get the bits i needed to do the wood like i was origioanlly planning...)

the hay loads form the top, should reduce some waste, the other 1/2 of the feder will just get some pellets tossed in. when nursing each doe can be fed in their nest box too i dont feed much in terms of pellets though.

Haystack Checking out one of the nest boxes.

Blackberry looking pretty

Silver, "king" of Pen 1

Bigwig "king"of Pen 2 Nomming on Dried Oak leaves

Bluebell explorin!

Strawberry the pretty redhead

and Hazel the new addition...she was SUPPOSED to be a mini rex but shes almost as big as bluebell whos 9 1/2lbs right now lol, an too big for what E wanted in her mini rex breedings, shes got a narrower head than i like to see on a rex but ive got a feeling that will be fixed in future generations lol.

oh and heres the buck Lilly and Poppy are hopefully bred to!
his name is jasper, hes from some great local lines and i think hes just beautiful...hoping for some spotted girls to keep back from them lol

 

[SSDreamin]

Love the pictures Pink!

What a neat idea for hutches/feeder- DH wants to set up a colony type set up, eventually, so really appreciate the visuals to go along with your descriptions!

 

[the funny farm6]

love the pics!!

 

[pinkfox]

well ill definatly keep you updated on how things are working out with colony style, its popular in europe but not so much here and ive not yet realy figured out why beyond the little extra work that goes into managing it, especially on a larger scale...
but i think for small scale back/yard its definatly a good choice however its early days

with this the only raly special thing i did was to make sure the wire on the floors and the wire on the walls are all joined together (tied with galv wire) to prevent them pushing under...
il try and get some better pictures tomorrow, i was loosing light and in a rush... but theres also a "gate guard" i want to get pictures of too.
as time goes on ill be seeding the pens with a clover and native grass seed mix and adding "toys" (im thinking plastic drainage tubes so theyve got tunnels to run through ect)
the hope is over the winter to keep adding leaves (whihc they like to eat like potatoe chips lol) and the leaves will compot down with the poop so the wire will eventually be completly covered...but they dont eem to be having any problems with it right now...the holes in the wire being standard welded wire field fence" are 2"x3"

i will probably have to add something to the bottom 12" to make the wire hole in the wall fence smaller when theres kits but im thinking somehting as imple as bird netting should surfice a a deterant.
ifthere happy they wont bother trying (least thats the hope lol) but i will be putitng up some bird net or somehting similar around the bottom before kits are mobile.

im actually realy happy with how things have turned out so far...

 

[Denim Deb]

It looks nice, but what about predators? Won't they be able to get them easily?

 

[pinkfox]

well theres no way of digging in as the floor is wire and attatched to the walls, and theres a strand of electric at the top of the fence too (will be adding one at the bottom a well but have to wait untill ive got money in the bank again lol.)

the biggest risk is from areal predator, and the pen is diectly between 2 large oak trees (no branches low enough for a racoon to use and the trunks not close enough for them to ue to climb over the fence/avoid the hot wire lol, but enough overhead branches to make trypicaly airial predator manouvers difficult at very least. also at 10lbs a peice my buns are much to large for the local raptor population to carry away, even our largest owls will only take on something about 5lbs and by encoraging the turkey vultures to continue nesting on the property the hawks dont come neer very often. so ive got my fingers crossed.

in the uk foxes become the biggest issue to rabbit colonies (birds of prey dont bother for all but the smallest breeds) but they tend to dig in (wire floor and attatchedshould prevent ALL digging (in or out) or climb over and the electric should take care of the climb over aspect.

and once the rest of my fencing is done (4ft feild fence wich will be toped with a strand of electric too) around the perimeter that should also keep most things from even thinking about comming int the property. (and hopefully most PEOPLE lol)

that being said NOTHING is safe from a deterimined predator, had a friend in ct loose 6 rabbits who were in wire cages inside a garage to a pack of stray dogs the other day...they dug under the garage door (there was a small crack in the bottom of the door that they dug/chewed through) and tore the cages to peices...
so i certainly wont be being lax about the possibility either.

I am hoping to add a couple of LGD's once the preimeter fence is done too

No incidents on the overnight, took a little longer to do chores this morning (longerdistance lol) and i need to modify the feeding stations a little bit to give more acess when all buns want to eat at the same time but otherwise...
the only one who seems a little lost right now is hazel and thats ust because shes the new bun...everyone else at some point or another theyve all seen sniffed ect eachother (though ot directly interacted) but hazel is completly new and bluebells making sure she knows whos boss...not agressive bunny fight type way but pushing her to the back of the line this moring for food ect. itll take at least a week ofor the group dynamics to settle though so im not worried about that aspect right now.

and since the rabbit pen is now done i can return to thinking about all the rest of the things lol.
todays supposed to be another nice day o ill be spening at least a little bit working on cutting down more brush while the weather co-operates
and on the next yucky day we get ill make a start on painting the 2 bedrooms...but for now...
now its breakfast time lol

 

[Corn Woman]

Very nice setup Pink and your rabbits are just beautiful. I lucked out and got 2 little lion head babies a week ago and they are doing great. I didn't think the doe took so I hadn't paid much attention (my fault) but mama is keeping them stuffed even after I moved her to a different hutch. I love the Rex's but have never had any. You have got me thinking about getting some now.

 

[pinkfox]

thnks
i LOVE my rex...the minis are sweet but the rex are even sweeter, leastive never met a mean rex lol
ive found mine HATE being picked up...but there not "mean" about it...i think there just afraid of heights.
however if i sit on the ground theyll come climb in my lap or sit next to me. and ther fur is just...*drool* the rex i process for meat i skin and all the hides are being frozen untilli have enough to tan...im hoping to mkae a rabbit fur blanket out of them, (once ive got my blanket ill start selling the pelts but untill then MINE! lol.)

got some cutting of privet done...not much but my arms and hands will only take so much before they start cramping and every little it i do lefts more light in back there and is progress...
i noticed while i was doing that that poppy looked uncomfrtble on her "sore" foot and checked it and DUH in her injury i trimed all her other toenaisl up but not that one (it was sore) so i got my sheres and did goaty feet...
its the chore that when i got my goats i was dreading most, and most people use a kinfe, i knew id chop my fingers off so instead i picked up aset of foot rot shears,seem alot less likley to slip and hack a finger off with those lol.
but even still, i dont have a stanchion or even a tie out post right now and everyone kept telling me "cant do the naisl without a stanchion, there going to kicck and pulls and and and...
well either im growing valium on my property or my goats are special" i just sit down onthe round in the feild, call poppy over ask her for her foot and tada...She wont let me hold her foot for to long before i have to let her put it down and rebalance so insteadwe came to a different agreement...i sit on the floor, pat the ground and she lays down next to me and i just pul one foot gently form under her at a time trim and done...
lilly is the same, hell just lay there chewing her cud while i do feet lol.
and Daizy is getting the hang of it too (im using raisins to help her "get" it lol) shes not as happy about her feet being touched and today was the first time i tried to trim them (and il admit they were in pretty yucky shape, obviously never been trimmed before and makes me think shes actually older than i thought and might actually be a mini nubian instead) even SHE did good...pulled on the first foot but by foot 2 she just lay there looking at me chewing her cud...

i LOVE my mushy goats lol.

i then lay there in the feild with them, poppy as my pillow (she is a SERIOUS snuggle bug) lilly lay behind me and daizy by my legs...and Jasper the buck is standing there like UMMM WtF is going on here?! hes a sweet boy but hes doesnt "need" me like my gils seem to...i think he misses his home though, people say they dont know or they get used to it" but the past few days ivenoticed hes just not as interested in the girls and hell stand by the gate and look up the hill like "ok...wheres my ride?!"
i think hell be happy to go home next week.

Once he goes home Aspen and chino are being moved to "the orchard" ive still got the wooden coop i was keeping daizy in in there when she arrived...and theyll have more room and grass, and more importantly exposure to the electric fence...i need to get them used to the electric befoe i can let them into the main pasture with the girls and im realy hoping to be able to move them into the mian pasture once their weaned in about 2 1/2-3 weeks.

its another lovely day today, little windier/chillier than yesterday but nice enough to be outsie (whihc is where i am right now) and after lunch digests a little im going to take a walk around the property again.
need to re-asses the back fence, get an idea of where thigns are going as i start to expand back. and into the newly cleared area too...and start figuring out the fence situation. next big project is going to be getting the perimiter fence situation sorted out
the plan right now is to do a welded wire perimeter fence with a top line of electric and then about 4ft inside that do 4 strand electric giving me a 4ft wide "mote" between the perimeter and the animals...this "mote" will be a nice little walking path i can use it not only for checking the fence easily but to walk dozer round every morning since i just dont feel safe walking him alng the roads around here (almost got hit this morning)

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Sounds like you've been working hard and that everything is coming together. Congrats on all your accomplishments! I can't wait to hear long-term reports on how the colony set-up works out.