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

[pinkfox]

whew, got a crazy day ahead...

need to finnish cutting and attathcing 12" tall hardwae cloth around the outside of the bunny pen...the babbits are on the move and can easily slip through the 2x3 wire...i thought i had another week, but i dont...o yesterday afternoon out i ran to co-op, they only had the 24" tall and 36" tall rolls, (nothing comes in 12" lol) so 4 24" tall 10ft rolls later (at about $3 cheaper than lowes wanted for the ame stuff) ivegot enough to do the outside of the 20x20 space (not enough to do a divider but thatll wait...as the adult buns dont seme to care about the baby bun flitting back and forth between sides)
managed to get 1 1/2 sides done yesterday evening before the drizzle decided to come inand chill me to the bone so im going to go finnish that very shortly.

once thats done im off to E's to pick up my new bunny buck...
my black otte rbuck pased away...he whent literally from 60-0 in 24 hours...at only about 3 years old, he was eating drinkign and being silly unnyone day...the next i noticed he didnt come running for breakfast as he normally did and was dehyrdrated, seperated him out, but couldnt get himto eat of drink, and by the next morning he wa gone.
necropsy showed some disoloration on his kidneys and a ltitle enlargening of the liver...
so E has a mini rex buck whos much too ig for her needs (and too big to be a mini rex quite frankly at almost 7 lbs) o im going to use his services untill i can find a nice big standard rex buck... so ive got to go get him, and get gas for my car...

plus ive got dishes and housework and all the "fun" repsonsible home owner stuff that i realy dont want to do.

ive got to set up the brooder for te p-let babies...
ive decided i am selling the pair and the cages...i realy need the cash to start working on fencing so thats whats going on with that...
and hopefully ill ell the baby p-lets quickly too once weaned and that money is going back into the farm too...
i need to get my septic pumped again (looks like thats going to be a 6 monthly job untill i can afford to have the pipe thats cracked and clogged with pine tree roots replaced) so im hoping the baby p-lets will cover that cost.


seems like right now theres soo very much to do...and yet...my money tree just refuses to grow!

 

[pinkfox]

well got the pen babbit proofed, and picked up my new buck...
hes in serious need of a good comb out and by jove E was right, hes a CHUNK...hes also a little overweight but overall lenght hes almost as big as my large standards (who are big for the standards commonly seen in the US.)

should get some beautiful babies out of him with my 2 tri does though and should being some brightness to my castor does babies.
im excited!

next job for the rabbitry is moving the current hutches/remaking them.
i going to make 2 large hutches that can be ued to seperate babies out at 5-6 weeks untill they are sold, 1 for boys 1 for girls... (itll probably make selling a little easier too)

i also need to decide exactly what im going to be doing with teh angora..i can either ake them new hutches over by the colony or i can figure out some indoor cages and put them in the back room whre the p-lets currently live...
with all that fluff im a little worried about summer heat and humidity with them...and im only planning a total of 3 angora since they are more just for me to have some wooly fun with lol.
so theyll probably end up comming indoors.

whats left of the hutch material will get used to build a bank for the eventual cortinux quail cages...im thinking id like 2-3 breeding groups and a couple of grow out pens.

other than that it been a quiet day spent some neeed chat time with e...anddoen some thinking o order of projects...and the rabbits and the perimeter fence are the Big jobs for this spring..oh and the veggie beds.

so lets hope i can startmaking some money off this little farmette so i can continue to expand it to its future glory.

 

[pinkfox]

i Know eveyroens saying it...
but seriously winter...let go...

im 100%ready for spring and todays temperatures are not even close, i had to put my heat on and turn it up, im still not on its highet setting but still by now i should be running it for overnights ONLY and even then only occasionally.
my fingers were cold enough to be PAINFULLthis morning after chores and i had gloves on...i should have worn y ski mitens but i cant do the fiddly things with them on and taking off putting on taking off putting on ect gets realy old.

ive got 1 baby rex i think is going to be blind in one eye, hes got a nast infection ust in one side so im thining claw or something must hav egotten him, so ive got to pick up some vetamycin or something today and will be having to check on him regularly to try and keep it open so it can drain
everyone else is doing great, had a scare yesterday morning when rex litter #2 was NOT in its nest box...found them with the mixed litter, theyd gone a visiting...ut them back intheir own box and off they whent next door again LOL!, so i left them, this morning they were back in their own nest comfy cozy so hey theyve obviously got it covered.
and the 3 week old mixed litter is racing around like little tornados.

piggies are doing well, o thrusday theyll be 5 weeks and im going to cut them back to 2 milk feedings a day...and then at 6 weeks down to one untill 8 weeks old since m going to be keeping them as breeders i want the good and strong so no rush to et them weaned other than the cost of milk lol. theyre only picking at the all stock feed so im thinking i might have to so asweet feed instead...anyone using a sweet feed as an all stock ration?
the feed is eventually only going to be suplimental for the pigs, but still i dont want to be wasting it...

ducks are on strike again forwhatever reason, going to try upping the protein by adding some cat food to their evening meal....i know folks do that with chickens and ducks are omnivores like chickens so...


and yeah...thats about it.
got to head into town today, infact going to do that soon, its time to pull the parrotlets and get them started on hand feeding....
ive also got the craft project to work on for the commission...so it hould be a full day of mostly INSIE where its warm jobs lol.

 

[Wannabefree]

I'd get sweet feed to mix with the all stock feed to entice them, but wouldn't give straight sweet feed. They get addicted and demanding with sweet feed in my experience.

 

[pinkfox]

thats what im thinking R&J has a 16% sweet feed and a 12% all stock, he all stock im feeding now is 12% and a litle cheaper so got to make some calls about the cost of the high protein sweet feed and see what numbers i come back with, think ill probably end up doing a 2:1 all stock to sweet feed mix for everyone.

 

[pinkfox]

SERIOUS rut today, ran to town pcked up my perscription, stopped at walmart for a new bx to use as a brooder box, got home wiht plans to do this that and the other and instead just ant to curl up and go to sleep...
yay bipolar days...

theres so much i need to do and yeah...

 

[Wannabefree]

You need a break sis. You can come see me tomorrow, I'll feed you something good and make you sit in the greenhouse and soak up some green

 

[pinkfox]

may take you up on that, well see how things go tomorrow, GOT to get some cleaning done...

despite the rut i did manage to get some stuff done.
decided to cheer myself up and made sugar free chocolate mouse and crushed up some sugar free oreos to make a crust...chocolate "cream" pie for desert.
tossed some raioli in mox and fire roasted tomatoes and garlic for dinner...
comfort food is a plus lol.

i also managed ot set up the 10 gal tank to move the p-let babies into either tomorrow or thursday.
tomorrow i need to cut the top od th tote and fix the hardware cloth to make the brooder and get that set up for the duckies that are due to start hatching thursday.
and got some of the craft project done, which is actually a paying job once its done so thats always nice.

tomorrow brings the large brooder, dishes litterboxes and bird cages and general tidy up.
my frined asked if i could give her dog abath as she has fleas...
im like sure but not at my house! LOL! it took me MONTHS to get the last batch of those little nastiesgoen that dozer and his brother brought ith him...im NOT willingly bringing those nasty little bloodsuckers back into my house!
so told her i can but only at her place and she has to provide the dawn.
what gets me is this is a foster dog, they SHOULD have provided them with either tpical or pill form flea prevent and they havent...and ill be honest im not sharing mine, the stuff is much too expensive!

speaking of the dogs are due their own baths, and im suposed to have new clipper blades arriving in the next few days so my little labchop ruby will actulaly be able to be tidied up AND E wants me to give her cav a trim too (and shes always a sweetheart)

i think i knwo why im down..1: itll be interesting to see what my b12 reads when i go back in for blood in about 2 weeks...i dont feel good, feel drained...definatly b12ish...

but the big one is my mum and dad were supposed to be moving down here to tn...
the job dad was working towards stil hasnt given him anything solid and the comapny he was with sold out and hes not realy been given any more time to look/think about it...
the GREAT part of this is that the comapny that bought them out wants him to stay on...AND promote him to a managereial position...this is huge, this company is big name...
the bad news is...he has to live in NJ...
hes currently looking at properties, there giving them an amaing relocation package...
but hes curently debating whats going to happen...and we wont know untill things startmoving forward with the relocation folks.
option 1: buy a smaler houseslightly cheaper place in NJ, then in the next couple of years buy a big tract of land here in tn and start builing a house to move into in 5-7 yrs.
option 2: go after a bigger property with land, and plan on settling there for the next 15 or so years...

i miss them...
but thats not the hardest part of all this.
the hardest part is mums asked me, if they can find a big enough property, would i consider moving to nj with them.
assuming of course i had my own house on thier property and could take all my livestock...
One of the houses they like has 18 acres...
do you knwo what i coudl do with 18 acres!?!!

i just dont know, i want to be neer them...
i like my house here and what im doing and im finally starting to feel like im on the right trac in terms of staritng ot make basic progress...
but then i look at thebills and the money and, and...and...*sigh* and i think, not having a mortgage to worry about, and being able to do the farming with the aid of some fatherly financials...

either way itll be at least a year before i would go if i were...im just not sure.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wow - that's a lot of stuff to think about, Pink! I think you've already proven you can succeed on your own. You've been making steady progress ever since you've moved there.

But, I know how hard it is to be away from family. Hang in there until your gut tells you what the right decision is. Then - whatever the decision is - go for it!

 

[Wannabefree]

Wow, now I wanna cry I sure was hoping your parents were going to move down here too, and I miss em TOO BUT....if that is what's best for them right now, then that's what has to be. I know you love your life here, but I also know you'd have a flippin blast on 18 acres chick!!! If I were you, I'd probably go honestly. I don't want you to leave, but I do want whats good for ya and that smells just like a great opportunity!!! You DO need a break, and some mind clearing Spring weather for darn sure!