well its 10:30 and my "to do around the house" list is almost complete.
Lost the male of rowans babbits last night...he was definatly heat exhaustion, hewas wet around the nose and mouth which is aparently a sure sign according to the vet who belive that the 2 hollad swere the ame cause (as everything looked normal when i butchered them) his kidneys looked pale too (dehydration)
the dogs got rabbit for breakfast and im down to 1 of rowans babbits left...
but yeah managed to finnish cleaning the rabbit hutches, watered everything, took a bunch more rope romas off and will need to pull another bath either tomorrow or Sunday...i think after that ill have another 1 mabe 2 passes on them before there done for the season, there not producing anymore flowers and have stopped growing height wise.
i think sunday ill process any that i have in the fridge and try to make at least a couple of pints of tomatoe sauce base (i know i can can tomatoe sauce in a waterbath so that will work)
put 4 cups of fresh goatsmilk yogurt in the fridge, trned out very nicely but a little thin, ive been told using part powdered milk helps thicken yogurt up wihtout the addition of gelatin so i may try thaat on the next batch. 4 cups of yogurt wont last me very long LOL i LOVE yogurt!
all thats realy left on todays plan is finnish putting away the potatoes.
need to make a trip to co-op too...
ad mabe later ill get those corner posts in and work on the patch of long grass to finnish the fence pwerimeter.
im giving thought into "turning the bunnies loose"
by that i mean turning the rabbitry into a colony...id have to apron around the fence and block off acess to the foundation of the house (1 ive got roses and day lilly planted along there, 2 i dont want them under the house)
I would want to move the duck house out of that area if possible (i may have to take it apart to move it lol) so that the rabbits cant take up residence in there and force the ducks and geese out.
i might even run chicken wire over the entire area so they cant burrow and then build a dig box that they can dig into...
the boys hutch would stay as the boys hutches and then id put a feeding station under there, the 4 bank of girls hutches would be left where they are, id modify the bottom hutches to turn them into 4 seperate "houses"
id also try and at least partialy bury a few big tote boxes (that would become nest boxes)
im just wondering if mabe having more options in terms of hiding in the shade/dirt to lay on ect would make things easier for them.
the upper hutches would then become seperating pens for litters (who would be "caught" at 4-5 weeks and put in hutches to "tame" them down)
then the small bank i would probably dismantle and use the wood for building the quail pens its al kinda in my head right now...id need to make sure they can only dig in apropriate areas, cant get into the crawlspace/under the house and try and make sure i can keep it seeded some how...
would definatly cut back on the feed and shavings bill if i coulds do it right...and im thinking being able to have the choice of going laying in various other places when it gets hot would be a benefit. im also thinking of trying to make an insulated box of some kind that woudl act as a cooling station. im thinking a box lined with the foam insulation with 3 1/2 sides on it that i could put a couple of frozen 1 gallon jugs in)
just thinking that MIGHT be a good way to go if i can keep them confined. i can run a line of electric on the outside and along the top to keep predators out, hang some shade cloth in various locations to again try and help add even more shade to the area...and it would cut my cleaning needs in half LOL.
i wanted to try colony raising...so i think once the goat and guinea projects are done...thats going to be the next step.
i had an offer of $30 for my proven mini rex pair...i laughed...not a chance in hell am selling them for $30...
so im in no rush, i need the money so id rather wait and get what there worth.
but yeah, thats about all i got for today...ive goe to realize i REALY like the sound the guinea keets make, i know it wont be as atractive as they get older, but right now they make lots of songbird type peeps and trills and its quite relaxing listening to them peeping among themselves lol.
ive already got their house "built" in my head so once the goat fence is sorted that project gets put into motion. i figure since the house/run will be in the goat pen i could probably get away with using chicken wire for the run itself as anything that wants to get to their pen will have to get throuh 4 strands of electric first.
so that REALY helps with cost (hardware cloth is sooo expensive lol)
the rest of today involes a trip into town for co-op, need goat and rabbit feed, have enough rabbit to last till next week but not enough goat to see me through till monday so might as well get both.
the person i got the 2 hollands off that died has offered me a couple of flemish x angora to replace them with...i may take her up on the offer, or i may see if shed be willing to let me put a hold on a couple of hollands from her next litter...yeah i said no more, BUT i might be able to make this work if i set up as a colony and move the hollands into the larger hutches that the rex girls are currently in. we'll see what she says...id rather she just mail me the cash to be truthfull right now
as a side note...
i ordered my new clipper blade on sunday, it shipped wednesday from chattanooga...yesterday it was in a town just south of memphis about 2 hours form me...from there it shipped to memphis, and then from there it shiped to a town almost 2 hours NORTH of me...*blink blink* its no wonder things take so long to get anywhere and get lost in the mail...lord forbid there be any kind of direct routes lol. yes i knwo it has to go to the correct distribution center serving my town and obviously thats not the memphis hub...but still, they wonder why things frequently dont make it to wherever they were supposed to go...these things change hands/trucks ect so many times in a trip...
it left the hub in humboldt at 7am so im HOPING the blade arrives tomorrow rather than monday...amazes me that a6 hour trip turnes into a 5 day trip...yet ive had things come to me from places like NY, and even canada that only take 2-3 days...
