frustratedearthmother
Sustainability Master
You are rolling right along. I know it feels good to have stuff taken care of.
Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/
- Thread starter pinkfox
- Start date
hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
Lol, I know that feeling too! Glad you have a lot checked off your list!
Corn Woman
Almost Self-Reliant
Sorry
must be something in the air because I have some body misery going on this week too. No fun when there is so much to do. Hope you feel better ASAP.
must be something in the air because I have some body misery going on this week too. No fun when there is so much to do. Hope you feel better ASAP.- Thread starter
- #5,574
pinkfox
Super Self-Sufficient
I think its the shift in seasons, the cold and damp setting in :/
and cold it is here right now...I need to figure out how to be a snowbird AND have animals lol...need like a traveling circus or something lol.
still moving along though, days continue to get shorter, animals are in bed by 4:30 as its too dark after that...
buns seem to be doing ok in the barn, but my barn faucet is frozen in the mornings now so that's not making chores any easier...
im thinking im going to pick up some heat tape off amazon and mabe a heated hose even, at least heat wrap the well head and set it in insulation, hauling water up and down the back acre is not going to make for any happier of a body and at least if I can keep that well working, that's where I need the majority of the water, the ducks are close enough to the house that they arnt a problem, I can haul a couple gallons out each morning and afternoon...but all the way up hill across an acre in snow? ive got 20 32ounce water bottles to make sure stay full and unfrozen...
so far, thankfully the only bottles that are freezing are the ones or the 2 growout pens still out under the cover...so im hoping the barn remains just enough above freezing to not have that issue...but I have decided il pick up some refelctro lamps and hang them over the rabbitry area with heat bulbs if I need to...just keep it warm enough to keep those bottles from freezing.
ive got a trough heater that I found sitting in there ive got to dust off and plug in to see if that works and I need to pick up a bucket heater...that should keep the goats water ok too...
its also going to get worse because it looks like mums going to be having back surgery, no lifting for about 3 months...so my chores will increase since none else will do stuff...but better she do it now...while most of the heavy outside work is on hold for the winter than in spring when itll be all hands on deck.
im not built for winter lol.
otherwise, not much happening.
might have lost one of our chickens...mum didn't realize that the chicneks can get through the electric fence along the back, 1 of the hens got onto the boys side of the fence (they are in the girls pasture) so she tried to chase her out, chased her into the back corner where she thought she could grab her and she just ducked right under the electric...and of course, then was spoked and wouldn't come back...I tried until it got too dark to see even with my headlamp...she wasn't home waiting this morning like I thought she would be...so im HOPING shes back this evening...if not ill have ot assume an owl or coyote got her overnight...
so frustrating because I told um to NOT chase her, walk away stand back, she would eventually run towards the coop where id have a better chance of herding her in....but when I whent inside to grab some corn to try and lure her close to home, mum took matters into her own hands.
they STILL don't think I have a clue as to what im doing when it comes to this "farming thing" and still think they know better...
she read something online the other day about ducks loosing feet to frostbite and is now trying to insist we lock them in their pen for the winter so they don't....*rolls eyes* sometimes the internet needs shooting.
I know its an attempt to help...but it always just reioterates that they don't think I have a clue...and that they don't listen...I cant tell you how many times they've told me things they read that I JUST told them a few hours before...
im down a parrotlet, not sure what happened but my blue male died...so sunny is all alone...
ive placed her online as available, kinda taking it as a sign that I need to thin the ranks, I don't ealy have time to hand feed baby birds anyway.
the bidgies will stay they are easy and cheep to keep...but I think ill let sunny find a new place.
and cold it is here right now...I need to figure out how to be a snowbird AND have animals lol...need like a traveling circus or something lol.
still moving along though, days continue to get shorter, animals are in bed by 4:30 as its too dark after that...
buns seem to be doing ok in the barn, but my barn faucet is frozen in the mornings now so that's not making chores any easier...
im thinking im going to pick up some heat tape off amazon and mabe a heated hose even, at least heat wrap the well head and set it in insulation, hauling water up and down the back acre is not going to make for any happier of a body and at least if I can keep that well working, that's where I need the majority of the water, the ducks are close enough to the house that they arnt a problem, I can haul a couple gallons out each morning and afternoon...but all the way up hill across an acre in snow? ive got 20 32ounce water bottles to make sure stay full and unfrozen...
so far, thankfully the only bottles that are freezing are the ones or the 2 growout pens still out under the cover...so im hoping the barn remains just enough above freezing to not have that issue...but I have decided il pick up some refelctro lamps and hang them over the rabbitry area with heat bulbs if I need to...just keep it warm enough to keep those bottles from freezing.
ive got a trough heater that I found sitting in there ive got to dust off and plug in to see if that works and I need to pick up a bucket heater...that should keep the goats water ok too...
its also going to get worse because it looks like mums going to be having back surgery, no lifting for about 3 months...so my chores will increase since none else will do stuff...but better she do it now...while most of the heavy outside work is on hold for the winter than in spring when itll be all hands on deck.
im not built for winter lol.
otherwise, not much happening.
might have lost one of our chickens...mum didn't realize that the chicneks can get through the electric fence along the back, 1 of the hens got onto the boys side of the fence (they are in the girls pasture) so she tried to chase her out, chased her into the back corner where she thought she could grab her and she just ducked right under the electric...and of course, then was spoked and wouldn't come back...I tried until it got too dark to see even with my headlamp...she wasn't home waiting this morning like I thought she would be...so im HOPING shes back this evening...if not ill have ot assume an owl or coyote got her overnight...
so frustrating because I told um to NOT chase her, walk away stand back, she would eventually run towards the coop where id have a better chance of herding her in....but when I whent inside to grab some corn to try and lure her close to home, mum took matters into her own hands.
they STILL don't think I have a clue as to what im doing when it comes to this "farming thing" and still think they know better...
she read something online the other day about ducks loosing feet to frostbite and is now trying to insist we lock them in their pen for the winter so they don't....*rolls eyes* sometimes the internet needs shooting.
I know its an attempt to help...but it always just reioterates that they don't think I have a clue...and that they don't listen...I cant tell you how many times they've told me things they read that I JUST told them a few hours before...
im down a parrotlet, not sure what happened but my blue male died...so sunny is all alone...
ive placed her online as available, kinda taking it as a sign that I need to thin the ranks, I don't ealy have time to hand feed baby birds anyway.
the bidgies will stay they are easy and cheep to keep...but I think ill let sunny find a new place.
hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
So sorry about the bird.
Glad too many things aren't freezing too bad. Yes, hailing water that far really isn't an option. It's an awful thing to have to manage. I'll do whatever I can to attempt to not have to haul water that far!
Hope you're staying warm today! The wind is roaring here.
Glad too many things aren't freezing too bad. Yes, hailing water that far really isn't an option. It's an awful thing to have to manage. I'll do whatever I can to attempt to not have to haul water that far!
Hope you're staying warm today! The wind is roaring here.
- Thread starter
- #5,576
pinkfox
Super Self-Sufficient
thanks, today was another "day"
got up this morning and my coverall still up at the rabbitry had decided to meld with a tree, took me a good hour o wrestle that out, the cover looks ok, the tarps were pretty shredded from tangling themselves into the rose bush.
lost a couple of connecters to bends and 2 of the poles are snapped, I should be able to get replacement parts...so ill look into that, im not putting that back up until weve got a proper ground anchor kit on it though...that's supposed to be our greenhouse...its currently a pile of poles and tarps.
it snapped the bungees and rope it was hooked down with...
and of course with temps at 16 this morning when I whent out (no that wasn't wind chill) everything was frozen...hauled the bottles in warmed em up, no need for topups, took them back up...
ended up having to repeat it 3 times since we didn't get out of the 20's today (and the wind was WICKED!) on the 3rd trip mum inally found my small wheely cart so I loaded a tote onto it and used that for hauling the bottles...not ideal but better than 10 trips up and down that dang hill/acre.
gonna work on options this week...thinking fo trying heat lamps, suspended infront and just above the top row of cages (about 3 inches above my head height) the cages are in an L shape so mabe if I put them just infront of the long row...im wondering if itll keep the area just warm enough to keep the nipples from freezing (since the bottles didn't freeze completely it was mostly just the nipples) but I just don't know if that will be enough to keep the area warm enough...I just need to kepe it just warm enough to not freeze, weve done ok on overnights in the mid 20's the past few days...the buckets and stuff outside froze but the bottles didn't...so im thinking if I can just raise the barn temp a few degrees...hauling water all day tuckers me out...
then just before we whent out grocery shopping the other coverall down at the driveway decided it also wished freedom, snapped the 10 bungeese holding it to a combination of the fence and surrounding trees and tried to escape...mum and sister hopped out and came to help me...good thing too there was a few times that I felt the wind take it and almost rip it out of my hands...and there were a few times I even throught I could fly!
we pulled the tarps and cover off and stashed them in the shed and just dismantled the pipes enough to be not half eaten by a tree...
I told dad he needed to put the big anchor kit in on that this past weekend and he never got round to it (I have the anchor kit that came with the metal shed I had)
ill put that back up this weekend, but not until those anchors are securely in the ground...its supposed ot be in the 50s over the weekend so im hoping the gorund will be soft enough.
im not doing it again until the anchors are ready to be attatched to...simple.
so needless to say it was a long day, then I come into my room to sit with my dogs and my "angel" ruby (who never gives me issues) phad peed o my bed... *rolls eyes* I noticed a small wet spot yesterday too but jasper likes to lick the sheets...however now im wondering.
and THEN after stipping the bed and thankfully it hadn't gone through the matress topper) I noticed dusty is missing hair on the backs of her front and back legs, no rash, no redness, no itching, so looks like its either some kind of alopecia, possibly from a thyroid issue...or allergies of some kind...just what we need....
ive got a feeling the entire winter is going to travel along this theme...so im looking for options to be placed in a medically induced coma until spring....
got up this morning and my coverall still up at the rabbitry had decided to meld with a tree, took me a good hour o wrestle that out, the cover looks ok, the tarps were pretty shredded from tangling themselves into the rose bush.
lost a couple of connecters to bends and 2 of the poles are snapped, I should be able to get replacement parts...so ill look into that, im not putting that back up until weve got a proper ground anchor kit on it though...that's supposed to be our greenhouse...its currently a pile of poles and tarps.
it snapped the bungees and rope it was hooked down with...
and of course with temps at 16 this morning when I whent out (no that wasn't wind chill) everything was frozen...hauled the bottles in warmed em up, no need for topups, took them back up...
ended up having to repeat it 3 times since we didn't get out of the 20's today (and the wind was WICKED!) on the 3rd trip mum inally found my small wheely cart so I loaded a tote onto it and used that for hauling the bottles...not ideal but better than 10 trips up and down that dang hill/acre.
gonna work on options this week...thinking fo trying heat lamps, suspended infront and just above the top row of cages (about 3 inches above my head height) the cages are in an L shape so mabe if I put them just infront of the long row...im wondering if itll keep the area just warm enough to keep the nipples from freezing (since the bottles didn't freeze completely it was mostly just the nipples) but I just don't know if that will be enough to keep the area warm enough...I just need to kepe it just warm enough to not freeze, weve done ok on overnights in the mid 20's the past few days...the buckets and stuff outside froze but the bottles didn't...so im thinking if I can just raise the barn temp a few degrees...hauling water all day tuckers me out...
then just before we whent out grocery shopping the other coverall down at the driveway decided it also wished freedom, snapped the 10 bungeese holding it to a combination of the fence and surrounding trees and tried to escape...mum and sister hopped out and came to help me...good thing too there was a few times that I felt the wind take it and almost rip it out of my hands...and there were a few times I even throught I could fly!
we pulled the tarps and cover off and stashed them in the shed and just dismantled the pipes enough to be not half eaten by a tree...
I told dad he needed to put the big anchor kit in on that this past weekend and he never got round to it (I have the anchor kit that came with the metal shed I had)
ill put that back up this weekend, but not until those anchors are securely in the ground...its supposed ot be in the 50s over the weekend so im hoping the gorund will be soft enough.
im not doing it again until the anchors are ready to be attatched to...simple.
so needless to say it was a long day, then I come into my room to sit with my dogs and my "angel" ruby (who never gives me issues) phad peed o my bed... *rolls eyes* I noticed a small wet spot yesterday too but jasper likes to lick the sheets...however now im wondering.
and THEN after stipping the bed and thankfully it hadn't gone through the matress topper) I noticed dusty is missing hair on the backs of her front and back legs, no rash, no redness, no itching, so looks like its either some kind of alopecia, possibly from a thyroid issue...or allergies of some kind...just what we need....
ive got a feeling the entire winter is going to travel along this theme...so im looking for options to be placed in a medically induced coma until spring....
hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
If you find a medically induced coma option, I want to know about it! Ugh it was sooooo cold today! In November! 
frustratedearthmother
Sustainability Master
OH dang girl....wind and tarps do NOT go together! Glad you didn't get carried away, lol.
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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And that is why I built my hay shelter w/wood instead of pipes! I'm able to have the tarps on much more securely.
My hubby likes to read stuff on the internet and then share his new found knowledge w/me as well. Only problem being, 99.9% of the stuff he tells me is stuff I already know.
My hubby likes to read stuff on the internet and then share his new found knowledge w/me as well. Only problem being, 99.9% of the stuff he tells me is stuff I already know.
hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
Lol Deb
