Gypsy's Rambles, Wanders, Wonders and Blunders

[GypsyG]

Insanely tired. I just checked again. No luck catching the little bastard yet. I checked the rabbits wile I was out too and it was a good thing that I did... One of Loretta's babies had crawled out of the nest. Something else to be paranoid about. It is way too cold for that crap.

 

[GypsyG]

I'm sitting in the waiting room at Firestone waiting on tires. I hate sitting around waiting on things. All the magazines here suck, not a single Western Horseman or Backwoodsman... Good thing I have BYH! After I get done here I'm heading over to one of my Rabbit breeder friends to take Francis for a date with her big pedigreed Frenchie buck. She was supposed to be bred when I got her but it didn't take, we are going to try again.

I am so exhausted and it will be another sleepless night because I didn't catch the darned coon yet... Cashew and Crispy will be avenged!

 

[Bruce]

Probably have plenty of old Road and Track and Autoweek at the tire dealer.

Sorry you haven't gotten that coon yet. What sort of trap are you using?

 

[GypsyG]

Probably have plenty of old Road and Track and Autoweek at the tire dealer.

Sorry you haven't gotten that coon yet. What sort of trap are you using?

It's a welded cage style live trap that a local trapper builds and sells. I've only used it for feral cats before, but it was designed for raccoons.

 

[GypsyG]

Still have not caught the raccoon. I am using tuna for bait now.

I'm soooo tired. I keep nodding off at my post in the chair by the back window. I have my alarm set to ring every 20 minutes to make sure I don't fall asleep hard. I hope I catch him soon because I don't know how much more of this I can take...

Cashew and Crispy must be avenged! This is war.

 

[Baymule]

You would do better to strengthen up the coop, then you could sleep knowing that your chickens are safe. Let the trap do it's work. You can't keep this up, where there is one coon, there are others.

Post pics of your coop and we can help with ideas on how to make it more coon proof.

 

[GypsyG]

You would do better to strengthen up the coop, then you could sleep knowing that your chickens are safe. Let the trap do it's work. You can't keep this up, where there is one coon, there are others.

Post pics of your coop and we can help with ideas on how to make it more coon proof.

I am going to go buy some tin today and hang it around the roost end of the coop and then use some chicken wire and 2×4s to make divider wall inside the coop so I can secure them into the roost area at night.

I have had my hens for over a year and this is the first problem I have had. I had been lucky so far. I live in a nice neighborhood where everyone but me keeps impeccably manicured lawns and tidy cookie cutter houses... When raccoons or opossums or skunks are spotted by any of the residents they usually have them removed by a pest control service. All my money goes to the feed store, the garden nursery and Lowe's for hutch building supplies so I can't afford to call a pest control service.

 

[GypsyG]

Another late night tonight. I replaced the tuna in the live trap with mackerel, hopefully it will yield results.

Posey is pulling hair like crazy and a winter storm is supposed to hit around midnight, lots of snow and Sub-Zero wind-chills... I have multiple reasons to stay up tonight. Good thing I squeezed in a siesta this afternoon. Posey is usually a great mom, but her last litter she had on the wire a almost two days early. She's not due until tomorrow, but doe code says she will have them tonight in the storm. Brownie and Zelda are also due, but neither have pulled fur yet.

Hosta and Munchkin are both due on the 15th. Hosta's whole litter is already spoken for.

I bred Ella to Scarface and took Francis back to her breeder's to breed her to a pretty big broken chinchilla Frenchie buck yesterday... Hopefully all these litters will be big, healthy and doe heavy so that I can get caught up filling orders for my doe waiting list.

 

[GypsyG]

I went out to make rounds. No raccoon, but 10 healthy kits with fat bellies!

 

[GypsyG]

Still no raccoon, but now Brownie is pulling tons of fur!