Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Yes babies like to play with their food. It gets kinda messy. LOL

Fresh green beans:
Make bundles of 3-6 beans. Wrap bacon around the middle and bake. Usually half a strip is plenty.

Dip in buttermilk, then in flour and deep fry. Dip in ranch dressing and enjoy.

Add to stir fry and soups

Cook in saucepan with a little water and butter.

Thanks @Baymule !

Munchkin will be 2 at the end of September, and he's about 30 pounds. Hard to call him a baby now. He was really good on the vacation trip, and we've been working on him for not throwing food. The trick is to focus entirely on him and not get distracted by something else otherwise he throws stuff to get attention back on him. Boy is he going to be in for a surprise when his brother gets here.

He is still not talking a ton, at least of words in English. He speaks full on sentences in gibberish. I probably should make a list of words he says in English, but I'll bet it's close to 20 or so. He understands a ton and can be enticed to fetch things like his shoes or his sippy cup.

He really enjoyed the beach, it was his first time there. He chased seagulls for a while too. He wasn't as thrilled about the waves after falling down a bunch. Hubby caught one on video and it's hilarious (munchkin didn't think so, he was not injured just unhappy). Definitely a video we'll be showing him regularly as he grows up. Hubby and my brother showed munchkin how to build a sand castle but munchkin was more interested in destroying their progress. He slept really good after playing on the beach. Pretty sure he ate a bunch of sand and rocks.

 

[Ridgetop]

Try Italian green beans. They are the slightly wider and flatter ones. They have a different taste. I stopped growing regular ones and always grew them since I like them better. Hard to find in the grocery stores but grow just like regular and can the same too.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

It got up to upper 90s today. Had the swamp cooler going and a box fan, but it wasn't enough. Lost one rabbit, thankfully one of the ones I had planned to get rid of instead of a breeder, but still frustrating and sad. It's supposed to get to 100 tomorrow. I still haven't found the misters we used last year. Going to try to find them and get them set up first thing tomorrow. If I can't find them ill do a home depot run.

I'm worried about the misters ruining the feed though. I might remove the feeders each day but that's going to get old fast.

 

[Baymule]

Use plastic bowls to make ice blocks. Pop them out and put in the rabbit cages. They can lay next to the ice block and even nibble on them.

 

[Mini Horses]

I would think gallon jugs of frozen water would work, then refreeze. BUT would they chew them?? No rabbits here beyond some wild ones. But chickens are hating the heat!! Egg laying down in protest . They hang in the shade mid day.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

We've done frozen ice bottles before. They take 2 days to freeze completely and they only last a few hours if that. The rabbits do chew on them and bust them open. We don't have freezer space for three sets of bottles, let alone a single set.

I know the misters can make a huge difference, just have to get the dang things set up. Probably should get a new pad for the swamp cooler, that might make it work better.

 

[Ridgetop]

I'm worried about the misters ruining the feed though. I might remove the feeders each day but that's going to get old fast.

If they're low volume emitters the spray won't even reach the feeders. Just make sure the water line with the emitters is placed around the outer edge of the rabbitry, not over the cages/feed dishes.

Also rabbits won't eat in the heat, so always feed at night. The pellets should be completely eaten in the morning. If not, you may be feeding too much. Decrease feed to what they will consume during the night. As you know, summer heat is hardest on them. Digestion of feed causes body heat so feeding during the evening for them to be able to eat when it cools down helps.

If you have automatic water lines, be sure to check the water nozzels every day. They can get too hot and the water sitting in the lines can heat to almost boiling point. If that happens the rabbits won't be able to drink. This will kill them faster than anything else. Adding water crocks with ice water during the day will help.

Our "new" barn had automatic waterers. One heat spell I lost about 8 good rabbits of all ages even with misters. When I installed the water lines the feed came through a water pipe I had buried about 18" underground. That broke when "someone" hit it with a shovel. DH decided not to dig up the pipe to replace the broken area since it was "too much work" and instead ran a replacement feed pipe along the roof to reconnect the water. That was fine during the winter but in the summer the water got so hot that they rabbits couldn't drink. I had noticed that the feeders were still full in the morning but assumed it was because of the heat. When I thought to check the automatic water nozzles, the water burned my hand. I ran to get the emergency crocks and fill them with cold water. Those rabbits emptied them in about 10 minutes. We had killed them by not allowing access to cool water. Stupid on my part not to realize the truth. That day I dug out the pipe and replaced it underground. Also check the directions your rabbitry faces because you might need to add shade cloth across windows for the afternoon sun.

 

[SageHill]

Yeah - watch the heat if the water line is above ground. My automatic waterers in the barn run through the ceiling -- it gets hot. When it's hot I have buckets outside for the sheep.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I ordered a 20*30 70% shade cloth to stretch over the rabbit shelter, to give them double shade. It is supposed to arrive Monday.

10:10pm Saturday, temperature controller says it's 86 degrees. The swamp cooler shuts off at 74 degrees. It's probably going to run all night. No rabbits lost today, the misters made a big difference. Hubby helped me set them up, new system, couldn't find the set from last year. They are not automated, so I'm going to have to turn it on and off daily. But that works because I'm going to have to remove any feed in the morning and then provide feed in the evening. I had been free feeding, gave them a limited amount tonight. I need to get a few different sized scoops and figure out how much each rabbit eats and only give that daily so I won't have to remove the feeders. We've been out of hay for over a month. I can't transport it in my car with the child seat and hubby isn't inclined to get a bale for me.

I set out two rat traps and a mouse trap in the rabbit zone. I'm a little worried that they are going to walk off since only one rat trap had a tether. We'll see in the morning. I also put out a cornmeal and baking soda mixture, hopefully that will get anything that doesn't go for the traps. Thinking about ordering some more Ratx, seems like perfect weather for that to work well. I'm also thinking about buying a squirrelenator, I saw at least 3 ground squirrels this morning. Something, probably rats, is eating the rabbit food from the j feeders, only one has a lid, the rest didn't come with lids.

 

[Baymule]

You can use an empty tuna fish can for a scoop. Just the right size. Or at least it was for me. Free feed builds up fat on their insides.