*please* go and do these two things for your animals...

[aggieterpkatie]

I definitely agree, Pat! Good points!

 

[michickenwrangler]

ok so I should have phrased it as "if you haven't already", so sue me

Pat

You have animals. You don't have any money

LOL

Well you could sue me for the animals. "The court hereby awards the plaintiff three retired horses, four housecats one of them very high-maintenance, five sheep, and an undetermined number of chickens. The defendant will also be assessed court fees in the amount of however many turkeys they can find."

And you'd at least be *tempted* to, admit it...



Pat

With the exception of the cats, I might take you up on it. Turkeys will end up in the freezer though.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree....now, the money thing is sometimes hard to keep back when one is living on a tight budget and emergencies arise....but its a great idea to keep back emergency money for all things, not just animals.

The proper penning or a place in which to do so is also sometimes hard, according to your living circumstances...but always a great idea to provide BEFORE one gets animals/chickens.

I'm pretty methodical about my decisions to get new animals and it sometimes takes me a couple of years research/planning/building before I am ready to commit......and sometimes an opportunity arises and you just jump right in and build later.

When I got my milk cow it was more of a pity purchase and I had no facilities adequate for cow ownership, though I managed with what I had. Once I had her health on a better path, I arranged for her to go to a more appropriate place to live...and made a profit on the whole deal, which wasn't bad.

If I had had more land and a good and bigger barn, she would still be with me today.

I agree, Pat...for all practical purposes, it is more wise to be prepared.

 

[MsPony]

I mainly deal with smaller animals, no room for anything big besides the horses!

But this is why I keep every cage (bird and rodent) and have a slew of x-pens at the ready. I feel like a hoarder, but last week when I had a freshly neutered dog needing to be isolated, with two bunnies that needed their own BOTH separations, chicks coming in and a rat that needed separation....I was thankful for being a cage/x pen hoarder

 

[patandchickens]

But this is why I keep every cage (bird and rodent) and have a slew of x-pens at the ready. I feel like a hoarder, but last week when I had a freshly neutered dog needing to be isolated, with two bunnies that needed their own BOTH separations, chicks coming in and a rat that needed separation....I was thankful for being a cage/x pen hoarder

I tell you, I just KICK myself for all the times over the years when I could have gotten a large or XL collapsible metal dog crate for free or $5ish. There was one here when we bought this property eight years ago, and it has turned out to be SUPER useful (for chicks, for chicken isolation, for for injured feral cat, for sheep transport, even for use as a gate in its folded-flat configuration, for supporting piece of plexiglas on which to process meat chickens, etc etc). I have gotten a second, much less rusty, one now too, but where oh where have all the offers of free ones gone, now that I could *use* them?

Pat

 

[lupinfarm]

Pat, we have TONS of those collapsible metal dog crates. We have them coming out the ears. Mum has been collecting them over the years with our dogs. We even have one big enough to fit 2 goats LOL.

 

[glenolam]

We even have one big enough to fit 2 goats LOL.

THERE's your emergency pen!

 

[lupinfarm]

Funny enough, its a massive giant breed crate (or double crate, it has a divider and 2 doors) that we bought for our big black lab that hated crates so she'd get crated with our other lab. Hence the need for a huge enormous crate haha.