rachels.haven's Journal

[rachels.haven]

Nest boxes out today. Might be early, not sure, but at least one of them was too stinky to keep in, plus they were hopping in and out to to use it as a bathroom at will. This is where raising rabbits in the house gets potentially high maintenance. It's potty training time. Let's see how fast we can get those little stinkers stinking in the poo boxes.Or maybe the weather will warm up and everyone winds up back on racks. That would also be great.

So the thaw has occurred here. Our two sump pumps have been running about every five minutes, so after I was sure they had a chance to flush out I put one of the discharge pipes in the kiddie pool that my kids didn't ruin this fall and yesterday let the ducks and chickens out for some bathing. Today I let the geese out and so far no one has gotten decapitated, so maybe the geese feel like getting along now...at this second.

 

[rachels.haven]

Believe it or not the water comes out of the house clear. The constant replenishing of the pool keeps it not coffee colored. Eventually the husband will go put a longer pipe on it and drain it somewhere else and I will make the pool follow it, of course. The neighbor's yard has half flooded. Next the rear left portion of ours will flood too, and then there is no need for kiddie pools until summer, unless of course we get really dry weather, which we probably won't, or if the county comes through and fixes our ditches, which is about as likely as our various local governments not being too corrupt and/or incompetent to be able to afford it. But that's another story.

Those muscovy need to start reproducing so they can stay on top of our mosquito population that is so coming. I've had a nest of just a few eggs under a duck for about two and a half weeks, so I think we've got about another two and a half to go.

 

[Latestarter]

Great use of water that otherwise would have gone to waste. I'm sure the waterfowl are quite happy with the arrangement.

 

[misfitmorgan]

That's a genius idea!!

I filled up a large pan for our ducks last night....they made a mess but they seemed very happy.

 

[rachels.haven]

Ducks are like balls of poop and mud rolled up in feathers-and are both oh so cute (and yummy, which is a terrible thing to add, but that's life). They like it messy

 

[rachels.haven]

Not much going on lately. Kicked the bucks out of the house into the garage where they were originally planned to go. Chicks hatched. Broodies brooding. Gander figured out how to gander. Baby rabbits growing. I got put on meds for bad circulation, so now cold isn't so painful and my joints aren't angry. It's going to rain over here very soon. But hey, people like pictures, so here are pictures! Some are repetitive. Still haven't gotten good pictures of the does and the black otter kit. My camera decided on it's own to video from that point on, though so none of them turned out. Annoying, but whatever. My kids are being crazy, so no time to think about that atm.

 

[rachels.haven]

More pics, I guess. As soon as the blood work comes back from the joint doctor, we'll start thinking about goats. Just have to make sure my bad circulation and a touch of tendinitis from neglect is just bad circulation and a touch of tendinitis. Fairly confident.

There, now you've got a fairly accurate idea of what's going on around here...
...Besides, I guess our bicycle adventures. Living on an acre in the city has it's advantages. As soon as all the bikes are up and running again we'll go back to our fair weather pattern of almost never using the car. Feed store runs are the deal breaker typically. One simply can not put 300+ lbs of poultry and rabbit feed, potty pellets, and bedding a bike trailer and bike 28 miles home without the bike trailer giving out, lol. The distance would be fine, but the trailers' limits are not up to it. Last sunday, the first one that it was warm enough, we tried to bike to church, but one of my bike's tires wasn't adjusted right, and the other one (the 30 year old "new" racing bike) had a flat tire on it's probably 30 year old tubes. Probably should have replaced the tubes earlier, but with bikes sometimes you don't have to.

 

[rachels.haven]

Oh! Forgot to mention. This week I sprayed a skunk. The little bold (stupid) critter decided to come in the coop at about 10 am, while I was standing in front of it, looking for a little chick and duckling balut/meat/eggs. So I maced him/her. After another few attempts to come in and more macing, he loped away and I watched him until he loped himself right out of the yard. After I cayenned heavily around the shed and other places it could he hanging out so it would be less likely to come back. NO FREE LUNCHES.

A couple years back I lost a dozen home hatched ducklings to one of them. Now I'm smarter. We have a lot of skunks (and possums and groundhogs) here-much more than when I lived on the edge of a rural Iowa town, oddly enough. If I were a gun person, I would trap and shoot them, but for now we're going to have to stick with mace or a hose and "shooting" from far away.

THERE, now we're caught up.

 

[Latestarter]

Thanks for the pics! Hope the med issues are what you're expecting and not serious. You are one busy person.

 

[Bruce]

One simply can not put 300+ lbs of poultry and rabbit feed, potty pellets, and bedding a bike trailer and bike 28 miles home without the bike trailer giving out, lol. The distance would be fine, but the trailers' limits are not up to it.

I would think the motor's leg would not be up to dragging that much weight 28 miles!

Sure glad it was you spraying the skunk and not the other way around.

Those bunnies sure are cute and what's better than a hen with chicks?