blockages

Hello beautiful ones. I have been wanting to make a blog entry, but I am having a little blockage it seems.

Not your normal writers block, just a block of exhaustion at the end of the day. It is hard to think, to write, to do anything really, but veg out a little, then sleep.

I have been working quite a bit with my rabbits. First, I adopted a rabbit who's owners said the "newness and fun" of owning a rabbit had faded for their son. It is a white rabbit with one ear that sticks straight up, and the other ear flops. The rabbit was eating cow grains when I went to pick it up. It is now on a special diet, just like the rest of my rabbits. I do a mix of premium rabbit pellets, black sunflower seed, calf manna, sweet feed, and oats, followed with plenty of water and second cut hay.

I cleaned the rabbitry/chick nursery out, top to bottom, and got it ready for another rabbit, an English Angora buck named Amazing, but with Amazing came an unexpected intake of three flemish giant rabbits. Yes, they are giant. Big bunnies, two does and one buck It seems they were housed together, so I should be expecting two giant litters, I don't know when, because I am not sure how far back these three were exposed to each other. So for now, they are hopping around their new digs. Meanwhile, Tahoe, my Blue English Angora doe is expected to kindle on the 25th, and that is today. So I may be knee deep in babies. Baby rabbits are called kittens, but breeders call them kits. So knee deep in kits. But who knows? I learned to not count my chickens before they hatch, and I will continue on thinking the same of most things in life. Wait it out and see what happens.

I have decided to move my rabbitry to the house up the hill. A cute two bedroom, that was converted from the barn to a house long ago, and now, at least for this coming winter, it will house animals again. Nothing like that show Animal Horders!  I saw an episode on Animal Horders where this lady had so many rabbits they were living in her walls, cupboards, mattresses, you name it. Sad show really, for the animals, and for the people. I will have a clean efficient, little rabbit operation, cover the floor in vinyl and to make a nice comfortable place to house and care for the rabbits, with room indoors to exercise them as well. My new hideout. ;-)

 A TN Faiting Goat named Blue Clay  is being delivered on November 5th. He is sharing a ride with a small animal transporter, and other goats. Seems there is another Wild and Wonderful Woman with very similar interest that lives North of me. She will drive down, and we all will rendezvous nearby and do the swap. Blue Clay is a blue buck. He will be penned together with my Pancho, as both of them have had their first rut. So, they will have each other until I need their services. Pancho is such a sweetheart, I hope Clay is just as sweet.

After that, Winter. Making it through the snow but most of all dealing with frozen water containers. Winter makes everything a little more difficult on a farm. Mountain terrain is not the easiest to navigate, by vehicle, or by foot.

My truck is up for sale. My cool ass old Dodge truck. I am a tad bummed, but I do now have a used Jeep Cherokee to wheel around with. Four wheel drive, and interior room for like people and stuff. I will miss rumbling down the road in my old truck.

Oh and I now have seven baby chicks too. After the chicks turned 2 weeks, I brought my chicken tractor upstairs in the barn lined with pine chip bedding and dropped a brooder light over head. They are happy growing chickies. I am growing them over the winter, so by Spring, they will be ready to lay. Also my Tetra tint went broody! She now has a clutch of 8 eggs. Some of my chickens, might not make it through the whole winter or will begin to slow on egg production. I have some older girls. They have shelter and warmth, but sometimes the extra stress factor of being confined, or going out in the cold, can contribute to loss. I am a little more seasoned as a Farmer-girl now and a little more of a realist.

I will leave you with pictures of two of the giant rabbits having a bite to eat in the barn the first night they arrived-

Until later... ~crow