Homestead One Day

Pest Control and Rabbits

On June 14, 2022

A post on Facebook reminded me of something that happened to a friend of mine. She sold a rabbit and a couple days later the buyer sent her this video asking what’s wrong.

This is a neurological twitch! Since the rabbit didn’t have it when sold, it had to happen after the sale. After some questioning and eliminating mishandling as a cause, it turned out the buyer just had the house sprayed for pests. This rabbit is a house rabbit. Despite the company not spraying near the rabbit, this happened. The residue is still in the house (that’s how the sprays work!) and the rabbit was exposed.

An old neighbor of mine owned his own pest control company and he’s the one who explained that the “safe for pets” only meant dogs and cats…they don’t test on rabbits, rodents, etc. He refused to spray inside a house if someone had any pets like that because of it.So if you’re selling, warn your buyers not to use bug sprays of any kind in the house!

BTW, cleaners kill bugs too…I dispatched a wasp with 409 yesterday. I’ve used Windex, dawn +water, and disinfectant spray as well (whatever was in my hand). Makes cleanup easier too!

This rabbit did recover after some time as the exposure was mild. The owner was instructed to not allow spraying in any room the rabbit has access to or put it outside in a shaded cool area for a week after spraying was done.

Tractor is down :(

By nsmar4211

On June 11, 2022

In equipment repair

Today’s project was pulling the last side of the big animal pen fence straight and moving the posts over. We used t posts which tend to get stuck in the ground, especially when the ground is wet.

Previous attempts at pulling the metal t posts out included wrestling them out by wiggling them in all directions (posts always end up bent) , using a pry bar to pry them up (not successful), and using an engine hoist to jack them out. The engine hoist works great but is too hard to wrestle through the mud once it rains so that was out.

So today we thought we’d try and get the tractor! We can loop a strap around the bucket hooks, loop around the t post, and then just lift with the bucket! Backs saved , posts straight, everyone’s happy!

I grab the keys and walk out to the tractor tent. Hop on, turn on the glow plugs, then start the engine. All good! I grab the lever and go to lift up the bucket….uh oh…bucket only moved an inch. Hrm…checked I was moving it right and yep. Settled an inch when I pulled it down but that was all…

I hopped off and went back to the backhoe controls to see if it was just the bucket. Tried to move the stabilizers andddddd…. nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

That can only mean one thing…hydraulic system is down. Looked underneath and finally saw where the back area is wet…so either I’ve blown a line or a seal. At least, I hope it’s that simple.

When I bought the tractor I had to buy a warranty since it was financed. I was told everything but the tow charge is included in it..so tomorrow I’ll be calling the dealer for a service call. I’m not looking forward to either the tow bill or the downtime! Hopefully it’ll be a quick and simple fix. I am filing this under “problems” category for sure!

And the t post removal? Back to wiggling and digging with the post hole digger around the posts. Saw a video on YouTube that said not to wiggle the posts side to side to avoid bending, wiggle them front to back only. Tried that and it 90 percent worked. The 10 percent was one post that was already bent so it didn’t seem to matter. Straightened it out by inserting one end into a pipe truck bumper and leaning on it until it was straight ish.

Thought the job was done after 2 hours but discovered pulling the last side pulled a corner post out six inches despite bracing. So we’ll have to figure out how to re brace the corner in a way that will not allow the goats to climb out. More fun!

Pig water dilemma … frustrating for both of us. Swine!

By nsmar4211

On June 10, 2022

In Funny, Messes and cleanup, Pig

I have a pig. Well, I have several…but this conversation is about my boar. The girls have figured out if they tip their water bowl then there is no more water until the next refill! Him? Nope, just means now he gets a mud hole and he knows sooner or later he’ll get a refill. It’s hot..I get it…he likes mud! But, he needs clean water too…. And yes, he does have toys (dog balls, a tire on a rope to shove around, etc) so no he does not need a bucket toy.

This is the pig, eating off his…you guessed it…turned over food bowl. Yes, normally I flip it back over but this time he re flipped it just as I was pouring the food in…so he got a tray instead of a bowl. That’s a problem for another day.

So when I walked out to this…his water bucket thrown completely across the pen right into his favorite manure corner…a mudhole complete with hoofprints where his water should be…I decided it was time to try something else.

Prior to this, I have tried multiple different dishes from rubber to hard plastic to oil pans (new of course). I tried putting a brick in the middle of the dishes. I tried the dish in every area of the pen. I tried the bucket, including putting a brick in it. He’s pretty strong and more determined than a brick apparently!

Here is the next idea- it entails is making a ring around the bucket tied to the outside of the pen for the bucket to sit into. I then plan on adding a clip and clipping the handle to the side of the pen as well.

This is the wire, it’s fence wire from Tractor Supply (and I’m almost out!):

And this is what I mean by a loop that the bucket sits into. I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to reach into the bucket since it’s slightly off the ground, so I put a failed water dish (complete with brick!) as a step next to it. After taking this picture, he walked up from the other side and stuck half his head in the bucket so the step was not needed after all :).

How is it working? Well, I forgot the clip the first time. The bucket was thrown across the pen yet again. I put the clip on from the inside, clipping the handle to the thick pen wire…he trotted over as soon as I shut the pen door and started mouthing the clip attempting to take it off. Back into the mud pit (sigh) and I retrieved the clip. Clipped the bucket on it from the outside and so far it’s surviving the assaults!

Response to a poster asking what to do about racoons on a large (dozens of acres) property

By nsmar4211

On June 7, 2022

In Wildlife

You aren’t going to eliminate them all nor stop them from coming onto your property without a dome dropped over the whole thing (not realistic). They climb trees, laugh at fences, and aren’t worth it for someone to trap for you (as you found out). Switch your goal to keeping them out of the coop/housing areas of your animals and you’ll have a lot more success. Step 1: Fortify coop. No chicken wire (it keeps chickens in and nothing else out). Hardware cloth or rabbit cage wire, best you can afford (the smaller the number/gauge, the thicker the wire btw). Wire around the coop either buried down 2 feet or flat and pinned on the ground 2 feet (secured to the bottom edge) to eliminate digging. Check your coop door, those little paws can bend door frames open enough to get in if flimsy. Let nothing smaller than a racoon sleep or live within arms’ reach of any wire bigger than 1/2×1/2, they reach in and grab pieces. And all animals in at dusk, no exceptions. If your job keeps you off property past dusk, no more free ranging-build an enclosed run. You could do automatic doors for chickens, but sooner or later someone will stay out and you might lose them. Step 2: Eliminate all other food sources…no more corn feeders, outside cat food, outside dog food, birdseed on the ground, etc. Step 3: Get yourself a sturdy trap, havahart makes good ones. Learn how to set it. Leave it outside in the weather for a week or two to get rid of the manufacturing smells. Set it-I bait mine with fresh eggs because that’s what they are going after. Place it near the areas you don’t want them coming. Dispose of captive. Wear gloves if handing any dead ones, they have things you don’t want. Do NOT handle live ones and watch the paws-they reach through and grab! Rest trap, rinse and repeat. Be fair and realistic…my rule is anything showing an interest in the animals is gone. Everything else can stay. Again, you will not eliminate them. But #1 is build secure coops and pens!

Response to someone with a new carport type rabbit area concerned about heat.

By nsmar4211

On June 3, 2022

In Animal Health, Rabbits

Texas? Forget the swamp cooler, too humid. Misters will NOT work on the rabbits and will just rust your cages-your humidity is too high. Now, if you rig them up to wet the parts of roof that are in the sun, that would help. Do not enclose this unless you are putting in an a/c unit, they will die. Fans-you said one in the middle? Not enough unless it’s a giant oversized one. 35′ is a long way to push air. I’d put three at least in this…stagger them, so one on the end on left, one in middle, one on the end on right. I have 3 going in a 10×20. You need more airflow pushing the hot air out. I would also add one at the end of that middle row…I can’t tell what that is, but if it’s two levels down the middle they’re going to get hot fast, too many bodies too close together. If you have solid dividers in cages, put those at the end of the rows -the dividers block airflow. The end that’s in “full sun”…how much of it? Can you put shade cloth across the back at that end (use the beige ones)? You’ve got to get that roof out of the sun-the metal will literally bake your rabbits. If you have to buy shade cloth and throw it over the top and tie it down, do it. Best thing would be insulation under the roof, foam sheets or anything. You might consider something on top of the cages for an added buffer between them and the roof-the corrugated plastic at home depot comes in 8′ sheets, I’ve cut those in half so they’re 2×8 and laid them across the cages. It looks like you have an auto waterer, seriously consider adding crocks especially in the cages the struggling animals are in…I never set mine up after I moved because I came out one hot day and half my rabbits were curled up against the water bowls cooling off, even the plastic bowls. Some also put their feet in the bowls (watch out they don’t stay there too long and get a fungal infection, if they start losing hair on top of their feet it’s plan B time). Source: I’m in Florida…its 92 in the shade right now…

Funny animal picture-The cat, the Sandwich, and the Goat.

By nsmar4211

On May 31, 2022

In Cats and Dogs, Funny, Goat

The goat….freshly washed and wrapped up drying nicely. The sandwich….my lunch, half eaten. The cat…basically a stomach on four legs and really really wanted the sandwich, enough to brave getting near the weird loud thing (aka baby goat) wrapped up in my lap. The end result? Dry goat, full me, and yes…the kitty got a piece of the lunch meat!

Lice in goats!! Eeek! Quick post of pictures of nits in fur.

By nsmar4211

On May 29, 2022

In Animal Health, Goat

My goats ended up having lice. Ugh. I thought the black goat had dandruff (the blurry picture below), but a vet told me nope. Those are nits. I looked closely at the white goat’s fur and was able to see them as well, pictured below. So if your goat has “dandruff”, check closer-it could be lice!

Vet showed me to try and pull it off-the lice nits stick to the fur and don’t pull off like dandruff would. Also showed me how they were in layers on the hair, hair keeps growing so the ones close to skin were new and the ones further away were the ones that hatched before that.

When asked about mites, he said mites you aren’t going to see easily with naked eye, but you’ll see them rubbing excessively on everything they can.

Good news is humans and goats do not share the same lice and mite species. Whew!

Wild pig….it’s what’s for dinner!

By nsmar4211

On May 27, 2022

In cooking etc, Uncategorized

Well, the problem with the wild pig destroying my freshly planted corn and my neighbor’s yard is solved. No more piles of manure 5 feet from my pig enclosures carrying who knows what pathogens or worms with them…no more fencing being pushed down. He came too close too often and caused too much damage.

I spoke to a friend who knew someone experienced in such matters and they came out and took care of the problem, including leaving me 2 legs and a tenderloin

I have never cooked a wild pig. Heck, the last wild thing I cooked was a rabbit a couple of decades ago and that was over was over campfire! I’m pretty sure you could cook a tire over a campfire and make it taste good.

I decided to roast one of the legs in the oven. I hit up my friend the internet and got some advice (some of it,as expected, conflicting). I ended up resting the meat in the fridge 24 hours in a stainless stock pot. Then I made a salt water brine and soaked it another 3 days in the fridge.

Then I took a baking dish and lined it with enough foil to wrap the leg. I added a stick of butter (cut into pats). I then poked the meat all over with a knife, sprinkled garlic and pepper on top, and rubbed the slices and butter into the slits.

In the meantime I had the oven preheating to 400. I added some Cajun seasonings and put the leg in the oven uncovered for 30 minutes. This was to brown the top and crisp some fat.

After 30 minutes the top was brown so I pulled it out and wrapped it up tightly. I returned it back to the oven and turned the heat down to 250. I was told by several people to cook wild game to 190, so I figured 8 hours as it was about 8 pounds.

After 8 hours I pulled it out and wow! Sorry, no picture of it fresh from oven because I was too excited! There was a lot of juice, I drained that off into a small saucepan and added Wondra flour until it was gravy like, stirring the whole time.

As soon as the gravy was done , I grabbed some bread and made myself a bowl. It was delicious! To me it tasted a lot like slightly overdone roast beef. The gravy was good enough to eat on its own!

Ended up grilling/smoking smoking the second leg on a homemade smoker, wrapped and with butter. It was also very good, although I think the oven roasted was better…did I mention yummy gravy?

Next time, if there’s another leg offering, I’ll check it sooner as a small portion was dry…with the bone in I think it cooked faster than any directions or advice mentioned. 10/10 and would do again!

Mama hatched ducklings progress

By nsmar4211

On May 26, 2022

In Ducks

Response to someone in a rabbit group panicking because their temperatures are going to be a high of 85….

By nsmar4211

On May 24, 2022

In Uncategorized

Since websites like to randomly disappear and take information with them, I’ve decided if I type out a long reply to someone on Facebook etc I will also copy it here as a backup.

Someone in one of my Facebook rabbit raising groups asked how rabbits survive when their temperatures are going to be (max) 85. Here was my reply:

85 is cool for us! It was 95 in the shade on my porch yesterday and it’s just starting, and we have 90+ percent humidity so sprinklers and misters don’t help on the pens. My rabbit area is a tarp topped , open wire sided (I added) canopy in partial shade. Shadecloth (beige) to within 1 foot of ground on most of 3 sides. I have two of these setups (one is the chickens’ that I’ve added cages in). Main setup has 3 fans-one on top of cages blowing hot air out, one directly on the rabbits (at one end of cages) and an small oscillating that blows on lower cages. The main fans are sealed motor models against hair, one fancy from amazon and one $65 version from walmart-both are fine. I am currently using water bowls after noticing how many like to lay against them (mostly plastic, but some ceramic) and how many will soak their feet. Would be a lot less work to hook up my auto system but if it’s cheap cooling I’m for it! My rabbits are Dutch (not some fancy purpose bred heat breed) but most of my line has been in the state for many generations in non a/c rabbitries. Rarely I will do anything near the rabbits (or any other animal) other than a quick visual check in the middle of the day, it’s too hot and I don’t want them excited. Yesterday I dumped some water on a few rabbits, but it is a mom and her large litter that for some reason were cuddled together…they are getting big and need to be pulled. That will be fixed shortly as I just got more cages to build in. I did remove 3/4 of the hair and bedding from a litter that’s in the next box so they don’t overheat.