Moved the Pens back to back
Well today I replaced the floor of one of my rabbit pens. I've been meaning to do it for a long, long time now, but I kept putting it off because I just didn't feel up to it. After finding my stapler and my husband buying me a new drill, which I love by the way, I thought there is no sense in putting it off any longer. I got right to work on it today, after I moved the pen out of the bushes which was no small feat being the only one homether than my two year old son. He helped by staying under Mama's feet. I kept running him out of the bushes and distracting him with the dogs. I was scared to death he was going to get on a snake. I ended up moving both of my big pens, and let me tell you, those things are heavy. I cut the wire underneath it completely off. I know it was put there to keep animals from tearing into the pens but it holds all their loose hair and rabbit pellets. It had the pen smelling awful. So I cut it off and let all of that mess fall to the ground. I then had to take the sheet of tin off the front of the pen so I could get to work on it. I still need to work on the door, and I think I'll use the extra foot of wire I had left to put on the inside of the door. After I removed the tin, I laid out my roll of wire and snipped the corners where the landscaping timbers go.
Then I stapled the end down and rolled it to the other end stapling as I went. I then cut a foot of wire off the roll and again snipped the corners for the landscaping timbers. 
I then proceeded to staple everywhere I could. The more staples you put in it the more secure it is. I wouldn't mind going back tomorrow and put a few more longer staples in it. I sent my daughter to the store with her grandma to get me some more staples and made sure to tell her I wanted the longer ones. For once she listened and got me just what I needed to finish the job.
I did go ahead and move the rabbit back into this one so I can do some maintenance on his pen. 
One thing I want to do is remove the roofing tacks in the front of the pen holding the tin in place. I will replace them with tin screws. I also want to inspect the wire on the inside of this cage as well. Before I put him back in it, I am going to cut the extra wire off the bottom like I did the other pen. My next project is going to be the smaller cages. I really want to make them the actual pen for my breeding pair. I finally found me a new doe. Im going to get her this weekend, but first I've got some work to do on the pens. Anyway, the two bigger pens will be for the grow outs. I can separate the males from the females and have plenty of room for them to move around. I don't intend to have a lot of rabbits, but it will really just depend how things go down the road. I just want two or three rabbits for breeding, no more. I intend to let this be my daughters project. It will be a good learning experience for her and a 4H/FFA project. Of course, I will get something out of it as well, because what she doesn't sell will end up in my freezer, just as my chicken project will do the same for me. I intend to breed three different colors of orpington chickens, buff, blue and blue/buff crosses. You can find out all about that in an earlier post. Anyway, we have what I believe is a broken red new Zealand buck. I don't think he's a standard rex. His fur doesn't appear to look velvety to me. I've found pictures of broken red new Zealand's that look a lot like him. I could be very wrong though, as I've never seen a Standard Rex rabbit or even a Mini Rex up close. I've only seen pictures on line.
Well today I replaced the floor of one of my rabbit pens. I've been meaning to do it for a long, long time now, but I kept putting it off because I just didn't feel up to it. After finding my stapler and my husband buying me a new drill, which I love by the way, I thought there is no sense in putting it off any longer. I got right to work on it today, after I moved the pen out of the bushes which was no small feat being the only one homether than my two year old son. He helped by staying under Mama's feet. I kept running him out of the bushes and distracting him with the dogs. I was scared to death he was going to get on a snake. I ended up moving both of my big pens, and let me tell you, those things are heavy. I cut the wire underneath it completely off. I know it was put there to keep animals from tearing into the pens but it holds all their loose hair and rabbit pellets. It had the pen smelling awful. So I cut it off and let all of that mess fall to the ground. I then had to take the sheet of tin off the front of the pen so I could get to work on it. I still need to work on the door, and I think I'll use the extra foot of wire I had left to put on the inside of the door. After I removed the tin, I laid out my roll of wire and snipped the corners where the landscaping timbers go.
Then I stapled the end down and rolled it to the other end stapling as I went. I then cut a foot of wire off the roll and again snipped the corners for the landscaping timbers. I then proceeded to staple everywhere I could. The more staples you put in it the more secure it is. I wouldn't mind going back tomorrow and put a few more longer staples in it. I sent my daughter to the store with her grandma to get me some more staples and made sure to tell her I wanted the longer ones. For once she listened and got me just what I needed to finish the job. I did go ahead and move the rabbit back into this one so I can do some maintenance on his pen. One thing I want to do is remove the roofing tacks in the front of the pen holding the tin in place. I will replace them with tin screws. I also want to inspect the wire on the inside of this cage as well. Before I put him back in it, I am going to cut the extra wire off the bottom like I did the other pen. My next project is going to be the smaller cages. I really want to make them the actual pen for my breeding pair. I finally found me a new doe. Im going to get her this weekend, but first I've got some work to do on the pens. Anyway, the two bigger pens will be for the grow outs. I can separate the males from the females and have plenty of room for them to move around. I don't intend to have a lot of rabbits, but it will really just depend how things go down the road. I just want two or three rabbits for breeding, no more. I intend to let this be my daughters project. It will be a good learning experience for her and a 4H/FFA project. Of course, I will get something out of it as well, because what she doesn't sell will end up in my freezer, just as my chicken project will do the same for me. I intend to breed three different colors of orpington chickens, buff, blue and blue/buff crosses. You can find out all about that in an earlier post. Anyway, we have what I believe is a broken red new Zealand buck. I don't think he's a standard rex. His fur doesn't appear to look velvety to me. I've found pictures of broken red new Zealand's that look a lot like him. I could be very wrong though, as I've never seen a Standard Rex rabbit or even a Mini Rex up close. I've only seen pictures on line. |
| This is a younger picture of him, right after I got him |
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| This is a good picture of him now. |
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