Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[perchie.girl]

@CanuckBock

Since I only haul hay and horse drawn vehicles and the occasional garbage. I am thinking of having the bed removed and turn it in for cash at the recyclers. I think it only has two bolts holding it on any way.

After cashing the bed in . I will start with two nice pressure treated wood six by eights. This way I dont have to weld I just have to have someone provide some muscle to lift em up and fasten them in place.

Then I can build the bed as I can afford it. I think pressure treated two by sixes would be something I could do... price wise and physical wise.

deb

 

[Wisher1000]

Or maybe 2x8s? Or 2x10s?

 

[perchie.girl]

Or maybe 2x8s? Or 2x10s?

what ever it takes bigger lumber is harder for me to handle alone...

deb

 

[Wisher1000]

I understand, but our local Lowe's will cut it to length and load for you, and then it's just a matter of sliding off one truck, or trailer, to the other. I don't know, just a thought.....

 

[perchie.girl]

I understand, but our local Lowe's will cut it to length and load for you, and then it's just a matter of sliding off one truck, or trailer, to the other. I don't know, just a thought.....

True... I didnt think of that. Lowes and Home Depot will do it. For a fee. Well worth it too because people dont realize how heavy lumber can be. For that matter Frost hardwood is over in Miramesa and I could get an appropriate hardwood there pre cut. I will have to check into the woods that they use for flat beds.

deb

 

[scottcaddy]

@CanuckBock

Since I only haul hay and horse drawn vehicles and the occasional garbage. I am thinking of having the bed removed and turn it in for cash at the recyclers. I think it only has two bolts holding it on any way.

After cashing the bed in . I will start with two nice pressure treated wood six by eights. This way I dont have to weld I just have to have someone provide some muscle to lift em up and fasten them in place.

Then I can build the bed as I can afford it. I think pressure treated two by sixes would be something I could do... price wise and physical wise.

deb

Take a careful look at your fuel filler opening, it will need good support and be at about the same height as before. I have seen some fillers set too low and would not fill the tank properly.
Just a thought.
I would like pic's.
Scott

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I have to rebuild the fuel filler anyway. Its been extended for the Dually fenders and the only thing that keeps it attached is the fuel cap. If I top it off fuel comes out the neck. so I have to listen to the fuel going into the tank and when it reaches a certain crescendo I have to stop or loose fuel. I have peered down in there through the EMPTY screw holes and it seems a hose clamp is dangling.

I asked a mechanic to fix it when I took it in and he said IF i was going to get flat bed why bother. Pththt... never went back to him. I could do it if I could kneel.

I will most definately documenting everything. This truck will run with the cap off so I suspect it will be forgiving. And I will want a steel surround or bracket to hold it... Diesel fuel not good for wood or animal feed. I dont mind the occasional drip on the ground or chassis.. but not on the bed.



I could use aluminum deck plate and fasten it to the wood. inside is a unit that is water proof and most likely gasketed.

deb

 

[CanuckBock]

Thanks Much!!
Is this the shortest post you have ever done?
Scott

No.

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Well Scott, the last post I jest made...that one is a close second to the shortest post I have ever made... I have experimented with others and done the "." one dot post before...hee hee. One other got away with a post that had nothing shown in the post. Not sure what they typed to do that but blank is probably the shortest one may do.

I did say I forgot to post the pic...so that's moi story and I am sticking to it.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Tara, the "north" part of my member name refers to north Florida...our winters here are pretty mild compared to most other locations. I think it's about high 70's here today. A few times a year we'll get frost and an occasional freeze. I used to live in south FL where the temps were even warmer. This is about as cold as I want to get, lol.

I got my Raising Ducks book today! It came early so lots of reading to do this weekend, and next week and next, etc. Looks like a good one!

I'll take a look at the links you gave me, they sound interesting and who knows, DH might convince me to move to Wyoming yet some day.

Thanks for the info and have a great one!

P.S. I love the Cattle Song! I have it on a sound track from the Horse Whisperer movie, good music all round on that one.

Yeh, I guess the NORTH part is not like here in the Great White NORTH... LMBO

You will enjoy the duck duck book by Holderread (nfi)...keep it handy, eh!


His website is alot of fun with waterfowl too.

http://holderreadfarm.com/


Don't get caught up in the "must have water" syndrome either. WATERfowl does enjoy water for swimming but more importantly, they need fluid water so they may swallow their food moreso than that they HAVE to have it for swimming. Because we get cold long enough in winter where you can see four and five feet of water freeze up solid (what fluid water from September to May??), the waterfowl WILL bath and clean themselves up with fluid water from a covered bucket, etc.

Fixins and Pudgy - use to be my avatar for some lists​

Also remember that ducklings hatched by their mother have HER swimming oils on the water to keep them up on top of the water floating AND she will herd them off the swimming water when she decides the little blighters have had more than enough swim time and not soak to the skin and chill or sink and drown. If you are receiving or hatching ducklings with no Mom (or surrogate Mom...Pudgy was a cataract vision impeded white Call that use to tolerate the ducklings here--worth her weight in solid gold...she helped the ducklings settle in to learn how to be a calm and happy duck), then you have to watch to see if they are actually growing out enough real feathers (not jest downy fuzz butts) and oiling them for floating and insulation. Even then, ducklings with access to water to swim have to be watched and tended to...you are the parent of the young stocks and YOUR duty is to be Mom and know when enough swim time is ENOUGH! Recall, duck mantras..."to drown oneself in their drink!"

We have acquired adult ducks that have not swum in water in their entire lives...how did we know this...because when given access to water for swimming, they don't know how to swim. LMBO...doing complete summersaults in the water and near drowning themselves until they figure it out and then are splish splashing and diving like dolphins. Yes, we agree that waterfowl love water BUT up here, you screw up & provide fluid water where they can dunk themselves, you will find them freezing up parts of their bodies and in some unfortunate cases, people have found birds frozen IN the water...sometimes losing limbs...the white marks on faces of geese are usually from freezing their faces...can't stop them (nor do you want to) from getting drinks from water buckets to swallow their food, but they will splatter themselves with the H20.


So I guess my point is you can offer up swimming water when the weather conditions are conducive AND the waterfowl are old enough to have applied oil from their preening gland to their feathers. Ask yourself, why do ducks, geese, swans, etc. FLOAT...what is the difference between waterfowl and landfowl? Feathers kinda l00k the same...but it is the application of the preen gland OIL that insulates and helps them stay WATERPROOF!

Now there are always exceptions to the rooles...wild waterfowl come with higher ends of responsibilities than our domesticated Mallard and Muscovy descendants. All domesticated ducks are either Mallard or Muscovy variants. Wild type is Mallard or Muscovy and the mutations we humans have selected for, are why a Call Duck looks ever so different than say a Pekin or Embden. We humans chose the differences in size and colour pattern and other attributes like crested or tuffed, etc. The tamed domestics survive our divergences from what happens in the wilds of Nature much better. DOMESTICATION means they have way more tolerances to our human blunders in how we keep (or don't keep) them alive and well.

I have acquired Mandarin ducks that have had their preen gland solidly closed by an accumulation of preen gland oil...a very yicky blob of solidified oil that blocks the preen gland hole (chickens have the same gland as waterfowl...look to the base of the top of the tail...and you will locate this gland). In one situation the one male came here in the Fall and obviously the previous owner did not provide swimming water to this wild waterfowl species and because we do...this drake died...soaking wet! He was in quarantine (all new avian creatures spend 2 months in quaratine before joining our bands of birds) and had a small bathing tub but could not survive the cold of just one night. Blah...I learned to check the preen gland for obstruction the hard way and at the cost of a bird's life.

So in the case of our wild waterfowl, they have access to fluid water for cleaning themselves AND in the special case of the Mandarin Ducks and the Ruddy Shels (not a goose, not a duck but an intermediate species...so a guck or a doose...I do not believe them zoologists have made up a common name for shelducks/shelgeese yet!) they have swimming water year round.

​

What I do for the Mandies and Shellies...bring them water at NOON...no earlier and no later than noon in the winters here. Point trying to be made is that they get fluid water to swim in to clean their preen glands AND have enough warmer weather time to DRY off before the nasty mean cold hits again that evening. The smart wild waterfowl then takes a quick dip and cleans themselves up, dry off and then apply the preen gland oil ALL over the feathers themselves which waterproofs AND makes them cold tolerant in an insulative way. Very diligent about making sure they can clean their preen glands AND dry off and apply oil before the cold of the day/night hits. Now in weather like -40C (-40F), I do not give the wild waterfowl water to take a complete plunge in...we do get a week to two weeks like that but never straight thru all at temps of forty below...on the day where it warms up (keep in mind, here where I live it has to WARM up to snow...hee hee...yeh, you read that right...warms up to snow here!) you give them bathing water.

And heat lamps as necessary...at -10 to -15C, the Mandarins, two pairs of Black Swans and pair of Rudies get a heat lamp in their winter quarters (so too for the geriatric chickens and the Call Ducks--make a fist, that is the size of many of our exhibition Calls). This allows any ice from swimming that has formed on their feathers (mostly the tail or butt feathers) to drop off. Now upon daily inspection...if any of the drakes (Mandarins are notorious for this) have a ice cube sized blob of ice on their tail feathers, I will use a small mallet to smash the ice off. Keeping in mind that handling wild waterfowl specimens is STRESSFUL on them. Do it quick, efficiently and let them the heck GO!

​

For the Mandarin bevy (eight birds of four pairs), I use a rubber pan inside a vehicle tire...this way I may smash the frozen ice out as it gets up there. I use a mallet and because of the tire, you may roll it out the door and back again. I have tractor trailer tires with 100 pound rubber pans inside them for both watering and hay feeding the ruminants. Work fab!


Also watch for poop build up in the ducks in severely cold conditions...when it gets cold here (past -15C/5F to -53C/-63F), some ducks will take to sitting tight and not moving much...this means they crap in a sitting position and because of the severe cold...poop freezes to butt feathers--nasty but also dangerous because it can seal off the expelling of any more crapola...not good for the bird. I watch who is not moving about and move them at least once a day and inspect for a poop caboose...any with that condition are put into a large dog crate and get to spend an hour or so in the heated garage...poop warms up, falls off...and out they go sans their crappy trailer. Yah!


Since the more we know as we learn...there is no fool proof person that knows or has seen it all...animals and birds have a way of teaching us HARD lessons...have LIVEstock, gonna have DEADstocks too.

But we can continue to be wiser and wiser by watching and learning...learning from our mistakes and not repeating them, eh.

Just this last summer I found a gander (who's turn it was NOT to be out on the lawns with kiddy pond access) completely immobilised INSIDE his large rubber water bucket. Bugger had dived into the bucket (not a young bird either...he is like five years old and should not better!), folded up his body and neck, and solidly stuck himself in the bucket...anyone wanna bucket of goose?

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I went out and bought a whole supply of new larger better formed (flat one side) rubber buckets (like 30 I think) so all geese/swans had new better bigger buckets. I think the bucket was a tad small and since it was round, it could move away from the wall it was clipped tight to. Now the gander never died but he did stress himself (stress allows diseases to gain a foot hold where otherwise the bird mighta shrugged it off...so the happier and calmer your stocks, the healthier and likely longer lived & productive your critters shall be), so upgrading to a better (and more expensive...Rick always quips, "nothing money & effort won't fix!") bucket has meant a better gaggle of geese and swans here.


I think when people understand the dynamics to the differences between the poultry species and how to avoid immanent dangers, then they begin to become better caretakers of all the different kinds we may keep.

Your best investment in yourself as an owner of beings is to sit with a coffee (or whatever your choice of poisonous beverages is, eh) and just soak in watching your creatures being creatures. No book or thread on some list can replaces your own hands on experience. There is a whole world of goings on in each bird pen that sometimes we forget to sit and suck in. Best part of keeping the beasts is the enjoyment of them being them and each and every one of them is an individual like we are--there are no set rules. Guaranteed the things you learn from the observation of your birds will supercede what any person anywhere has to show or tell you. Consider it an apprenticeship that continues on for your entire life.

That said, Holderread's duck book is a great place to start out correctly and then develop your own methods of animal husbandry from there. You will end up killing things by your actions or inactions or just craphouse luck...your challenge here is to learn from the loss of life or suffering and not keep repeating the blunders and make improvements. If you never kill something, well bully on you but I have never quite managed it.

Rick considers when the things you keep continue to try to "make more" to live off the bounty...by having babies busting forth all over the place even against your better efforts, consider that a small success forward. BE strong, resist the temptations to overrun the happiness balance (where too many = disease, death and filth piling up) and suck in the happiness at every second you are able.

@CanuckBock

Since I only haul hay and horse drawn vehicles and the occasional garbage. I am thinking of having the bed removed and turn it in for cash at the recyclers. I think it only has two bolts holding it on any way.

After cashing the bed in . I will start with two nice pressure treated wood six by eights. This way I dont have to weld I just have to have someone provide some muscle to lift em up and fasten them in place.

Then I can build the bed as I can afford it. I think pressure treated two by sixes would be something I could do... price wise and physical wise.

deb

See, we could not assist you here in your decision. The deck for the one ton was a prebuilt and engineered one. The laws here are very severe on what is considered road worthy.

I think we have concluded the rating for the tires to be the bottle neck for what kind of loads one might haul...so in that case, we usually run with ten ply tires...skoocum heavy duty treads for the trucks we intend on hauling loads with. Even then, I think the newest white suburban has nine ply tires...something formidable like that.

Hey now, get the son of yours to assist. Threaten to make dinner or his fav dessert and before feeding the beasty...have him help move any loads you figure you may have difficulty with...after all, we Moms hefted a heavy load of them for what...nine months, eh!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada