Our Mixed Flock Journey!

[N F C]

We finally put in the Auto Watering system. Our friend that gave the Silkies to us, gave me a water barrel. He used it for his chickens, but the nipples he put in leaked, so he just quit using it. Anyway it's what we are using for our system. It will supply water to the chickens and rabbits both, I'm so excited to have fresh water for all of them, chicken waterers are nasty...lol. Dale is going to tie it into the water lines for the treeline, so that when it's running it will top off the barrel. We didn't get that part done yet as we had a huge rainstorm come through. We were completely soaked, by the time we got from the animal pens to the house! Here are some pictures!

Platform!
View attachment 2217424

Platform in place! We screwed it to the chicken pen then added the support posts!
View attachment 2217430

As I shared above the barrel had water nipples in it, so we used two of the holes - One for the Rabbits and one for the chickens. That left two holes that needed to be plugged. Our son 3D printed the plugs for us! He's pretty talented!
View attachment 2217446
First plug in! We also need to buy a shut off valve for the rabbits water line, nothing was open today!
View attachment 2217451

Plumbing finished except for the shutoff valve to the rabbits water nipples! The small tubing runs to the rabbit hutches and we used an old washing machine hose to connect to the chickens water bar! The second 3D plug top twisted off, so my son made a stronger one to replace it. We will put it in when it quits raining! The valve on the bottom left is for completely draining the barrel if needed!
View attachment 2217455

Water Bar in Place! Now, I just have to make sure that they figure out how to use it!
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That should make chores a lot easier...lugging waterers (and buckets of water) is not fun.

 

[drstratton]

That should make chores a lot easier...lugging waterers (and buckets of water) is not fun.

It will definitely make life easier & keep my flock healthier!

 

[WhoDatChick]

We took a little trip to celebrate our retirement, so I've been offline and will be slowly trying to catch up with everyone's threads... We went to Mt Rainier and the weather was absolutely perfect...it was so beautiful and relaxing...except for one small detail! My husband mentions to me that Daphne our NZ doe was acting strange just before we left...digging in her enclosed pen area and carrying hay in her mouth and placing it in that area and pulling fur...I just looked at him and asked why he didn't tell me that before we left! I told him she must be pregnant...it's our fault...we took to long to get the other hutch ready for the buck and other doe! I called my son and asked him to please place a box into her cage...that was on Tuesday...still no baby bunnies today...I'm hoping that she is having a false pregnancy...but I will give her a few more days! We built an actual nesting box when we got home from our trip yesterday and I moved all of the nesting material into it. I placed my hand on her stomach, but didn't feel anything different...but I am very inexperienced at this...anyway, I'm hoping she's not pregnant yet...she's still so young, I was planning on waiting until she was about 5 months before breeding her to give her more time to grow...we read that it can affect her growth if she has kits to early. Some people say to breed at 4 months and others say to wait until 6 months...I decided to split the difference and chose 5 months. I'm a little excited to have baby bunnies, but for her sake...I hope it's a false pregnancy.

The new nesting box...the fur and hay is still pretty much how I placed it, hopefully we will know for sure in a few more days!
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She decided to jump in and check it out while I was watching her!
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A beautiful view of Mt Rainier...the weather was perfect! We hiked several trails and my body is still sore...I really need to get out more...lol!
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Gorgeous pic!! Glad you had a nice vaycay!

 

[WhoDatChick]

We finally put in the Auto Watering system. Our friend that gave the Silkies to us, gave me a water barrel. He used it for his chickens, but the nipples he put in leaked, so he just quit using it. Anyway it's what we are using for our system. It will supply water to the chickens and rabbits both, I'm so excited to have fresh water for all of them, chicken waterers are nasty...lol. Dale is going to tie it into the water lines for the treeline, so that when it's running it will top off the barrel. We didn't get that part done yet as we had a huge rainstorm come through. We were completely soaked, by the time we got from the animal pens to the house! Here are some pictures!

Platform!
View attachment 2217424

Platform in place! We screwed it to the chicken pen then added the support posts!
View attachment 2217430

As I shared above the barrel had water nipples in it, so we used two of the holes - One for the Rabbits and one for the chickens. That left two holes that needed to be plugged. Our son 3D printed the plugs for us! He's pretty talented!
View attachment 2217446
First plug in! We also need to buy a shut off valve for the rabbits water line, nothing was open today!
View attachment 2217451

Plumbing finished except for the shutoff valve to the rabbits water nipples! The small tubing runs to the rabbit hutches and we used an old washing machine hose to connect to the chickens water bar! The second 3D plug top twisted off, so my son made a stronger one to replace it. We will put it in when it quits raining! The valve on the bottom left is for completely draining the barrel if needed!
View attachment 2217455

Water Bar in Place! Now, I just have to make sure that they figure out how to use it!
View attachment 2217460

Yall are just so professional

 

[WhoDatChick]

That should make chores a lot easier...lugging waterers (and buckets of water) is not fun.

This is SO true!

 

[WhoDatChick]

Wanted to share some pics of TRUMP .... I think I love him! But I don’t want a rooster.... but I might have to keep him.. so long as he is nice! He is 7 weeks old....

 

[drstratton]

Gorgeous pic!! Glad you had a nice vaycay!

Thank you! It was very relaxing and the weather was perfect!

Yall are just so professional

Thanks! This was actually a very easy project! I've wanted to get it done for a while and I'm so glad that we finally did! The chickens are already using the water nipples with no problems!

 

[drstratton]

Wanted to share some pics of TRUMP .... I think I love him! But I don’t want a rooster.... but I might have to keep him.. so long as he is nice! He is 7 weeks old....View attachment 2218919View attachment 2218920View attachment 2218921View attachment 2218922

He's so dang cute!!! I can't believe he's already 7 weeks old. I hope he stays friendly so that you can keep him!!!

 

[WhoDatChick]

He's so dang cute!!! I can't believe he's already 7 weeks old. I hope he stays friendly so that you can keep him!!!

He IS so cute... now.... but have you seen grown naked neck roosters!? They aren’t too pretty and if I were to ever have a rooster I wanted a gorgeous one.... but there is something about him that I just love.. so like I said before.. if he’s an all around good boy then I just might keep..

 

[drstratton]

He IS so cute... now.... but have you seen grown naked neck roosters!? They aren’t too pretty and if I were to ever have a rooster I wanted a gorgeous one.... but there is something about him that I just love.. so like I said before.. if he’s an all around good boy then I just might keep..

So ugly he's cute...a neck only a mother could love...