Peg's Place - 2009

[undergunfire]

TinysMom wrote:

Do I want cages along one wall and play areas along the other wall? Do I want cage areas near the front (or back) and then the play areas in the other space?

What else do I want - should I get a 4' loft? What about getting a back door too for more access in case of an emergency?

I think I want to add extra windows (I hate dark rooms) - so maybe I'll have 2 windows on each side - and maybe one window in the back....

I love the woodbenches they can install (24" wide) - I'm thinking about having those installed along one side of the "public" area to use for grooming, etc.

The worst part is going to be getting water to it - I think we're going to need to talk about that.

Oh - and also - my flemmie mamas when they have babies - will need more space and privacy..so should I save the back area for them?

First off, I can tell you are LOVING thinking of ideas for your new barn. I want one, now....for my goats when we move to NY....LOL, eventual goats, I should say!!

Anyway...do you think you could draw up a map, then post it here? It might be better to understand, so we (and you) see it visually.

The loft seems like it would just somehow hold hair/dust/spiders/etc. I would be nice, on a side note, for storing carriers and stuff. So, I don't know...

An emergency back door is an awesome idea. I think double garage doors would be an even cooler idea, if possible. My friend in NY had a barn with horses that had a garage door on one end and another on the other end...it was sooo awesome for cooler days because of the cross breeze...will also blow out some hair!!

I like the idea of extra windows!!

Maybe you can save for a watering system, eventually...or buy a used one?

I think it would be awesome to have a space for Flemish mama's to have their babies in privacy.

How many "holes" will you have? Like....1 rabbit per cage? Some rabbits housed in pens on the floor?

You might want to think about tiling the floors, too, before putting every one in there. I know that even with pans...pee/water is going to get into the floors. I would hate for your floors to "rot out" over time. This way cleaning will be easier, especially after play times.

 

[TinysMom]

The floors are going to definitely be tiled before any bunnies go in there (or something like tiles)....and the walls are going to be painted with washable paint.

Since the city will not allow me to have rabbits housed together in a 'sanctuary' / 'warren' type thing - each rabbit will have its own cage. The lionheads are in 18" X 24" cages and I want to have the boys in one area and the girls in another area and have pens they can exercise in on a regular basis - probably not every day - but it is more than they would get from other breeders.

At first the lionheads will take up the most space - but as they die off - the flemmies will then get the most space. I am toying with doing one wall of lionheads and one of flemmies with a play area in back...I just don't know.

I'm not sure if I can add a second garage door - I imagine if I do that - I can't have the loft. Art doesn't care for the loft - I think its sorta "cute" and fits the barn idea - but I'm not sure it is the best use of space.

For the money - I'm really thinking I'd like 3 or 4 windows on each side...simply because I like lots of light.

I will try to draw out floor plans in a bit - I already started but had to hide them from Zeus and now I have to remember where I hid them!

 

[TinysMom]

Another thing I'm considering doing (boy - am I paranoid about fires or what??) is having a bunch of cheapie cat kennels there - one per bunny - AND some sort of a roll-around unit...so that I could throw the rabbits in carriers and get them on the rolling unit and out the door in minutes. Of course - if they were plastic - they might not last.

I think I am definitely going to be needing to look into a sprinkler system. The nice thing is our lawn has a sprinkler system - so we could always turn that on too..

 

[GoinBackToCali]

The water isn't that big a deal..we rerouted the house water to the pig pens and the rabbitry in the backyard, didn't change the pressure or anything..

Lemmie dig around and find the way we did it, might just have to get Rick to tell me how he did it..will post it to you..

 

[TinysMom]

Thanks - I'd appreciate that. I keep thinking how nice it would be to have a sink, etc. in the barn.

I know at this point I'm still dreaming - I mean the barn itself is over $7,000. That's without all the special stuff I want to do.

But at least now I have a direction to go in..

 

[TinysMom]

Wow - its currently ONLY 69 degrees here and only supposed to get up to 78 by 1 pm.

I'm about to get the middle stacks of cages moved outside for some fresh air today while I sweep/mop the rabbitry floor.

Plus - I'm gonna put fresh batteries in the camera (its taken over 600 pics on one set of four batteries...woo hoo...notice I didn't say GOOD pics)...and let the flemmies go outside to play too.

 

[TinysMom]

OH wow - I got some great pics of the girls playing and binkying.

Only one problem....

I forgot - now I gotta find a way to catch them....and we have a double lot for our house/back yard in particular.

Hmm....

 

[SweetSassy]

I'm so excited about you getting your garage together for your bunnies. :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:



I can't wait to see it come together. inkelepht:

 

[undergunfire]

I want pictures of the Flemish outside :bunnydance:!


Peg...don't forget that you can always put upgrades into your new barn eventually! I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to install a sink a few months after getting your barn. The barn will last you a loooong time, so there is definitely time for improvements!

 

[TinysMom]

undergunfire wrote:

I want pictures of the Flemish outside :bunnydance:!


Peg...don't forget that you can always put upgrades into your new barn eventually! I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to install a sink a few months after getting your barn. The barn will last you a loooong time, so there is definitely time for improvements!

I'm uploading the pictures and videos now - should be a while though.

I know we can always add upgrades - but it helps if we have planned out ahead of time WHERE we want to add them. For instance - I'm wanting them to add some workbench shelving (it is $10 per linear foot for a 24" wide workbench shelf) and I want them to add some other shelving too.

I also need to talk to them about if it comes "finished" or not as we really should insulate it since we'll be putting having air conditioning.

I've got some neat ideas I hope to draw out soon and share.

Oh - and we FINALLY got Athena in (Robin did) - Sophia came to me when I told her it was time to come in...Nyx came to see what I was doing and then couldn't get away fast enough...and Athena? I think she's training for some marathon or something - wow that can go girl fast and binky even...and hope and .. yeah...pretty impressive.

 

[TinysMom]

Still more to come....these are just the first few that got uploaded...

 

[TinysMom]

The lionhead cages were outside to get cleaned today....all the others in the rabbitry had been cleaned already this week - but these had a buildup of hay and stuff from the last couple of days...

 

[TinysMom]

I love this one of Athena just before she took off running..

 

[TinysMom]

This one of Nyx is priceless - largely because of the story behind it.

She heard the camera going as I was taking pictures and she realized what I was doing - so she came over so she was just a few feet away from me and sort of posed. I took her picture and as soon as the camera clicked - she posed again - slightly different. She did this a few times and each time the camera clicked - she changed her position slightly.

Finally - as I got this shot she gave me a look of "Is that enough now mom? I'm gonna go play.." and as soon as the camera clicked - she took off binkying.

This was the last shot...and probably the best one too.

 

[Happi Bun]

Great pictures Peg! What gorgeous Flemish you have.

 

[TinysMom]

Still more photos...

 

[undergunfire]

Sophia is the darker light grey...right? Or is that Athena??

The Flemish look sooo cute outside....they were totally enjoying themselves! I can't wait until we move to NY and have a yard with GRASS, so my buns can play outside.

Oh...to dream of a Flemish one day sprinting across my green grassy backyard sounds much like heaven!!!!

 

[TinysMom]

Sophia is light grey and Athena is dark grey....

videos coming soon...I hope.

 

[undergunfire]

Darn it! I knew I had it wrong, LOL!

 

[TinysMom]

I hate to show this cause the cages hadn't been cleaned yet...but I'd hate for you to miss Nyx's action in this (her name is Nyx for some reason I sound like I'm calling her Nick..).