I am so excited to announce that very shortly...as in next week!!!..... I will be back in to angoras!  I am going up to New York next week to pick up a trio of French Angoras:)  A little over two years ago, just after I bought my house, I realized that between work, school, and a new home that needed a lot of work, I just did not have the time to properly maintain my French Angora herd, let alone attend shows and work on improving my rabbits.   But happily, at this point, I am in a position to be able to once again join the wonderful world of angoras:)  I am still in school, starting at Western Carolina University in the Fall to complete my Bachelors in Elementary Education, but I have at least accustomed myself to the demands of full-time college on top of full-time work;)   I am really happy and excited.  I've miss my rabbits, missed the good people and friends that I had through the hobby of raising and showing angoras.  You really won't find a better bunch of folks than rabbit breeders;) 


I have spent lots of weekend over the past couple months turning my "workshop" back into a rabbitry.  I have moved stuff, re-arranged, sold, thrown-out and re-stashed things until I have about 90% of my work-shop/shed/whatever you want to call it set up again as a rabbitry...which, for all purposes, from now on, will be referred to as my barn .  It still needs work (and rabbits lol) but I will post pictures as I can.


This afternoon I spent a few hours cleaning dropping pans that have been stored for these past couple years.  I like (love!) the dura-pans and will never go back to metal dropping pans.  It really does pay to slowly and surely switch over if you haven't done so already;)  I have always found that it is much easier to maintain my dropping pans, keeping them as clean as possible on a regular basis, then to let the urine deposits build up and then have to tackle a huge job.  Each week, I clean the pans that are being used.  I keep twice as many pans on hand as I have rabbits.  That way, when I pull a pan from beneath a pan, I dump it in the wheelbarrow, and immediately replace it with a clean pan.  Then I hose the dirty pans, and if there is urine build up, dump white vinegar into the pan to cover the bottom, or at least half of the bottom, and let it soak until the build up is dissolved.  Scrub with a "grill scrubbing pad" from Lowes, and then pour the vinegar into the next pan to be used again.  I've found that I can clean several pans with the same vinegar before needing fresh.  Afterwards, I dump the used vinegar on unwanted weeds and rinse the pans with the hose and set them to dry.  It really doesn't take as long as it sounds, and again, it pays to maintain the pans weekly instead of letting the buildup build up into a huge job;)  Same thing with my cage floors;  scrub weekly with a Vanodine/something comparable solution and your buns pads will stay clean and healthy and you'll keep the cage corners from turning into a huge ordeal;) 


One thing that is yet to be installed in my barn is a window unit air-conditioner.  I seem to be alone in my way of thinking on this subject, but I do believe in doing anything I can to avoid undue stress on the rabbits from heat.  When I lived in central Florida and the Savannah area of GA, I had no choice but to completely climate control the barn in the spring and summers.  Here in western NC, the climate is very different.  Even during this recent awful heat wave, we stayed pretty reasonably comfortable here, and shed I am using as a barn is well insulated, so I know the heat will rarely be an issue.  But my thought is "why not be prepared?".  Too..between working full time and school, I know that I may not have time to supply the buns with frozen water bottles on hot days, etc.  So the a/c is a great convenience for me, as well as a safe-guard against the (rare) severe heat.  I am really only posting my thoughts on this on the chance that it might give someone else an idea that will make things easier on them and their rabbits. 


Guess that about covers things for now.  I find that as I get older, I want to "just talk" sometime...as a blog allows us to do;)  So, once again, it is my intent to start updating my blog as my new rabbit and general life ventures re-begin;)  We'll see how I do;)


Luke (my grandson...pictures coming soon ;) ) is out "racing" with Davey Jones, my silver-laced wyandotte rooster, so I better go and rescue one from the other...;)


Lauren