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Location: Raising Rabbits for Food
Discussion: raising chickens
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gunsmith107 |
raising chickens
May 19 2010, 4:22 PM EDT
i like the idea of rabbits but why not chickens, chickens repopulate faster (more meat) or if you dont want more chickens because more chickens means more mouths to feed you get eggs and i dont know about you but i think a chicken and egg omlete on zday would be nice plus chickens can live off of a handful of corn or feed a day and if you moved the coop after awile the ground were it was would be very rich and good for a garden
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JezuzKrist |
1. RE: raising chickens
May 29 2010, 7:20 AM EDT
I have given a lot of consideration to guinie hens (sorry that's misspelled) they are not as harsh on a garden, and eat ticks. They are loud, but at the same time if z's are in the yard I would rather they eat the birds and give me a chance to escape.
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Oakspar77777 |
2. RE: raising chickens
Jun 27 2010, 11:32 AM EDT
Rabbits breed much faster than chickens - if you are letting nature take it's course (letting hens raise broods - rather than artificial incubation). So, if 1) Noise is not an issue (Roosters are LOUD, and while hens will lay without a rooster, they will not make baby chicks without sperm). 2) You have a way to sustainably feed them (chickens will tear up some land and need to have feed grown for them). 3) You can incubate the eggs without electricity or have electricity post-apoc. THEN, chickens are a good idea. Rabbits, however, are easy to feed (grass/hay/weeds), breed quickly, take up little room, and make very little noise. Do you find this valuable? |
White76Knight |
3. RE: raising chickens
Aug 20 2010, 6:07 PM EDT
Ducks might be a better alternative. Some breeds can produce just as many eggs as chickens, or very nearly so, they don't need specialized feeds (they can sustain themselves on wild forage, given a decent sized enclosure) and male ducks aren't noisy like roosters. Plus roasted duck is damn tasty.
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demsmine |
4. RE: raising chickens
Aug 20 2010, 6:19 PM EDT
Rabbits are a super low fat protein, unless you eat their little brains, and even then you might be pushing the boundaries of long term nutrition. Where as chicken is low fat, but not nearly as much. I grew up with chickens, and they're pretty self sufficient at times, although they are loud. I guess you could always do both.
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DarinM.Annear |
5. RE: raising chickens
Aug 20 2010, 7:41 PM EDT
Demsmine brings up a very good point, the point that I was going to make. Rabbits are very lean and over a period of time you eventually get "protein poisoning" or as its more commonly known "Rabbit Poisoning" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation ) This occurs only in "settlement" conditions where it is used as a primary food source "say the settlement of the US" or in a Post Epoc situation.
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timberrattler |
6. RE: raising chickens
Aug 20 2010, 8:54 PM EDT
Raise chickens and rabbits and get the benifits of raising both.
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DevilNuts |
7. RE: raising chickens
Aug 20 2010, 10:03 PM EDT
I'd be raising anything I could get my hands on. As soon as I can't feed it, it feeds me.
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FrankLeeDeRainged |
8. RE: raising chickens
Sep 4 2010, 7:33 PM EDT
Don't forget doves (pigeons) not only food but a postal service!
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Raufgar |
9. RE: raising chickens
Feb 15 2011, 3:09 AM EST
Here's a good, workable suggestion for more nutrition (sorry for not providing any measurements, you can customize it to your needs): Build a chicken coop on stilts, with a good clearance underneath. For the floor of the cage, use planks with spacings between them or a good firm wire mesh. This will allow the chicken droppings to fall through. Place this over a pond. The pond should preferably be man-made, this way you can change the shape, depth and build in features for easy cleaning. Fill said pond with fresh water, and introduce single or several species of edible freshwater fish. Choose the species based on the climate and ease of maintenance. This way, you feed the chickens, the chickens feed the fish, and you get eggs, fish, and chicken. A relative of mine has this setup at his house. In a semi-urban locale. No idea how he keeps the noise down. We do have individual fencing in my part of the world, that probably helped. Optionally, with some more tooling, you can also make the fish pond a part of your water filtration system. I won't go into details on that part, it is more labor-intensive and requires a lot of tweaking. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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White76Knight |
10. RE: raising chickens
Feb 15 2011, 8:55 AM EST
Would not the chicken droppings (or most any other bird droppings in such quantities) be acidic enough to poison the water and kill the fish?
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Raufgar |
11. RE: raising chickens
Feb 15 2011, 1:57 PM EST
"Would not the chicken droppings (or most any other bird droppings in such quantities) be acidic enough to poison the water and kill the fish?"Good question. I would say that It depends on whether you are using a man-made pond for this endeavour; if you are, like my relative was, then building in a simple filtration system for the water and/or just changing out the water ever so often (once a week & about 1/4 of the water should be sufficient, depending on the population of the pond, and the overall cloudiness of the water) should keep the PH at a manageable level. Also, having a filtration/pump system in place keeps the water moving and prevents build up of water-borne insects (such as mosquitoes). The resulting dirty (and probably acidic) water is not thrown away, but re-filtered and pumped back into the pond (or used as grey water). The leftover gunk (consisting mostly of leftover chicken droppings, fish droppings and other stuff) can be used as fertilizer for any crops you might have growing. You might want to look into alkali tablets as well, I think they sell these at pet stores or aquariums. Personally I would recommend having a filtration system in place, less reliance on such limited items. You can probalby have some on hand for emergencies. Also, water PH testers. Since you'll be eating them fishies, makes sense to keep them healthy & happy :) Do you find this valuable? |
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Raufgar |
12. RE: raising chickens
Feb 15 2011, 2:20 PM EST
To answer a question I can feel coming, there are standalone solar-powered water pumps being sold right now, googled link provided below:http://www.swelluk.com/pond/pond-pumps-62/solar-powered-pond-pumps-372.html You can of course link your pumps to your power grid, putting in a timer and using submersible pumps (for negligible noise) will optimize power efficiency. Do you find this valuable? |
Markthegenius |
13. RE: raising chickens
Feb 15 2011, 2:37 PM EST
you can't lie solely off rabits for very long at all. Though the fact that they breed so quickly would be a big advantage. It's why the romans introduced them to britain.If i had enough land to grow food to feed them, i would certainly keep chickens. primarily because i F'ing love eggs in all their yolky glorious forms, and chicken is generally delicious. If i had it to spare, i would more than likely spend some time with the chickens, purely because i like animals, which would make it hard for me to slaughter them. I still would if i needed to though. I think the main thing is not to name them. Do you find this valuable? |
JunkCollector |
14. RE: raising chickens
Feb 15 2011, 3:25 PM EST
It would be a good idea to scavenge as much animal feed that you can from farm stores, seed sales, and many silos. Also you can get truck loads of field corn and hay for any animal readily at most farms and silos.
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rabidbeaver |
15. RE: raising chickens
Feb 15 2011, 6:30 PM EST
Can you raise chickens indoors?
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JunkCollector |
16. RE: raising chickens
Feb 15 2011, 10:36 PM EST
Yes, but they are noisy, stinky, and could use some sun shine like most other animals.
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Oakspar77777 |
17. RE: raising chickens
Feb 20 2011, 11:12 AM EST
You can raise chickens indoors, what you cannot do is live indoors where they are raising chickens. A chicken house has a special kind of smell that the unaccustomed nose cannot abide.Rabbit protein poisoning only occurs when there is no other food. If your diet is even 20% plant based, protein poisoning will not be an issue (80% plant based is best). If you are worried about that, a lifetime supply of rice is easy enough to purchase (and life has a self life of forever and then some so long as it is dry and out of the sun). You will still need veggies for vitamins, no matter what. You best bet with chickens for the long term is to pasture them. Cut an acre into 4ths with fencing, make sure the chicken coop is portable. Once they strip an area to the ground, move them to the next and plant a crop in their wake (once a good rain has tamed the manure from being too "hot"). Keep feed corn and soybean in the other two. Some winter wheat or rye will also help keep things coming up all year. I let my chickens clean out my garden every winter, and they will strip it to the dirt, then turn the dirt. Do you find this valuable? |
redcomrad |
18. RE: raising chickens
Feb 21 2011, 2:42 AM EST
| Post edited: Feb 21 2011, 2:43 AM EST
"i like the idea of rabbits but why not chickens, chickens repopulate faster (more meat) or if you dont want more chickens because more chickens means more mouths to feed you get eggs and i dont know about you but i think a chicken and egg omlete on zday would be nice plus chickens can live off of a handful of corn or feed a day and if you moved the coop after awile the ground were it was would be very rich and good for a garden"I would not just have chickens but also goats for these reasons. Chickens *easily bread *have a lot of meat *don't need much food * easy to take care of Goats *Have many uses besides food *bread fast enough *easier to maintain than cattle *require not much land *decently quiet *don't stink as badly as cows *will eat practically anything Things i can get from goats and chickens. Goats *fur *skin *milk *meat Chickens *meat *feathers *roosters can be used as alarm devices *eggs So for these reasons i would have both goats and chickens, also another important reason is because a lot of people have goats and chickens and there easy enough to catch in the wild. Do you find this valuable? |
OutlawJames |
19. RE: raising chickens
Feb 21 2011, 8:00 AM EST
Something has come to my attention in the posts for raising animals and barter of all things...It seems nobody take into consideration, diversification... If you are going to raise animals for survival, you should diversify, raise many types of food animals. that way you will gain a broader band of benefits and are less likely to have some catastrophe wipe out your entire food source. Like preparing for bartering/trade, you are better served by having a large selection of items for trade, than focusing on one item...the one item not everyone will need, but if you have 50 types of items for trade, most everyone will need one of them. Do you find this valuable? |
