Outdoor Life Prepare for Anything Survival Manual (35 page)

Just because you’re homesteading doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to eat well. In fact, some of the best meals you’ll buy in that swanky restaurant are from some of the easiest and most productive types of livestock to raise. Just remember that unlike chickens, other birds will need to be trained not to fly away.

DUCKS
Ducks bring some added benefits over chickens, such as laying larger eggs. Though they can thrive on the same feed as your chickens, they’re much more efficient foragers, meaning less work for you—and they eat things that eat your garden, like snails and slugs. Ducks also don’t scratch like chickens, making your garden safer.

GEESE
Homesteaders with large grassy areas should think about geese as a meat option. They pick up a lot of their nutritional needs from grasses or windfalls, but they do need room to roam. An added benefit to geese is their ability to act as guards, sounding an alarm whenever something is amiss.

SQUAB
A fancy word for pigeon, squab, once mated, will take care of their young quite ably and also produce eggs for up to five years. Squab aren’t prone to some of the dangerous diseases associated with turkey, and they require very little space.

PHEASANTS
If you want something a bit more exotic, there are several breeds of pheasant available. Many people consider them a hobby bird, with beautiful plumage and active personalities. They are a little higher maintenance, and you’ll need to keep them apart from your chickens, but they’re worth the effort.

TURKEYS
A small flock of heritage turkeys can wow your friends. Though susceptible to infections in a flock, blackhead and coccidiosis can be treated if spotted early. Turkeys are excellent for pest control, and they provide a tasty meal. They’re social, so you’ll need a large space to keep them happy and healthy—but this bird is also well worth the effort.

Keeping
Coturnix
quail will get you meat and eggs with minimal effort and little space—you only need 1 square foot (0.3 square m) for every bird. When housing your quail, you want to think vertically as well as horizontally. While you don’t want to raise fliers (unless you’re releasing them for hunting), you do want to have plenty of room at the top of their aviary. Use wire mesh to give air circulation and a solid roof to keep them out of the elements.

Quail droppings are high in ammonia, so you want to make sure you keep their enclosure clean at all times. A floor made of hardware cloth allows droppings to fall through to the ground (or other catchment system), while keeping the birds safe from predators like skunks, snakes, and foxes.

Quail eggs are small but delicious, and their delicate meat is also a favorite across the globe. The biggest reason to raise quail, however, is that they are quiet. Many cities have laws against chickens, but few have restrictions on smaller birds like quail.

When buying your quail, make sure you have two of the females for each male. They’ll keep you happily supplied with a unique food source in even the the worst of times.

Salmonella is a rarely considered, but serious, risk for backyard breeders and homesteaders. Especially with chickens, but also with rabbits, droppings are everywhere, and working with the livestock (even indirectly) brings you into contact with potentially life-threatening illnesses. The solution is simple. If you own livestock of any sort, establish a cleaning routine with an antibacterial soap. Every time you go into the livestock area, even if you never touch the animals, wash your hands up to the elbows with hot water. Leave the soap in contact with the skin for at least 30 seconds before rinsing. And it’s never a bad idea to wash twice.

People homestead for different reasons, and being in control of their food supply is at the top of many lists. But choosing feeds for livestock can be tricky. Under ideal circumstances, processed foods provide balanced diets and ease of use, but a survival situation means many of these feeds may no longer be available. If non-GMO, organic ingredients matter to you, processed feeds may also give you pause.

The good news with small livestock like chickens and rabbits is that both are foragers, giving you ample opportunity to grow your own supplements or to let them range free.

PELLETS & CRUMBLES
If you’re going for cheap and easy methods of feeding your little farm, you’ll want to rely on prefabricated pellets for rabbits and crumbles for chickens. While it’s true that your forefathers fed their small livestock table scraps and leftovers, they also didn’t have much choice. For rabbits, you can add in some easy supplements to provide dietary diversity. Just mix together 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of organic pellets, 4 pounds (1.8 kg) of calf manna (a dietary supplement of proteins and beneficial acids), 2 pounds (1 kg) of rolled oats, and a pound (0.5 kg) of black-oil sunflower seeds. For chickens, laying crumbles for hens will do the bulk of the work, but you can also feed them oyster shells, seaweeds, and greens.

SUPPLEMENTS
If you have the space and availability, you can easily grow the plants your animals will love. Sunflowers are a great addition to your garden—and a good feed source—as are carrots and various green leafy vegetables like beets and kale. And when it comes time, don’t compost allof your weeds—both chickens and rabbits love dandelions, clover, grass, and other yard clippings. You can extend the life of your fresh feed (and your pelleted feed for that matter) through the use of airtight, galvanized steel bins and cans. If you store everything in a cool, dry place, you can go a month or two without having to resupply.

When it comes to providing a lot of meat for the table, don’t think big. A single female rabbit (called a doe) can produce more than 300 pounds (135 kg) of meat a year in a very small space. Because rabbits for meat are cage-raised, they’re the cleanest livestock choice. A 5-pound (2.3-kg) rabbit yields roughly 3.5 pounds (1.5 kg) of all-white meat when dressed. When choosing a breed of rabbit, consider these three primary meat breeds.

NEW ZEALAND WHITES
This heavy breed can stand cold temperatures but, like most rabbits, will suffer in extreme heat. They have one of the best meat-to-bone ratios of any breed, and they reach processing age in 8–10 weeks. Additionally, it’s the most common breed, so finding yourself some foundation stock should be simple regardless of location.

CALIFORNIANS
Similar in size to the NZ Whites, Californians are distinguished by their black ears and noses. They still grow out at about the same rate: 8–10 weeks. But some breeders think they are less robust than the Whites.

FLORIDA WHITES
This smaller breed has the great advantage of needing less space on the far end of the growing cycle, but they still grow to fryer size at 8–10 weeks of age, and they’re comparable in size at that age to their larger cousins.

New Zealand White

Rabbits breed like—well, there’s a reason for the expression. With a little oversight, you can feed a family of four indefinitely on a small stock. Just follow these simple rules for establishing and maintaining an efficient, safe rabbitry.

RULE 1
Begin with good breeding stock. Pay for pedigreed bucks and does from reputable breeders. The “meat pen,” a buck and two does, is popular.

RULE 2
You can breed sire to daughter, dam to son, and grandparents to grandchildren, but not siblings.

RULE 3
Keep one rabbit in each cage. Does can be territorial, and bucks will fight. When breeding, always bring the doe to the buck’s cage.

RULE 4
Keep a calendar. After breeding, expect your doe to kindle her litter 28 days later. Typically, a doe kindles eight kits per litter.

RULE 5
Keep records via hutch cards. This card should list sire, dam, date conceived, date born, etc.

RULE 6
You should process your rabbits when they are approximately 8 weeks old.

RULE 7
Wean kits at 4–5 weeks of age. You can rebreed your does before the litter is weaned, meaning a doe can have five or six litters every year. Most keepers time breeding to allow a doe a week or so of rest between weaning and kindling.

Rabbits are low-maintenance livestock. Clean water and food are first and foremost concerns, followed by a hutch to protect the rabbits from the elements and predators. There are plenty of hutches available for purchase, but it’s easy enough to build your own.

STEP 1
Use 4x4 posts to anchor the corners. Space posts 8 feet (2.4 m) apart in length, 3 feet (1 m) apart in width. For stability and leveling, use a post-hole digger to sink the corners 10–12 inches (25–30 cm) into the ground. Fill the holes with concrete for extra support.

STEP 2
Use simple joist hangers to anchor 2x4 supports at the tops of the 4x4s. Additional joists can be hung between the 2x4s for added stability and more anchor points for the cages. (You also can use a simple 2x4 construction along the bottom of the hutch to add stability and to create a waste catchment box.)

STEP 3
Anchor the sheet of plywood atop the 4x4s for your roof. To help waterproof the hutch, you can finish the top with tar paper and asphalt shingles. Otherwise, use a sealant to extend the life of your roof.

STEP 4
Anchor your eye hooks from the bottoms of the 2x4 joists at the corners of your cages (a cage for a large-breed rabbit is 30x30x18 inches [80x80x50 cm]). The cages can then be hung freely from the top of the structure for both easy access and safety.

If your hutch is free-standing and exposed to the elements, you’ll need to consider weather protection. A canvas tarp will serve, and it can be easily rolled up when the weather is nice. Additionally, you can hang a piece of corrugated metal underneath your hutch to catch any droppings.