the best animals for self sufficiency

[Hexyprep]

I keep quails. They are small and have small eggs, but they make almost no noise and are great layers, so by the end of the week 4 females produce usually 28 eggs which is more than enough for us to use in salads, cakes and bread for the week or as 'fun sized' fried eggs (you need about 3 to equal a normal egg). I haven't got a male at the moment but am planning to get one this year in order to start breeding them for food. They will not produce a big meal but if you are in a town or city and don't want everyone knowing you have a supply of meat and eggs then quails are great. My next door nabour didn't realise I had them until I showed her... after a year and the coop is up against her fence! They don't need huge amounts of space which is another bonus.
Perhaps not a first choice, but they are a good choice.

[bigpaul]

"Raising rabbits for food": http://www.prepperideas.com/raising-rabbits-for-food/

[I-K-E]

(16 January 2013, 11:02)bigpaul Wrote: "Raising rabbits for food": http://www.prepperideas.com/raising-rabbits-for-food/

Nice concise article thanks

[Skean Dhude]

Some other interesting articles on there as well.

[BFG Central]

Iv just got rid of my pigs, they were a total night mare.
For every month in age they need an increase of a half kilo of food per day at the very minimum.
You try finding 7-10 kgs of food scrap per day to feed two pigs.
That soon adds up over a week, even this time of the year with all the wind fall apples they just consume everything,
Mine were getting through 60 kgs of mixed grain a week plus the apples and any cheap fruit and veg i could get my hands on.

SO, Chickens first, Rabbits second, duck and turkeys are great as well.

[Mosstrooper]

I`ve got rabbits but the buggers eat everything, so I`ve had wrap the base of my plum and apple trees !!

[Steve]

(13 August 2013, 22:03)BFG Central Wrote: Iv just got rid of my pigs, they were a total night mare.
For every month in age they need an increase of a half kilo of food per day at the very minimum.
You try finding 7-10 kgs of food scrap per day to feed two pigs.
That soon adds up over a week, even this time of the year with all the wind fall apples they just consume everything,
Mine were getting through 60 kgs of mixed grain a week plus the apples and any cheap fruit and veg i could get my hands on.

SO, Chickens first, Rabbits second, duck and turkeys are great as well.

Many people have gotten rid of pigs since the feed prices went up, they really don't make sense unless you have enough land to grow food for them. The good news is that they will dig up their own food and manure the plot too - ready for another crop.

[Tony8862]

We've been keeping chickens for about 4 years now and I don't think I'd want to be without them. They are very little hassle and the eggs are far better then what you get from the shops. Some people believe the chicken was kept by early men due to it's versatility (eggs, meat) and it's self reliance. They will scavenge their own food given a large enough area and will make their own way home each night. For self sufficiency, they offer 2-3 years of eggs, dependably, then they offer meat and feathers for pillows or quilts. They can be noisy but this also acts as a warning system. The bigger threat to opsec in an urban area would be the big bags of feed always being delivered.

[MoleTrapper]

We keep quite a lot of stock on the place, but without a doubt the most productive are the Aylesbury ducks! They find most of their own food, they don't care what the weather does, they're quieter than chickens or geese, big eggs and lots of them all year, and when the time comes you still get a reasonable carcus.
We've had muscovys,khakis and mixtures of, but the big dual purpose Aylesburys we have now are spot on.

[Timelord]

As mentioned by a previous poster - Guinea Pigs.. From memory they were originally domesticated and then bred by South American Indians for a food source similar to Chickens which they didn't have. I believe they are prodigious breeders and the calorific value/turnover is high in regard to the energy input. Possibly quite a bit higher than chickens but this would need looking into. TL