How to protect what you have ?

[TOF]

Having had the pleasure of keeping chickens, Sheep and Goats, there is no way I would have them near my home base. 2 simple reasons 1. Getting rid of the manure. 2. Noise. Chickens have to announce to the world they have just laid an egg, and a Female Goat in heat would give a Vixen a run for her money, when a Cow is Bulling, you don't want to be near her without ear defenders. It's dead easy sitting here in our armchairs discussing keeping animals, but you have to think of all things.

[NorthernRaider]

(26 June 2012, 09:01)TOF Wrote: Having had the pleasure of keeping chickens, Sheep and Goats, there is no way I would have them near my home base. 2 simple reasons 1. Getting rid of the manure. 2. Noise. Chickens have to announce to the world they have just laid an egg, and a Female Goat in heat would give a Vixen a run for her money, when a Cow is Bulling, you don't want to be near her without ear defenders. It's dead easy sitting here in our armchairs discussing keeping animals, but you have to think of all things.

Good common sense info Tof, tis appreciated, Erm hows about a little article or guide from you on practical anuimal husbandry for such issues?

[TOF]

I'll give it a shot NR. May need someone to proof read to see if it makes sense.

[NorthernRaider]

(26 June 2012, 09:19)TOF Wrote: I'll give it a shot NR. May need someone to proof read to see if it makes sense.

Merci, Mon ami

[bigpaul]

i dont think you need great numbers of chickens to have eggs, my understanding was that chickens lay 1 egg about every 26 or so hours you get say 6 eggs per chicken per week thats when their laying of course during the winter they go off lay, but depending on the size of your group how many eggs a week do you need? 3 chickens would give you about 18 eggs a week...just how many eggs do you eat, we,just the 2 of us, eat a MAXIMUM of 6 eggs a week..its more like 6 eggs a fortnight, so unless your going to be doing a lot of baking you wont need many chickens probably 2 or 3 would be all you need. as for rabbits, i reckon you need 1 buck and 2 does for breeding, and you use "the increase" for your table meat...if you see what i mean!

[TOF]

The one biggest factor that could affect your flock/herd is genetics. You need to keep more than you actually need to have a healthy gene pool with which to breed from.

[bigpaul]

(26 June 2012, 14:17)TOF Wrote: The one biggest factor that could affect your flock/herd is genetics. You need to keep more than you actually need to have a healthy gene pool with which to breed from.

i understand that but dosent that depend on where you get them from? if i buy some old battery chickens they are not going to be as healthy as some i might get from ,say, point of lay, or from a rare breed supplier.

[TOF]

(26 June 2012, 14:23)bigpaul Wrote:

(26 June 2012, 14:17)TOF Wrote: The one biggest factor that could affect your flock/herd is genetics. You need to keep more than you actually need to have a healthy gene pool with which to breed from.

i understand that but dosent that depend on where you get them from? if i buy some old battery chickens they are not going to be as healthy as some i might get from ,say, point of lay, or from a rare breed supplier.

I was thinking long term. It doesn't really matter if you have mutts from down the road or top flight purebreeds, it's the number of individuals that contribute to the gene pool that counts to prevent inbreeding.

[bigpaul]

its purely hypothetical as we dont have room in our garden for chickens, but if i was, i would keep a few chickens for the eggs, not for meat.

[Tibbs735]

(25 June 2012, 15:03)Colin Wrote:

(25 June 2012, 10:11)Tibbs735 Wrote: My ideal scenario would be to keep a very low profile, with around three years of stored food. That way you can concentrate on security and not worry about getting ambushed, or your animals or farms being seen, for 2 years. You let 2 harsh winters out of doors with no electricity, heating, or other infrastructure kill off all the majority of the refugees /looters / raiders, and keep the remainder as a backup in case of a really bad harvest.
Also, get creative with food storage and hiding, so even if people poke around "that greedy hoarder's house" you can pretend you are just as bad as everybody else.

BUT HOW WILL YOU KEEP A LOW PROFILE WHEN ALL AROUND ARE STARVING TO DEATH AND YOU AND YOUR FAMILY LOOK WELL FED AND HEALTHY? YOU WILL STICK OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB .LOOK AT THE IMAGES FROM AFRICA .IT WILL ONLY WORK IF YOU CAN REMAIN HIDDEN FOR THE DURATION.

In any kind of scenario, the stress and increased physical activity would quickly strip away any spare fat, leaving you lean and wiry. That combined with battered outdoorsy clothing and a tired face would let you blend in, as long as you stay quiet and are discreet with eating and cooking.

On animals, I have though bout keeping rabbits / quails in a garage ni wire cages at least until everything die down. For larger livestock, like goats/sheep/cattle/large chicken flocks you would have to be remote. One idea I had was to make a loud bang somehow before placing animal feed down in a safe place, so that animals would run into cover at the sound of gunfire, expecting food. I'm not sure how / if it would work though