|
31 December 2012, 11:39,
|
|
|
uks
Member
|
Posts: 1,137
Threads: 234
Joined: Oct 2011
Reputation:
12
|
|
RE: the best animals for self sufficiency
(31 December 2012, 10:25)bigpaul Wrote: http://www.defra.gov.uk/food-farm/animals/movements/ dosent seem to mention chickens or poultry or rabbits??
BP check this
http://www.defra.gov.uk/food-farm/animals/poultry/
Failure is NOT an option
|
|
|
|
31 December 2012, 11:45,
|
|
|
bigpaul
Member
|
Posts: 14,906
Threads: 720
Joined: Oct 2011
Reputation:
22
|
|
|
RE: the best animals for self sufficiency
OK thanks for that, as BDG said for UNDER 50 birds you dont have to register and i think most preppers wouldn't have anything near this number.
Some people that prefer to be alone arent anti-social they just have no time for drama, stupidity and false people.
|
|
|
|
2 January 2013, 23:20,
|
|
|
Tezauzz
Member
|
Posts: 45
Threads: 4
Joined: Nov 2012
Reputation:
0
|
|
|
RE: the best animals for self sufficiency
Keep numbers low I reckon.... Key is an animal that you can use readily but nothng goes to waste without refrigeration. Chickens, ducks, rabbits work for a family/small group. Small holding is easy enough to get. Obviously harder in built up areas. Roadkill is a good food source too. Keep a sealable plastic container in the boot to pick up pheasants and rabbits. Get you in the mood for non-supermarket fresh meat.
Pigeons are plentiful too.
|
|
|
|
3 January 2013, 00:11,
|
|
|
BDG
Member
|
Posts: 601
Threads: 4
Joined: Oct 2012
Reputation:
10
|
|
|
RE: the best animals for self sufficiency
I have chickens and rabbits. Really easy to look after. Let the chickens out in the morning, make sure they have food and clean water, check the birds over with a glance to make sure they have not been attacked / injured.
Check the rabbits, make sure they have clean food and water.
Later on in the day I will spend a bit more time around them, make sure chicken house is good, have a look at what the chickens have been up to - mine free range all day in my garden - they have ate my spring greens - I am in the process of creating a run they cannot get out of, have to clear a bit of ground of what is on it.
Rabbits I give any spare veg to and handle them. If they are not handled, they will not want to be handled.
As for pests and diseases, worst would be rats, don't have a problem though as I store the food in secure bins away from the stock. Unless I had a notifiable poultry disease, I would likely separate a sick bird and nurse it. If it did not look like it was getting better I would break its neck. Same with the rabbits.
Food - well, the rabbit gets rabbit mix, I pay £8 for 15kg, could get pellets cheaper I think. The chickens are on pellets - £6 20kg and corn £7 20kg. They also get stuff out of the garden - rabbits and chickens love any greens and as the chickens range they eat insects and god knows what else in the compost.
Post SHTF the chickens would have to range for everything - would need a lot more land for them than I have at the moment, but there is plenty of land around me doing nothing. Rabbits can survive on very poor foodstuffs. I would try bringing in if they kept condition and it was not too time consuming, otherwise I would seek to warren them.
|
|
|
|
3 January 2013, 02:56,
|
|
|
Metroyeti
Member
|
Posts: 1,717
Threads: 71
Joined: Aug 2012
Reputation:
10
|
|
|
RE: the best animals for self sufficiency
Chickens will eat mice if they have the chance
|
|
|
|
3 January 2013, 08:45,
|
|
|
Highlander
West Coast, Scottish Highlands
|
Posts: 2,819
Threads: 43
Joined: Nov 2012
Reputation:
23
|
|
|
RE: the best animals for self sufficiency
Lots of people try to keep chickens around here, including me a few years back,... but none last for long, we have a huge Polecat problem, he usually catches up with them sooner or later, and he kills worse than a fox, and can get into a place where a fox cant too,.... and if it wasnt the Polecat it would be the Minx
A major part of survival is invisibility.
|
|
|
|
3 January 2013, 09:39,
|
|
|
BDG
Member
|
Posts: 601
Threads: 4
Joined: Oct 2012
Reputation:
10
|
|
|
RE: the best animals for self sufficiency
There is a fox den within a couple of hundred feet from me, but being nearer the edge of town it is probably a lot easier for the fox to rummage bins and eat rubbish than to get in the chicken house.
Polecat and mink - you could try trapping but it could be a never ending task. You could build a house that they cannot get in, but the one night you forget to close it fully you will lose your chickens. Especially with the mink.
|
|
|
|
3 January 2013, 16:11,
|
|
|
Highlander
West Coast, Scottish Highlands
|
Posts: 2,819
Threads: 43
Joined: Nov 2012
Reputation:
23
|
|
|
RE: the best animals for self sufficiency
One of the problems is that the Polecat is protected,.. it was brought in when they were not so numerous of course,.. these days there are a lot more of them, and they are flipping pests.
We can get them caught and released into another area,... some people have had that done,.. but they either returned shortly after, or new ones moved in
A major part of survival is invisibility.
|
|
|
|
3 January 2013, 17:49,
|
|
|
bigpaul
Member
|
Posts: 14,906
Threads: 720
Joined: Oct 2011
Reputation:
22
|
|
|
RE: the best animals for self sufficiency
Some people that prefer to be alone arent anti-social they just have no time for drama, stupidity and false people.
|
|
|
|
3 January 2013, 22:09,
|
|
|
GrannyMike
Member
|
Posts: 57
Threads: 2
Joined: Nov 2012
Reputation:
2
|
|
|
RE: the best animals for self sufficiency
now keep hens with which we sell their eggs which cover feed cost 9.30 a bag 25kg
rabbits in hutches in henshed easy to clean out and hen rake over litter and find food grow kale spinach beet comfley to fed them rabbit pellets 10.00 for 25kg
got few ducks used to keep quial cheap to kept breed quickly to easy to kill and clean would also keep guinea pigs for food
had pigs to many rule now and food to dear used to get waste
|
|
|
|
Search
Calendar
Help
the best animals for self sufficiency
