An apocolypse herd/flock

[Illia]

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I highly disagree. People think wheat and corn is all a chicken should eat, which is completely the opposite. For grains, there's options like Amaranth, Quinoa, Corn, Wheat, Barley, Millet, Sorghum, Tef, Oats, and plenty others I can't currently name. Many of them enjoy different climates like cool and dry, or hot and wet, or mild and moderate, etc. Even here in the soggy, dark Pacific Northwest, there are crops one can grow.


But, back to the point - Crops aren't what a bird should solely rely on. There's plenty other stuff out there. When we started out living on the land in America, we fed our poultry plenty of winter squash, greens, produce, fruit, seeds, etc. Especially even seafood.


Just because a bird is dual purpose doesn't mean it is a pig. Even breeds like Araucanas are small yet very meaty for their size, and don't eat much, and are GREAT foragers, excellent fliers, and super broody moms.

 

[GarlicEater]

Sounds like Survival Of The Fittest, the Old English Games of the horse world.

 

[perchie.girl]

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My Grandpa was a Share cropper and when they worked a farm they gave him a place to live and a couple of acres to grow their own food. Dads stories of living that life were rich. Grandpa was quite the innovator. He would do rabbits Like I described, I believe he just trapped wild cotton tails for that.

He would also make a brooder for chicks out of an old piece of corrugated tin with walls built around the outside. Hed set the tin ontop of some saw horses and put kerosene lanterns under neath. Then fill the brooder up with Blow sand (its like talc). And put the chicks in there. Dad said the chicks would stretch out in the sand to nap. Dont ask me more details dont know them. I have no idea what they fed their chicks or if they used other bedding. You know those stories you hear from family.... you hear them over and over when you were a kid with your eyes glazed over.....LOL.

Yeh I was thinking about bicycles.... Go with solid rubber tires and good for transportation. A hundred pound payload might not be enough though. if you are going some distance to barter or trade at a gathering.

Learning how to preserve food is something Essential to survival in any magnatude of civilized decline. Smoking is one way. Jerking is another. Salt curing with pepper takes a cool place. Jerky reduced down to a certain percentage of moisture packed in insect proof dry containers usually layered with salt can be kept for a very long time. With the Connestoga people the way to prepare this is to boil it in beans Not eaten as a snack.

Meat can also be home canned. Using a pressure canner. I was investigating this just recently. Oh and Home Canned Tuna IS TO DIE for Yummmmmy.

Learning also to use protien as a flavoring in food not necessarily the main course. WE only need a few ounces of protien to operate efficently as human beings. Doesnt matter what kind of protien it is. If you dont have meat Cook beans and rice together they provide a complete protien chain. All fat should be saved in some manner. It is important fuel and can substitute for the lack of carbohydrates. it is essential to consume quite a bit of it if you live in a very cold climate. The physical activity of home steading... pretty much negates the worry of colesterol.

 

[GarlicEater]

Hey I grew up in the Starving Seventies fat was like candy to me. I need to work out how to make good jerky, for instance, the land owner here mentioned how Safeway had hams for sale, 99c a pound, well all well and fine, but my refrigerator is so small, I can't get one unless I eat it up as fast as possible, but I know it's possible to "jerk" just about anything, if I can work out how to buy this ham cheap and make it into ham-jerky, then I can make use of it. And I know pork, squid, all kinds of odd meats can be dried and preserved, from Asian foods.

 

[perchie.girl]

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If your talking about horses Yep. I had Arabs for almost twenty years. The way the Bedouins did it was a prospective breeding prospect was conditioned for a test. They were required to travel 100 miles in 24 hours living off Camels Milk and dates. Then a day of rest and turn around and come back. If they failed the test they had two more years to completed it. If they didnt complete the test by age four they were sold. Bedouins didnt believe in gelding. Believe it or not they kept track of the bloodlines through the mares lineage. And they prized the mares for the warhorses not stallions.

 

[perchie.girl]

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A Safeway Ham is already preserved by smoking and injection of chemicals. I believe it still needs to be cooked. This is a wayy different protien than an animal that has been havested off your own property.

Just be certain you know which "Jerk" you are talking about. Dried meat is one thing. There is another term as in "Jerked pork" This is a form of sauce and type of cooking.

I have made Jerky in the oven set on warm (about 100 degrees). Its really easy to do. During the summer at my house I could do Jerkey outside on a clothesline with some window screening covering it in about twelve hours.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
I highly disagree. People think wheat and corn is all a chicken should eat, which is completely the opposite. For grains, there's options like Amaranth, Quinoa, Corn, Wheat, Barley, Millet, Sorghum, Tef, Oats, and plenty others I can't currently name. Many of them enjoy different climates like cool and dry, or hot and wet, or mild and moderate, etc. Even here in the soggy, dark Pacific Northwest, there are crops one can grow.


But, back to the point - Crops aren't what a bird should solely rely on. There's plenty other stuff out there. When we started out living on the land in America, we fed our poultry plenty of winter squash, greens, produce, fruit, seeds, etc. Especially even seafood.


Just because a bird is dual purpose doesn't mean it is a pig. Even breeds like Araucanas are small yet very meaty for their size, and don't eat much, and are GREAT foragers, excellent fliers, and super broody moms.

I know these things, Illia, and I agree with you.

If I lived anywhere but Alaska, I wouldn't shy away from a heavier bird. (And P.S. The Araucana has been very much on my radar, lately, if I can find a line with excellent fertility!)

Grain is not something that is inclined to thrive here, any kind. Barley grows best, and oats can be coaxed out, and wheat in a good year, but that's about it. The extension services have tested all the grains you mention and so far nothing's gone into production, so I must assume they don't thrive, and when things don't thrive they require a lot more energy than they're worth! Wintering things over is our major problem up here. Rabbits would be our primary source of domestic meat since they are small and fast growing and can be fed largely on weeds in the summer if need be. To be honest, I'm not sure what I would do to keep them alive through the winter if they couldn't make it on stored carrots and willow, again assuming shipping up grains and alfalfa isn't an option.

(Everyone has their own idea of an "Apocalypse scenario".)

Chickens would be more for eggs, and at the end of the season only a handful would be gathered up to winter, just like with the rabbits. Just enough to get you started again for the next season. Smaller, thrifty, flighty birds with good laying habits are what I'm looking at these days. It just stands to reason that a smaller bird needs less to survive, which makes them better suited to living entirely off forage in the summer.

I would probably not end up keeping any domestics, to be honest. Cultivating hay and grain from this landscape would be a full time job. I'd just focus on growing as many veggies as possible and rely on nature for my meat and protein. It's a bit of a unique situation up here. If it doesn't naturally live in the wild here, it probably takes more to keep it alive than someone without outside resources could offer, and if it lives in the wild...well, just let nature raise it for you and harvest as needed.

That being said, there are colonies of feral rabbits in several areas that do very well year-round, and I'm not convinced you couldn't eventually create a hardy Alaskan landrace chicken through natural selection, given the right ingredients to start with and just a little nurturing.

 

[country freedom]

perchie.girl :

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If you can't get your hands on any of them I would look into the Colonial Spanish Mustangs. These old Indian ponies are hardy creatures. They haven't changed much since they washed up on our shores.

Many of the old Spanish Mustangs have Andalusian dna in them. its been documented. Very hard feet rarely need trimming and surprisingly the foundation arabians are very similar both bloolines I believe are short one vertibre. Shorter backs better stamina. Intelligent horses by slective breeding.... One by nature one by Ancient breeding regimes.

Intelligent horses and Mules for that matter take an educated hand in training to get the most out of them. Definately not for novice people. And often times they bond to one human... their human.​

ALL TRUE!

 

[mhwc56]

just getting into this topic ....i think the primary livestock i'd have would be goats ( not sure of breed ) and ducks (muscovy for sure,and maybe another breed)
I'd also definitely have a good store of a variety of Heirloom vegetable seeds.Even now i grow almost all heirlooms, better flavors. And then there are all sorts of wild foods available for us no matter where we live ,be it inner-city or the "boonies".

 

[Anny]

Goats, sheep, chickens, and rabbits. And a few Large dogs. Maybe even one Horse for traveling around.

Goats and sheep for milk, wool, meat
Rabbits for meat, fur and trading
Chickens, for eggs and meat
Large dogs to protect the animals, and other things