BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[cyborg]

OK, guys, I have a confession to make. I AM A PREPPER! The reason I raise chickens is for a sustainable food source. The greenhouse/aquaponics system is for the same reason, furnishing fish and veggies. I also can any surplus produce, and make all my own sausage. Way cheaper than trying to stockpile MRE's or freeze dried franken-food. My current project is converting my house to totally off grid solar power. I plan on retiring in a few years, and would like to minimize any unnecessary cash expenditures. My 10 step plan is aimed for total independence!

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Actually, that is the biggest problem with this system. Not so much the solutes, as the hardness of the water. I have very alkaline water here. My original plan was to use reverse osmosis water, but the system uses so much water that it is impractical. Closing the greenhouse to limit evaporation would probably help, but would turn it into a sauna. You may notice in some of the pics that I actually had to put shadecloth on top of the greenhouse to limit the sunlight some, it was actually burning the plants. (In May!). Now, I carefully add acetic acid (vinegar) to lower the pH of the water, and this helps keep the calcium and lime in suspension.

Giant slabs of limestone/chalk just a few inches below the surface of my soil here, and all our water from a limestone aquifer, so I feel your pain. Blueberries and gardenias will only ever grow in pots here...

I keep gallons of vinegar around all the time. And, funny, I didn't even notice the shade cloth - I took it as a given! May can be really brutal here...

I'm planning to set up some hugelculture beds for a low-maintenance/low water approach for some food production plus flood control.... (I have some logs and branches that need a new home and purpose...)

OK, guys, I have a confession to make. I AM A PREPPER! The reason I raise chickens is for a sustainable food source. The greenhouse/aquaponics system is for the same reason, furnishing fish and veggies. I also can any surplus produce, and make all my own sausage. Way cheaper than trying to stockpile MRE's or freeze dried franken-food. My current project is converting my house to totally off grid solar power. I plan on retiring in a few years, and would like to minimize any unnecessary cash expenditures. My 10 step plan is aimed for total independence!

Confession here - me, too, at least a bit (minus any firearms except a pellet gun for raccoons after my chickens). Got be ready for when the zombie apocalypse comes...

In all seriousness, though, I really do strive for self-sufficiency in everything. Even in the absence of any sort of disaster, present or future, I have always believed that self-sufficiency and conservation is a good way to approach all things in life. 15 years ago, I had a reasonable stockpile of food and a plan in case they didn't resolve the whole Y2K thing. I do not feel foolish for doing so.

(If you're focused on self-sufficiency, take a look at meat rabbits...)

- Ant Farm

(Edit for typo)

 

[cyborg]

Yes, meat rabbits are on the list. I actually started building hutches a couple years ago, but got sidetracked onto something else, and that project is on hold. Right now, looking at a couple goats instead, and maybe a pig or 2. My gun room has enough rifles to put most sporting goods stores to shame! (currently drooling over a DPMS AR10, but finances won't allow it for a while!).

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Yes, meat rabbits are on the list. I actually started building hutches a couple years ago, but got sidetracked onto something else, and that project is on hold. Right now, looking at a couple goats instead, and maybe a pig or 2. My gun room has enough rifles to put most sporting goods stores to shame!

Rabbits may be more bang for buck, and easier than goats, in the end. (Though I'm dying to do dairy goats one day when I retire, I don't really like the idea of keeping a billy goat and would prefer to get stud services elsewhere). The Storey Guide to Raising Rabbits is excellent, and while the discussion is not as brisk as on BYC, I've gotten a lot of really good info over on the RabbitTalk forum. Heat is the biggest challenge with rabbits, as I understand. (But, of course, you may already know all of this.)

This winter I'm getting New Zealand Whites from a heat resistant production/meat line from the rabbit breeding program at TAMUK (Texas A&M University at Kingsville) - I'm driving down to Kingsville to pick up a breeding quad (two does, two bucks). I'm on the waiting list.

- Ant Farm

 

[cyborg]

Rabbits may be more bang for buck, and easier than goats, in the end. (Though I'm dying to do dairy goats one day when I retire, I don't really like the idea of keeping a billy goat and would prefer to get stud services elsewhere). The Storey Guide to Raising Rabbits is excellent, and while the discussion is not as brisk as on BYC, I've gotten a lot of really good info over on the RabbitTalk forum. Heat is the biggest challenge with rabbits, as I understand. (But, of course, you may already know all of this.)

This winter I'm getting New Zealand Whites from a heat resistant production/meat line from the rabbit breeding program at TAMUK (Texas A&M University at Kingsville) - I'm driving down to Kingsville to pick up a breeding quad (two does, two bucks). I'm on the waiting list.

- Ant Farm

Yes, heat is the big drawback here, don't know if I can afford AC for the rabbit cages! I am looking at dairy goats for the milk to make cheese, not as meat animals. Pigs were born for sausage, though, and gotta have bacon for the eggs!

 

[hellbender]

OK, guys, I have a confession to make. I AM A PREPPER! The reason I raise chickens is for a sustainable food source. The greenhouse/aquaponics system is for the same reason, furnishing fish and veggies. I also can any surplus produce, and make all my own sausage. Way cheaper than trying to stockpile MRE's or freeze dried franken-food. My current project is converting my house to totally off grid solar power. I plan on retiring in a few years, and would like to minimize any unnecessary cash expenditures. My 10 step plan is aimed for total independence!

I hope you feel no shame in this admission. We've been PREPARING for three decades....more if you count my dad's first baby-steps. I'm proud of what we do and are willing to protect our lifestyle with what ever means necessary and believe me...we're ready for just anything that might come our way. We couldn't hold against a mechanized brigade but we could give a medium sized battalion all they wanted and then some.

Of course our concern is NOT the US military but roving bands who almost certainly arrive at our little encampment should there be social and/ore serious political unrest. Do we expect this to happen...not really but better prepared for any and all contingencies.

 

[cyborg]

I hope you feel no shame in this admission. We've been PREPARING for three decades....more if you count my dad's first baby-steps. I'm proud of what we do and are willing to protect our lifestyle with what ever means necessary and believe me...we're ready for just anything that might come our way. We couldn't hold against a mechanized brigade but we could give a medium sized battalion all they wanted and then some.

Of course our concern is NOT the US military but roving bands who almost certainly arrive at our little encampment should there be social and/ore serious political unrest. Do we expect this to happen...not really but better prepared for any and all contingencies.

Not embarassed at all. Where I live, most people are preppers. If you're not a prepper, you're an airhead!

 

[Beer can]

Awesome setup @cyborg.
Before you rule out goats research Kinder goats. Meat and dairy, very efficient, can be bred more often than other goats.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/sanderson95.html

 

[dfr1973]

I AM A PREPPER! The reason I raise chickens is for a sustainable food source. The greenhouse/aquaponics system is for the same reason, furnishing fish and veggies. I also can any surplus produce, and make all my own sausage. Way cheaper than trying to stockpile MRE's or freeze dried franken-food. My current project is converting my house to totally off grid solar power. I plan on retiring in a few years, and would like to minimize any unnecessary cash expenditures. My 10 step plan is aimed for total independence!

Just for the record, MREs are not food in any sense of the word, and you WILL get tired of them by the second week ... trust me, I speak from experience. Y'all army folks will know what I mean when I say we were actually excited about finally getting T-rats because, "At least it ain't MREs!" Besides, it's common knowledge that MREs have an additive in them that promotes constipation. The flip side is that T-rats have a laxative additive. Now, imagine T-rats for breakfast and supper, with an MRE lunch. There is a reason that $#!t burning detail was considered punishment. Sorry for the implied vulgarity, but we just did not have another name for it. Adds a whole new dimension to the phrase, "on my $#!t list" when the entire army is on stir-n-burns.

Hubby jokes about the zombie apocalypse, but just recently figured out what I meant when I fussed about a backup generator of some sort in case power gets knocked out from storms "for days possibly." He thought days meant two ... our neighbor told him about the other year when the entire system of dirt roads here off the paved county road went two weeks without power. We now have the generator, hubby just needs to decide exactly how he'll wire it in ... and we also have a named storm down in the Caribbean forecast to hit our half of the state.

Ironically, I also now have an electric incubator, with egg turner and hygrometer. Luanne brought up a point I hadn't considered, in that it is necessary if a pullet or hen quits the nest before hatch. I still prefer to have hens hatch for me, but they aren't feeling too co-operative right now between the heat/humidity and the shortening days.

 

[DesertChic]

Not embarassed at all. Where I live, most people are preppers. If you're not a prepper, you're an airhead!

Really impressive setup! Do you ever have any problems with the winds damaging the greenhouse "walls"? My husband and I have discussed a setup similar to yours (yes, we're hatchling preppers too), but we're concerned about all the high winds here in southern AZ. Avra Valley isn't that far from where I live in Green Valley, so I imagine your weather is pretty similar.