BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[cyborg]

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. 

I have had that greenhouse up for about a year and a half, and I am getting a tear started at the corner of one of the doors. Replacement canopies are available from the manufacturer, but I think I will try to rig up some kind of solid end wall instead. I am not really satisfied with the venting system on this greenhouse, but it is a decent size, and cheaper than most greenhouse that are only 1/3 the size.
There are about 1 foot wide skirts at ground level on the outside, that you can cover with dirt or rocks or bricks to help hold it down, but to be honest, I never bothered with that. The greenhouse comes with some stakes that are a serious joke, and only suitable for throwing at tailgaters. I purchase a bunch of earth auger type stakes, and used soft iron tie wire to attach the greenhouse frame to the stakes, and have never had a problem with wind.

These are the stakes that came with the greenhouse, what a joke!

And these are the ones I actually used.

 

[Fire 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!

Yeah, I'm putting the rabbits in a storage room area that already has some AC control, but that's why I'm getting the heat-tolerant rabbits. I've also been reading about the published alternative housing methods where you build underground cool "dens" for them, attached by a tunnel to a standard cage, where you feed them (and where they poop).

Re: goats - I'm only interested in dairy goats myself, but you still need a buck to make little baby goats once a year or so, so momma will make milk.

@dfr1973: We don't have much in the way of power outages here usually, but I'm still eyeing a generator. Just trying to decide which one and how big. Regarding broodiness, in my 1941 UK poultry and rabbit book, there is not only a discussion of how to break a broody hen, there is also a discussion of how to INDUCE broodiness when needed to "incubate" eggs - I'd never seen that elsewhere. That book is gonna be a super resource in a TSHTF scenario, since there's a lot of creative "how do you manage to keep your chickens and rabbits fed when you can't get feed and there's rationing" in there...

- Ant Farm

 

[cyborg]

Yeah, I'm putting the rabbits in a storage room area that already has some AC control, but that's why I'm getting the heat-tolerant rabbits. I've also been reading about the published alternative housing methods where you build underground cool "dens" for them, attached by a tunnel to a standard cage, where you feed them (and where they poop). 

Re: goats - I'm only interested in dairy goats myself, but you still need a buck to make little baby goats once a year or so, so momma will make milk. 

@dfr1973: We don't have much in the way of power outages here usually, but I'm still eyeing a generator. Just trying to decide which one and how big. Regarding broodiness, in my 1941 UK poultry and rabbit book, there is not only a discussion of how to break a broody hen, there is also a discussion of how to INDUCE broodiness when needed to "incubate" eggs - I'd never seen that elsewhere. That book is gonna be a super resource in a TSHTF scenario, since there's a lot of creative "how do you manage to keep your chickens and rabbits fed when you can't get feed and there's rationing" in there...

- Ant Farm 

I am looking at a DuroMax 10000 watt generator with electric start. Street price runs about a grand, but with a little shopping I have found one for $750. Check it out, its big enough for my needs, and has very complete electrical panel with 120 and 240 volt outlets, even made in the USA.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I am looking at a DuroMax 10000 watt generator with electric start. Street price runs about a grand, but with a little shopping I have found one for $750. Check it out, its big enough for my needs, and has very complete electrical panel with 120 and 240 volt outlets, even made in the USA.

I think I saw that very one at Costco recently. Time to go back and look again...

Edit to add: No, I think maybe it was the smaller version...

 

[dfr1973]

@dfr1973: We don't have much in the way of power outages here usually, but I'm still eyeing a generator. Just trying to decide which one and how big. Regarding broodiness, in my 1941 UK poultry and rabbit book, there is not only a discussion of how to break a broody hen, there is also a discussion of how to INDUCE broodiness when needed to "incubate" eggs - I'd never seen that elsewhere. That book is gonna be a super resource in a TSHTF scenario, since there's a lot of creative "how do you manage to keep your chickens and rabbits fed when you can't get feed and there's rationing" in there...

- Ant Farm

Please share tips on inducing broodiness!

 

[cyborg]

I think I saw that very one at Costco recently. Time to go back and look again... 

Edit to add: No, I think maybe it was the smaller version...

I found this one at wholesale generator outlet (I think, will correct when I get to my office computer). Their list price is $999, but they have a "scratch and dent" section where it is $799.

EDIT: That is Generator Factory Outlet, and right now, they show the scratch and dent as out of stock.

 

[JRNash]

@Ant Farm. Can you give me the name of the book and the author?

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Please share tips on inducing broodiness!

Well, I pulled it out and looked again, and there's not much detail. And keep in mind, this is with breeds in 1941 that probably hadn't had all their broodniess bred out of them yet, so they may go broody more easily. I am presuming that this is done in the spring. The following section immediately follows a section describing getting fertile eggs to hatch, and then this section is how to get the hen to sit on them for you.

" Sitting the hen:

The nesting boxes can be placed anywhere either in the open or in a shed. But steps must be taken to see that the hens cannot escape when taken off for their daily feed, as few are well trained enough to go back to their nest box on request. The box should be about 14 to 16 in. square and have a wire mesh floor and a solid front as a protection against rats. [There are illustrations of such a box, with a door that latches shut, that has been made out of a produce box.]

Now it is a debatable point as to whether a sod of turf should be put in the bottom of the coop or not, as good chicks are hatched without it. But it can do no harm and it prevents any risk of lack of moisture. It also approaches the natural conditions of the 'stolen' nest in the hedgerow. So cut a piece of turf of the same dimensions as the floor of the coop. Cut off a saucer shaped piece of soil from the centre of the turf so as to make a depression, and place it in the box grass side upwards. Push it well into the corners so that no egg can roll out into them and be irretrievable by the hen's beak.

On top of the turf mould a little straw or hay into the form of a nest and dust with insect powder or derris. Put a couple of china or "pot" eggs, or fresh infertile eggs. Then dust your broody hen with insect powder and shut her in the box.

Next day, at the same time that you will in future feed her, take her off for 20 minutes for a meal of mash (if you have no corn) water and a dust bath. Continue this practice for two days until she has settled down and can be given the eggs. If she is found standing up in the nest, then she is clearly unreliable..."

Sooooo, basically you lock her in a tiny box on a nest until she gets the urge, apparently. (Not sure how happy that'd make her...)

- Ant Farm

 

[islafarm]

On another thread (?) the advice was to gradually add an egg a day to the nest used by your 'most likely to go broody' hen - when there are about 10-12 eggs in there that 'should' induce broodiness. Adding all the eggs at once doesn't work.

cyborg: still wondering what to do with your feeder fish; have you tried platys or mollies they are a fairly goldfish size and live breeders, tropical but with the heat and humidity in your greenhouse doesn't seem like it would be a problem. Can be capable of producing a batch every month.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

@Ant Farm. Can you give me the name of the book and the author?

"Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps" by Alan Thompson. I got it on Amazon, pretty cheap paperback reprinting of the original.

- Ant Farm