Homesteaders

[RTFchickens]

Hi fellow homesteaders!
It's been a little while since I've been on this thread.
We have New Zealand rabbits for meat. We purchased two "sisters" from the same litter, and the buck was born a little later with different unrelated parents. My rabbits are about 6 months, and the buck is only about 4 weeks old, and too young to leave its mom yet.
Here is my dilemma. The "sisters" were breeding today. So apparently I have a brother and sister who just "locked" now I'm worried we will have inbred babies! We did not intend on breeding for a while yet! We definitely did not plan to breed brother and sister! We thought they would keep each other company (the two GIRLS)
Any advise?
Thanks!
RTF

 

[trsturself]

Hi fellow homesteaders!
It's been a little while since I've been on this thread.
We have New Zealand rabbits for meat. We purchased two "sisters" from the same litter, and the buck was born a little later with different unrelated parents. My rabbits are about 6 months, and the buck is only about 4 weeks old, and too young to leave its mom yet.
Here is my dilemma. The "sisters" were breeding today. So apparently I have a brother and sister who just "locked" now I'm worried we will have inbred babies! We did not intend on breeding for a while yet! We definitely did not plan to breed brother and sister! We thought they would keep each other company (the two GIRLS)
Any advise?
Thanks!
RTF

Are you sure they are a boy and a girl? I have seen two girls go at it as a dominance thing. At that age it should be easy to tell the sex if you flip them over and take a look.

 

[RTFchickens]

Yup, did that today. "She" has definite" boy parts "as we call them in our house.

 

[Anna6]

If you have babies eat them. Also once you get the other male eat the brother. I think with animals it is not as big a thing but I would not use the offspring to use as stock to breed more rabbits.

 

[Raech]

If you have babies eat them. Also once you get the other male eat the brother. I think with animals it is not as big a thing but I would not use the offspring to use as stock to breed more rabbits.

Or you could set up another hutch and get another female for the older male, and have two sets of breeding pairs. Set up a dual hutch so the males can be kept separate when not "working" and the females can have a larger pen that can easily be divided for when the babies get to the age where they need to be separated. Or you can get the brother neutered and he can still be a friend for his sister. You might be able to house the males together so the buck doesn't get lonely and get another female for the sister, if you are planning to get more females in the future. I am not sure if intact and neutered bucks can be housed together but I know that 2 intact bucks shouldn't be, due to hormonal fighting.

 

[Raech]

Had to replant my carrots today, the skunk got a little too happy in the flower bed where they were planted. And my volunteer sunflowers left over from last year decided that the 3 little rows of carrots that I planted were perfect for them to grow in. Planted the sunflowers for my son and the birds so I really shouldn't be surprised that the birds replanted a couple of seeds, or 50. My oldest and I replanted in the pots on the back of the house, maybe Nutty will stay out of them since I have the shelves lowered on my "naked" greenhouse stand. The snow ripped the cover pretty bad, so I just took it off and put my pots on the shelves. We now have Jalapenos on the top shelf, Mint on the second, Green onions and 3 mini pots of basil on the third and carrots on the bottom shelf. Figure they aren't really tall plants so I can stagger them on each shelf to give proper lighting and the stems can grow up through the grate shelves, and if we get a house before harvest it won't be that hard to work from the top to the bottom and get them moved are reset back on the shelf, without damaging the stems. I am going to have to plant more oregano and strawberry plants in their pots, they didn't come back very well, I lost most of my oregano and half of my strawberries. So that only leaves one pot empty, and I am not sure what to grow in it. All of the tomatoes will be in the flower beds over here, and a couple of rows at my Dad's house. Oh and our 100 onions down one wall are about 4-6 inches tall already!! I think after the carrots come out I will try garlic again, I couldn't even find a single bulb from my fall planting and I planted about 20 bulbs total.

 

[JadedPhoenix]

I wanted to ask other's opinion of how to stock up on veggies when the land you have is too poor (at least for someone who is gardening challenged like myself) to grow a garden. I've tried many times but have always ended up with the same results. I have red clay for soil and grass won't even grow on my 4.5 acres though a nice little forest with wild brush is out there. I do have chickens that I enjoy raising and I've joked that if the sh*t ever hits the fan that as long as I have protein I could find someone to barter veggies with but I know that I really do need to have some on hand. I was wondering how expensive it would be to can bought veggies. Would it even be worth the money?

 

[trsturself]

I wanted to ask other's opinion of how to stock up on veggies when the land you have is too poor (at least for someone who is gardening challenged like myself) to grow a garden. I've tried many times but have always ended up with the same results. I have red clay for soil and grass won't even grow on my 4.5 acres though a nice little forest with wild brush is out there. I do have chickens that I enjoy raising and I've joked that if the sh*t ever hits the fan that as long as I have protein I could find someone to barter veggies with but I know that I really do need to have some on hand. I was wondering how expensive it would be to can bought veggies. Would it even be worth the money?

We preserve veggies that we get in bulk on sale. We watch for deals from places like Azure Standard and Bountiful Baskets that we order from. We have done a big thing of carrots (still have some of those in the fridge!), lemons, and apples so far. If you see a good deal it's worth it. If you're talking grocery store prices, it can be pricey. But if the reason you are stockpiling is for the sh*t hitting the fan then no amount of money is too much since others will be without and you will have yummy veggies.
It just depends on your budget. Personally if you are stashing for a SHTF moment then I would rather spend my money on some raised garden beds and good garden soil to get a garden going. For a real emergency that lasts more than a few days/weeks you want something sustainable.

 

[Anna6]

I wanted to ask other's opinion of how to stock up on veggies when the land you have is too poor (at least for someone who is gardening challenged like myself) to grow a garden. I've tried many times but have always ended up with the same results. I have red clay for soil and grass won't even grow on my 4.5 acres though a nice little forest with wild brush is out there. I do have chickens that I enjoy raising and I've joked that if the sh*t ever hits the fan that as long as I have protein I could find someone to barter veggies with but I know that I really do need to have some on hand. I was wondering how expensive it would be to can bought veggies. Would it even be worth the money?

I second raised beds. We got decomposed granite and it is not good either but over time we have build up raised beds. I am still playing with ratios but at least stuff is growing. You might also try some hydroponic stuff. I am growing lettuce in old buckets right now using some potting soil, starter packs and fertilizer. I am planning to start my vegetables this way before planting them in the raised beds.

 

[JadedPhoenix]

I've been trying to grow in pots but for some reason, the moment I put them in, any plant I plant dies. I started some seeds of various kinds in a sprouting container and they thrived right up until I moved them into potting soil. Everything just withered within two days.

Would raised beds do any better than pots?