How to become self-sufficient (kinda) with chickens.

[vermontgal]

To reply to a number of things in this thread - (late comer)

• I have a meal worm farm and am hoping to make good use of it this winter. I am also growing oats in the front yard this year, but that is only a few square feet. My lot is 1/8 acre. When I moved in it had lawn. Now, it is all under cultivation or building except a dog yard approx 15'x25'. The dogs need to watch out for next year's invasion of the sunflowers (awesome chicken feed, and it grows UP. My garden is moving into air space.)

• Little House on the Prairie Books (the series) are awesome as an adult. I bought a set about 15 years ago when I visited some of the old homesteads as part of a trip across country. If you are interested in re-reading them, do. Now that I have the set, I reread them every 3-4 years.

• The root cellaring book mentioned earlier in the thread is very good. My tenant has it and loaned me her copy. We may construct a root cellar together. Temperature should be closer to freezing than 45F. You want to insulate your root cellar from your house.

• I just finished raising 12 meat chickens on my neighbors' land. I share-cropped chickens. They have invited me back for more agricultural pursuits. I might see if they would let me plant oats & corn. They have a whopping 1/4 acre or maybe even 1/2 acre! They are also sort of encouraging me to get sheep. We will see. I have an old barn, and could do it if my neighbors gave a blessing, but I would need to graze the sheep on other people's property.

• Where I live there is a thing called a "time dollar network" which allows you to exchange a skill you have for a credit of a "time dollar" (paid by the 15 minutes!). Then you can use your time-dollar to buy an hour of anyone else's time who is in the network. It is like bartering services, except that you don't have to receive service from the same person you give to. timebanks.org

Sorry for the long post - but youins* all have a long thread! (*That's Pittsburghese for y'all).

 

[rebecca100]

My chickens solely free-range with feed as a treat to put them up if needed. It really helps and I still get a lot of eggs. During winter it is hard though, but you can plant extra in your garden of something that is easily stored and fed in rations like corn and milo or something to pull them through.

 

[rebecca100]

Sorry, i was a little slow with my reply

 

[mylilchix]

For those who free range, do you do anything for predator control? I'm paranoid of letting our girls out because of the hawks in the area.

Sonja

 

[Whispering Winds]

Quote:
I want to know more about this Comfrey? I have heard of it, but I want to know more. Is there a link I can click on to get the info on it? If its old time remedy plant, then I want to know about it. I have been using a tea tree oil salve and other stuff from a company I order from, not real $$, and lasts a long time, but if I can make it myself, then that would be even better.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
I want to know more about this Comfrey? I have heard of it, but I want to know more. Is there a link I can click on to get the info on it? If its old time remedy plant, then I want to know about it. I have been using a tea tree oil salve and other stuff from a company I order from, not real $$, and lasts a long time, but if I can make it myself, then that would be even better.

Well, as an example....

My niece has a friend who was staying at my sister's house, and somehow, the friend scraped all of the skin off the top of her foot - it looked like hamburger, and it was horribly painful.

My sister put some homemade comfrey oil onto it, and wrapped it with gauze. The next morning, skin was already growing on the foot - enough so the pain was mostly gone because the nerves weren't exposed.

You have to be careful not to use Comfrey on deep wounds - it'll grow skin over the top and the raw underneath can get infected - so no puncture wounds for comfrey.

When I make comfrey oil, I'll make it one of two ways - you can use the root (have to dig up part of the plant and cut off part of the root - replant the other part and it will re-grow next spring) or you can use the leaves - the leaves aren't as strong, but less work getting it to workable medium. Even an oil or ointment of leaves is usually strong enough for scrapes however. If you want it stronger, you can always use the first made oil and add more leaves to add extra strength to the medicine in it.

make an oil from the comfrey, then if you want ointment, use that oil to make the oinment. (I usually use canola oil with vitamin E added to it - I never use olive oil for oils or ointments, as it tends to go rancid on me).

If you use the root, you want to make as much of the surface exposed as possible, so you'll want to cut it up or shred it, if possible. The leaves you can simply cut up a bit (they are big leaves).

Now, as a disclaimer, I should add that many folks will say that the first leaves contain a poison, and you should cut those down to the ground, and only use the second leaves that come up. I've used both and never had a problem.

meri

 

[The Zoo]

Again I will just say that self sufficient means many different things to different people.

To us it means not having to rely on the big corporations for our food. If I can make my own breads, pastas, raise my own hens for eggs, not have to buy produce from the store, make my own pasta sauces from my herbs and tomatoes, pick my own wild blackberries and freeze them, pickle my own vegetables, freeze my own veg, grow all the produce we eat, cellar my squash and potatoes, etc then I feel self sufficient. Of course I will need to buy flour, milk, dairy products and oils, etc but I feel pretty darn good doing what I do for us rather than running to the market for a loaf of bread.
It also means eating things in season or freezing things for winter - these days when we can have strawberries and peppers all year round we have lost touch with where our food comes from and I want to relearn.

I second the 'pickyourown.org' website - I've made a bunch of his stuff and been very happy!

Has anyone used oyster shells for their squash? I tossed some on top of our squash seedlings (hey it was what I had).

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Well, last post here, for me - I'll simply say that I refuse to be made to feel guilty for taking care of me and mine.

If someone wants to troll for arguments, let them, I'm done here.

meri

 

[tasymo]

Please keep in mind that comfrey is powerful stuff and should not be used in excess- either for humans or chickens! As with any medication, too much can be toxic.

I have found that a simple comfrey tea, made with dried leaves and hot water is very effective as a topical wash for minor scrapes and burns. We gargle the cooled tea for sore throats and canker sores. My family does not drink it though. I'd love to learn to make an ointment from it.

Sometimes I'll toss my chickens a few leaves, when I can't let them out, but mostly I trust them to eat as much as they want from the plants in my yard. They don't eat it down to the ground like they do some stuff (queen annes lace for instance), but snack on a few leaves, then move on to something else. The plants handle the chicken assaults quite nicely. I've got it growing in both full sun, and part shade. I have noticed that the plants in part shade are much bigger, and healthier looking than those with full sun.

Here is a link for more info...

http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/comfrey/index.php

 

[tulie13]

Quote:
I've never heard of a banana squash - is there something "special" about that type of squash that would make it good "survival food" vs. other squashes? Or were you just commenting on never having dried it before and thinking about trying it?

I planted spaghetti squash, butternut, and acorn - the stupid squash borers are killing me, and even though we actually had a dry summer so not much powdery mildew it's starting to shower every day or two and the humidity is high. So everything is about to turn white.

I live in FL, we have no basements here. Supposedly it's NOT from the water table, just pretty much nobody builds that way.

I want a basement.