Just curious who else is living super frugal

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
With regard to cooking tuff little buggers.... have you tried the pressure cooker?

When you say Whistle pigs are you meaning Guinea Pigs? I have to say if you are they are probably the easiest even easier than rabbits to raise. They are born with their eyes open and a squeek as loud as momma. Within an hour they are able to run and follow mommma every where she goes. They are able to reproduce in record time... Two months for females and three months for males. Momma has only two spigots so when she has a litter of five.... they stand in line for their turn to nurse. They can eat grass on day one.

In the Andes they keep them just like you would chickens. When I finally learned that whole reproduction cycle thing I had over sixty.... and had given away as many. I finally found a fellow whos wife was from that area and he took them all off my hands.

Mine were pretty hefty probably about two to three pounds a piece. As far as being frugal to raise? Unlike rabbits they cant jump. You can fence them in a yard with a fence that is about a foot high if there is nothing that they can walk on top of.... Their main defense is running and hiding in holes between rocks.... they dont dig either. I used to lay out pieces of four inch diameter of sewer pipe in the yard for them to get into if they got startled. Youd go out and youd see the back end of a piggie just inside the end of the pipe and the front end of a piggie just inside the other end of the pipe... Id pick it up and slide them out into their Cages and there would be maybe five of them in there... LOL.

I fed them the grass in the front yard for a free range forage. and they had plain old alfalfa flake that lasted them about a week. And they need a source of vitimine C so I fed them broccoli and cabbage.

This all happened because my mom Baby sat my son while I worked. One day When I came to pick him up she informed me she had told my son he needed a pet rabbit. love mom but some times

... I was shredded by a rabbit when I was about twelve... Never again. So I opted for a Couple of Guinea pigs.

deb "who could totally eat Guinea pigs now"

 

[LindaB220]

I would have to agree with that one.

Though knowing how to make it is a very good thing. Once I discovered how I made the connection as to why fire place ashes are good for chickens to dust in...

If you make it just be careful its just as dangerous as the canned stuff you get to clear drains.

There is a series of books I used to have back in HighSchool Called Fox fire. Back in 1970 it consisted of five or six books that covered everthing from wheel wrighing to making soap.... Now I believe the book set is up to twelve. Highly recommend having a set.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Foxfire-Book-List/lm/R2QLIXHWUXZ6QT

And the reason to have them in paper is in case infrastructure breaks down and there is no cell no electricity no batteries.
deb

I would love to have them, but if something happened to me the first thing to go would be my books.

 

[Arielle]

perchie girl-- wow-- I would love raising g pigs over rabbits!! IF IF IF someone else would bop them on the head. I cant do it. My DH WON"T do it, he wont do fowl either; and my dear kids avert their eyes focusing on ripping feathers off the last bird out of the hot water while I do in the next bird . .


Plaid battle axe--sorry you need to travel, it does help support our chosen ways if at lest one can work outside the house. ANd think of all the well rounded skill to teach the kids. I stopped traveling the world a long time ago and rarely drive out side of my town limits. Ya, I'm a home body too. Enjoy your hourse of planning-- consider buyng your seed this fall if you can before the buying onslaught.

 

[lazy gardener]

Deb, I had guinea pigs when I was a kid. I prefer their personality much to that of a rabbit. Not sure I could eat them! My first "mid-wife" experience was with guinea pigs. My girl delivered 4 babies, and I found #4 buried in the shavings with the amniotic sac still intact. I picked the little guy up, peeled the sac back from his face, don't exactly remember what else I did to revive him, but I do know I prayed. Well, he came to life, and did just great. I named him Lucky. My understanding is that the South American "pigs" are much bigger than the pet quality pigs sold here in the states. I bet they are tasty!

 

[Arielle]

RE soap-- the good oils I need are expensive, or atleast the coconut oil is. THe local store was charging $12 a jar, and found some on sale at OSJL where one off lots o f food are sold so ahve not found the $5 a jar price again . . . maybe WM . . . . I shop there and feel like a hypocrit every time.


DID learn that sheep fat is great for soap making if I am understanding the soap calculator info correctly. Whooot.

 

[wyoDreamer]

DEB - Whistle Pigs are woodchucks.

 

[perchie.girl]

Deb, I had guinea pigs when I was a kid. I prefer their personality much to that of a rabbit. Not sure I could eat them! My first "mid-wife" experience was with guinea pigs. My girl delivered 4 babies, and I found #4 buried in the shavings with the amniotic sac still intact. I picked the little guy up, peeled the sac back from his face, don't exactly remember what else I did to revive him, but I do know I prayed. Well, he came to life, and did just great. I named him Lucky. My understanding is that the South American "pigs" are much bigger than the pet quality pigs sold here in the states. I bet they are tasty!

Yes for kids they are perfect.... They wont bite but they are slippery little dudes. I used to set the kids down in a hard plastic swimming pool and give them a piggie to hold. When they got away from them all they could do is run around the swimming pool.

Oh I take that back If a newly introduced male is being beat up by the original male and you pick one up you can get bit.... I did.

But Ilove thier conversational voices and thier soft squeek and the males Trilling when He was wooing a female. Much like the sound of the Tribbles from Star Trek.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

DEB - Whistle Pigs are woodchucks.

Whew... glad to know.

deb

 

[alldembirds]

DEB - Whistle Pigs are woodchucks.

also known as a groundhog

 

[perchie.girl]

Gosh we dont have ground hogs here. I just looked them up and they are in the same family as Squirrels... From what I know wild animals taste like what they eat so according to Wikipedia they should be good eating.


For what its worth Guinea Pigs are in a different branch of the rodent family tree called Caviidae. There are only about eighteen species in all. Because of their Diet and behavior and they way they are born they are considered Herd animals and VERY vegetarian. They are born with their eyes open and a full coat of hair and are capable of eating grasses right away. They run to escape and form a herd of sorts with a dominant male.

The largest Rodent in the world comes from this same family its called the Capybara. Capybaras get up to about 140 lbs.

when I get involved with an animal I read up... My Guinea Pig days are well over.

deb