Let's talk MINI-HOMESTEAD/RANCH... (rabbits, quail, chicken, goat?)

[New adventure]

I'd go with 2 dwarf goats bred at opposite times of the year. That way you'd always have milk and the goats would have friends. Extra milk can make butter, ice cream, cheese, soap, lotion. Maybe your neighbor would breed them to his buck.

I don't know where you are, but most rural areas have a feed mill somewhere close by; It's almost always cheaper to get feed there.

 

[redhen]

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yup..listen to her...bee knows what shes talking about!

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks!

So that takes the cage number from 2-3 to 6 or more. If that is the case, I don't think I have the space or money/materials to have or make that many cages.

4 cages...tops! And you can actually build your own and even pick up some factory made ones for free or cheap in the local classifieds! People get a cute bunny for a child and often will sell the whole shebang for cheap or give it away "to a good home" for free. I've seen this numerous times.

If building your own, you can build your finishing cage to be adaptable for several situations. My finishing cage was just two cages suspended side by side, wired together, with a door flap cut out in between. I put food on one side, water on the other. This gives bunnies something to do and builds nice meaty haunches during this finishing out time. Little chicken wire hay racks wired up in one corner of each cage makes for little hay waste and prevents having wet, dirty hay on the cage floor.

Container gardens can be built right along the bottom and attached to your kennel/pen. They can consist of scrap lumber(seconds from a lumber mill costs about $20 for a huge bundle) designed like a big, long box.

Using the square foot gardening method, vermicomposting and utilizing your manure....heck, you can raise quite a little food station! Note: Might want to place a nice little panel between growing foodstuffs and chicken beaks/goat noses!

You can use hardware cloth for this. You can place plastic from the top of your kennel, slanted like a leanto down to your containers for starting seedlings and even growing greens in the winter....this will block wind from your livestock and create a source of warmth as well.

Vermicomposting leads to another income stream...worm sales. Also another food source for your chickens.

If you use the hardware cloth, you can have vining plants in your containers, growing small winter gourds/squash that can then be fed to your livestock later on. My sheep simply love cucumbers, squash, gourds, pumpkins. If you grow the little pumpkins, be aware that the seeds act as a natural anti-helminic for your goats and chickens.

The whole shebang could be mounted on skids or wheels for ease of moving and could even be moved with the car.​

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Then kennel in question is 6X6 and 4' high. It is wrapped in chickenwire at the moment, because I used it as a growout pen for the chickens. It has a chicken wire top with a couple corrugated plastic pannels on top for the chickens to roost under and be dry.

Didn't think about putting the hens and the goat in the same pen. Or hanging the rabbit cages in there for that matter. Here's a question for ya, would meat rabbits(probably New Zealands) be fine in a wire cage with simply a roof and windbreak on one side of the kennel? Then again, I could probably hang the cages on top of the kennel that way I'm not crouching inside the kennel. ((It's a pain to do now.

Oh Bee, you have my head reeling with ideas now! I really appreciate everyone's input. I had forgotten about goat soaps and lotions. Can you freeze goat milk? It would sure help if you could save it for when she's not milking.

On the subject of vermicomposting, I read that most people place the bins under the rabbit cages. Wouldn't that burn those worms up? I would have thought being under the hutches would burn the worm bins up and kill the worms. I'll have to look into that too.

Also, on the subject of hatching and refridgerating. Electricity and water are available, wouldn't consider the experiment if I had no ready source of water. Rain barrels are an option, but to have a rain barrel be most effective you need a roof and gutters. So water and electricity make this experiment a bit easier.

I'll look into making cages. I have three now and a self standing hardwire hutch that is used as a brooder.

On another note! Smell... I can't imagine having this many animals in such small an area and it not wreaking to high heaven. I quess just plenty of moving the area?

Oh how I love playing the "what if" game. I truly do. LOL

 

[Southernbelle]

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I've bred and raised rabbits for years and years. If you went with 2 does and buck, that's 3 cages and you'll need one more cage for a grow-out pen. Breed the does at the same time, so they deliver at the same time. The babies stay with their mothers for the first 6 weeks and are butchered between 8-12 weeks. At that age, there's no reason for them to be seperated by gender.

I feed mine rabbit pellets, but you can pasture raise them with something like a chicken tractor. Pellets are like 95% alfalfa grass, anyway. I'd still offer pellets to meet their mineral needs, but you could save on your feed bill and mowing. Rabbit poo is unparelled for garden fertilizer, doesn't even need to be composted first.

My cages hang under an overhang - you can kinda see them on my BYC page, scroll down. No wind breaks. In really cold weather, I'll stuff the cages with hay for them to burrow down in. I also have cages hanging in the chicken coop. The chickens keep the rabbit poo spread out.

Vermicomposting: Every year I get a Black Soldier Fly colony take up residence in my rabbit piles. They thrive in there. Rabbits will always pee in the same corner of their cage, so I have some areas of concentrated urine, but it doesn't stop the worms.

The best heavy duty cage wire is from www.klubertanz.com. I use 14 gauge. Lowes doesn't have anything heavy enough.

 

[Southernbelle]

Don't forget a bee hive, too. Home grown honey with very little effort.

 

[saddina]

On the subject of vermicomposting, I read that most people place the bins under the rabbit cages. Wouldn't that burn those worms up? I would have thought being under the hutches would burn the worm bins up and kill the worms. I'll have to look into that too.

Nope. Bunny poo isn't a "hot" manure like chicken poo is. Meaning it doesn't burn plants/worms. You can add it directly to the gardens as well.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Well I got the rabbits today. Moving in the right direction!

Next step in the project is Vermicomposting.

-Kim

 

[Beekissed]

Smell... I can't imagine having this many animals in such small an area and it not wreaking to high heaven. I quess just plenty of moving the area?

Deep litter method and frequent moving. The birds will keep the floor stirred up and dry and when you move this deep litter can be composted and used in your worm bins/container beds. I wouldn't leave it on the ground for very long or it will solarize your fresh graze. Rake it into a pile for composting and you could even bag it and sell it....would be the best fertilizer!

Also, the worm castings are a very high dollar fertilizer and can be sold for a premium.

When I layered my rabbits over my chickens, I used the DLM and it was always dry and fluffy from the hens constant scratching.

A windblock for those rabbits and even a nesting box with hay in which to snuggle will keep those bunnies snug. Also the heat from the goats and chickens will rise....​

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Can't quite work on the experiment yet, the dog kennel is occupied at the moment. I have someone coming Friday to buy the 4 Sumatra who are currently residing in it. Then I have to give the kennel a serious once over.

I need to find myself a welder and a few metal poles. The front of the kennel has rusted out by the door, the entire front right area is in shambles. So as far as the kennel, repairs are the first step. I had two 6X12X6 chainlink dog kennels, BUT my mother decided to let her friend tear them to pieces and scrap them for a chicken coop that they don't even use anymore!

Anyway, it's just the metal pole fram that's rusted in the front, so I'm hoping a few metal poles, a saw, and some welding should get the job done. Chainlink kennels can be pricey, $100 is pricey for me. Most of the time the used ones are the 6 footers, I'm thinking that my little 4 footer is better for the job. Lord, knows it will weigh a ton when all is said and done. LOL So why have an extra 2.5 foot of chainlink on top of it?

-Kim