Rabbits, Goats, Peacocks?

[Summer Rose]

I am a widow and just recently got my 13 Pullets, I love the whole experience. Not planning to raise prize hens to show, just planning to
get and sell eggs for a little extra money. I so enjoy this that I am thinking I would like to expand to other barnyard animals. Any suggestions
as far as time, work and money as to what would be as enjoyable as the Girls are? I was raised as a city girl so everything is new to me. I
recently built two greenhouses and raising food for me and the girls. Love it and having fun!

 

[zazouse]

Rabbits are fun and easy to raise. and they have multipal uses and you can sell the young ones pretty easy, they are so darn cute.
how big is your place?
I have peafowl, guinea fowl, geese,ducks and chickens here, i free range them all under the watchful eyes of a half a dozen dogs.

 

[Summer Rose]

Thanks so much. Love the picture too. I'm free ranging the Pullets but they don't go far from the coup just yet. I was tending towards Rabbits.
You don't free range them do you? Thought they had to be in cages? Love the variety of birds that you have.

 

[zazouse]

I raised my peafowl from hatch and have alot of land with no neighbors anywhere close , my property is surrounded by woods which acts as a barrier to the outside world as far as the peas are concerned, they roam along way but have never gotten off the property that i know of but i am talking about a100 acer piece of property.

 

[Summer Rose]

I guess I am thinking that I would like to raise whatever that would at least be able to pay for themselves. I am on a limited income so it would help a lot if I could do like
with the chickens be able to sell their eggs. Is there a need/desire for others to buy the babies? That is why I was thinking of the Rabbits, although in my research they
might be more than I can handle. Are they more work then raising the chickens? This is a decisions that I want to kick around for the Winter so I am ready for Spring.
Thanks for all and any of your responses.

 

[Oregon Blues]

To me, rabbits are a lot more work than poultry. Each rabbit has an individual cage and each has it's own feeder and its own water. Each individual feeder and each waterer must be done each day, sometimes twice a day. The poop has to be cleaned out from under the hutches at least once a week. The rabbits must be handled or they get wild and difficult to care for.

However, all added up, rabbits are not a lot of work. Selling them can be tricky. Not many people will eat rabbit and I think the pet market is pretty limited. It's a bad economy and pet rabbits can be had for free and there are a limited number of people right now who want to pay money for pets. So do research carefully before you get into rabbits to make sure you will have buyers.

Rabbits eat a lot and the cost of their feed is going up fast. If you feed them with greens from your garden, then the labor factor can get quite high.

Also, I suggest that you don't go to crazy with the egg sales until you add up all of your expenses to make sure you are really turning a profit and aren't subsidizing the cost of someone else's fresh eggs.

 

[Summer Rose]

Thanks, wow, very informative Post. Yep the more I read on the Rabbits the more I'm thinking they would be too much for me. Already I am having to his and my work
around the home front. I put together two 6X8 greenhouse that I needed my Engineer for yet I did it myself. The amazing thing that getting the Chickens did for me was
to bring me back home. I was running every place to get away from here. They are delightfully entertaining and I can finally walk among them without then running
away:>) They have given me back my Joy!!!! I didn't get a Roo because have no clue about babies, If bought all of mine as Pullets. Funny, getting to know the language
on here:>) Three of mine, the Salmon Fave's are pure bred so maybe when I get a Roo it will be a SF to keep the breed pure. Maybe I should separate them from the
others? Thanks so much, how nice to find people on here just so they can help others. Not seeing that as much anymore out in the world. Restores some faith in peeps!

 

[Oregon Blues]

Summer Rose, if you like to interact with your birds and if you have room to keep them, you might try a turkey. They are amazingly sociable.

The only problem with turkeys is that it would be very difficult to turn any profit with them. They are big and eat a lot and around Thanksgiving the grocery stores around here use them for loss leaders and at some stores they can be had for free. That has trained the public to think that they are very inexpensive meat.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Hi Summer Rose - sounds like you are having fun with your chickens. i love my chickens. i agree with Oregon Blues that you should add up the total cost of your chickens - housing, feed, meds, bedding - to ensure you are making a profit on your eggs. i think i added everything up at one point and realized i would need to sell each egg for $1,000 to break even.

As far as adding animals, i would advise against rabbits. Not sure where you live, but the SPCA and Animal Control places here are packed with rabbits. Parents get them for their kids for Easter or whatnot, then they lose their appeal when everyone realizes how much work they are - or, they don't get their pair neutered and spayed and end up with a passel of baby wabbits.

We have goats, geese, ducks, and chickens; and have had turkeys. i loved my turkeys, they were so sweet. i just kept a pair, and could never consider eating them. So, no profit there. Ducks are super fun but a TON of work. They are super messy and stinky and take more work than all our other animals combined. They do lay super yummy rich eggs, though.

We originally wanted goats to have goat milk, then realized you have to breed the females first (duh). i'm just not up to that level of complication, so they are just pets. Same with our geese.

i hope you get some good suggestions from folks, and have fun with your chickens in the meantime.

Colleen

 

[Summer Rose]

Thanks some more, Colleen and Blues! You are answering me in the way I need to hear it, simply letting me know in a general way which pets would be best. I might have wrote the other Post incorrectly, didn't get the Chickens for the eggs per say because I wanted Pets. It is just that if they do start laying a dozen eggs a day then I will put a sign up on the corner and see if neighborhood peeps are interested. Nothing commercial but might be able to recover some $$ for the feed etc. And, that is all I was saying as far as the other birds/pets that I would consider getting. My conclusion is coming around to how happy I am that my first try was the best, my Chickens. Today I sat and they started coming up to me for treats. I was so excited I could hardly hold my cool:>) LOL maybe I will build another Coup and get another dozen. Thanks so much, again!!!