One of the most popular and respected survivalist sites on the Web offers daily essays, and you should, for entertainment purposes, read the latest one on chicken-keeping through the eyes of someone trying to covertly protect his investment from "looters and raiders" roaming his suburban cul-de-sac.
"One of the most accommodating spaces to immediately transform into a covert farming space is any spare bathroom, which has a bathtub or shower. These spaces by their original nature are designed to provide protection against moisture, provide natural light and ventilation, have surface materials designed to be washed down and are fairly durable, which sounds awfully like good (small) livestock farm space to me. They are also rooms that hold the least amount of personal clutter and storage.
An ideal application for this space is that of a battery chicken coop (a series of stacked cages) over the bathtub. Within this volume it is possible to design a variety of coops for meat, egg and chick production in a highly intensive and sanitary manner. A combination of 10 laying hens (eggs production), coop space for a cock, a trio of hens (chick production), hatchery for the chicks and broiler grow out space for 16 broilers (meat production), would produce approximately 5 eggs a day and a broiler chicken in a pot each week.
While the family garage may ultimately serve as a better location for this operation, I doubt most garages are in a state of current use that would allow for immediate transformation into chicken production and the fact that most operational homesteads only operate with a single cock and a trio of hens and thus would be putting the coop before the chickens. This though, should be your ambition, as at that point you will be able to produce all the caloric nutrient needs of your family right in the garage. It is unlikely though that you will need the volume of a two car garage to do so, and it is for this reason that I recommend that the chicken coop be isolated (finished and self enclosed) to the rest of the garage, leaving the free space for storage or other uses."
http://www.survivalblog.com/
Further in the essay, he discusses how to set up a "maggotry." I'd LOVE to hear his wife's reaction to his plans for his family's survival.
So now you know how to secretly get those meaties raised to harvest age in that spare bathroom you rarely use.
"One of the most accommodating spaces to immediately transform into a covert farming space is any spare bathroom, which has a bathtub or shower. These spaces by their original nature are designed to provide protection against moisture, provide natural light and ventilation, have surface materials designed to be washed down and are fairly durable, which sounds awfully like good (small) livestock farm space to me. They are also rooms that hold the least amount of personal clutter and storage.
An ideal application for this space is that of a battery chicken coop (a series of stacked cages) over the bathtub. Within this volume it is possible to design a variety of coops for meat, egg and chick production in a highly intensive and sanitary manner. A combination of 10 laying hens (eggs production), coop space for a cock, a trio of hens (chick production), hatchery for the chicks and broiler grow out space for 16 broilers (meat production), would produce approximately 5 eggs a day and a broiler chicken in a pot each week.
While the family garage may ultimately serve as a better location for this operation, I doubt most garages are in a state of current use that would allow for immediate transformation into chicken production and the fact that most operational homesteads only operate with a single cock and a trio of hens and thus would be putting the coop before the chickens. This though, should be your ambition, as at that point you will be able to produce all the caloric nutrient needs of your family right in the garage. It is unlikely though that you will need the volume of a two car garage to do so, and it is for this reason that I recommend that the chicken coop be isolated (finished and self enclosed) to the rest of the garage, leaving the free space for storage or other uses."
http://www.survivalblog.com/
Further in the essay, he discusses how to set up a "maggotry." I'd LOVE to hear his wife's reaction to his plans for his family's survival.
So now you know how to secretly get those meaties raised to harvest age in that spare bathroom you rarely use.
