A new journey into homesteading "pic heavy"

[sumi]

It takes time to get your money back when you invest heavily to start up, but it comes, in time. Took me just over a year with my chickens a few years ago and we tried to keep costs down as much as possible. Free food is the best way to start saving and making use of what nature provides (grass for example for the rabbits) too. Also selling as much as you can, eggs, chicks, grown birds... I wrote a piece for BYC on making money with chickens, I should copy that over here, now that I think of it...

 

[Mini Horses]

The farmers always drop a few hundred pounds on the ground when they are auging tons into the silo and i get it for free because it has some dirt in it. That will help

That is a great score!!! Enjoy it while you can. I'd love to find that around me but, most use a middle man to sell.

I have started deep litter in the coop. They do scratch it alot so maybe they are finding bugs? Not sure. I did it more for compost reasons. All the pine shavings and munure will be good for the garden

Mine is for compost and I even spread it on some pasture spots...it's mainly to keep from cleaning each week, also. I'm home all this week, so HOPE to get the use of it in a garden area I HOPE to get worked.

Cleaning chickens isnt fun. But i may get faster at it with practice

Butchering is always a bad time but, you could skin them. You can make a plucker (or buy) that fits on your drill.

The goal is that i will end up with free food. Meat, eggs, and vegetables to feed the family. All three areas depend on each other in a symbiotic relationship

THAT is everyones goal. We just all have different situations within which to work. KISS works for me!! Some are at home all day, can work at things differently and have a set-up for themselves. We each have to work with what fits our OWN family, land, weather, schedules. Kudos for all you have accomplished! I hope your kids will enjoy helping. Mine didn't so much but, in later years I see it being a part of their lives.

You know, we all throw ideas & methods "out there" -- some may not work for everyone, some may give an "aha" moment, so read & use what seems appropriate for YOU. And, yes, I have spent thousands here, also. I've tried a lot of things. Kept those that worked, appealed to me, stopped other things. Especially when I am down to "only one" -- I love home raised beef and had several head of cattle for years when younger. Now, heck, I can take the $$ a calf & powdered milk costs and buy enough grass fed beef for me without all the "fun". My freezer is full of pork -- sold all the sows & piglets. Don't miss them. Don't need 8 milk does but, they DO help control weeks and do produce kids to sell. They can stay. I don't have to milk them all. Chickens are easier to wrangle and I can sell some, so they are fine. It's what EACH family can do, enjoy, benefit from, etc. Keep posting and keep reading. I think you are fine with your systems.

 

[Chic Rustler]

The rabbit population is back up. 2 does kindled giving us 9 or ten more kits. The current population is around 16. They just keep giving.

The chickens still aren't laying well. I put the 9 hens on Craigslist but i haven't got any hits yet. Im probably going to put them in the freezer. But all the young chicks are doing well and growing like weeds. So there is hooe for the flock.


The garden is doing well. Seems the plants get a little bigger every night....especially the squash! They are about 3 feet in diameter now. Only down side is the wife says the garden smells of poop now that i put my homemade fertilizer on it.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Congrats on the new bunnies!

 

[tortoise]

You can feed ALL of the rabbit waste to the dogs. Entrails, bone, heads, feet, etc. I have particularly vivid memories of a previous dog running through the house with a rabbit head on butchering day and the ears flopping around....

If tanning rabbit hide is on your "someday" list, you can fold the pelts skin-in and freeze to deal with later.

 

[Chic Rustler]

I have thought about tanning them
But its a pain to case them out. So much easier to do the pants and shirt method for skinning. Maybe i need to quit being lazy.

 

[tortoise]

Lazy? Hardly! We definitely have to keep goals in mind and pick our battles! There's just too many potential projects to do!

Have you considered skinning chicken rather than plucking? I think we're going to skinning them this year. DH thinks it will be easier, I don't like chicken skin and he doesn't care.

Efficiency and minimalism sure matter. You can only do so much. Yes you can get your costs down, but maybe it's at the expense of time and energy you don't have.

Even in my own family, we do things differently for that reason. DH has little time, but he's strong and has large animal handling experience. He moves sheep by herding, then separates one from the flock by pouncing on it. (Yes, he usually gets hurt). I have oodles of time, but I don't have strength or balance like he has, nor a willingness to fling myself onto concrete to catch a sheep. So I train them. He herds them, I lead them. He catches one by pouncing, I call it by name and feed it grain while walking it through a gate. He handles a nasty ram with strength, I do so with grain and putting a halter on him and hitching him to a post. We have different abilities and therefore different ways of handling the animals. Of course I like my way best and he likes his way best.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Haha. The grain method sounds better to me.

I really like the skin on a chicken. Taste so good fried!
The wife like skinless, boneless, white meat. Its ok too....especially battered and deep fried.


I think next time im just going to do a couple for the freezer instead of doing a bunch at once.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Speaking of battered and fried. The wife loaded up on pork loin when it was on sale and has been turning it into pork chops. Best fried pork chops on the planet! Im gonna die of heart disease, but ill be fat and happy when i go!


Today was a long one. After running calls in the rain today i got home and decided to clean out from under the rabbit hutches. The kids and i raked out half a wheelbarrow of manure and then they sprinkled it all over the garden. Hey its time release, right? Haha.. then i weedeated under there and raked another half a wheelbarrow full with a bunch of grass. That went in the new compost bin. The ground under the rabbits has turned from dry sand to rich dark loam in a few months. It would be so nice if the garden did as well

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That rabbit stuff is brown gold for sure! I totally forgot that my son and daughter in law have a couple of rabbits. I might have to go clean out under their cage!