backyard barn yard any body raise poultry or rabbits?

First off, thanks for all this great information. I'll make sure I check out all the links and really do my homework. I'd have no issue with rabbits for food, but my wife sees them as cute pets. But I'm working on her.

Not sure yet. We will be staying the the MD/PA area, so I can't see us having more than 10 acres.

Eventual high level of self reliance. I don't think that the end of the world is coming, but I do think that there will be big changes and a shift in food production will be one of them.

We are on the same page as far as getting some land and doing some food production. But I'm more interested in the critters.

Not a chance.

Understand fully. I have to stay in the area. We'd like to mave way out, but I'll have to find a high paying job I can work from home first. We need my income.

 

OGM, Australorps are quiet, productive little birds, dual-purpose (tri-purpose if you use the feathers for fishing or crafts!), and hardy as long as they are provided a decent "house" for bad weather and night time. Mine never went broody BUT I was after egg production from them, not chicks.

I also had a few Rhode Island Reds, an Orp and a couple others (I can't remember). Usually I incubated the eggs myself - I generally sold nearly every chick that hatched to a waiting list of folks - but there was one banty a friend gave me who would sneak an egg here and an egg there until she felt she had enough to set. Let me tell you, watching a tiny banty hen mama-henning it over an Orp chick that's bigger than her is hilarious! If I needed fresh blood, I'd call the hatchery down the road and go pick up peeps. Rarely did I keep a rooster over the winter - they get too nasty to the hens and aren't needed for egg production.

Roosters in the freezer as soon as they got big enough, decide which pullets to keep for replacement stock if needed. :shrugs: No brainer.

Now rabbits. Rabbits require a bit more care since they're typically caged and not allowed to forage. That's both a boon and a problem. Safer from predators but you have to make sure they're getting the right nutrition, kept out of direct wind, etc. And don't rely on store-bought pellets. They're a good base, but do some research into animal nutritional needs.

Neither chickens nor rabbits, in my experience or opinion, should be fed exclusively from a store-bought bag. There is NO feed out there that is complete.

 

Thanks guys learned an awful lot in that short exchange.

 

Well, I missed this untill now.

For the ack yard depending on what you want and the neighbors, you might be able to get by with a 'pet' goat (my moms neighbor has one) and it could be milked. Chickens could also be doable in small numbers and without roosters. My choice would be the Rhode Island Reds, their good and hearty birds that lay pretty well and the males are good meat birds and they will brood some of the time. The rabbits would be the best bet for a back yard burbs farm yard though. You could have a well ventelated garden shed and if it was set up right you could easily have as many as 20 or so does in there and a couple of bucks and with regular breeding be produceing around 60+ bunnies each month.

A couple things to keep in mind with rabbits though is that first they are NOT reaal tollerant of heat. They will do fine as long as they have a box to go in with temps way below zero but if it gets into the 90 they need plenty of breeze/shade and any higher then they can have problems and benifit from soda bottles of ice to cool off with so they dont stroke out or go steril. Another thing to remember is that you also HAVE to breed rabbits. Rabbits will actualy become toxic and die from not breeding if they are not fixed and dont breed for long periods (IIRC something like 6 months- a year).

You also need to keep in mind you cant live on bunny alone because they dot contain the needed fat.

Depending on how much you want at a serving you could go with New Zelands for something average or French Lops if you want LOTS of meat since the full grown adults from good stock can easily be 25 lbs or so.