Rabbits are a great form of livestock for the suburban "farmer." They don't make any noise, so the neighbors won't complain, they take up very little space, and are easy to breed. Rabbits are considered companion animals, so you can have them anywhere you can have a dog. This same thing goes for goats in most areas too, but goats need more land, are louder, and smelly. If your neighbors don't mind, having a goat is great for milk and meat, but in most cases this is not reality.
Believe it or not, one rabbit produces more meat in one year than any other meat animal available. One ten pound doe can produce 320+ pounds of meat annually. That's an average of more than 6 pounds a week! Keeping two does and one buck around can produce way more than one family can eat, so there is leftover to sell as meat or as pets! Another money making prospect is tanning the hides and making crafts or garments from them or even just selling the hide by itself. Find out more than you ever wanted to know about rabbit meat (including how healthy it is) by clicking here.
So here are the new rabbit cages I bought off Craigslist for $40. As seen in the picture, the one against the house has a hutch high up accessible by a ladder. This will be the bucks cage so the babies, aka "kits," won't fall out of the hutch. The one to the left has the hutch on the floor and has storage space for food on top of the hutch. These are just a temporary solution for right now. Wood cages aren't ideal for rabbits as they will chew on the wood. I will be building simple wire cages for the rabbits and laying hens will be going in these. The wire cages I will be building are similar to the ones seen in this video.
After I get a privacy fence, I will be moving the chickens out of these cages into a free range type cage with no floor and very portable, most likely with wheels on one end. It will be similar to this:
This will allow me to move the chickens around the yard to fertilize certain portions of the garden. This most likely will not be able to happen in my type of neighborhood until my privacy fence is built. When I move the chickens out of them, the cages I have right now will be going on Craigslist for $40!
For more information about raising rabbits, I recommend this book.
I am starting this blog to track and publish my progress in my overall goal to become self-sufficient. I have had this goal for many years, but have been discouraged because it usually requires much more land than I had at my disposal. I have, however, decided to go forward with the plan and just become "as self-sufficient as possible." My modified goals are as follows:
1) To buy no more than 20% of all consumed food from outside sources. This will accomplish several smaller goals. One being that if I am cutting my grocery bill by that much, the money I do spend can go toward higher quality food. This includes buying local (farmers market and meat processors), less processed and more organic. I expect an overall improvement in health of my entire family. In the event of a disaster, my family should be able to survive on food produced on the property.
2) To use as little electricity from the grid as possible. This goal is expensive, therefore will be accomplished in small, gradual steps over time. Options include solar and wind and will require much less usage of power than we have now. Overall goal is 100% energy independence, which may take 7-10 years.
3) To be prepared to any emergency situation that may arise. Those of you who lived here during the blizzard of 1993 know why. We had no power for many days and that meant no heat for us. Food was very limited because most of the food we had depended on electricity. I will be stockpiling food to use in emergency situations, have auxiliary heat (hopefully two forms), and many other forms of preparation. Emergencies to be prepared for include anything from natural disasters to national economic collapse.
The main overall goal here is that when something happens and I can't afford to, or otherwise don't have the ability to acquire/buy food and supplies needed to keep my family going, we will be able to survive relatively comfortably under most any condition. This blog is here for others to keep track of my progress and to encourage others to do the same. I am not a professional writer, so you'll have to look over my mistakes. I just hope to show people that preparation to this extent is easier than you may think and the chances of you needing it are more likely than you may think.
I hope you enjoy the updates and it gives you motivation and ideas to help your own family. If you have any ideas or suggestions that may help in my situation, please feel free to let me know.
