Why is half an acre the absolute minimum land area needed to be self sufficient?
>>2854027you need much more than that to have enough gravity to keep your blood in your legs
With clever engineering you can do it with less. Stack your vegetables. Potatoes and beans. If you have free space covered by grass/rush/sedge whatever on your boundary rip it and plant perennials that will spread. Focus on mastering how to grow potatoes.
>>2854027a half acre is very small but you could probably pull it off with the right crops. corn is a terrible crop, i dont even grow it anymore, too many problems with bugs and disease. i grow potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash and black eyed peas. sweet potatoes are an ofteen forgotten crop that is easy and give you alot of food, i get a 5 gal bucket of sweet potatoes per plant. chickens are great too, i have 5 hens that basically free range for food and give me 5 eggs a day. its doable on a half acre as ling as you have water a decent soil.
>>2854057THIS ONE SIMPLE TRICK
>>2854063that doesnt work, they best way ive found to grow potatoes is in regular dirt with a ton of dried leaves, like 50% leaves. the potatoes grow great and the leaves add organic matter to the soil
>>2854063This guy is right>>2854064but I’ve had decent luck in five gallon buckets. Just plant them at the bottom and keep burying them until the bucket is full.
>>2854066i am growing chilis and weed in my living room all year round. would it be crazy retarded to have like 8 of these buckes stand around the other plants and cycle them so i always have some potatoes? you think there is enough light?
>>2854027Please, if you lack intuition: At least do the math and sum up the caloric value of what you expect to harvest, before you do something idiotic and KYS.After that you might also wamt to worry about macros and micros.
>>2854212Not crazy at all. The devils lettuce is how I started. I just grow food to eat now and I got the buckets. I’m lazy and depressed or else I’d have some going right now. I have a dozen five gallon buckets and ideally I would do three at a time every three months and just have perpetual potatoes. Like I said I’m lazy and they’re cheap.
I hope you have a big freezer because none of that shit is going to last long
>>2854223ill try this. cant hurt. ive calculated id need like 50 kg every 3 months. how many buckets do you think that is? i am also thinking to use these potato towers that might be a good idea. this was my first year dabbling with plants and i was very successful with herbs and chilies and tomatoes.
>>2854232ever heard about canning, pickling, drying?
i just started some tomatoes heh. the rest is leftover chili plants from the summer wich are again blooming like crazy.
Everything itt is on par with "I survived a year in a Cambodian prison on nothing by rice gruel".Imagine eating corn, greenbeans and potatoes for every meal.Yes even breakfast.And no, you cant have eggs. You dont have enough crops to feed the chickens.>t. Chicken farmer
>>2854220i grow about 70% of my food, here is what i grow and the total length of the rows>black eyed peas 120ft>potatoes 80ft>green beans 60ft>beats 30ft>carrots 15ft>turnips 15ft>24 tomato plants>14 pepper plants>12 sweet potato slips>10 okra plantsalong with a bunch of cantaloupe, watermelon, greens. i also have chicken, rabbits and pigs. next year i am going to try to grow a patch of wheat and see how that goes.
>>2854244I really really like jars.
>>2854244>70% of my foodI don't know for sure but my. suspivion is that in terms or caloric value!: No. But it would be cool if so.
>>2854244What the fuck is the meaning of this shit anon? Leave some god damned headspace or enjoy your botulism.
>>2854472>is that in terms or caloric valuwhen i go to the grocery store i spent $20/month on flour, cheese, sugar, pasta and thats about it. i even make my own pepperoni from deer i shot.>>2854559there is headspace, ive been canning since before you were born anon, my granny and mom taught me, not youtube
>>2854579My grandmother was born in 1913 in rural Iowa. She didn’t own clothes she didn’t make herself. I can go find the root cellar at the old homestead right now. I fucking promise I learned more from mine than you did from yours. You don’t grow 70 percent of your food.Row cropping is for retards.Rabbits are for larping retards.Show me one slab of bacon you processed not some sausage on a rusty grill. >mfw>claims to follow proper canning techniques and grow 70 percent of his food>can’t clean a fucking grill
>>2854583>baconhere is some salo i made with the last pig i butchered
>>2854579so you literally buy your caloric value at the store.No front but I thought so.It is becauae it is not easy and requires alot of land, work and space to actually grow your nutrition and store it.
>>2854587i grow enough potatoes, black eyed peas and sweet potatoes for the entire year, plus i get 4 or 5 eggs a day. this year im going to try to grow some wheat and try bees again since my queen keeps flying away. i am baking some bread right now and am cutting and packaging the deer i shot the other day.
>>2854244>I also go to the feed store weekly because I cant grow enough food for both myself and my animals.
>>2854601its still way cheaper than just buying food at the store i spent $50/yr for the chickens and rabbits and the hogs cost about $200 to fatten but i just sold 8 piglets for $50/each so it helps offset the cost of my sows and boar
>>2854590you spend 20 bucks a month on flour and sugar (lets forget the cheese it might just all be cheese).You said this yourself.Last time I bought my rice (yes I buy my bulk caloric value I am not shy to admit that) I paid 32 bucks for the usual 20 kg. The price for other cereal products, like flour, pasta etc. always sort of mirrors that. I did the math once and came to the conclusion it doesn't really matter what I buy as bulk nutrition.If I ate nothing else at all I'd need about 500 g of rice a day. That's 40 days of food in one of those bags, even when eating nothing else. Or 24 bucks a month. In other words: If my gardening provided only 1/6th of my mutrition I'd be laying the 20 bucks monthly that you quoted.Idk you're iher getting ripped off but idk where to get ripped of for pasta or you're putting all that money into cheese. I never calculated for sugar btw, I dont eat it.
>>2854611have fun eating rice, im going to eat this plate of food 100% produced by me
>>2854613I don't think you understand the post. Also yes, sometimes I eat some of the rice as a side and I like it.
>>2854604>spent $50/yr for the chickens and rabbitsI call bullshit.1 laying hen eats 1.5+ pounds of feed a week.Current feed prices are $15-$18 for a 50 pound bag.So you're looking at an easy 25 bucks per bird per year.
>>2854644chicken feed at my local store is $8/bag, my chicken free range year round.
>>2854647So you have 2 chickens and 2 rabbits ?
>>2854644This guy knows his overhead.>>2854647>$8 a bagProve it faggot. I call bullshit. I keep my egg production prices to a MINIMUM and range them too. Still costs me about a dime an egg. I want to be supportive and I want you to be self sufficient but you’re numbers don’t make logical sense.Shrug. What the fuck do I know.
>>2854655i have a local feed mill that makes their own feed.
>>2854655>>2854691and here is this pic just to prove to your coping faggot ass that i use that feed. have fun at tractor supply boy
>>2854691Mash is supposed to be a supplemental feed, not a staple.And I guarantee that shit is 80% soi byproduct.But we're still back to 2 chickens and 2 rabbits even at 8 bucks a bag.
>>2854693here is the label, its a complete feed. its ground corn and ddg mostly. just admit you arent as good of a homesteader as me and that you lost tranny
>>2854694>its ground cornCorn isnt listed anywhere.Its made with whatever random crop is being harvested at the time, like all cheap feeds.I guarantee in the summer it smells fruity because they use apple cores and in autumn its more "tangy" from the grape and berry skins/pulp after juicing.
>>2854063potatoes will grow in sand mixed with some bits of dried kelppotatoes will grow on mars one day.
>>2854705>potatoes will grow on marsnitrogen
>>2854027
why does every anon here hated the fact that op managed to self sustained enough and only need to buy his own pasta, sugar and cheese?also its valid to bought them instead of making them yourself because the overhead of it.for me i barter my rice with my neighbor(80km apart neighbor) honey farm for my sweets
>>2854559complete noob to canning and whatnot. how do i not fuck up and die from botulism when homebrewing aka prison wine or canning anything?
Why are glowies shilling half an acre? They used to give out 160 acre homesteads.
>>2855100Water bath canning is for acid foods. I don’t fuck around with pressure canning seen and heard too many horror stories (coworkers daughter got badly scarred by one blowing up, lid went through the ceiling boiling water everywhere). That shit goes in the deep freeze. Take your time and be precise. Leave appropriate head space and adjust times for altitude. I’m basically at sea level so it’s no big deal but I’ve had a couple of blow outs and that sucks balls. Not a YouTube canner but this book is decent.
>>2855120Your coworkers daughter is a fucking retard and youre a dumbass.Thats like the farmer shooting every coyote, fox and bobcat he sees because "he heard that his neighbor's cousin's uncle was attacked by one"I pressure can about 1,000 quarts a year.and have been doing so longer than you've been alive
>>2854983Because hes full of shit and people who do canning and raise chickens have done the math and his formula denies the laws of physics (?)
>>2855129Cool. >1000 quarts>longer than you’ve been aliveYou’re this lying retard aren’t you >>2854244?
>>2855156No.Im an old fart thats actually done all this shit.I have about 200 chickens right now (sometimes as many as 500 at a time in the spring as I hatch and take them to auction).Thats obviously not industrial, just a hobby.My family has always grown their own produce. My pressure cooker is probably 60 years old (or more).I have my grandmother's Ball and Atlas jar collection, some are a hundred years old.
>>2855157>as I hatch Do tell about your breeding process. I say you’re a larping faghot.
>>2855160Whats so difficult to believe?Hatching only takes 21 days.Although eggs can still be viable after 2 weeks of sitting at room temperature, I try to stay at 7 days (ill go to 10 days if I have a specific breeding group that iant laying much).I have multiple incubators. When one hatch is done I clean out the incubator and fill it up again.Ive had cabinet incubators before but getting a couple hundred chics at a time iant really a good thing. Pens get too busy and then I have to take them to auction all at once, which lowers bids, or spread them out which means I have to feed them longer. So now I use 42 egg incubators and sometimes smaller ones for birds I want to keep track of.I have a coupke sex linked and auto sexing breeds. Crested cream legbars are a barred breed and hatchings have a white dot on their head- males have larger dots so I can sell them as soon as they hatch.Salmon faverolles are all born white but the males start to develop black feathers at about 10 days so those can be filtered out also.
>>2855164>contIn early spring I can get $20-$30 for a dozen French Black Copper Maran eggs. That drops off rather quickly and by the start of summer ill get $6.In the past ive experimented with somw.of the "boutique" breeds like Ayam Cemani but they're just too sliding and a pita. Wyandottes are popular and bring me good money but because theyre so fluffy they actually have lower fertility- so the incubators space per dollar works out lower.My personal favorites (like Cochins) aren't popular in my area so I limit hatching of them.I dont do many heritage breeds like Rhode Island Reds.
>>2855165>*slidingSkittish.Stupid autocorrect.
>contInterestingly the Ayam Cemanis are new to the west, the major import for breeding was only in the 90s. Birds used to cost thousands but now chics are 5 bucks.Theyre so new that a breed standard has not been accepted by the APA (although one is being worked on). That actually makes buying "Ayam Cemanis" a little tricky. Another weird thing is that the Easter Eggers standard was accepted before Ameraucanas (which is the Easter Egger parent breed).
>>2854054Think he means half an acre on planet earth, not half an acre floating in space.
>>2855167>contAnother fun fact is that all brown eggs are "painted". The coloring can be scrubbed off. Edges of broken shells and the inside of the shell is white.Dark eggs (like Black Copper Marans) spend more time developing in the chicken (I call this "the paint shop"). The darker the egg, the longer it takes.So highly sought after hens that lay the darkest eggs lay less eggs than a medium color.Blue eggs actually have pigment within the structure of the shell. Broken edges and the inside of the shell are also blue.Crossing the dark layers and a blue layer give you various olives.The dark color of the Maran is associated with (believed) 14 genes. 2 of which are on the rooster's side of the genome (chicken genetics are different than humans).The blue egg is a single gene (believed to be a mutation from a virus originally).Crossing for an olive egger will give you 100% success with a BC/FBC Maran X Ameraucana.When you cross that F1 offspring- First generation hybrid) to an F0 (purebred) you can double up on the blue gene (To an Ameraucana) or try to add back some of the 14 genes to the other side (Maran).You start getting tan eggs, blue eggs green eggs, and deeper olives. But now you are getting duds (tan eggs) along with the darker greens instead of the 100% chance of lighter greens with the F1s.If a breed is "French" that simply means it has feathered legs and the standard variety is clean legged.This is only for breeds with the two types, all Favorelles and Cochins have feathered legs but are nit "French".
>>2855197>contAll chickens thay lay blue eggs are related to Araucana/Ameraucana. (These are considered the same breed in Australia).The Araucana has a fatal generator that kills embryos before the reach maturity.Its believed this gene is close on the genome to the trait that causes ear tuffs so they were selectively bred for chickens wothout eartuffs to eliminate that kill gene- so Ameraucanas have muffs (fluffy cheaks) and beards but no ear tuffs. Since the Ameraucanas are just selectively bred Araucana this is the reasoning behind Australia's stance that thwyre the same breed.Birds like Whtings True Blue and Crested Cream Legbars had their base stock crossed with Ameraucanas to add the blue egg gene and then were bred for additional traits their creators sought.Ameraucana lay a gloss finish egg while Crested Cream Legbars lay a matter finish.There's about 70 different shades that are acceptable for Ameraucanas- from a very pale blue to sky blue to a seafoam green.The CC Legbars are much more consistent because the parent Ameraucanas used to create them were sky blue layers.
>>2855198>Araucana has a fatal generatorFatal geneSorry I didn't correct autocorrect on that one>Legbars lay a matter finish.Matt finish
>>2855199>matteIm going to fly to New Delhi and beat my autocorrect programmer to death with his own flip-flop.
>>2855198Cream Legbar’s aren’t APA official asshole.>been a part of the cream legbar club for five yearsShow me a picture of your flock in spring after you’ve hatched out “a couple hundred chicks”. You mentioned breeding groups. How many different groups do you have and how do you keep your chickens separated? Fun fact the color chickens ear will tell you what color it’s eggs are. You talk some big talk but you’ve clearly never read the mating and breeding of poultry by Harry lamon. I roll with 44 birds right now on a clan system and what you’re describing is very hard to manage responsibly. Post one picture not some wall of text about egg shell colors and nigger chickens no one wants. They’re five bucks now because people figured out they are a novelty and are very turned off (understandable) by black flesh.My overflow/extra roosters. Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Australorp. I keep them together because I identify males early and isolate them and they develop a pecking order and usually don’t go nuts on each other. I’ll rotate them around in a chicken tractor and the rest are in five separate areas with a single rooster. 200 birds is a shitload to manage and props if you do! Show me a pic. >200 chickens>1000 quarts pressure canning a yearI don’t claim to eat “70 percent” of my own food but I’ve been around chickens and canning for 40 years and what you’re saying doesn’t make logical sense. >>2855146This. Your math doesn’t add up. You’re distracting by trying to throw in a bunch of shit that “sounds” smart but doesn’t ring true. Anyway merry Christmas your filthy animals I hope you’re all on the journey to self sufficiency.
>>2855216Im the asshole those are Rhode Island reds. THESE are my australorps.I stopped raising legbars because the eggs were always fucked up and they’re a genetic nightmare. The original “concept” bird meant to show that punnet squares work. Developed by one Reginald punnett of such fame as: biology. Every legbar I’ve had has been so fuckin inbred you get wonky thin eggs of a variety of blues. >>2855198You gave zero information about avoiding inbreeding which leads me to believe you are in fact inbred.
>>2855216Oh you want the boring shit.I have 19 pens.1 main.8 breeder 8 grow out / overflow breeder if I start a new group.2 isolation.All pens are atleast 6 foot high so I dont have to bend over when inside (im old, bad back)Main pen is about 20'x60' and has a 10"×10' roost house on a concrete slab with an additional 20'x60' area thats fenced but not covered where I plant various greens (rape, turnip etc)- I let them forage when its thick enough then close it off to recover.The breeder/grow out are built in a "block", 4 pens wide 2 deep.The breeder pens are 8'x10' or 8'x12 (i changed the design as I expanded).I run groups of 1 rooster and usually 6-8 hens each. I have water piped into each pen with automatic waters (theyre actually for livestock/horses/dogs- they use mini "toilet floats").Pic is ladder roost bar in main pen. Its on hinges to the ceiling so I can fold it up out of the way when I do my weekly cleaning.
>>2854027The stuff growing on the land absorbs energy from the sun in order to grow. Half an acre is roughly what you need to match your caloric intake, give or take things like dependent crops and livestock and any family who's helping you work the land.I'm not sure its totally self-sufficient though. Unless you're fortunate enough to have a stream or a river on your property, you'll rely on water infrastructure at the very least. Add in stuff like electricity, fuel, tools, farming supplies, etc and your "self-sufficiency" quickly becomes an aesthetic rather than a reality. Also your land, especially such a small plot, can fail, and at that point you'll need to rely on stuff other people have produced in order to survive at all.
>>2855228How long does it take you to water and feed and get eggs in the morning?I have six areas (all at least six foot high and caged on all sides because I’m not fucking with bending over either and coons can climb and will fuck your shit up. I got it down to about 21 min to feed and water all 44. I hope you’re legit. I run a clan system check out Harvey Usery he’s goat as the children say. I’m passed 40 now how bout you old man? We’re on a half acre lot in town but I have ~4 dozen birds at any one time. 5/6 of the yard is garden or birdcrops. I also have a plot about 1/4 of an acre of pumpkins, squash, apples, pears, peaches, and cherries I help my 84 year old uncle manage (and a couple tomatoes and peppers over there for him to eat on during the summer). House is paid off so we’re just trying to find the right place.4 acres and a dream is all you need.Best of luck boomerbirbbro. Post that incubator and brooder setup.
>>2855230I collect eggs in the evening.Takes about 5 minutes.Ill get some pics of my laying boxes later but theyre easily accessed from the outside of the breeding pens. Main pen has a wall of boxes that are still easy to access.Automatic waterers are the best move I ever made. I just need to flush them out every few days if they get muddy from chickens scratching around. In the summer its a quick scrub once a month or so when algae starts to grow.My feeders bixes last about 3 days. I can fill them to the top and they last about a week but if a sideways rain storm comes through I loose too much feed in them so not worth it.In the winter on nights that it freezes it takes me about 20 minutes to turn off the water and drain everything. Still worth it.Im well above 50 and on 25 acres on the edge of town.We have a fruit orchard as well as pecan trees across the property.
>>2855246>cont.These are the waterers I run.Ive had the plastic variety but its well worth the extra few bucks to get the stainless.I get a hose connector from home depot/lowes and ive never had one seal properly yet. I always wind up using pvc cement on them. If one fails I just cut it off and put on a new float/connector- replacements are cheap from Amazon.
>>2855251>contMy pens all have concrete footers poured around the edge.I run hardware cloth on the bottom two feet and chicken wire the top 4 feet. Originally I would run the hardware cloth into the trench and pour concrete around it but that's a pita and difficult to repair.Now I run a 2x4 along the bottom ontop of the concrete to attach wire to- it also acts as a guard for the weedwacker so it doesnt get tangled in the wire.My design has siamesed/mirrored roost boxes. Its one 4x8 sheet for the floor split between 2 pens. I designed it to minimize waste so a 4x8 sheet does 2 sides and a lid for the nest box. 2 cuts and done.I also use underneath the roost boxes as a shady area. My breeder block has a wire roof, my grow out block has a tin roof.
>>2855252>contThat ramp is for the Cochins, large breeds dont like to jump.I also have panel doors between pens.Sometimes ill have a starter flock in a pen and ill give them the double space as I filter out hens to get a breeding group (ill start with 20 F1/F2/F3 olive eggers and once I figure out who's laying a specific egg they get banded if theyre staying or into the main pen for auction if their egg color sucks).Some breeders label their birds like "C287" to keep track of who's who.I just name mine.So instead of "that hen is the offspring of C287 and J19" i can say "thats the daughter of Copernicus and Shady Lady"Ive found if you label a bird as C287 then when youre looking back at family trees its just some random rooster but if youre thinking about Copernicus its more likely.youll say "ya he was really pretty and had a good temperament".
>>2855254>>2855252>>2855251>>2855246Very nice. I hope you’re not just asking chat. I’m in a transition period right now and dealing with a fox situation. I love my chickens but turkeys are my passion. I had a breeding stock of heritage turkeys two years old that got destroyed by a pit bull on Easter. Really fucked my mentality up but I’ll get some more in a couple months and start fresh in spring.Once we move I plan to do 50-100 turkeys a year and offer the “farmer for a day” experience. Charge yuppies $500 a pop to do all the fuckin work and market it as a “slaughter your own thanksgiving turkey the way a man should. I provide the equipment and guidance and they slice the throat and do all the lifting. I got get back to the family but I’ll rant about bird breeds later. I wouldn’t mind a comprehensive list of what you raise. I’ve got Rhode Island reds, austalorps, buff Orpingtons, and barred Plymouth rocks. I also have a couple randos like a two California whites and a smoky pearl that lay off blue eggs.Godspeed birdbro you have put me in my place but I’m still not going to Boston marathon myself with a pressure cooker. Shits scary. I’ll freeze or dry what I can’t waterbath can. I think a commonality in this thread is how awesome our grandmothers were.
>>2855290Im 100% legit.I dont lie, not even on the internet (well, maybe fudge some numbers on /o/)I just had a dog break into two breeding pens and kill 14 chickens.Took out my BLR wyandottes.I've spent 8 years on that line. I neglected it because first grandchild and life got busy.Hatched some this year because they were getting old.This years stock were in that pen and last breeding rooster died of age a couple weeks ago.That line is gone.They were gorgeous breed standard show quality. In my area there are few "BLRs" with the deep mahogany gene.Other pen was olive eggers ive spent 5 years on.F1 rooster and F2/F3/F4 hens.I have more hens but no F1 roosters.My legbar hens have passed form age and I have 1 Ameraucana hen left that "might" lay a dozen eggs in spring (if she makes it through the winter). And thats even if my old ass Ameraucana rooster has the energy to hit that.So I have to start iver with that too.Im 99% sure we caught the dog. He was friendly as hell. Sucks. If he didn't kill chickens I would have kept him.Called animal control. He wont be euthanized, he'll get sent up north and be adopted (where they have neuter/spay laws and dogs arent everywhere).
>>2855294This poor guy fought off the dog but got tossed like a rag doll and died a couple days later. He did he job and served his purpose. That sucks about your dog encounter fuckers will rip two by fours apart to get at them birds. I grew up on a farm in Iowa but have only had my own birds for a few years now.I have one hen that’s at least 5 years old and still lays every third day. >name them instead of numbersBased. We even name the ones we are going to eat. This year’s turkey was named Laura.
>>2855304Ya I had one rooster that was still alive, he didn't make it to sunset.Buddy gave me pic related and I upgraded the main pen with it awhile back.Its really nice. I have regular latches on half the pens with strings to open from the inside. This one has an arm inside thats much more reliable.Theyre like 20 bucks at home depot but I found some on ebay for half the price and the seller even had 40% off for Christmas so I bought 16.Ive repaired the pens the dog broke into.I have a new flock thats been in the overflow block im going to move over. The rooster was really friendly as a chic and I didn't really have a breeding need for him but I wasn't going to take him to auction so someone could make stew out of him. We don't do mean roosters so having one you can pet and pick up usually gets to stick around.He was actually from one of the 2 breeding groups I lost, last rooster I have from them.Bad time of year to replace birds so im just going to run out the winter and come spring time ill revisit my breeding schedule. I doubt ill get back into wyandottes any time soon but ill have to get some new CC legbar hens to cross with my Marans to get a new F1 olive egger rooster.
>>2855335One of my Rhode Island reds is the tamest rooster I have ever had. I pick him up and he’s the best. We call him HeyHey. I got an australorp rooster im going to kill soon because I’m sick of getting pecked and spurred. I’m on the fence with rooster aggression. I want them to be chill with me but fight off predators or at least make a stand until I’m out there.I was thinking of getting back into bantys any experience? These are my first two birds got during lockdown off Craigslist, Tina and Louise. Two Bantam hens that were amazing. I won’t be doing any new birds until spring either but the last couple of years I’ll start mid feb getting ready.
>>2855336My only experience with bantams is birds ive gotten on accident or free and I didn't keep them very long.I had some bantam cochins that would walk between the legs of my large fowl cochins, it was hilarious.Just not my thing.From my experience bantam roosters are more vocal and I dont want to hear their squeaky calls all friggin day long.Eggs aren't quite fullsize but are larger than expected and supposedly they eat less. But theres "issues" in my family of perfect egg size with white to yolk ratio and bantams dont cut it.
Whats gonna stop me from buying these plots of Hawaiian land under volcanoes up in the mountains on the big island? I see some acre lots full of vegetation for cheap and I cant help but wonder what you could grow? There must be a reason, hawaiin cucked laws? Volcano insurance? Mapped some of the properties and there 30 min from the beach. Realistically whats gonna stop me from loading up a van with my stuff and parking it there while I build a dwelling? I know its technically illegal but do people even care or check on that?
>>2855389
>>2855389Are you talking about the volcano that erupted like a week ago?Do it. I mean, what could go wrong?
>>2855389>Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius!
>>2854063The hardware store wood is probably a huge net negative on this shitty potato tower.
>>2855516>60 bucks in lumber and 50 bucks in pottong soil for $12 in potatoes....
What does a Knee Gga do if they find themselves on podzol type soil but have hectares of it?What to grow and what to do to get things to be productive? Especially if the growing season is short?
>>2855999Do you have a shitload of broomsedge growing? (If in U.S.)
>>2855157>200 - 500 chickensJFC what do you do with all the eggs
>>2856222Most of those head to auction right before they start laying or as they start laying (i only keep olive eggers/easter eggers that long to see egg color)- thats the most valuable age for hens (pullets). Longer i keep them, less money i make. so it's not like im getting 200 eggs a day.But ya, theres a few times a year when I start getting 4 dozen+ eggs a day and it gets crazy. It gets to a point that I cant put beer in the shop beer fridge.My breeding groups are around 60-80 birds each year. Of course many of those eggs get incubated so they dont make it to the fridge and I always have a couple older groups that have slowed down on laying.I have a large family and a few friends that use up my inventory plus a couple regular customers that buy anything I have leftover so nothing ever goes to waste.Since its winter my breeding groups have basically stopped laying. But this years batch are just starting so I went from about 2 eggs a day last month to about 2 dozen a day now. If i dont get a batch for auction soon ill be at that 4 dozen a day.Ill be filtering new layers out to auction as I figure out who lays what color.Main pen holding group (had to crop the shit out of it to hit file size limit)Mostly hens for auction but a couple Cochin mix roosters I kept for experimenting. Im trying to make a "fluffier" Cochin.
>>2855999grow potatoes. potatoes like acidic soil, use tree leaves as a soil admendment. i break out all my new beds like this.dig 1ft deep trench that is 1ft wide. mix tree leaves with native soil at a 50/50 mix and plant the seed potatoes in the trench and cover with leaves and soil. the leaves decompose by the time the potatoes are done and really works to add organic matter to my clay soil. you will want to check ph before you try to grow anything else because it will probably be acidic. fix ph with wood ash of that is the case
>>2856273>use tree leaves as a soil admendmentI dont think he wants to mulch a few hectares.
>>2856318what do you suggest mr youtube homestead expert?
>>2856405That type of soil is difficult to revitalize without bringing in massive amounts of fertilizer and soil additives.The dust bowl happened because the soil was over farmed and depleted, it took years to recover.You have to start with cover crops like clover or bahiagrass and harrow it in over multiple growing seasons. The soil is severely damaged and any cash crops are just going to strip out any life thats left.Its actually beneficial to have chickens or goats running around and pooping all over but depending on how much area it really is this could once again become.expensive feeding a large enough flock to be beneficial.
>>2856417the one way plow and giant fields couplen with drought is what caused the dust bowl. nutrient deficiency had nothing to do with it. to prevent another dust bowl we started using a disc or sweep plow and made our fields smaller and with terraces.t.farmer
>>2856417>>2856455we also planted windbrakes
>>2854063>>2854027>>2854057When certain fruits and/or vegetables are grown beside each other, they could improve yield, guard against certain pests or diseases better, or could even result in a hindrance. Example: never grow cabbage next to strawberries. It's quite fascinating.
>>2856448old hens?seems like some of them need better field to graze on as well anon, have you tried crushed eggshell?
>>2856467Are you talking about the speckles?Its genetic.And actually frowned upon with Marans.I would never breed any FBC line with that trait.We pull those hens for olive eggers. We've spent years isolating it because a green egg with brown specks is cool and the yuppies totally overpay for that shit.Im talking about $75 for a pullet with a cool egg taped to the crate.Sorry I dont have more pics, this is just what's in the fridge.
>>2856471>>2856471yeah, i was talking about the speckles which is common for the old hens, never knew theres some hens that have them because of genetics, love them eggs anon, they looks really great there especially the middle one at the bottom, they looks really tough which is a sign of great eggs, i bet its really rich and taste fantastic.yeah its crazy how much they are willing to pay just because its "free chicken" when they are the one that cost the least to keep.love me my garden for my hens to graze on, my flocks help with pond snails as well which is a plus.
>>2856480The speckling is even unique to the hen.Like I know who lays that bottom middle egg and her next one will match it.Still trying to figure out who lays this egg.
>>2856517Where generally are you located old anon? I would like to auction birds but have no clue where to start I’d be willing to drive a ways. Midwest Hellinois here. I’m also the turkey guy.
>>2856524Im in the sticks and at the local auction ill average $25 a pullet.Depending on the time of year and what birds I have ill go to an auction outside of Atlanta and thats where the overpaying yuppies are. Its a 2+ hour drive but the payout is worth it with a full load of birds.
>>2856460>When certain fruits and/or vegetables are grown beside each other, they could improve yield, guard against certain pests or diseasesThere's a book called "Rose's Love Garlic" that covers that topic and has a ton of companion crops.
>>2856273Thank you for the tip. Really nothing ever grows here but pine, birch, berries, moss and random shit.Wood ash? That easy? They say lime n shit.>>2856318I never said I want to clearcut everything and become a potatoe farmer in an area where nobody farms - because it wont make you money. I just want to find out if this is just dead and can not be made to work without tons of materials not found locally, like lime and fertilizer, or if there is food I can grow and methods to improve a patch that is just big enough using local stuff.
>>2856577What's growing on it now?
>>2856558Not bad at all. I grew up down a dirt road to a sale barn in Iowa. I’ve been to livestock auctions but mainly sheep and cattle. And pigs. Don’t forget hogs. There just isn’t anything near me unless I’m going for state fair quality. Like I said house is paid off looking for more land so I can sell yuppies the “on the farm experience” and overcharge on turkeys for thanksgiving. Eggs are shitty business. Pun intended here’s today’s haul.
>>2856589Turkeys are hit or miss out here.Same with rabbits.Ducks go for insane prices when chinese new year comes around.Peacocks are always ridiculous prices (cheapest ive ever seen was $200 usually more like $400)Emu eggs go for about 50 bucks.Quail are 50 cents for hatchings (people buy them to stock fields for paid hunts when theyre in season)Red gold pheasants can be insane prices if the customers show up.Got a new layer today (khaki in the middle).I have about 2 dozen F3/F4 easter eggers that should start laying anytime. Got a cream pullet egg also today so that one needs to go to the auction ASAP.
If I wouldnt have seen these in person i would claim this is an AI pic.There's actually a feral flock in Florida.Ive thought about releasing a breeding group on my property but thats sone expensive coyote snacks.
