what do to first: garden or livestock?

[Radio Relay]

Originally Posted by Dieselkanic

I see it the other way. Animals can take care of themselves. Chickens can be butchered the day you need them, thus no storage. You need protein, chickens (and eggs) would provide that. Most garden plants do not.

You'll need both of course, but to say the garden is less work is not true IMHO. Gardening is back-breaking work which can be heart-breaking if the rains don't come and/or pests destroy it. Garden produce is not year-round (except maybe certain extremely southern areas of the US) so you have to store the produce in some fashion, be it canning, drying, or root cellar. Preparing the ground, weeding, and harvesting; in abscence of power tools, pesticides, running water, and fertilizers is hard, hard, back breaking work. It is hard enough WITH power tools, pesticides, running water, and fertilizers let alone SHTF when none of those may be available.

plants don't sh1t ....

[tcox4freedom]

Chickens, goats, rabbits, etc all need protection from predators.

We use box gardens because you get a better yield per square ft that with a traditional garden. Box gardens are a lot easier to care for because there isn't a big need to weed & cultivate like a traditional garden.

A good garden will also help provide feed for the animals. Another big plus is growing "medicinal" herbs that can also be used in cooking. (Nobody in my family has been sick in YEARS!)

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[Mr. Anthony]

The other thing no one had mentioned is that you need to consider your reasons for wanting plants/animals. If it's planning for a big "end of days" event, I'd go gardening first. I always figure I can go find an animal to kill and eat where I live. Starting a garden after everything goes haywire would be very difficult. If you're just wanting to stop relying on grocery stores so much, then pick whichever one you feel like.

[Frontier Owner]

start the garden, the rabbits will show up on their own...

[thewarriorhunter]

Originally Posted by Frontier Owner

start the garden, the rabbits will show up on their own...

not unless they can wiggle through the chicken wire i've placed over the holes in the fence that are there for drainage. although that would be great. i'm curious to see how much of a problem pests are once i start the garden. if they are big enough i'll probably invest in a good air rifle to drop the birds and small animals and name them stew.

[tcox4freedom]

Originally Posted by thewarriorhunter

not unless they can wiggle through the chicken wire i've placed over the holes in the fence that are there for drainage. although that would be great. i'm curious to see how much of a problem pests are once i start the garden. if they are big enough i'll probably invest in a good air rifle to drop the birds and small animals and name them stew.

I have our garden area fenced in as well. (no breeches of the rabbit fence yet). But, we still have a ton of wild rabbits around here because of all the grass & other rabbit forage on our property.

Any given day we're also likely to have a herd of deer or a flock of turkey pass through our yard; within feet of where I sit in the living room. (So far, the deer have stayed out of the garden as well.)

This thread has given me an idea though. I'm wondering if I can use our chicken coop & pen for rabbits as well. I was thinking the rabbits can use the floor of the coup; while the chickens use the nest boxes & perches.

My coop has 3/4" marine plywood as a floor; and the pen has chicken & rabbit wire buried around the perimeter to prevent any animals from digging their way in. (I'm thinking it would work in reverse and keep the rabbits inside?)

Does anybody have experience with this?

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[Frontier Owner]

Originally Posted by thewarriorhunter

not unless they can wiggle through the chicken wire i've placed over the holes in the fence that are there for drainage. although that would be great. i'm curious to see how much of a problem pests are once i start the garden. if they are big enough i'll probably invest in a good air rifle to drop the birds and small animals and name them stew.

how deep is your fence? remember, rabbits are burrowing critters.

You also have squirrel that will show up to the party.

[tcox4freedom]

Originally Posted by Frontier Owner

how deep is your fence? remember, rabbits are burrowing critters.

You also have squirrel that will show up to the party.

I've found the squirrels to be the most difficult pest to control; (besides insects & grub worms). IMHO; a shotgun works best for this. But, you can't kill them all.

The one good thing I have going for me is all the hardwoods & the abundance of wild food sources. This seems to keep them out of the garden. (We mainly use plants & herbs to help deter most "bug" problems.)

The other thing you need to do with squirrels is fill in or cover all the possible entries to your house. Squirrels can destroy any wiring they can get too. (I had a squirrel fry itself gnawing on the main power source to the house last year.)

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[Frontier Owner]

Originally Posted by tcox4freedom

I've found the squirrels to be the most difficult pest to control; (besides insects & grub worms). IMHO; a shotgun works best for this. But, you can't kill them all.

The one good thing I have going for me is all the hardwoods & the abundance of wild food sources. This seems to keep them out of the garden. (We mainly use plants & herbs to help deter most "bug" problems.)

The other thing you need to do with squirrels is fill in or cover all the possible entries to your house. Squirrels can destroy any wiring they can get too. (I had a squirrel fry itself gnawing on the main power source to the house last year.)

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I live in a neighborhood that has a bunch of old people in it and they all think the squirrels and rabbits are sooo cute. It it wasn't for them keeping cats too, we would probably be overrun by now.

on the wiring, your lucky the squirrel didn't light off your insulation. but I bet he smelled good...

[thewarriorhunter]

i'm pretty sure if i used a shotgun i'd have the cops knocking on my door. i live in suburbia so i don't think i'll need to worry about burrow critters. i have rock landscaping in the front plus a brick wall with foundation that is at least a foot deep (i had to run irrigation under it, i know!)

but for larger pest control, if it does become an issue i think i'll invest in a good pellet rifle.