Whats really important?

[Redcap]

Male buffs on dark cornish hens do the trick?

I've bred them both ways and the resulting crossbreed seems to come out the same either way. Buff hens are better for brooding as the Dark Cornish aren't a real 'fluffy' chicken, but it is really your call.

 

[Sasquatchvnv]

I've bred them both ways and the resulting crossbreed seems to come out the same either way. Buff hens are better for brooding as the Dark Cornish aren't a real 'fluffy' chicken, but it is really your call.

I'll be using the incubator, so brooding won't be an issue. I just checked McMurray hatchery and they are out of the dark cornish except for the hens. I'm thinking I'll get them raised up and settled in so I should have the cross chicks ready to go for next spring.

 

[MikeE]

If you are going to do a setup you want to make it so it will work when there is no power or battires required. I like all gravity feed setups with the barrel on a raised platform set with drip systems and collecting rain water. Pigs are a problem to me they take a lot of food and when the stores close down you need aa large stockpile of food or lot of property for them to root for food or they will destroy your property. I would go with chickens and rabbits or some wild game like quial,grouse,pheasent or turkeys lot easier and cheapier to take care of. If your looking to raise large animals a few cows go a long way and they can just graze in the pasture other then hay in the winter but it depends on how much property you have. you can all so buy sealed buckets with tons of seeds to start garden if somthing happens its a good thing to have on hand for down the road.

Low tech irrigation is a good discussion to have. We live in the city now, but for years I watered my gardens by pumping (Honda gas powered pump) into 2 500 gal storage tanks and gravity feeding a hose from there. One tank was about 8' up an embankment, the other was on a 4' tall concrete block platform. Unfortunately, neither provided enough 'head' to operate modern drip equipment, so I basically watered with a hand held hose. Each foot of elevation produces 1/2lb per sq inch pressure, so you need alot of head or drop to get to around 12 psi (good enough for drip but not great).

Storage size is another issue. You can burn through a 50 gal rain barrel in one watering of a big garden. I would run through at least 6 500 gal tanks per season .

There are some good low tech ways to water. You can take a 1-2 gal clay plant pot, plug the drain hole with silicone, bury it near a plant and fill it with water. That water will drain very slowly through the clay and deep water the plant. Low tech drip.
Mulching plants with 1" of 1/4-10 gravel radically reduces the amount you need to water. It also allows the water you pour on the surface to go right into the soil instead of running off.

Some people advocate using shallow swales to capture winter rainwater, which is supposed to be held in lenses of moisture below the soil surface. This is a way to capture rainwater in the winter, and use the moisture in the summer for plants. I did one experiment with this, and it did seem to reduce the garden's irrigation needs. More study in this would be good.
Any other low tech ideas?

 

[Who is John Malt?]

To bad I don't have access to a Dark Cornish rooster, I have a broody Buff right now.

Sasquatch, what problems did you have with the Cornish X?

 

[Who is John Malt?]

Pigs are a problem to me they take a lot of food and when the stores close down you need aa large stockpile of food or lot of property for them to root for food or they will destroy your property. I would go with chickens and rabbits or some wild game like quial,grouse,pheasent or turkeys lot easier and cheapier to take care of. If your looking to raise large animals a few cows go a long way and they can just graze in the pasture other then hay in the winter but it depends on how much property you have.

To raise pigs quick (~6 months), you need to have a lot of food on hand, yes. However, the pig is probably the best converter of protein. Until SHTF, I'll continue to raise them on grain and augment with garden waste. We raise them to sell (usually around 20 per season) so fast turnaround is important to the ROI as is ease of operation. We're buying feed in multiple pallets so cost is minimal.

To raise pigs in a post SHTF situation, they're perfect. In a family setting, they can be fed all kitchen waste along with garden waste. At harvest, you can use everything but the oink! Pork lends itself well to non-refrigeration storage with curing and smoking.

Cows are great if you have a lot of land. Irish Dexter's are nice as the yield [%] is a bit better than full-sized cows and they are lighter on the land which is important in the PNW with our wet springs. As Dcgameslayer points out, you have to hay them in the winter so having about an acre of grass per animal during the year plus more to raise hay is problematic for most. Then you have the issue of cutting, drying, bailing, and storing the hay. Without fuel, you need horses or ox and now you are talking even more pasture to feed the living "tractors".

 

[Scott]

How big is your property? Do you have a well? You will want livestock a fair piece away from the house and water supply. Geese are ornery, but they do make great “watch dogs”. I already have dogs so I’d rather have chickens. Pigs, chickens and rabbits are a great combo IMO. They require minimal space (unlike beef), can be fed scraps and from your garden, which they in turn provide great fertilizer and in my experience are less hassle than many other critters. They do, however, need shelter, do you have a barn or enough land to build one? Regarding your garden, be sure you get heritage seeds (look them up if you don’t know what they are).

As far as what is really important… (Assuming bugging in rather than out)

#1 Water, you can only store so much:
YouTube - ‪How to make drinking water. LONGTERM.‬‏

Medical:
Does anyone in your family require regular medication? Stock up and rotate.
Trauma kits addressing the immediate emergency ABCs
Diarrhea and respiratory infection control, mucinex, Imodium, etc
Antibiotics
Emergency rehydration, Vitalyte

Comms:
Ham radio (home base and portable units)

Wood burning Stove and saw.

The part about saving up on medicine is almost impossible. Insulin dependent people need to keep theirs cool, plus you can't just go buy 30 vials as you will need a car loan to do it. Almost all medicine that is prescription will make you go broke. Just Nexium is almost a dollar a pill and insurance will cover 30 or 90 day supplies so you can't stock up on that.

If SHTF which I highly doubt it will that will kill a lot of the population. Medicine is so damn expensive it's crazy but many need it to live.

 

[mjbskwim]

Small pen for the pigs or they don't grow as fast,chickens and geese take care of themselves,with some food.And I don't do gardens cause I have brown thumbs.

I think a freezer and power for it a next.Unless you want jerky for dinner all the time.A guy up here said Gramma would can most of the meat because there wasn't power for a freezer.
Animals only last so long,then they need to be butchered and stored (obviously)I have a nice generator,but without fuel it's a nice seat or table.

 

[sig40shooter]

Canning is a very good route. Also keep raising your food and keep eating stock. Just rotate the old out and the new in. With any luck that would get you through any SHTF situations. Other than that, at least you know what you are eating and aren't buying it at the store.

 

[Sasquatchvnv]

To bad I don't have access to a Dark Cornish rooster, I have a broody Buff right now.

Sasquatch, what problems did you have with the Cornish X?

They are bred to grow so fast that their digestive tract doesn't keep up. The manure is barely digested feed, the stench is awful. They are the laziest animal I have ever seen, so much so that they can develop sores or callous on their breast skin. Just nasty.

While you're talking about food preservation - I have recently decided that dehydration and vacuum packing is wonderful. Done properly, you end up with 30 year shelf life or so. Those #10 cans of tomatoes you bought 3 years ago and you're worried about going bad? Dehydrate em and bag em - bingo - another 30 years. Takes up much less space and weighs less too.

 

[Who is John Malt?]

We had a learning curve with the Cornish X as well. You have to control feed (remove it in the evening and replacing it in the morning), put the watering containers in the opposite side of the pen, raise them on pasture (moved every 24hrs), and raise the feeder to force them to stand up when eating.

I'd be happy with a 10 week bird if they aren't stringy and can get to a comparable weight over the longer duration. Otherwise, a 12 week bird that finishes at only 5 pounds is unacceptable.

How long are you drying your tomatoes and what temp? I'm all over that.

 

[Gunner3456]

Low tech irrigation is a good discussion to have. -snip-
Any other low tech ideas?

Anyone who lives along or plans to bug out along a running stream should know about hydraulic ram pumps, and should get one. They require no power to lift water; they use the power from the running water.

LINK

Google alternatives

 

[Gunner3456]

Water Ram

YouTube - ‪Hydraulic ram pump for lifting drinking water‬‏