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Post by Fractus on Jan 24, 2016 12:33:28 GMT 10
Just got an email from prepper so journal. Again they point to chooks as a great back up. I have to say that there is so much more to self sufficiency with chooks and eggs. In an earlier thread I mentioned so of the logistics of meat chooks. How many you need etc. It must be front and centre of the thinking that commercial egg laying breeds do not go clucky and sit on eggs, in my experience ever ever ever. They lay fantastic for about a year and then they slow down to normal breed rates and die at about 2 year plus. Some will live longer but my point is without an incubator and electricity you will starve if that is your whole plan. My current situation is only slightly better. I have a utility breed (Wyandotte) that occasionally go clucky. Fingers crossed I will have some meat birds that also are reasonable layers (Sussex) plus now ducks (Pekin) that lay very well and are quite tasty and quick growing. This is all of little value if I cannot incubate the egg on demand. There are chooks that are almost always clucky and I will have to get that sorted to consider eggs and chicken as a sustainable food source. I suppose this reiterates the bleeding obvious.... Practise practise now while mistakes only cost time and a little embarrassment.
But if you put 4 chooks in your back yard you will at least have a supply of egg while you work out the rest
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Post by Fractus on Jan 17, 2016 18:46:20 GMT 10
I was reading some comments on the marine website and they said it only shows ships in ports as the trackers are land based. That being said that Baltic dry is bad news
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Post by Fractus on Jan 17, 2016 11:29:31 GMT 10
Only problem (possible hybrid advantage also) with getting those seeds back is cross pollination with another variety. So a tomato could be mixed with a not so good Bunnings type or with so italian's awesome fifth generation Roma. It is pot luck. I have seven different types this year. I will pick the best two performers for fruit amount and length. The I will get originals next year and have a go with them. I will also do some I hybrids and see if they are any good. Might discover my own "mortgage lifter" I read that the longer you are growing them in your environment the more suited they become. Particularly if you are not using to much artificial support like irrigation.
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Post by Fractus on Jan 8, 2016 5:00:27 GMT 10
My suggestion is to plan out on paper what and where you want your different projects. If you have an orchard is it in a good spot? Are the chickens and vege garden in positions that are convenient to the house. What is a good way to fence so you get maximum fox protection with out building lots of seperate yards, where should gates be. This will avoid double doing things. Learned from my own mistakes here on 12 acres
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Post by Fractus on Dec 27, 2015 11:45:52 GMT 10
Use a 12g and sprinkle it like salt. That gives a nice even spread of potting mix.
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Post by Fractus on Dec 26, 2015 21:01:46 GMT 10
I use the same as mr pete. It comes with a sheet for fruit leathers and a mesh for who knows what. No problems with it.
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Post by Fractus on Dec 24, 2015 10:29:19 GMT 10
It was a basic reminder and something about his presentation made me think about alternates for my own wat. I was happy with my setup until now. So a few small details to attend to so I have reliable back ups. For instance api have been using my siphon hoses for fuel movement. I am going to get more and label them with aluminium garden tags. Have a good festive season
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Post by Fractus on Nov 24, 2015 7:26:26 GMT 10
I am keen to try and review. Also more than happy to pay for samples. 24 hr weeks worth is great, whenever is fine.
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Post by Fractus on Nov 19, 2015 15:58:03 GMT 10
Automatic gate openers
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Post by Fractus on Nov 19, 2015 15:53:04 GMT 10
Not quite meat chickens but entirely edible. I am going to try selling them and gasman has persuaded me to try breeding meat chooks for sale. i will then have a seed flock to be self sustaining and get some more $$ in to support the flocks as I diversify a little as I learn
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Post by Fractus on Nov 9, 2015 12:01:48 GMT 10
I planted some Amish paste tomatoe seeds but then found some advanced seedlings from Bunnings. I grew one last year and was very impressed. They score well on Google. I plant the seedlings very deep and remove lower leaves so I can put them about 150 mm deep. They are an heirloom seed type. Will post a photo when they are up and producing. As I have planted several other typeset tomatoes I will not be able to use the seeds for next year if I want true to type plants. I will have to buy seeds again and separate the plants by a distance that will reduce cross pollination.
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Post by Fractus on Nov 2, 2015 13:34:36 GMT 10
Disability comes in many forms. I can't run without serious risk of falling. Dodgy hips. In a total shtf of the worse possible I would be stuffed as without Drs and meds etc it would be a short survial span. Even people with type one diabetes would be in serious bother very quickly. Although starvation may help type 2 ( not sure about that) We have friends with a child in a chair from cerebral palsy. This would present a big problem, and I know they do not prep at all. In fact they live day to day and would not have any food after a few days. Great discussion point
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Post by Fractus on Oct 21, 2015 16:11:08 GMT 10
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Post by Fractus on Oct 20, 2015 16:51:15 GMT 10
Got about 25 chicks out of batch. Now have 27 Pekin duck eggs in there incubater.
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Post by Fractus on Oct 4, 2015 21:07:09 GMT 10
Aldi have a long life potato product called Rosti. The Switzerland spelling is slightly different and is actually pronounced something like rhurshtee. it is not to bad for a packaged product. $2.99 for the pack and has a best before date of May 2017. Tried it by the instructions but was much better when done in a sandwich press At a reasonable price and price with a long storage date . I bought quite a few. It is only a Oktoberfest special so won't las long
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Post by Fractus on Sept 26, 2015 10:18:20 GMT 10
The current egg bird breeds need lots of food and free range does not give them what they need. If i let them run free for daylight hours my feed goes down by about half. So that is still 10 kg pw for 18 birds incl 2 roosters. Less productive birds can survive free range alone, but obviously you need more birds. So to survive without commericial feed I would have to make corn and sunflower part of the crops I grow. This extra food also keeps the chooks friendly if it is hand fed. To keep them safe I would have to greatly increase the protected area or get a maremma dog to guard and dog means food for it, so a bit counter productive as I would need to grow another 7 chooks pw per dog to feed them. So it looks like it will be a big protected area.
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Post by Fractus on Sept 25, 2015 17:50:17 GMT 10
The foundations of my food preparations were poultry. Have a seed pool of chooks and when required increase quantity very quick. Would be a good plan if I could breed up several hundred chooks in a few weeks. Eggs.. A chook does not lay until approx 25 weeks and I reckon 12 eggs per week per person. So I would need 2 chooks minimum PP. Say 6 ppl build in a buffer for life's vicissitudes and replacement hens 20 chooks req. so now I can feed 4 ppl but I won't be able to feed more for 25 weeks minimum. Meat birds.. Say eat one bird pp pw eating 20 week old birds. ( not even sure that is an idea age) To produce this without an incubator will require a continuous cycle minimum of 20 hens brooding in rotation. This giving them a rest time and not removing until natural separation occurs. So to breed the hen 25 weeks and then another twenty weeks to eating time. That is if they all cooperate and go broody in an ordered sequence. Also this is a big chook house that can have so many brood nests. I am not even partially ready to step up to this, so some building and growing is required. I have 30 currently growing eggs and will be trying the first vent sexing on them when they hatch next Sunday.
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Post by Fractus on Sept 25, 2015 17:26:22 GMT 10
I did get ten day olds and managed to grow out five. Next time I rekon I could get 9 out of 10. I bought 10 for $35 and sold 5 left for $90 on gumtree. Food cost about $30 so I made a massive $15. This made me do some calculations about quantity req in a serious event. I will post it soon ,as it shows how flawed my earlier plan was.
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Post by Fractus on Sept 22, 2015 4:56:16 GMT 10
Sounds good but I don't like the taste of soilent green
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Post by Fractus on Sept 10, 2015 18:15:17 GMT 10
Just received my 3 x Steyr pouches from frostbite in the mail today. Extremely happy. I honestly can't believe the quality of these pouches, they're not cheapy thin and they look very durable. Will make a nice addition to my vests/backpack. Can only echo that. Thanks for what can only be described great work.
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