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“Chickens, Rabbits, and Goats, Oh My!”
I have already explained how to store up a year’s worth of food on multiple budgets. You will notice the one thing lacking on the sample long-term food spreadsheet I included is meat. Yes, you can buy freeze-dried meat, but it is very expensive at $3 to $4 per “realistic” serving size, unless you buy imitation meat like TVP (textured vegetable protein) which defeats the purpose and to be honest, freaks me out a little. My recommendation is to raise and process your own meat for long term survival. “But I live in the city and it’s not feasible or legal for me to raise a cow in my backyard...,” you say. That’s okay. I’ll explain how to get around this. But first, let’s discuss the absolute, hands down, no debate, BEST animal for prepping...rabbits! “Rabbits, you say?” Yes....rabbits!
Rabbits
Rabbits are an extraordinary animal and the perfect solution for long term sustenance. Everyone has heard the term “breed like rabbits,” and there is a reason why the term is so well known. The gestation period for a rabbit is only 31 days! When breeding them on a schedule, the average female rabbit will have around 64 kits (babies) every year equaling 320 pounds of meat! A single female rabbit for each member of your family or retreat community will provide you with all the meat you will need for the entire year. This reduces the amount of time you will need to spend hunting, which will become a seemingly dauntless task a month after the SHTF when most wild animals have been killed off to the edge of extinction. This will also keep you safer as there will be considerable risk involved every time you leave your retreat to hunt.
The other great thing about rabbits is that you don’t need to keep and feed twenty rabbits before the SHTF for your 20-person retreat. Because their gestation period is so short, you can just keep four does (female) and a buck (male), and let them breed the day after the SHTF and within a month you’ll probably have around 16 baby does (and 16 bucks for immediate butchering), which brings your doe breeding stock up to 20 (including the original four does). Just be sure to breed your four does at least once or twice prior to the SHTF to make sure they are fertile and good mothers. You also want to prevent letting the does get too overweight as this can hinder their ability to produce healthy litters.
Rabbit meat is one of the healthiest meats you can eat. It is an excellent source of protein, it has less cholesterol and fat than chicken, beef, lamb or pork, and it has an almost ideal fatty acid ratio of 4:1 omega-6 to beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. A single pound of rabbit meat has 617 calories, 91 grams of protein, and only 25 grams of fat. A single female rabbit producing 64 kits and 340 pounds of meat each year will add 788,400 yearly calories for each member of your retreat. That could be between 30-60% of daily calories needed depending on the size of individual! Rabbits are also relatively easy to care for and require only a fraction of the feed as raising cows. A pound of rabbit meat can be produced from a pound and a half of feed compared to beef which requires six pounds of feed per pound of meat produced. Rabbits are also perfectly compatible with your retreat’s OPSEC (Operational Security). Compared to most other farm animals, rabbits are a very quiet animal, helping you keep a low profile and preventing unwanted guests wandering in from the sound of normal livestock.
While I highly recommend you already have a large supply of canned meats ready for the SHTF, rabbits eliminate the need for re-using those canning jars for meat in the future, making them available for vegetables. What I mean by this is that once you have your rabbit operation up and running, you will be producing a steady supply of rabbit meat year round and will be butchering and processing the rabbits AS YOU EAT THEM. On the opposite side of the equation are large animals like cows or pigs, where there are long periods between butchering and you will need to can or preserve a large quantity of meat from a single animal to make it last till you get around to eating it all. Raising rabbit meat prevents you from needing tons of extra canning jars or going through the time-consuming process of preserving or cold-smoking your meats from the larger animals. As a bonus, rabbit manure makes some of the best fertilizer and it isn’t “hot,” meaning you don’t need to compost it. You can literally add it directly to your garden vegetables, unlike manure from most other livestock. Compared to other livestock, rabbits can be raised in a much smaller footprint than the acres needed for larger animals. While I don’t recommend keeping your rabbits in small cages, it is possible to do so if you are limited in the amount of fencing you have on hand or can afford to store up. If you are forced to keep your rabbits in smaller cages, just be sure you have a good “rabbit run” so you can let them out each day to stretch their legs while you feed and water them.
A minor drawback to raising rabbits is that most breeds don’t do very well in extremely hot environments like the southern states. Heat stress can cause bucks (male rabbits) to go sterile for months at a time and at worst it can cause a rabbit to have heat stroke and die. If you are going to raise rabbits in these areas, you must find a way to keep them cool during the day in the summer. On YouTube, one homesteader attached an energy efficient cooling fan from an old computer to each hutch and ran them off a single battery powered by a small solar panel. If you do live in these areas, be sure to research the best breeds for hot weather; a simple Google search will provide many web resources. On the flipside, rabbits do quite well when it’s cold outside. As long as you are providing them a dry space out of the wind and plenty of food and straw for their nesting box, they will weather the winter months relatively easily. Although I recommend you buy multiple books on raising rabbits and get hands-on experience from someone locally, the best resource for raising rabbits in a SHTF environment I have found is Nick Klein at HostileHare.com. He is amazing to work with and I highly recommend him for general information as well as purchasing cages and small fodder systems for feeding them.
As I mentioned earlier, rabbits eat significantly less feed than other livestock. The most common method of feeding rabbits is with rabbit pellets and hay. The only drawback to this is there won’t be any place to buy your rabbit pellets after the SHTF. From my research, most rabbit pellets start to lose their nutritional value and turn color after about six months of storage. While you may be able to store pellets in mylar bags inside 5 gallon buckets, there isn’t a lot of information readily available on how to do this online or if it is even effective in keeping your pellets from going bad in long-term storage. The best and easiest way to feed your rabbits is by using a grain fodder system. Fodder is also a more natural way to feed your animals and closer to their natural diet than feeding them straight pellets and grain.
Grain Fodder Systems
A grain fodder system is simple to operate and mostly fool proof. All you are doing is taking a fast germinating grain like barley or wheat and growing it in rotating trays inside of a hydroponic environment until it is three to four inches tall. Hydroponic growing is 50% faster than traditional farming and removes the need for soil, eliminating soil-borne diseases and pests, weeds, and the use of herbicides and pesticides. Mineral and vitamin levels in hydroponically-sprouted grain are also a lot higher than those in dry grain and they are absorbed more efficiently in the animal due to the lack of enzyme inhibitors in sprouted grain. Grain sprouts provide a good supply of vitamins A, E, C and B complex. The vitamin content of some seeds can increase by as much as 20 times their original value within several days of sprouting. Barley, which is one of the easiest grains to grow hydroponically, has a protein percentage of 12.7 percent and a crude fiber percentage of 5.4 percent over a dry seed. Amazingly, these percentages jump to a crude protein percentage of 15.5 percent and a crude fiber percentage of 14.1 percent after an average of seven days of sprouting. By sprouting, the digestibility of the grain also increases from 40 percent to 80 percent so livestock will not need to consume as much fodder compared to commercial feed because they are obtaining more nutrition from a smaller volume of feed.
Since fodder systems are a relatively new way to feed livestock, most of the big named companies building fodder systems today are producing very large and very expensive systems meant to feed entire herds of livestock. For smaller in-home systems, check out HostileHare.com and Half-PintHomestead.com. One of the best features of a fodder system is they aren’t very time consuming and only require about ten minutes of work each morning. The only down-side is that you’ll need to keep a constant temperature between 60 and 70 degrees for maximum growth and minimal mold issues. While keeping the fodder system in these temperature ranges isn’t hard pre-SHTF in most air-conditioned homes, after the SHTF you may need to keep them in a cooler basement (make sure it has a window, even a small one) in the summer and keep it upstairs closer to your heat source in the winter. Luckily, sprouting seeds takes very little light and a single small window in a laundry room or basement will do the trick.
Unlike store bought rabbit food, unprocessed grain like wheat and barley stores very well. You can buy and store a year or two of grain very easily for your fodder system in airtight 55 gallon drums. Besides fodder, rabbits are also going to need some roughage (hay) to eat as well. However, when feeding them fodder as their main course, you don’t need to buy high quality hay as it is mainly for their digestive health at that point. I would highly recommend that you grow a small field of Timothy or Orchard Grass at your retreat location and maintain it. It doesn’t have to be very big, but be sure it’s enough to feed your rabbits year round if you run out of grain for your fodder system or your grain storage spoils. This is another benefit of rabbits: unlike other livestock that require enormous amounts of fresh hay and specialty commercial grain feed, rabbits don’t eat nearly as much, allowing you to literally use a scythe to harvest your orchard grass fields for the winter as opposed to using noisy tractors that require precious fuel to operate and will likely attract looters from a long distance away.
What if you don’t currently live rurally on a homestead or at your bug-out retreat location? This brings me to our original question at the beginning of the chapter, “But I live in the city and it’s not feasible or legal for me to raise livestock in my backyard....” That’s most likely not true today. Over the last decade, a lot of people have jumped on the “live green” movement and even big city hipsters are getting into raising some of their own food in their tiny backyards. Because of this, most cities have incorporated bylaws to allow a certain amount of small livestock like chickens and rabbits. Even if your town doesn’t, I would personally consider a little civil disobedience in this situation (that’s just me; I would never officially advocate that you actually break the law). Rabbits are a very quiet animal to raise and your neighbors and local government would probably never even know you had them. When the SHTF and you need to bug out, you can throw all your does into one portable cage to make the journey (remember to put your buck in a separate cage to keep him from fighting or breeding with the does). If I was forced to bug out by foot with a shopping cart, I would definitely make sure that I had my rabbits even at the expense of leaving some of my pantry food behind. Extra canned food won’t feed you as long as your rabbits, which are your most important long-term protein provider.
There are a lot of companies online that you can purchase rabbit cages or hutches from, or you can make them yourself if you are on a budget. Rabbits can be kept in pretty small spaces, but it’s not very humane if you can afford to give them some extra space to move about. I recommend each cage be a minimum 30” wide by 24” deep and 18” high. This gives you just enough space to have a nest box and allow your kits (babies) to stay with momma the first few weeks while they are nursing. You can go wider with the cages, but I wouldn’t recommend going deeper as it will make it harder for you to reach your rabbit in the back of the cage. For limited space, you should consider buying stackable cages, typically three high from websites like KWCages.com, Klubertanz.com, and Bassequipment.com. You can definitely build the cages yourself and save a few bucks, but there will be a considerable amount of time and effort involved.
A couple things are imperative to consider when shopping for or building your own rabbit cages. Be sure they have removable trays under each cage for ease of cleaning and to prevent urine and feces from falling onto the rabbits below (when stacking cages). Also, be sure they have “urine guards” on every cage to prevent urine overspray from getting on the rabbits below and to keep small baby rabbits from falling through the wire on the side walls. Pay a couple extra bucks and be sure your cage floor is made from ½”x ½” galvanized wire as opposed to ½”x1” wire as it will be a lot better for your rabbits’ long-term paw health. Be sure that the rabbits don’t have any access to wood framing as they will chew through it over time, and make sure you have extra water bottles in storage as they tend to leak over time. I would also recommend that you buy permanent nesting boxes for each cage or you can build your own out of 1x lumber.
There are a lot of other things to consider and many different ways to house your rabbits depending on your climate. Even if you are on a tight budget, I would still recommend you find a way to make rabbits work for you. If that means buying the extra cage material and storing it at your bug-out location with the rest of your food, then make it a priority. You could probably do so for a couple hundred dollars. Just be sure that you know how to build the cages when the time comes and you aren’t short any material or building tools. This is the worst-case scenario and I strongly recommend you have at least the same amount of rabbit cages as you have people pre-built at your bug-out location, with some extra cage materials ready to go if you need to build more.
When you do build your cages, be sure to build them within sight of your watch tower or your main security post (that should be manned 24-7). This goes with your chicken coop as well and any other livestock you may consider raising. Predators, including the two-legged variety, can quickly wipe out your entire flock of hens or rabbits. Building the proper fencing structures to keep out all the different types of predators from the high-jumping, deep-digging, and flying varieties of predators can be very expensive, especially if you plan to free-range your livestock and let them forage over a large area. It is vital that you take the basic security procedures for your coop and pens and then make sure they are in full view and within earshot of your watch location so any attacks on your animals can be quickly thwarted.
Chickens
If your city allows it, I would do the same thing with chickens as you do rabbits and keep a handful in your backyard. An average chicken lays around 225 eggs a year, depending on the breed of chicken. At 70 calories per egg, you are adding around 16,000 calories to your family’s diet per hen. Unfortunately, chickens (especially roosters) are more likely to cause some problems with your close neighbors who may not want to rise at daybreak every day. While keeping rabbits at your home location is imperative, in my opinion, you may want to consider getting your chickens from a farmer close to your bug-out location if you can’t keep them in town. If you go this route, drive around the back roads near your retreat location to find a nearby farmer or homesteader that has chickens and make it a priority to barter for some as soon as you arrive at your retreat post-SHTF. The longer you wait to approach the farmer after the SHTF, the less likely he is going to be to part with any of his birds. In fact, consider introducing yourself pre-SHTF and tell him you live in the area and are looking to possibly raise chickens in the future and ask for any advice. Most country folk are good natured and would be happy to show you around their operation and share with you some pointers. During this conversation, it’s important to find out if he keeps chickens year round or if he just buys some chicks each spring and sends them to butcher each fall. You wouldn’t want to show up in the winter to find the person with a reduced flock as he’ll probably be less likely to part with any of them. Also, find out if he keeps broody hens (we’ll discuss this later) or if he culls them and only keeps the most proficient egg layers. You are going to want at least a couple broody hens (which are looked down upon by most farmers who strictly want eggs). You won’t be able to get chicks mailed to you each spring after the SHTF and running a heat lamp to keep the chicks warm in your off-grid cabin could be a problem.
Chickens are an incredible resource for a homestead and retreat; being able to have fresh eggs each morning is something you need to seriously consider. Over the last eighty years, the way chickens are raised has dramatically changed. Before electricity, chickens were mostly free roamers on the average farm and fended for themselves. Today, farmers want as many eggs as possible out of their birds and therefore most chickens are raised on specific diets of various grains. While this may work great for an egg farmer, you are going to want your chickens to be as self-sufficient as possible. There are numerous breeds out there and some forage better than others, but some may not handle your particular cold/hot climate as well as another breed. You need to find local homesteaders in your area and find out which chickens do best in your area.
There are also different things to consider when raising chickens for a SHTF scenario as opposed to normal times when you are able to supply and feed your chickens solely from the local feed store. You should strive to have as free range of birds as possible while still enticing them back to your coop each night. If you don’t provide your birds ANY food, they are likely to start roosting out in the trees and laying their eggs in the bushes. If they are completely free range, what do they need you for? Over time, you’ll start to lose more and more hens to predators and your dreams of picking eggs out of nest boxes each morning will be gone. At the same time, keeping your birds cooped up (no pun intended) all the time requires you to be their sole source of food each day and you may not be able to afford storing a year’s worth of chicken feed when you’re trying to put away a years’ worth of food for yourself and your family members.
There are as many ways to raise chickens as there are ways to raise your own kids. Here is my advice: For the average family, keep at least ten birds ready to go for when the SHTF, including at least one rooster. Research which chicken breeds are good egg layers that will also forage well in your geographical area and make them the majority of your flock. Always keep at least two birds that are broody at all times even if they are a different breed than your other hens. The broody hens will usually be more than happy to raise another breed of chicks as their own. It is important that you allow a broody hen to raise the baby chicks as opposed to raising them indoors in a box. Chicks that are raised indoors on chick feed won’t be nearly as proficient at foraging as chicks raised by a broody hen that will help teach them to forage as they grow. I would also recommend having an enclosed chicken run off your coop for periods of harsh weather. The chicken run is vital to keep your chickens protected when you have a predator move into the area as it may take you a day or two to dispatch of it. Each morning let your chickens out of the coop to free range around your property (you will likely need to build a fence around your garden) so they get the majority of their sustenance on their own. In the evening, just before dusk, it is imperative that you entice your birds back to the coop, and that is typically done with a tasty treat. This can be done with daily table scraps and garden leftovers if you run out of chicken scratch. If you do this every night, your birds will get in the habit of coming back to the chicken run each evening and roosting where they belong, back in the protection of the coop.
As far as feed goes, you should strive for your birds to be as self-sufficient as possible. In the evenings a small amount of scratch and some grain fodder can help give them some extra nutrients to lay more eggs. In the winter months, during the days when there is snow on the ground, you will need to significantly increase the amount of feed and fodder you give them. Once again, having a fodder system for your rabbits and chickens is an extremely effective way to feed them off grid. You do, however, need to be sure your chickens are getting the proper amount of protein and calcium to maintain their ability to produce eggs regularly.
Other Animals
There are other farm animals that homesteaders and preppers like to raise. Goats and pigs are very common, as are certain breeds of cattle. I am not against any animal you wish to raise, just be aware that larger animals require a lot more food to maintain and if you can’t run to the local feed store or realistically store a year’s worth of grains for them, you may want to consider something smaller and more self-sufficient. Goats are a very hardy and self-sufficient animal that can forage for most of their diet if given enough room to roam. They are also a fun animal to have around the farm, and don’t be surprised to find hoof prints on the hood of your truck. Goats are also the best source of milk for your retreat. While goats produce far less milk per day than a cow, the milk is far easier for your body to digest and as close to a human’s breast milk as you are going to get. Even most people that are lactose intolerant or have milk allergies can handle goat’s milk.
In the end, while there are endless options for raising animals at your survival retreat, rabbits and chickens are by far the most productive on the least amount of and most easily produced feed. Rabbits, especially, are hands down the best option for people that have a retreat far from home and can’t maintain livestock at their actual retreat. If you get nothing else out of this book, I seriously implore you to consider raising a handful of rabbits for a possible SHTF scenario.