CrunchyBread wrote:
I saw a setup one man designed which suspended GP cage over a fishtank to recyle their poop instantly. Much as I like the idea of not having to muck out a stable of them, I know I also read that part of their diet is actually supposed to be supplemented by eating some of their own poop. I have no idea how that's supposed to work, but there you go. I'd be afraid that if they had no access to any poop ever sitting around they might actually have a nutritional deficiency.
But then again, I only know what I've read. I never even raised a hamster.
CrunchyBread wrote:
Y'know, in this whole thread I've been fascinated. Part of the interest for me is in confronting my own squeamishness at killing anything, let alone an adoreable little chirruping fuzzball. I am a happy omnivore, but I've never killed anything larger than a mosquito.
I did once clean and cook a pheasant--still warm!--that my husband had proudly shot. It almost made me want to vomit, but I did it.
I accept that killing is a natural part of life, but I don't know how well I'd adapt to the necessity of doing it myself. Maybe it's strange, but I can handle any other part of permaculture with no squeamishness at all. But killing would still be really tough for me.
SILVERSEEDS wrote:
Ive got no room for pigs, nor the ability to feed them, and no where close enough space to keep a breeding population.
Len wrote:
That is my problem as well. Still with 4-5 per meal and with using them one meal per week... That would be 20 animals a month... about 60 per breed... so about 20 breeding females. I would have to keep 80-100 just for once a week meal. Sounds like a lot... what kind of sqft would I need? I guess as it is about the only choice I have, I should just try it. It seems it would be more likely to succeed than rabbits or at least get us used to raising animals. Maybe we would only get to eat them once in a while if I had 1 male and three or four females. If it wasn't working out... cook the breeding stock.
CrunchyBread wrote:
I'll be interested to learn about your setup. Going vertical seems like a creative solution. Giving them things to climb and play on does seem kinder. I still do wonder about how difficult it would be to kill and eat something you'd cared for so well, though, even to the point of playing with it and developing it's mind a bit with toys.
I certainly will not judge you. I'll just be interested to learn how you deal with that issue.
I'm also curious how you're going to deal with breeding. Will you carefully regulate matings, or just leave them all together and take whatever comes along? If you do intend to regulate matings (to decrease incest, improve desirable characteristics, or just guard the health of the females from overproduction) I wonder how you'll manage the various timetables of mating and weaning, and how you'll keep track of who's who. Maybe GP's all have unique markings, but with 80-100 of them (or more) I'd imagine it'd get very hard to remember their individual differences.
Then again, if you do not separate them to control mating, I wonder how much negative impact that might have due to underage matings, incest, etc. Maybe it would be fine for a long time. I read that it is normal to keep a whole family of them in one box in the kitchen. I have no idea if or when any problems might show up. So I do hope you'll report your experiences for us.
Idle dreamer
H Ludi Tyler wrote:
I'd rather eat someone I knew had the best possible life, than someone who was abused or neglected, that's for sure.
H Ludi Tyler wrote:
I'd rather eat someone I knew had the best possible life, than someone who was abused or neglected, that's for sure.
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CrunchyBread wrote:
I agree 100%.
There's a line from Terry Pratchett concerning farm animals: "We determine the time of their birth, and the time of their death, and in between we have a responsibility." It means that animals are not just things. They are alive and deserve a certain amount of respect, protection, and caring. The only way you earn any claim to deserve benefit from their lives, is if you helped them have a decent life.
But as someone inexperienced in killing, I'm just wondering how folks handle it. It's easy enough to just not think about it when my meat comes in styrofoam packages, but how do I handle the reality of actually TAKING the life I helped raise?
Even as an atheist, I can see this as a thorny spiritual question.
SILVERSEEDS wrote:
I was thinking more about this, because i posted something to another forum on it, and someone else wondered why I dont just use rabbits.
GPs are tastier, and a better quality meat then beef let alone rabbit. (having low amounts of key things we need from meat, unless you eat the bone marrow, stew helps but really sucking it out is ideal if all you have is rabbit)
M. Edwards wrote:
Bold statements for someone who has never tried the meat of one. You're taking this as a granted based on your grandmother's experiences?
M. Edwards wrote:
I actually prefer wild rabbit to farmed. I know gamey meat doesn't appeal to everyone but to me grain fed rabbit tastes like grain fed everything else: ambiguous and lacking in character.
M. Edwards wrote:
Notice I said "to me", denoting it as an opinion. So it's not really anything that can be argued.
pubwvj wrote:
Digestive tract (guts), lungs, bladder, bones, skin, brain, etc. Lots of "packaging" there.
Shawn Bell wrote:
Silverseeds, although I personally am not interested in eating GP this thread might have convinced me to raise some.
What do you think about raising GP as a food source for other animals?
Obviously their manure can be used to feed fish.
Would it be cost effective to feed dogs GP instead of buying dog food?
Would chickens eat the poop? I believe chickens would eat the innards.
Could I sell GP to pet stores for pets and snake food?
I am starting to think they may have a place on the homestead, even if it is not my pot.
And then if times get really bad, maybe even in my pot!
Idle dreamer
Idle dreamer
H Ludi Tyler wrote:
Silver, you are still using a pseudonym here, so only someone really intent on "getting" you would track you down to your real self. Personally I don't think that is likely to happen.
see our piece of land in our blog http://lavegaentransicion.wordpress.com/
see our piece of land in our blog http://lavegaentransicion.wordpress.com/
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Burra Maluca wrote:
Apparently they were once declared to be fish by the Roman Catholic Church so that could be eaten over Lent.
Burra Maluca wrote:
Apparently they were once declared to be fish by the Roman Catholic Church so that could be eaten over Lent.
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