NOTICE, some animals raised will be eaten.
Well my wife, son (5 years old), and myself just got our first house back in April of last year. I have spent a lot of time getting things ready, and planning what we should do.
I wanted to get the 4 acre spread out in the country, but the wife said no and I settled for almost a half acre (3rd to the largest lot in the area) in town by the lake.
When I was growing up we had a nice size property with chickens, ponds, and a horse. we also kept a lot of other pet animals, Chinchillas, dogs, cats, and the like... So I have experience, but its been a few years, so I will most likely forgot a few things.
So far I have 3 raised beds 4x10' in the back yard, plus a compost bin I just made this weekend, its about 3x6.5x4' (WxLxH), I welded the frame, but still need to add some material to the sides. I'm thinking chicken wire, or the plastic mesh stuff might work alright.
The house also came with a nice built in kidney shape pool, that was filled in, it was deep enough to have a diving board, so I'm thinking fish pond (not just carp either).
We also have a good sized sunroom, its about 30'x18', it currently has a few of my saltwater tanks with corals/fish in them. I'm thinking about raising seedlings in the sunroom, and maybe doing some hydroponics as well.
So for animals I'm going to be picking up some Rhode Island Reds, and Plymouth Rocks this week hopefully. I already have a setup with the heat lamp ready to go, just need the food/water container, food, and the chicks. I'm only allowed 4 hens, so I'm planning on getting three of each and then keep the four best for laying, and frying the others (if all six survive that is).
one of the things I have been thinking about, but don't know a lot about (other then my great grandparents doing it) is raising rabbits for food. I would rather raise chickens for food, but I am limited to 4 hens and no roosters, so chicken meat is a no go. However I can have and breed rabbits, and rabbit meat is not so bad. Once I started looking into rabbits for food I came across a lot of people raising Chinchillas for meat/pelts. Growing up having a couple Chinchillas made me think, other then the startup cost Chinchillas would be a good source of meat and fur/hide. I can't think of anything else I'm allowed to have that can provide red meat, and a good skin.
I'm also looking into getting some solar panels up, and a wind turbine. I'm also seeing how I can produce BioFuel to run my car (its a 1971 VW beetle) and maybe a generator.
More to come, as the ideas keep going round....
