Hugh and Jim,
Thanks for posting this article. In my experience you can add to the rule of three here:
Plant threeof everything that you want to eat– one that won’t grow, one for the critters to steal, and the last one for you to eat. – K.B.
o o o
HJL,
I enjoyed reading the series on starting a garden post event. I’d like to point out that it’s not just a garden post collapse but any agricultural effort.
I’ve raised chickens off and on for my entire life. When I was three years old we lived in the old farmhouse that Mr. Swanson of the chicken dinner fame was renting out on his farm. His big contribution to chicken raising though was chickens that could be sexed at hatching without having to hire people to check their vents. This saves tons of money, as rooster feed and hen feed is different in protein percentages, and when you are raising a few million chickens this adds up quickly.
Where I live now, we have had chickens for fifteen years. So I know a bit about raising chickens, and I know a bit about raising them here. I’ve only lost a couple of chickens over the years to predators, until this year.
I have been fighting with three foxes and a bear that have decided my chickens are their buffet. Now understand my chicken run is completely fenced with chain link fencing six feet high and roofed over. The coop is inside the run. Still, even with all of my experience, I’ve lost four adult hens and nine partially grown chickens in a month. When a black bear wants into a chain link enclosure, it will simply tear the gate off. The chicks are not too smart and stick their heads out of the chain link fencing to see the foxes better, and as a result the foxes bite their heads off.
Needless to say that if this were post collapse I’d be in trouble, and this is with decades of experience.
Make your mistakes now when they will only cause you grief and frustration, not when your family’s life is on the line.
Needless to say I’ve adjusted how I am keeping my flock, starting with chicken wire inside the chain link fencing so the dumb birds don’t get their heads bitten off and making sure I’ve got two roosters to fertilize the eggs rather than just one. – H.D.