Cold Times — How to Prepare for the Mini Ice Age

by Dr. Anita Bailey

  When your chicks hatch in subsequent generations, about half will be female and half will be male. Figure that most of the males will go onto the menu when they are about 5 months old, just as they begin to crow. You can eat them earlier, of course, but they will be smaller. Remove any hens that don’t lay or cause trouble, and pressure can or convert to broth. Remember to use the scaly part of the legs and feet, minus toenails, in the broth for the best healing properties! Replace 3 year old roosters with the fastest growing, healthiest, biggest, feistiest young ones from your new batch.

  Basically, you will trade “predictability” for “adaptability.” In Cold Times, adaptability is a critical survival trait.

  Feed

  Chickens will eat anything. They can survive and thrive hunting up their own bugs, worms, your garden, roadkill, leftovers from the kitchen, weed seeds, and anything that wiggles. They will eat other chickens, too – no moral high ground for this livestock. However, during Cold Times, you’ll have to bring the food to them.

  Prepared chicken feed is available at feed stores in 50 pound sacks, costing about $8-$9 each right now. Prices are going up. You can buy chicken feed in pellet, crumbles, or whole grain form; it’s all fine. Stock up on 50 pound bags and store the bags where they cannot be attacked by rodents, because they will find it if they can. A chicken will go through about 6 ounces of feed daily, so for 15 chickens it’s a total of about 5 to 6 pounds a day, about a gallon.

  The more you can produce or provide on your own, the less of the commercial feed that you have to buy. That includes garden leftovers, things that are past ripe, and whatever the family doesn’t eat. Corn, sunflower seeds, and comfrey are among the easiest garden items you can grow, and they are all superior chicken feeds.

  For one year, feeding 15 chickens entirely from your supplies, you’ll need about 1800 pounds of grain, 30 fifty pound bags. You can buy that TODAY for less than $300. If you supplement that with lots of greens, melon skins, and last-night’s pasta, you could stretch it much longer than a year. If you make cheese at home, the whey left over from cheese making can also feed the chickens, and it is a top level high quality protein easily digested food for them. They love it.

  Chickens also need calcium in their diet. It’s how they form the shells on their eggs. If they don’t have enough, they will utilize calcium from their bones, causing weak and easily-broken bones. Egg shells become thin and easily cracked if the hens are deficient. The absolute best natural source for this calcium is the chitin shell on insects. Chickens thrive on their natural foods.

  However, if your hens are locked up, they can’t get enough insects to keep them in balance. The commercial source for this calcium is an “oyster shell” supplement. It is actual shells from marine creatures, ground into small size. A 25 pound bag costs about $10 and will last 15 chickens for 6 months to a year of “free choice” access.

  After Zen-slap, save all the shells from your eggs, wash thoroughly, dry in a warm oven to help kill bacteria or leave out in bright sun for several days, and crush or grind to a crumbly powder. Don’t leave the shells looking like eggs though; no point in giving the chickens ideas. Set it out in a container so the chickens can get at it when they want some. Ideally, you’d also save all bones from cooking, boil them down as for soup, then take the bones out, dry in an oven, and crush or grind them up as well. Get two or three bags of oyster shell calcium right now, and store with your grains.

  Chicks to Chickens

  The day you buy chicks during the Awakening or early Zen-slap stage, buy 50-100 pounds of “chick starter”, un-medicated if you can find it. This is a combination of grains that is finely ground and tasty to chicks. As I write this, those two to three bags of grains should set you back less than $35. Consider a $6 brick of pine shavings, too, for the bottom of your brooder, but don’t use that until your chicks are at least a week old because if used earlier it confuses them and is hard on their feet. Pine shavings will help reduce the nasty odor from the brooder. You will need two quart-jar waterers for each 25 chicks, and two small tray-style feeders, about $25 total.

  I suggest you get 25-50 chicks to start with. That will seem like a lot. Make sure that you have split that between at least THREE different breeds. More breeds are better.

  When you buy chicks, it’s a bit of a learned skill to be able to tell the boys from the girls. The simplest approach is to buy “straight run”, which means, ‘just as they came from the incubator.’ It works out to about half male and half female. In around 16 weeks, the males will be obviously male, with larger combs and tail feathers; they tend to stand more “upright” than females, too. By 6 months, your young roosters will be crowing. Almost all of the males will be destined for your freezer.

  The remainder of your starter chicks will be hens. If all your chicks have survived (don’t expect it), you should have about 12-25 young hens. They are called “pullets” until they start laying. Hens will lay whether there is a rooster in the henhouse or not. In order to get fertile eggs, there must be a healthy rooster among them.

  At 6 months of age, you’ll be deciding the breeding of your future chickens. Examine your roosters closely. You will want to save two to three of them. Choose the largest. Pick the birds up, feel how meaty they are, weigh them. Ideally, choose ones of different breeds than the majority of your hens. In other words, you will be producing crossbred chickens from now on. This will increase the genetic variability off the offspring. They may look entirely different than either parent and show some hybrid vigor by being healthier or having other positive qualities than the parents.

  The roosters that don’t make the cut can be given away, sold (they don’t bring much), or put in your freezer. I suggest the last option, so that you have some practice with the process. Butchering is discussed after the Recipes section later in the book.

  Hens start laying at about 6 months of age. The first eggs are usually small, and some won’t have a hard shell, just a leathery sack like turtle eggs. After several weeks, most of the eggs will be medium to large size, and the girls should be using the nest boxes regularly. Each hen will lay one egg daily, on average. You will be swamped with eggs. Look up lots of new recipes, because you’ll need them.

  The hens should continue to lay fairly consistently for about a year to 18 months of age. Then they go into “molt” – a 6 week period when they shed their feathers and grow a new set. They look pretty ratty during this phase, so don’t be surprised. They don’t lay when they are molting, either, so it’s a good time to use your stored eggs.

  Dual-purpose hens will start laying again after molting, and will lay larger eggs, some will be jumbo. On average, they will also lay fewer eggs, but probably not so much that you would notice. If you keep the hens another year, they’ll molt again in 12-18 months, stop laying, grow new feathers, and then start laying again. A three year old hen is an aged bird. By 5 or 6, they are getting old. Old hens make good broth, soup, or stew. I did have a Rhode Island Red that lived for almost 11 years, and was still laying eggs occasionally until she keeled over in the barnyard.

  Hens also slow down their egg laying during the winter if they are very cold, don’t have enough fresh water to make eggs with, and if the daylight drops below 8 hours a day. Many chicken raisers use artificial lights in their hen houses to keep the birds in light for about 12 hours a day. That’ll keep the eggs coming during the winter.

  One way to do this is to get 4 or 5 inexpensive solar “yard lights.” Set them in the sun during the day, and move into the henhouse at night. They’ll get enough light to help them continue to lay. Solar yard lights will last well into the Zen-slap stage, especially if you’re only using them during the winter and put them in a safe place during lighter months. After that, in the Hang-on phase, unless you have access to technology or electricity, your hens are likely to be off the job during the winter months.

  Keeping Eggs

  When you have productive hens, you will be awash in eggs in the spring and su
mmer. In spite of the hysteria in the food industry, you can leave unwashed fresh eggs sitting in a basket on your countertop for weeks without any problems. At this writing, I’ve got about 150 eggs in baskets on mine. I’ve also got 7 dozen eggs in cartons in my refrigerator – these are 4 to 5 months old. And about 10 dozen frozen in the freezer. And another 10 dozen or so pickled with jalapenos and other flavoring ingredients. That’s after giving away dozens and dozens anytime someone comes to visit. Several procedures for keeping eggs, and a pickling recipe, are included in the Recipes section.

  By the way, eggs keep better if you don’t wash them. The hens leave a permeable coating on each egg called “bloom” that provides a protective barrier against bacteria. If your eggs have dirt or manure on them, just brush it off. If you must wash eggs, use those first.

  Rabbits

  Rabbits are among the easiest animals there are to raise. They are quiet, clean, calm most of the time, friendly, easy to care for, efficient reproducers, and can do well in small spaces. Rabbits are very tolerant of cold weather, even having hair on the soles of their feet, which is a real plus in the times to come. They’re also similar to regular pet animals, so transitioning from “taking care of pets” to “taking care of rabbits” is an easy step. That also makes butchering day a hard one for many people. Again, I caution you not to name your food, especially not cuddly cute ones.

  Housing

  Commercial rabbitries keep one female (doe) rabbit per 30”x30” cage raised off the ground. A feeder passes alfalfa based feed pellets through one side of the wire, and a waterer – either a drip-bottle on the wall of the cage, or a heavy dish – completes the setup. I generally include a piece of untreated pine 2”x4” or piece of wood off an apple tree in the cage for the bunny to chew on. They’ll chew everything else otherwise. Add a small “landing pad”, about 8”x8” made from plywood so the bunny can rest its feet off the wire.

  Bottom of the cage is ½”x½” wire, large enough to allow the manure pellets to fall through. Sides of the cage are 1”x2” squares. Could be smaller openings, but not much larger. If making cages, wire over all wood supports to prevent chewing. Generally, the cages are set about 3 feet off the ground on supports or sawhorses, for our convenience. It’s just easier to get at a cage that’s at waist level.

  I’ve also made double-decker stacked cages, which takes up less ground space than the same number of individual cages, with the lower cage about 24” off the ground, and the higher cages set above that. I used untreated 2”x4” and plywood, with a simple plywood and metal roof over the top of each level so that waste drains out the back and is easy to gather for the garden. I’ve seen many variants on these designs, and it almost doesn’t matter as long as the animals get good air circulation and some room to move around. Rabbits are very forgiving on space requirements.

  You can also house rabbits in a group pen, basically at least 8’x8’, give or take, with 5 or 6 does and one buck (male). Only one male, or there will be some vicious fighting going on.

  Now, this kind of housing is perfect for the weather we’ve had in the past, but potentially problematic going into extremely cold weather. First, the housing is uninsulated and really rather flimsy. Light wire will not hold up to predator attacks very well, and the 2x4 construction won’t support heavy snow loads. A group pen has the benefit of allowing the rabbits to huddle for warmth, but it is similarly light weight and unable to withstand heavy snows, high winds, and drenching rain.

  Rethinking livestock housing is part of getting ready for these changes that are coming. At this time, our chickens, rabbits, and goats live in their own separate housing, sheds, and barns. There may be a time when the small animals share a corner of a larger greenhouse, in part to keep them warm, and in part for them to help warm the greenhouse with their body heat and manure.

  There were periods in history, where livestock lived in earth sheltered partially underground barns, with the human housing above. The animal’s body heat rose and helped moderate the people’s zone, and it was easy to get to the barn even during terrible weather.

  Thinking ahead, grab a napkin or envelope, and sketch some ideal designs. Suppose a single structure housed rabbits and chickens – a long rectangular shed, perhaps an A-frame style, built strongly with 2”x6” wall studs and rafters, insulated, with the rabbits in a large open pen on the north side and chickens in their own area on the south. Insulated windows allow in light throughout the winter giving the animals the exposure to sunlight that they need.

  The rabbits’ bedding is so thick and deep, 2 or 3 feet, that it insulates against the cold northern temperatures, while giving the bunnies plenty of room to dig burrows into the hay and have babies in comfort. Because it’s cooler on the north side, the rabbits can tolerate a little chill, and have the means to stay warm in the hay. The chicken side has thick bedding, as well, but the hens keep moving it around, keeping busy. The rabbits and chickens don’t mingle well. Hens will annoy and peck the rabbits and steal their food, but this way they can share the heat and have some interesting interactions by watching each other through the wire during the long cold winter.

  Alternatively, bring the animals into the greenhouse in cages. Place them so they do not get direct sunlight, say, under a table on which plants are growing. They need light but direct hot sunlight can kill them. The animals’ manure and body heat help warm the greenhouse but won’t substitute for good insulation or backup heat, and their actions keep the air moving around.

  Breeds

  Any rabbit can reproduce, but if you want the best feed-to-meat conversion, the commercial meat rabbits are best: New Zealand Whites or Reds, or Californians. By eight weeks of age, a bunny of these breeds will top 5 pounds and be ready for the table. The New Zealand Whites are actually albinos, with pink eyes, and have the advantage of being almost indistinguishable from each other. That makes butchering a little easier than if you can tell them apart.

  Feeding, Breeding

  Modern commercial rabbit feed comes as a firm mostly-alfalfa pellet that is convenient and meets the animals’ basic needs. They still like to have some hay to chew and carry around, and occasional greens, root vegetables, and firm fruits. A high protein (18%) pellet diet generally is sufficient for a doe to produce a litter every two months, 6 times a year, and raise out the babies to butcher size. However, that’s pushing the animals quite hard. You can feed less and breed less often – say, every three months – and still have plenty of meat.

  Does can be bred for the first time at about 6 months of age. The doe is carried to the buck’s cage for servicing. If she’s receptive, the breeding will take place in a couple minutes. The buck will mount, fall off to one side, and may make a squealing sound; don’t be alarmed. Remove the doe immediately. If left with the buck, they will fight. She can be put back with the buck in a few hours to make sure she conceives. If she won’t accept the first breeding, take her out after 5 minutes and try again later that day. If a doe refuses to be bred consistently, she should be consigned to the stew pot and replaced. Rabbits in a pen will take care of this without assistance.

  One female can have a litter of 6-10 “kits”. They are born 30-32 days after breeding. The doe will need a nest box with hay or other filler placed into her cage about 3 days before expected due date, “kindling.” Earlier than that and she’ll use it as a toilet. The doe will pull hair from her chest, move hay around into the box, and line it with her hair. Babies will be born without assistance. The doe will leave the box, and only return to feed the babies a few times a day. Don’t check the babies until they are at least 36 hours old, otherwise the mother may reject them. Remove any dead or squashed kits from the box. A kit may fall out of the nest onto the wire or get dragged out while nursing. The doe won’t put it back like a cat or dog would do with their babies, so you can gently replace it in the nest if it’s still alive.

  In a group pen, the doe will dig a hole into the hay, pull hair to make a nest, and have the babies there.
Don’t bother the nest at all. If you don’t remove the buck rabbit to his own suite, he’ll rebreed the females right away and there will be more babies in a month.

  At 10-14 days, the kits will be exploring outside the nest. They will still nurse on the doe from time to time, and eat the doe’s feed. By four weeks, the bunnies can be moved to a separate cage and grown there to full butcher size (4-5 pounds at about 8 weeks of age). The doe can rest for a month and then be rebred. With an average litter of 8 bunnies, each reaching 5 pounds at processing, that’s 40 pounds live weight, about 25 pounds of edible meat. If you have three does, that’s 75 pounds of meat every three months about 300 pounds a year. Butchering will be discussed near the end of the book.

  Milk Goats

  Between rabbits and chickens, you’ll have plenty of meat and eggs. Add some milk goats into the mix, and you’ll have milk, cheese, ice cream, plus additional meat, as well. A milk goat can give you, conservatively, a half-gallon of fresh white gold every day for about 10 months of the year. If you have two milkers and breed them about 2 months apart, you’ll have a good gallon of milk every day all year. Even if you have a big milk drinking family, that’s still a LOT of milk. That’s why you’ll end up with cheese, too. Cheese is one way to store and save extra milk for later use.