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raising your own raw food!

4K views 20 replies 12 participants last post by  Muskeg 
#1 ·
Hello! I am wondering about the feasibilty of raising your own rabbits and chickens for meat and eggs, to feed your dog a raw diet. Rabbits and chickens can be raised in a fairly small area, and between rabbits for meat, chickens for meat and eggs, it sounds like a great idea. Does anyone do this, or have any thoughts on this? And don't forget about fresh eggs for yourself as well! We have raised large livestock in the past, so the idea of a few chickens and bunnies for butchering is not overwhelming to us.
 
#3 ·
I have thought about this too. But I cannot bring myself to kill a bunny. I have a client who feeds them guinea piggies :( (One per meal)
A friend of mine lest out a chicken and the dog immediately kills and eats it so she doesn't have to do it. Can't do that either.
 
#4 ·
I can't even think about it. It will never happen, I could not do it. For the first month I would get dizzy and feel sick while separating their already dead food. I can not think about where it comes from. I still have a vision of a trailer I was following and stuck in traffic behind it, it was loaded with cows(adult and babies) they sat there staring at me with those big brown eyes and I had visions of the trailer getting a flat and cows escaping, with me grabbing the baby to save him(he was precious). Of course I knew where they were going and months later I can still see them staring at me. I can't even think about it because I get a pit in my stomach. There is no way I can kill anything or watch my dogs do so.
 
#5 ·
I spent a bit of time looking into it, too, but from what I've read it's not really that cost effective. Obviously, the exact outcome will vary due to several different things, but for the most part, people who tried it themselves found it to either be about the same, or sometimes even more expensive.
 
#6 ·
If cost and personal dis-attachment is not an issue, I do not see how it could not be most beneficial in a dietary perspective. People these days are all about grass fed, antibiotic free meats for themselves and many also raise meat or hunt for meat because it is better for you. Why different for your dogs?
 
#10 ·
I go to the grocery store for my meat(which isn't often-I eat more chicken and turkey then red meat), but I order grass fed, not enhanced free range stuff for the dogs. I can't even order anything with heads(except fish) and I don't look at the fish either. I would be a good vegetarian, I'm almost there already.
 
#11 ·
You know, I could almost be a vegetarian, too. I eat mostly chicken. I love most animals, and when I think about it too too much, it bothers me that we kill animals to eat. But, then again, the Bible tells us that God gave man dominion over the creatures on the Earth. And we are omnivores, aren't we? What a dilemma (sp?)!
 
#12 ·
I raise coturnix quail for dog food. I like quail as opposed to chicken because they require less space, make less noise, and convert feed to muscle mass far better then chickens. Way easier to slaughter and process then chickens. Plus they aren't considered "livestock" so I can have them here in suburbia

I'm planning to do an aquaponics system with tilapia. I hate fish myself so that will be dog food too.

If I had the room I'd do buns as well.

Lots of ways to make it more cost effective. My birds primarily eat red worms and meal worms. I have thriving colonies of both that survive on the food scraps, coffee grounds, and eggshells that would normally be tossed. As far as the rest of their feed - I ferment the game bird feed to make the nutrients more available, i grow my own fodder and sprout the seeds. Use feed saving designs for their feeders.

All and all it costs around a buck per pound of organic, humanely raised and slaughtered dog food. More expensive then the chicken I can get at walmart but way more affordable then similarly raised meats at whole foods.
 
#13 ·
We used to raise goats and chickens. We did slaughter chickens for our own food but never got up to the volume it would have taken to feed the dogs, although that was my plan & dream. I don't feed raw for the very reason that factor farmed, mass slaughtered meat is SO dirty and unhealthy. (Fecal soup, anyone?)

Having seen the difference in my chickens, who were free range on ten acres, the difference in their health, their eggs, the meat ect ect. Vs images from these huge chicken barns where they clean the barn ONCE, after each meat bird flock goes to slaughter. I know what my coop smelled like when it needed a muckingk which we did a minimum of once per week and they were only in there at night! I am digressing. Factory farms gross me right out, I have seen testing showing the difference in salmonella levels of pastured organic chicken vs factory chicken.

It is my dream one day to raise meat for my dogs. We have 40 acres now. Someday. Someday.

I didn't find the butchering the chickens nearly as bad as I thought it would be, we had a good method. We never killdd any goats. Not sure I could do that, though all those bucklings would make for some fine meat
 
#14 ·
When we had the farm, the dogs did get all the parts we didn't want : necks, organs, ect

My snobby girl wouldn't touch it but my old man Ruger was never happier. We'd be out there doing open air processing and just toss that stuff to the dogs. Some I'd save and freeze because it was too much to give him at one sitting
 
#15 ·
Hmmm, I have a male and a female rabbit to produce raw rabbits as my dog's snacks, but they are not her main food. The cost is very low since there are only just 2 adult rabbits, several 4month olds, and several 2 months old to feed at worst at any given time and it also takes negligible time. If there are no time/spacing/ethic constraints I can't imagine why not.
 
#16 ·
If anyone cares to log/chronicle their journey raising raw for their dogs (rabbit, quail, chicken, or otherwise) I'd be interested in following along.

There's a closed Facebook group called "Fodder for Rabbits" that has a ton of info. The admins are sorta slow to approve new members and there isn't a ton of traffic. BUT, for anyone interested in conversion rates, meeting nutrition requirements, avoiding mold, etc. that group is solid gold. I started sprouting more wheat grass + bean sprouts for my chickens, and their egg production went up nearly 30%, IN WINTER. Fodder rocks.
 
#17 ·
I am always interested in this, but I could never actually have an animal I raised killed. I do have a nice chicken coop, so would totally be up for raising chickens for their eggs and then just letting them live out their lives in peace. I love goats, but raising them for milk would mean a kid a year, and if he's a male, then... yeah. Life on a farm is rough.

My neighbor might raise pigs next year, and if so I might have him do all the work and then buy a whole hog off him. That way I never have to get to know the animal.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I am always interested in this, but I could never actually have an animal I raised killed. I do have a nice chicken coop, so would totally be up for raising chickens for their eggs and then just letting them live out their lives in peace. I love goats, but raising them for milk would mean a kid a year, and if he's a male, then... yeah. Life on a farm is rough.

My neighbor might raise pigs next year, and if so I might have him do all the work and then buy a whole hog off him. That way I never have to get to know the animal.
I really like my old ladies.... ours live to a grand old age. The elderly gals only lay one or two eggs each week, but that's okay. I think eggs are pretty much the perfect food, for humans and dogs alike. If I could only own one non-canine species for the rest of my life, it would be chickens.
 
#20 · (Edited)
I would see if you can get ahold of some Brahmas (light, dark or buff). Big, solid, well-feathered, including feathery "boots". All of mine, including multiple generations of roos, were calm. They make low chortling noises more than screeching, I joked that mine always said "Oh noooooo, oh nooooo!" when I walked in the run, it's a distinct noise and kinda funny. The Brahmas acted immune to the cold and would stomp around in the snow when all the rest of the breeds stayed inside the coop. Egg production isn't as high as Rhode Island reds, but it's steady through the entire year (unless they're molting).

Pic of two of my Brahma hens, you can see how feathery they are, pic taken early fall ~

 
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