what livestock do you keep?

[little blue duck]

just being nosey really!
what livestock do you keep, and how does it help your Ish self-sufficiency?
and do they have names?!

[niknik]

justb 2 chickens. would like a couple more, maybe a duck or so, couple pigs, and a oat. but would have to move tro somehere with a bit of land first!

[Penny Lane]

Just 3 hens here, Barbara, Margo & Jerry. It's great being self sufficient in eggs but they have taken over the garden which means growing veg is impossible!
I do love them though :)

[red]

we have sheep, chickens and a cockerel, and a trio of muscovies

we also have pigs and turkeys, but they are in the freezer at the mo :)

yes we name everything.

we raise sheep for meat, and for wool - we dye and spin our own wool.
we raise pigs for meat
chickens and ducks for meat and eggs
turkeys for meat

[sarahkeast]

5 chickens [ex-bats] started with 8 then neighbours dog got some. couple are named, need to sort the rest !
2 cats and 1 persecuted border collie who is chased by all the other critters. 2 teenagers, far more trouble than animals

[Chaldeonmenthe]

The chickens, ducks and turkeys were originally for meat, but now they are named they are purely egg sources. I have two milking goats called Geraldine and Babette, and their two kids which really should be weaned, but they just love their milk so much I haven't the heart to do it yet.

[Mrs H]

We have 3 collies, 2 ex workers, 1 in training! Shep, Lula and Celia! 7 cats, all ratters, George, Dc, Lorenzo, Stumpy, Peas, Carrots, and Kitty! . 2 ferrets for hunting, Mitch and Lightening! 2 Geese, affectionately known as the Meaggy's!! And finally 6 hens without names, oh and Roly the rooster!!! X

[little blue duck]

better share mine...
loads of chickens, some ex-batts, some "adopted" and some home-incubated. eggs and cockerels for meat.
quail (eggs)
7 ducks (eggs, and cos they're funny!)
3 kune kune pigs for breeding (Murphy, Maud & Mildred) and their children for sausages in the summer.
3 goats, one milker Geraldine (currently in kid and dry!) a billy and their firstborn Max,
4 cats,(ratters, but love a cuddle!) a huge guard dog, Sheba the gsd
7 rabbits and at the moment, 12 guinea pigs. (some for breeding and some for selling. some just pets!)

[Jacqui S]

We have 6 chickens which we keep for eggs, all have been named by the children so we have Storm, Nutmeg, Thor, Toffee, Lavender and Pluto! We are also getting bees in a couple of weeks so we're very excited about that!

[chuck_n_grace]

Hi,
We only have goldfish...but they are beneficial...making poo for some of our veggies.

I called the zoning commission the other day and I'm not allowed to have chickens or rabbits unless we have 2 acres. Too bad!

If I could "de-cluck" a chicken we could keep them in the garage.

Regards,
Chuck

[Jorieke123]

We have:
- 3 goats (2 female, 1 male 'Uri')
- 2 and a half sheep (1 male 'Sock', 1 female 'Trui' (=sweater), and 1 boy-lam)
- a lot of chickens. Only a few have names. Such as Ozzy, Sharon, Ernie, Roosty.
- 4 Geeze (2 female, 2 male)
- 3 pigs (2 female, 1 male, all KuneKune)

[chicken feed]

we have 30ish chickens
13 pigs
1 dexter steer (living with parents 8 cattle)
we are waiting for 2011 goat kids and lambs for the freezer.

the chickens are for eggs & breeding the pigs cattle goats and lambs are for meat.

[cocobelle]

Horse - she definitely does not help sustainablity as she is ancient and does nothing but eat.
Chickens.
Have had pigs and sheep (both pets in the end as I'm too much of a wimp to do anything else about them - the sheep were too pretty and the pigs hilarious).
So really only the lovely chickens and their eggs are remotely sutainable for me!

[Mortimer657]

We have 4 Chickens on their way, just paid for them.We also have a Patterdale terrier who has attention deficit disorder, he's 6 months old . We then have 3 ferrets, all workers, a Peregrine for taking woodpigeon on the wing and a Buzzard which im in the process of training up to take rabbit and hares.
Of course i have future aspirations of getting a raptor that can take down something a little larger>>>>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twp6R8DZGvY

Cheers to all the guys on here for the advice on Keeping chickens, being a first timer to it and all .