Having backyard chickens is a perfect way to boost your self-reliance. It's a great strategy during normal times and in emergency situations too.
Chickens are easy to raise. They take about 15 minutes a day of work. In exchange for this, you'll get a source of eggs.
Most backyard chickens will lay one egg per day in the summer months. Their lay may drop off a bit in the winter, but it's plenty of tasty eggs.
The best thing? You don't have to worry at all about egg shortages or inflation. No government spending or other issue can increase the cost of your eggs dramatically.
You can increase your self-reliance by feeding your chickens table scraps. It's a good way to turn those scraps into a source of nutritious food within your own home, and also reduce the cost of feeding your backyard chickens.
Free-ranging your chickens is another great way to accomplish this. Most chickens can't get all their nutrition from free-ranging, but in my experience, it cuts by at least half the feed or scraps you'll have to get them. Chickens will find places to dust bathe in your yard.
If you have room for a garden or already have a survival garden, you may be able to grow enough roughage to feed the flock, without needing to rely on any table scraps.
On a day-to-day basis, you'll appreciate the nutritious and tasty meals you've got out of the eggs. You'll also appreciate that it's a great hedge against inflation and increasing food prices.
In a survival situation, your chickens don't care if the electricity is off or there's no running water. As long as you have a source of rainwater for them and land for them to free-range, or access to some kind of edible scraps, they'll be fine.
Chickens provide a source of animal protein that's constantly renewing, even without requiring a lot of land. I raise six chickens in a 50-square-foot shed, and you could probably raise even more in that space.
If you want to increase your self-reliance, consider starting your own flock of backyard chickens. Even in the expensive area where I live, a chicken costs only about six dollars. You'll get several years of free eggs out of each chicken you have.
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