# The Perfect Animals for your Backyard Farm



## BYH Project Manager (Aug 20, 2022)

Backyard hobby farms are becoming increasingly popular! When you're ready to do some backyard farming, you'll be glad to know that several animals can live in smaller spaces.

Chickens​

Chickens are often called "the gateway livestock". When you plan to get chickens, all you think of is a few to poke around the garden. In no time at all, your barnyard will be filled with animals! Most people's first farm animals are chickens and for obvious reason.

The small size of chickens makes them ideal for beginners. It is much more challenging to handle a 1500-pound dairy cow than an 8-pound chicken! It isn't expensive to keep chickens and they don't require much care. All they need is a clean shelter, fresh food, and clean water.

Eggs are a staple in most kitchens. Keep a few chickens and enjoy the fresh eggs they produce! With a flock of three hens, you can provide your family with at least a dozen eggs per week in an area of 5 feet by 8 feet. In addition to eggs, keeping chickens has many benefits. Besides eating insects found in your yard, they also like to eat scraps from your kitchen, such as fruit and vegetables. Additionally, they produce a lot of rich manure for composting and gardening.

Rabbits​

Rabbits are often overlooked by casual backyard farmers. In many hobby farms, rabbits are raised primarily as meat, so hobby farmers don't want to deal with the demands of raising rabbits and processing their meat. In addition to raising rabbits for meat, farmers raise them for many other reasons!

Rabbits produce large quantities of manure. In spite of sounding negative, avid gardeners will certainly appreciate this! Rabbit manure does not need to be composted before use, unlike chicken manure.

Pet stores carry rabbit feed and litter more commonly than farm and feed stores since rabbits are typically kept as pets. Your local veterinarian can also treat any medical issues that may arise.

To simplify cleaning chores, rabbits can be trained to use litter boxes. There is plenty of room for a pair of bunnies to explore & enjoy an area of about 7 feet by 8 feet. Even if your neighbors live nearby, rabbits can be kept without bothering them.

If you're interested in benefits beyond compost, consider keeping wool-producing rabbits such as angoras. From just a couple of angoras, you can obtain fiber for spinning and knitting!

Bees​

Bees are a great, low-maintenance addition to your backyard farm. Once you purchase the hive and other equipment, keeping bees is less expensive than keeping many other farm animals. It is common for honeybees to forage for food as far as 5 miles from your property, but beekeepers provide sugar water as a backup.

Beekeeping isn't an everyday chore, unlike caring for traditional farm animals such as chickens or rabbits. For the most part, bees manage themselves with a few monthly visits and some in-depth inspections per year.

Beekeeping is most famous for its honey. Depending on many factors, a standard hive can produce anywhere from 20-30 pounds of honey a year. Your garden will also benefit greatly from keeping bees. There will be plenty of bees foraging in your backyard, but they will definitely spend time pollinating your vegetables & flowers, resulting in larger harvests & healthier flowers!

Ducks​

A small backyard farm can easily accommodate ducks. A large pond isn't necessary to keep them happy, contrary to popular belief. The majority of domestic ducks' time is spent on land, in contrast to their wild relatives. Kiddie pools are always appreciated for splashing around, but they are not essential.

Because duck eggs give baked goods a light & fluffy texture, they are highly coveted by bakers. It is common for ducks to lay nearly twice as many eggs as chickens, so their upkeep can more than be covered.

The space requirements of ducks are similar to those of chickens. Since they do not scratch, peck, and dig at the ground constantly, they are much less destructive to gardens and lawns than chickens. Puddles or standing water will turn into big mud puddles, though! Keeping ducks alongside chickens can be an easy addition to your flock if you already keep chickens.

Mini Goats​

The Pygmy and Dwarf goats are super cute and just right for backyards! A pygmy goat grows to about the size of a medium dog and weighs about 60 pounds. An area of 15 feet by 25 feet can accommodate two mini goats. Of course, these little mischievous and adventurous animals would appreciate a larger area too! A solid fence is needed to keep them from escaping. They can liven up any backyard farm but can also be good escape artists.

They can be used for meat, even though they are small, but most backyard farmers keep them for other uses. Your garden will benefit greatly from goat manure. The average Nigerian dwarf goat produces 2 pounds of milk per day, making them excellent milkers! Pygora goats are sweet little fiber producers you can have if you are not interested in breeding or milking them every day. Your family can wear super warm clothing made out of silky cashmere & mohair fibers from Pygoras.

So which of these do you already have on your homestead? Share your experiences below.


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## MeanCheek (Sep 4, 2022)

> It is common for ducks to lay nearly twice as many eggs as chickens, so their upkeep can more than be covered.


No duck could lay twice as many eggs as a chook. Hybrid Strain Leghorns lay ~300 eggs a year (In her prime), while hybrid layer ducks and the best pure breds can only just make it to ~330 at most. 
(Or am I completely wrong?)


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## Mini Horses (Sep 5, 2022)

Not all areas have a market for duck eggs.  So, no matter how many.  Certain breeds are used for meat, which would make more eggs to hatch a good thing. 👍. If you expect your small farm efforts to financially support itself then marketing in your area is critical....or, if outside your area you need an easily delivered item.

For most of us it is an animal or production item that we like.  Things rarely happen without our time and effort input.  So rabbits for meat or pets.  Goats for meat, dairy, soaps.  Chickens for meat, eggs, chicks.  Gardens for fruit, veggies, etc.   We must enjoy the process -- and learn to accept the parts we don't.   All demands some physical effort and a LOT of mental effort  🤗


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