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Do-It-Yourself Animal Homes

Raising animals can be an exciting process. You welcome them in as members of your family, knowing they will be providing you and your loved ones sustenance and joy. Of course, you will be providing for them as well. The healthier and happier your animals are the more benefit your family will receive. Creating the perfect place for your new animals to live is one of the best ways to do that.

Raising Goats

Goats can be an excellent choice for first-time farm animal owners. They are relatively low-maintenance animals and are considered to be very self-sufficient. Their ability to survive off trees, bushes, and shrubs as well as grasses and hay (when trained) allows them to endure when many other animals may have a difficult time. Goats produce milk that is usually digested easier than cow’s milk and can be raised for meat if necessary.

Although they as a species do come from the wild, they also have a natural instinct to seek shelter from cold or inclement weather. Also, the longer they remain with your family, the more domesticated they become. Because of these reasons, providing a shelter is extremely important for anyone considering raising goats. You want to protect them from the weather and the rain as well as keep predators away from them.

As with anything, the pen and shelter you provide your goats can be as elaborate or as simple as you want it to be.

Pen

The Ultimate Guide To Self-Sufficient Living For Country, Urban, and Suburban Folks [1]

Shelter

Reynolds Ranch blogspot [2] provides excellent guidelines on do-it-yourself goat pens.

Raising Chickens

Chickens can be another excellent choice for those who are just beginning to raise farm animals. They have the ability to produce eggs year round (provided you always keep a couple dozen hens). Feeding chickens is also relatively simple in comparison to other farm animals. Provide them with a few handfuls of grain and feed with a high protein content twice a day and maybe some scraps you have. Other than that, your chickens will eat grass, earwigs, and other bugs. Of course, they will produce more and higher quality eggs with more protein in their diet.

If you plan to allow your chickens the ability to move around their enclosure, you will need to have the area protected with secured chicken wire. Many chicken owners will ensure their chicken run area is attached to the hen house so they can move about on their own. As with your other animals, you want to make sure your chickens are protected and sheltered inside their enclosure and that predators cannot get inside. Of course, you will also need to plan easy access for you to be able to gather any eggs and clean out the house.

Creating the chicken coop can be a simple process as long as you follow some general guidelines.

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