guinea pigs for food

[silverseeds]

Here is one guy's comparison: http://www.alpharubicon.com/primitive/guineapigsaf.htm

WOW thanks for that link!!! he had a little one though. they are easy to get to 2 pounds, but still very interesting info. without a doubt i want both rabbits and GPs now... I think they both have slight advantages in different areas... rabbits dont need the vitamin c. but GPs are tastier from everyone Ive read or know thats had both, and it has its other efficiencies to.

[Panthira]

I can tell you that the easy butchering of rabbits, which I did not find very easy (for me), is a huge plus in favor of rabbits. ;)

Everything I've read says GPs are tastier, too.

[darwinslair]

Dont know about you, but I have never even needed a knife to butcher a rabbit.  Unless you are trying to be real careful with the skin for saving it, the easiest way I have to do a basic field dressing of them is to grab the back skin, over the shoulderblades, with two separate hands, and pull/twist in different directions.  It tears quite easily and you simply deglove the animal.  You can then just break and twist off the paws, and the neck breaks easily enough and the head twists off with that.  For eviserating the animal, just push a finger underneath the breasbone, pull open the stomach muscles, reach into the chest cavity and pull out the heart and lungs, then draw down with your finger under the stomach muscles to the pelvis, strip out the intestines and other organs, rinse it out, and you are done.  I can do the whole thing, start to finish without a knife, in a about a minute.

Tom

[silverseeds]

   thats the same thing many I have read say about guinea pigs as well Tom.

    Im not to worried about it at all. Processing the chickens will be much more of a hassle then these little guys.

    by the way, Ive got a bunch of guinea pigs, and some rabbits now. I went with dwarf rabbits. they still get 3-4 pounds, so bigger then the guinea pigs, but I prefer the smaller animals. my understanding is I should get roughly the same amount of meat from the same amount of feed despite the smaller size.

[Panthira]

Dont know about you, but I have never even needed a knife to butcher a rabbit.  Unless you are trying to be real careful with the skin for saving it, the easiest way I have to do a basic field dressing of them is to grab the back skin, over the shoulderblades, with two separate hands, and pull/twist in different directions.  It tears quite easily and you simply deglove the animal.  You can then just break and twist off the paws, and the neck breaks easily enough and the head twists off with that.  For eviserating the animal, just push a finger underneath the breasbone, pull open the stomach muscles, reach into the chest cavity and pull out the heart and lungs, then draw down with your finger under the stomach muscles to the pelvis, strip out the intestines and other organs, rinse it out, and you are done.  I can do the whole thing, start to finish without a knife, in a about a minute.

Tom

We do preserve the fur. We try not to waste any of it. I'm still bothered by killing a living animal, too.

[Panthira]

   thats the same thing many I have read say about guinea pigs as well Tom.

    Im not to worried about it at all. Processing the chickens will be much more of a hassle then these little guys.

    by the way, Ive got a bunch of guinea pigs, and some rabbits now. I went with dwarf rabbits. they still get 3-4 pounds, so bigger then the guinea pigs, but I prefer the smaller animals. my understanding is I should get roughly the same amount of meat from the same amount of feed despite the smaller size.

You will not get the same amount of meat from a dwarf rabbit as you would a larger meat breed. Good luck with your mini-farm though. :)

[silverseeds]

Well i know dwarves are smaller. Ive read that for the same amount of feed, i will grow the same amount of rabbit meat, but it will be on more rabbits, then if they had been bigger.....

They are the size of my guinea pigs now, and sure seem to have as much meat on them as they do. both have roughly the same feed to meat conversion so i should be good.

I already paired off the guinea pigs, and they are working on some babies. they got immediately to work to.   

You will not get the same amount of meat from a dwarf rabbit as you would a larger meat breed. Good luck with your mini-farm though. :)

[opsec]

Raising guinea pigs as food. I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it first. The waterborne version of the guinea pig would be the muskrat. They are ubiquitous in water environments like slow moving rivers and ponds, even drainage ditches. All you have to do is trap them and people who have tell me that they are better than tenderloin.

[silverseeds]

   One important thing to keep in mind with GPs... If perhaps you get a few as pets with the intent of breeding them should you need them for meat. You HAVE to breed the females by the age of 7 months. (this might be true for rabbits to I dunno) If you do not, then her bones will form wrong and if she then gets pregnant she could have major complications.....

    i think my answer for vitamin c besides table scraps and a few wild greens I can grow real easy, is rosehips. i can give them rose hip tea instead of water... pretty sure that should work out fine. roses are real easy to grow, and Ive got some specially bred for the highest vitamin c content.

   theres lots of other routes to. Im going to expand my set up soon, but so far it sure seems like the GPs are much more at home in their tightish confines. I will still keep some of both animals,(and try to breed a fatter dwarf rabbit from the three varieties I have) but so far its looking real likely the GPs fit my needs better. the GPs seem totally content and happy, in the same space the rabbits look sad. Its bad enough I cant let them have unlimited space, i dont want them depressed to.

[silverseeds]

        It is amazingly easy to breed guinea pigs. the rabbits havent tried to breed as far as I know. The guinea pigs however arent messing around. I have one especially excitable male and i used him to figure out which were males and females, as it can be hard to tell. (I dont like annoying them by digging around in their fur)

          Anyway, I put one cage full of my smaller males. The females I have been switching between the various male cages I have, because it instigates a new round of procreation. I wait a day or half of one and switch them again.....

        I dont know if they can sense pregnancy, but two of the females they stopped trying to mate with. I put one of those in with some rabbits to see if she turns out to be pregnant after all.

        Im not sure what to use for their bedding instead of buying pine shavings Im working it out, but they arent a smelly animal. im going to keep the rabbits, but Im still leaning more towards GPs. Part of the appeal is the extreme ease of breeding. I cant wait to eat one and see if they are as good as everyone says.

[Lady Lilya]

They are certainly smelly indoors.  I had a variety of rodent pets in my childhood, and GPs were up there in stink. 

And yes, they SHOULD know which females are fertile and which are pregnant.  That is what pheromones are for.

[silverseeds]

   Well the first set of babies were born. These are from a mother that was pregnant when i got them. all healthy, all already eating at the food dish with the parents.

    Mine sure dont smell to much. the smell of alfalfa/hay mix that they and the rabbits eat far over powers any other smells in the room. I rather like that smell.

     I think I have an idea on the bedding. Im going to try it tonight actually. Im going to put 2 or so inches of sand in their container, then when its riddled with wastes I will vacuum it out with a shop vac I bought just for them and their organic matter (so it can go into the compost pile easy) then I will take it outside, dump it into a bucket of water and stir it around. I can pour off the organic matter because it will float. the sand will not float. then presumably I can dry the sand out and reuse it indefinitely.