# need help with picking small live stock



## squshnut (Sep 5, 2011)

I just thinned out my rabbits and have the cages left here. I am looking for something to raise in them. We live in town so has to be quiet.
Preferably some thing that reproduces it self.
I know I am asking alot. I have chickens but we are not allowed a rooster, Which is a bummer.
Any suggestions appreciated. 
I cann't find any meat pigeons around here , I am having the same problem with them I had with rabbits, every one has show rabbits and I got tired of only getting 2-3 bunnies per litter. i am afraid the same thing will happen if I get show anything.
I've looked at quails but one site said the male crows all night during breeding season.


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## eddy_dvyvan (May 8, 2012)

I really dont think you can beat rabbits for food production in your situation. Maybe find a better breed that suits food production instead of show?.

Or maybe just get a rooster anyways and give your neighbours some eggs now and then to keep them happy?. But i dont think a rabbit cage will be of use to chickens/roosters. Happy animals are productive animals.

Good luck


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

Cats or rats could be raised for meat in the same cages.


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## GroovyMike (Feb 25, 2010)

I agree. Quiet = rabbits. Next choice is chickens. Other than that teh only thing that comes to mind is bees.


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## Cud579 (Apr 26, 2010)

Rabbits- I would stay away from the show rabbits and get a good new zealand trio. You will find yourself with 8 to 10 rabbits on average per litter.


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## Kattscrowd (May 28, 2013)

I do have quails and because of my hubby's work schedule, school schedule, farm schedule.. life schedule (I'm disabled and really feel like I don't contribute much to the homestead, but he keeps me around  and for that I'm very thankful! Anyhow.. we do have quail.. and for the moment they are hanging out in our bathroom with a couple of brooders of chicks. Quite frankly they don't make that much noise. I have 8. I'm getting tons upon tons of eggs (I have 5 female quail and 3 male) and I often get 7 eggs a day, it averages out to 11 every 2 days. They aren't that noisy at all. I'm incubating quail left and right and have a hatch about to happen in a day or so. They're prolific little things. And cute! But they don't have much meat on them imho. 
We do have a homestead type farm and I think this fall after all the craziness of summer (that's when the disease I live with really fusses) we're going to go ahead and work on rabbits. We are looking at meat rabbits, in particular new zealands, because of their size and they're meat rabbits. I don't like the taste of wild rabbit (hubby and son think I'm nuts, but that's just me, it tastes like organ meat to me, but farm raised isn't as bad)
If you're waiting a bunch of little critters that really do work for their money, it is quail. I am not certain about them hatching themselves, but invest in a cheap little giant incubator and you'll be fine, just turn the eggs twice a day and it's no big deal. And baby quail are absolutely adorable .. look like little brown marbles scurrying around. I have courtinex quail and like I said mine are fairly quiet..but I also listen to a 10 yr old all day and we do have a barnyard full of chickens (with a ton of roosters.. it's time to do a roo-kill and put the in freezer camp!), geese, guineas, and goats... so quiet is a relative term. I can sleep with them in the next room though without a problem. 
HTH 
Katt in the wilds of western AR


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## GrinnanBarrett (Aug 31, 2012)

I have raised both chickens and rabbits. I prefer Chickens all day long. I understand the constraints you are under living within a city. GB


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## redhorse (Dec 27, 2012)

guinea pigs! They are pretty low maintenence critters. Just keep up their vitamin C. They are raised for meat in their home country. They chatter quite a bit, but it is not something the neighbors would hear.


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

Why don't you try raising Chinchillas, not good for food but their fur brings a pretty hefty pile of cold hard cash


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## Momturtle (Nov 2, 2009)

Chinchillas are to good for food! Not very big but neither is a quail. I do love the quail though and if you don't want to incubate them, keep some silkie bantam hens. When they start setting, you can take the babies as they hatch and replace them with more eggs. We had a hen that hatched six batches of chicks one time and they can sit on a lot of quail eggs. You have have to make sure she has plenty of high quality food . . . they will sit themselves to death if you are not careful.


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