Aflockalypse

Our son has mapped out his apocalyptic survival trail lol he has locations of fruit trees and wild vegetation that is edible, as well as a list of our natural wildlife. While he'd like to travel to my Mammaws farm, as we are on half an acre, we do have gardens and chickens. We are semi-preppers and would be able to stay in place with some traveling. : )

Florida Bullfrog said:

I have not known flagfish to be prolific. They’re a kind of “ditch” fish that are common in roadside ditches and weedy, shallow, woods ponds. I use to turn them loose in my koi ponds and I never saw them reproduce in that setting.

Mosquitofish are the go-to for pond reproduction. They’ll absolutely take over a pond if they don’t have predators present. You can net dozens with random scoops of a net. If I was going to use small minnows as tiny feeder animals, I’d dig a small pond, about like what you’d want for a modest goldfish pond, and fill it with vegetation and mosquitofish.

Speaking of which, some aquatic weeds are excellent livestock forage and will grow at a rate of inches per day in hot weather. We have an introduced grass here called hydrilla that is very healthy for animals to eat and grows so fast you have to remove large clumps of it weekly out of a small pond to keep it from choking the pond out. Should be a good forage for chicken coops. Very high in calcium.

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I will probably use bait minnows for my pond, whatever helps eat mosquito larvae that's easily accessible and breeds well, and coldwater hardy. The jury is still out for the stock tank, besides crawdads or crabs.

Florida Bullfrog said:

Concerning pond fish for human consumption, I have 2 6/10 acre ponds. One is stocked only with largemouth bass, bluegill, and mosquitofish. The other is the same but also mixed with various woods and trash fish such as warmouth, mudfish, and chain pickerel. Those fish access the pond in periods of high water where the pond connects to feeder creeks.

The strict bass/bream pond produces an almost infinite amount of fish for eating. Even the bass reproduce as such a high rate I have to constantly catch out the smaller, eating-sized ones. The larger ones are released for sport and as the spawners.

The pond mixed with trash fish is of low fish productivity. It also gets hit by woods predators a lot such as otters. I intend to introduce bullhead catfish to see how they fare under the constant predation.

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That sounds incredible! You guys and your vast properties are inspiring. I could catch bluegill and sunfish or crappie, but they can be a tad feisty for a smaller environment.

AGeese said:

I will probably use bait minnows for my pond, whatever helps eat mosquito larvae that's easily accessible and breeds well, and coldwater hardy. The jury is still out for the stock tank, besides crawdads or crabs.

That sounds incredible! You guys and your vast properties are inspiring. I could catch bluegill and sunfish or crappie, but they can be a tad feisty for a smaller environment.

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How large are the stock tanks? If they’re huge, you’re going to want a major filtration system for them to stock it in any levels that would be useful.

You mentioned white cloud mountain minnows and flagfish. Are you into the aquarium hobby? If so, you’ll know filtration.

A lot of people in Florida keep tilapia in stock tanks and ponds for food. I have not raised them. They’re a cichlid from Africa. There’s a lot of literature out there on raising them for aquaponics. They may be an option for you. Blue tilapia is the most commonly kept species in Florida. They are also naturalized here.

Florida Bullfrog said:

How large are the stock tanks? If they’re huge, you’re going to want a major filtration system for them to stock it in any levels that would be useful.

You mentioned white cloud mountain minnows and flagfish. Are you into the aquarium hobby? If so, you’ll know filtration.

A lot of people in Florida keep tilapia in stock tanks and ponds for food. I have not raised them. They’re a cichlid from Africa. There’s a lot of literature out there on raising them for aquaponics. They may be an option for you. Blue tilapia is the most commonly kept species in Florida. They are also naturalized here.

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Yes I've done the aquarium thing in the past.

I just have a small one right now. I have thought about tilapia, I'd like to do some research on the types of native fish that might be good for it so if my fish population crashes after things run wild, I'll be able to locate a new source.

But bait fish are all over the place so definitely the easiest to get.

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I would create an oasis. This is a plot with various types of plants growing that would offer sustainability. Nut trees, for instance. Or, my preference, Hazelnut bushes. They start producing nuts much sooner than trees and are suitable for my climate. A nice patch of Jerusalem artichokes that appear to be simply a garden of tall flowers. Also sunflowers. Various berries. Pretty much a lovely landscaped home with plants that can do well with little to no care

I currently have high bush cranberries at the front of the house to help keep the dust down from the dirt road. I have a pond with fish, I have Jerusalem artichokes and sunflowers. There are some other things. Also, a freezer full of meat (on sale meat) because we sometimes are snowed in.

Penpal said:

I would create an oasis. This is a plot with various types of plants growing that would offer sustainability. Nut trees, for instance. Or, my preference, Hazelnut bushes. They start producing nuts much sooner than trees and are suitable for my climate. A nice patch of Jerusalem artichokes that appear to be simply a garden of tall flowers. Also sunflowers. Various berries. Pretty much a lovely landscaped home with plants that can do well with little to no care

I currently have high bush cranberries at the front of the house to help keep the dust down from the dirt road. I have a pond with fish, I have Jerusalem artichokes and sunflowers. There are some other things. Also, a freezer full of meat (on sale meat) because we sometimes are snowed in.

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I have Yews I'm letting grow tall to screen the gravel dust. Also planting arbs, junipers, and yews around the perimeter as both a wind and dust break.

*Need to get some pics up, just washed off portable dog pens. Now I'm thinking about logistics of bugging out with flock, and how much more tricky it would be rounding everyone up and where to put them. Then what do I do with the geese...? Pickup truck is on the list.

Penpal said:

Or, my preference, Hazelnut bushes. They start producing nuts much sooner than trees and are suitable for my climate.

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I had two. Japanese Beetles killed them. JBs don't go after the walnuts here.

We'd stay put. Quite a bit of wild food to forage, two gardens, a river to fish in, small game, and white tail deer. Wood for heat when needed.

I'd be more worried about the human predators who might come calling.

For survival purposes, I just want to add, make sure the fish you choose can make it through your winters without added heat. We've lost guppies here in central Florida before. One winter they were fine, the next year was colder so they were all gone.

And make sure you like the way they taste, if you could potentially be eating them for every meal! Or good for birds. I wonder if the little bones of tiny fish build up in a chicken, or if some have an easier bone situation

That reminds me...
One day I opened a big can of salmon to make a recipe for my cat.
I tipped the contents in a bowl and was getting rid of excess skin that I was surprised to find in there. *For reference, I don't eat fish products, so what did I know. And I was half holding my breath against the awful smell.

Out from under one of the skins these things were dropping down. They were rattling and rolling all over the cutting board, dropping and rolling across the floor. It was the worst sound I've ever heard!
They were rolly polly bones! Probably from the spine I guess.
My belly was rolling worse than the sound, pretty sure my face was green.
I thought I could soldier through... so after I chased around the awful rolling things and got them cleaned up, I went back for another scoop of skin, out out rolled more. I can still hear that awful sound... like rattling hollow marbles.

SourRoses, you can feed those bones to your cat. Or your chickens. Good source of calcium and other bone building ingredients.

The fish in our pond are catfish and bluegill mostly. Too bad that I am allergic to both.