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Farming Fowl Reptiles Insects and Fungi

  1. Farming: Fowl, Reptiles, Insects and Fungi

**Small-scale and unconventional farming** covers the many food, fibre, pollination, pest-control, and composting species a homestead can raise beyond the familiar chicken, cow, and pig. This article follows a 2016 homestead survey by **marsresident** that catalogued farmable birds and ratites, reptiles and amphibians, an extensive range of **beneficial and edible insects**, and cultivated **fungi**, with care requirements for many[1]. It opens a new **homestead / food-sovereignty / ethnobotany** shelf in the Library.

This is a **neutral, educational** reference to husbandry, entomophagy (insect-eating), and cultivation practice at an ethnographic/homestead level. It is **not** a controlled-substance cultivation guide (see § Scope note), and keeping any live animal responsibly is subject to local law, permits, and welfare standards.

Summary

The survey's premise is that far more creatures are farmable than most people assume, and that many serve **multiple roles** — food, pest control, pollination, composting, or fibre/dye. It proceeds from familiar poultry outward to ratites, then reptiles and amphibians, then a long insect catalogue (split into beneficial predators/pollinators, edible species, decomposers, and the curious ant-associated insects), and closes with mushroom cultivation[2].

Fowl and ratites

The poultry section notes that chicken eggs incubate readily under a heat lamp, and surveys breeds beyond the common hen: **Guinea fowl** (small eggs, and natural "alarms"), **Featherfoot**, **Tophat/Polish**, **Cochin**, the tall **Malay**, the large **Brahma**, and the meat-type **Cornish game** chickens. It extends to **ducks** (Cayuga, Indian Runner), **geese and swans**, **turkeys**, **quail**, **pheasant**, **peafowl**, and **doves**, and then to the large flightless **ratites** — **ostrich, rhea, and emu** — raised similarly from eggs[3]. Seasonality of egg supply is noted. (The Library omits the specific hatchery vendor links in the original.)

Reptiles and amphibians

The survey notes that **alligators and crocodilians** can be raised (with **caiman** and **dwarf caiman** staying smaller), along with a range of **lizards, frogs, and toads** — bearded dragons, chameleons, tree frogs, and larger toads. Among the toads it lists is *Bufo alvarius* (the Sonoran Desert toad) and its cousin the cane toad; the source treats these purely as farm/collection stock, and this article follows suit, describing them only as animals a keeper might raise. Keeping reptiles and amphibians carries real legal and welfare constraints, and some listed species are invasive or regulated in various jurisdictions[4].

Beneficial insects: pest control and pollination

The largest section is an integrated-pest-management and pollination catalogue — the kind of "beneficial bug" toolkit sold to organic growers. Representative entries, with their role:

- **Aphids** and **ants** — kept mainly as *feeder* insects for other species (the essay notes "dairying ants" that farm aphids for honeydew), with simple enclosure/temperature notes.

- **Bees and bumblebees** — pollination and honey; **hoverflies** — precise pollinators attracted by particular flowers (Queen Anne's lace, alyssum, calendula, and others).

- Predators and parasitoids that control specific pests: **ladybugs** and **green lacewings** (aphids/mites), **praying mantises** (general), **assassin bugs** (roaches/bedbugs), **spined soldier bugs** (broad), **mealybug destroyers**, **Encarsia formosa** (whiteflies), **Orius** (thrips/mites), **damselflies/dragonflies** (mosquitoes), the predatory mites **Phytoseiulus persimilis** and **Hypoaspis/Stratiolaelaps** (spider mites, fungus gnats), and the parasitoid wasps **Ichneumon**, **Trichogramma**, and **Aphidius colemani**[5]. **Butterflies** are noted as pollinators raised from caterpillars on specific host plants (e.g. milkweed for monarchs).

Edible insects and decomposers

The survey doubles as an **entomophagy** and composting reference[6]:

- **Crickets, mealworms, and brown earthworms** — used as animal feed and, increasingly, human food (earthworms noted as needing a cornmeal purge before eating).

- Traditional human food insects worldwide: **cicadas, locusts, katydids** (the last two noted as biblically sanctioned foods), **hornworms** (said to taste of shrimp), **longhorn-beetle larvae** (described as the most-eaten insect globally), **mopane/emperor-moth larvae**, **diving beetles and water scorpions** (prized in parts of Asia), **scorpions and tarantulas**, and **tiger beetles**.

- **Decomposers**: **red worms** and **black soldier fly** larvae for composting (soldier-fly larvae can process meat and reduce odour), and **dung beetles**, **rhinoceros/stag beetles** for plant and wood matter.

- **Fibre and dye insects**: **silkworms** (silk, on mulberry) and **cochineal** (crimson dye, on prickly-pear cactus).

A final curiosity set catalogues the **ant-associated insects** — antlions, ant-mimicking snails, beetles, caterpillars, and flies that exploit ant colonies by chemical mimicry — presented as natural-history interest.

Fungiculture

The closing section covers **log/plug cultivation** of edible and medicinal mushrooms: drilling holes in the appropriate wood and inserting spawn "plugs," with each species preferring a particular wood. The mushrooms named are all **culinary or medicinal** — **Chicken of the Woods, Shiitake, Oyster, Lion's Mane (*Hericium*), Maitake (Hen of the Woods), Reishi, and Fairy Ring** — with no psychoactive species and no extraction content[7].

Scope note

This article is homestead and food-sovereignty reference. The source's fungiculture section covers only culinary and medicinal mushrooms; it contains no psilocybin-mushroom cultivation, and none is added here. Consistent with the Library's scope, any cultivation of controlled fungi would be a matter of **legal status only**, not a how-to — and does not arise from this source. Animal husbandry described here is general and ethnographic; it is not a substitute for species-specific care guidance, and local law, permits, and welfare standards govern keeping any live animal.

Where this sits in the corpus

This opens the Library's **homestead / food-sovereignty / ethnobotany** shelf, complementing the plant and seed material referenced across the corpus and the pilgrimage-and-trade-goods survey in Routes for Backpacking Pilgrimages. Its integrated-pest-management and entomophagy content is practical husbandry; its natural-history sections connect to the deep human-and-nature story in Humanity — Deep Time and the Human Story.

Sources

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

Coverage

This article faithfully captures the substance of the 2016 marsresident post "Farming: Birds (Fowl), Reptiles, Insects & Fungi" — the poultry and ratite breeds, the reptiles/amphibians, the large beneficial-insect (IPM/pollination) catalogue, the entomophagy and decomposer/fibre/dye insects, the ant-associated curiosities, and the edible/medicinal log-and-plug fungiculture. Attribution to the author and Steem source is preserved. The many hatchery/vendor and image links in the original are omitted; general husbandry/care notes are kept at an ethnographic level. Bufo alvarius and its cane-toad cousin are described strictly as farm/collection stock, matching the source, with no psychoactive or extraction content; the fungi section contains only culinary/medicinal species (no psilocybin), and a scope note records that any controlled-fungi cultivation would be legal-status reference only. A welfare/legal caveat and the homestead-shelf framing are added. Neutral, educational tone.

References

  1. https://steemit.com/@marsresident/farming-birds-fowl-reptiles-insects-and-fungi
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poultry_farming
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratite
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpetoculture
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneficial_insects
  6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy
  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungiculture

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