Self-Reliance: How do you?
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RafterW said in Self-Reliance: How do you?:
Tex_77 You’d just “cook my books” which probably wouldn’t be such a bad idea!
As any good accountant will tell you, you need to keep as many extra sets of books as is required to keep your business profitable. lol
processhead Correct the real set, the set for the bank, and the set for the IRS.
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For anyone interested, here are my numbers on the chickens. Some of the final stats on total feed consumed and feed per bird consumed are estimates at this time but should come in pretty close:

Estimated Feed Conversion Ratio (live weight, processed weight): 3.09:1, 4.29:1
Estimated gross carcass percentage: 0.72%If these numbers do hold true, this will be a very high performing group, compared to the breed standard.
RafterW That is good notes on your process. I raised chickens one year with a friend, it was a long time ago but we were lucky, we got corn screenings from grain driers in the area. Farmers were happy to let us come in and scoop them up.
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For anyone interested, here are my numbers on the chickens. Some of the final stats on total feed consumed and feed per bird consumed are estimates at this time but should come in pretty close:

Estimated Feed Conversion Ratio (live weight, processed weight): 3.09:1, 4.29:1
Estimated gross carcass percentage: 0.72%If these numbers do hold true, this will be a very high performing group, compared to the breed standard.
RafterW no where close to your adventure but I got 10 new soon to be laying hens.
my other hens are getting old. Soon to be noodle soup and broth. -
RafterW no where close to your adventure but I got 10 new soon to be laying hens.
my other hens are getting old. Soon to be noodle soup and broth.cdavis A number of you are bypassing the current chicken issues and going right to the source yourselves. I applaud all of you for that effort.
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RafterW no where close to your adventure but I got 10 new soon to be laying hens.
my other hens are getting old. Soon to be noodle soup and broth.cdavis I foresee eggs in the near future.
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RafterW no where close to your adventure but I got 10 new soon to be laying hens.
my other hens are getting old. Soon to be noodle soup and broth.cdavis You are smart keeping them in that nice fenced area. We have had up to about 30 over the years, but now down to only three & certainly not the production we used to see. We have a good run around the hen house, but like to let them free range too & that is where the problems start. I would like to get another flock of guinea hens too, but need to figure out how to get critter control at 110%.
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cdavis You are smart keeping them in that nice fenced area. We have had up to about 30 over the years, but now down to only three & certainly not the production we used to see. We have a good run around the hen house, but like to let them free range too & that is where the problems start. I would like to get another flock of guinea hens too, but need to figure out how to get critter control at 110%.
calldoctoday you need to know about my friend Robert C Baker who invented chicken fingers and never made a nickel as he published the process for everyone to use.
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cdavis You are smart keeping them in that nice fenced area. We have had up to about 30 over the years, but now down to only three & certainly not the production we used to see. We have a good run around the hen house, but like to let them free range too & that is where the problems start. I would like to get another flock of guinea hens too, but need to figure out how to get critter control at 110%.
calldoctoday these will free range in another week or so. I have 3 dogs that keep the varmints away and a big red rooster
with a nice set of spurs to keep the dogs off of the chickens
. 
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calldoctoday these will free range in another week or so. I have 3 dogs that keep the varmints away and a big red rooster
with a nice set of spurs to keep the dogs off of the chickens
. 
cdavis That rooster does have some spurs, dogs better stay away.
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calldoctoday these will free range in another week or so. I have 3 dogs that keep the varmints away and a big red rooster
with a nice set of spurs to keep the dogs off of the chickens
. 
cdavis I always thought the healers would be able to keep em all away, guess I did not have enough of them. Have some of those Cubalaya roosters too, some of them have had some darn right wicked spurs.
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bocephus it didn’t take him long to teach the dogs to take a wide path around his hens. Now they all just get along.
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bocephus it didn’t take him long to teach the dogs to take a wide path around his hens. Now they all just get along.
cdavis What did you do? Stick a rooster right out in front of the fence?
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zbigjeff you just have to have one big enough and mean enough. They will always protect their hens.
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