S4 E18 Podcast - A Sustainable Flock

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:07:05 Intro Music

00:00:07:12 - 00:00:30:23

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Coop with Meyer Hatchery, where we talk all things poultry in hopes of educating chicken keepers and inspiring future flock owners. I'm Lauren. today we have a guest on the podcast. This is Kelsey, one of Meyer Hatcheries employees. Welcome to the Coop, Kelsey. 













Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

00:00:30:25 - 00:00:53:20
Unknown
Yeah, well, we're excited to have you. do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do there? and like a brief overview of their poultry journey? Sure. Yeah, I'd be happy to. So I started working from our hatchery just this year. I work on the customer service team, so you may have seen me either, an email chat or even on the phone.

00:00:53:21 - 00:01:18:04
Unknown
We probably talked before. I've had, chickens for on and off for many years, but, my recent flock I started a few years ago after moving to the Ozarks with a little bit of land. I've got some wooded land up here, so I have chickens. I also added, guinea fowl, and ducks as well. So I'm kind of expanding my, my, poultry flock a little bit here.

00:01:18:04 - 00:01:23:01
Unknown
So I'm still a little new to those birds, but, I, I love them all.

00:01:23:01 - 00:01:42:19
Unknown
So today we're going to be talking a little bit about a sustainable flock. and why sustainability matters. so I'll start with kind of the, by definition, sustainable means to be able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.

00:01:42:25 - 00:02:14:18
Unknown
So for a poultry flock, that typically means that you can produce your own poultry, and continue on your lines without having to kind of outsource, poultry from somewhere else. So for our hatchery, obviously we like our customers to outsource from us. but also from a homesteading perspective, we do understand how important it is for someone to be able to have a sustainable flock as well.

00:02:14:20 - 00:02:46:04
Unknown
and, so the first step in keeping a sustainable flock would be that you would need a rooster. Kelsey, do you have any expenses for other roosters? yes, I do actually. I've every chicken flock I've had. I've always had roosters as well. I would say most of the experiences have been positive. I know there's some stories out there where they can be aggressive or difficult and yes, that can happen, but I feel like I've been fairly lucky.

00:02:46:07 - 00:03:07:10
Unknown
I do, keep my flock somewhat as a dual purpose, so I, any extra roosters we do use to feed our family? so that's part of our, like, a sustainable city here, with our flock. but, yeah, I definitely love having the roosters. I think that they keep an eye on the sky. They watch out for my hens.

00:03:07:12 - 00:03:20:00
Unknown
I even have a couple that are, really great with, the chicks as well. If they find a little food, they make that tidbit sound. They call them over. So I have overall had a really good experience with roosters.

00:03:20:02 - 00:03:43:05
Unknown
I've had pretty positive experiences as well. that same thing that you said, where they kind of keep an eye on the sky and might not round everybody up, even when it's raining. They like run to cover for screaming for everybody to follow. And I think they definitely, even beyond the sustainability of it, just give hens a little bit of reassurance.

00:03:43:08 - 00:04:10:06
Unknown
so I definitely like that keeping roosters. and here at Meyer Hatchery, we offer the homestead helper program, which, helps you to create a sustainable flock. But what it is, is we send one free rooster with your order only if you request the homestead helper. So you don't just automatically get one. our birds are sexed, so typically there's not a random rooster in your order.

00:04:10:09 - 00:04:30:08
Unknown
but you can opt in on the homestead helper program and receive a rooster. Kelsey, have you ever had a homestead helper added to your order? I haven't, no, I haven't actually, but maybe one day in the future. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's a great program. I think it's it's really wonderful. I think it's nice for when you.

00:04:30:14 - 00:04:54:14
Unknown
You don't have to make the choice. I had one added to my order this past April, and it's, Rhode Island. Right. And it was just I didn't have to make a choice. And we have our rooster being raised with those chicks, which I like. so as we're building your sustainable flock, part of, you know, you have the rooster.

00:04:54:14 - 00:05:19:11
Unknown
So you know that your eggs are fertile. and then you would need to hatch your eggs. so you can hatch eggs using a birdy hen or an incubator. Kelsey, do you want to talk a little bit about kind of your advice or some of your experience hatching eggs? Yeah, definitely. So, in my earlier years of raising chickens, I had always hatched eggs in an incubator.

00:05:19:12 - 00:05:47:01
Unknown
It wasn't until the last couple of years that I allowed, one of my pretty hens to incubate the eggs. I've actually done both. I've. I've given pretty hens chicks, but I've also let them, hatch the eggs themselves. having a hen is obviously the probably the, the lowest tech, you know, easiest option, low input. if you do have an incubator, though, it does provide a better controlled environment to, think about your eggs, which is and it's also kind of fun to have that in the house, too.

00:05:47:04 - 00:06:04:08
Unknown
so if you are using an incubator, I guess over the years, the few things I've learned that I would recommend, first and foremost, always calibrate your incubator, even if you've used it in the past. Things can happen. Things can change. I know that's happened with one of mine where I've actually had to adjust the temperature.

00:06:04:10 - 00:06:27:09
Unknown
I usually, I check it with, like, a glass thermometer. I find those are fairly accurate, and you can find them relatively inexpensively. Some of them are even lab quality. So you're. No you're you're getting something that's fairly accurate. you can add that to your incubator just to double check the temperature. Most incubators are going to have an option for you to adjust the thermostat accordingly.

00:06:27:12 - 00:06:46:10
Unknown
I also I've recently started using like a wi-fi-enabled, thermometer in there so that I can check it on my phone. so that way. Hi, tech. Yeah, we're a little bit that way around here. but it's really nice just because I can check the thermometer or the thermostat at any point and even will track records.

00:06:46:10 - 00:07:06:18
Unknown
So I can see if there was a heat spike or any kind of issue like that. So it's nice to have that little extra reassurance. not needed, but it's fun. and I would say too, in that same thread, having a backup plan for if you have a power outage is really important. For the most part, if your power goes out.

00:07:06:21 - 00:07:23:14
Unknown
if it's a short power outage, it's probably not going to be an issue in nature. You know, the hand's going to leave the nest at some point. The eggs don't always have to be at that same temperature. but there's some things you can have as a backup plan, whether it's a generator, backup battery, or even just getting some blankets.

00:07:23:14 - 00:07:46:01
Unknown
Something to keep the heat in that, incubator while you're without power. So I always make sure I have that because we live remotely, and sometimes we have power outages. Yeah, that makes sense to me. And I'm, like, fascinated by your Wi-Fi thermometer on your phone. You can get them on Amazon or there's a bunch of different ways you can, kind of set that up.

00:07:46:01 - 00:08:08:29
Unknown
I think it's, it's just fun to have. Yeah, yeah. That's cool. My, incubator. We just hatched out some guinea eggs, and it was like, the, like, humidity was no longer measuring on it, so I had to go get a hydrometer, but it it was not that fancy. But I kind of like, had that thought in the back of my head though, like, I wish I could just see it.

00:08:08:29 - 00:08:38:01
Unknown
So I love that that's an option. so we were talking a little bit about broody hens there. so I've had a little bit of experience hatching with birds as well. we had a coach in that we let her smile and she was great at hatching, was a great mom, raised those babies until they were bigger than she was.

00:08:38:04 - 00:09:02:16
Unknown
and definitely did awesome. But I've also had some that lost babies. Just we would find the baby out randomly in the yard and weren't as great. So there's definitely a little bit of risk in whether you're giving them chicks or letting them hatch them out. we've had some that will leave the nest. They'll stay on the nest for three days and then leave it for a full day and things too.

00:09:02:16 - 00:09:30:12
Unknown
So there's definitely some, you know, pros and cons to like, you're saying the incubator is definitely a more stable environment. have you ever or I guess, what has your favorite, broody experience been? I would say, well, I might have a couple. I think what's really intrigued me the most is that I had some hens that were, they've raised their own chicks before.

00:09:30:16 - 00:09:46:23
Unknown
I knew they were good mothers. I wanted to add guineas to my flock. and I actually had. I had an order kits, and, you know, I had the brooder all set up, but I had a hen that was broody, and I knew she was a good broody. And I thought, well, let's just try it. And I end up giving those kits, to her.

00:09:46:23 - 00:10:02:12
Unknown
She took them. She adopted them. No problem. In fact, they. I'll still see them hanging out together. Free ranging. I had a guinea hatch. Some of their own eggs or some of their own kits this year or two. And that that mother hen, she's hanging out with them. So I feel like they, you know, they remember each other.

00:10:02:12 - 00:10:24:12
Unknown
I thought it was kind of cool that a hen would just take in the guineas like they're her own. That's what it was. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. So I like that mixed species. my my Guineans have actually done really well. I had in their own clutches out. and the mom and dad will both work together to raise the babies, which is fun to watch.

00:10:24:14 - 00:10:51:12
Unknown
I do always wear them because they never take somewhere safe to sit on a clutch, or to have their babies sleep at night. They, like, take them up somewhere where I'm like, you are going to get eaten. But yeah, they're definitely different from chickens. They're a little more risk taking. I've learned that unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. so some broody breeds and I don't know, Kelsey, whether you have experience with any of these should chime in.

00:10:51:12 - 00:11:12:10
Unknown
If you do. but like I mentioned, I have used a coach in before. Those are kind of notoriously broody. so keys are definitely another one of those notoriously broody. Sometimes even just choosing one of these breeds and keeping it in your flock, knowing that it will go ready to hatch out chicks in the spring and things for you.

00:11:12:13 - 00:11:42:03
Unknown
I actually didn't know. But typically American Eggs are another one that I wouldn't have guessed might go broody. I actually had one go broody this year, and I was like, wow, I didn't know that you went broody. But they do. and Morans and Orpington and also Wyandotte. are kind of the top broody breeds. And the nice thing about the Orpington tends to they're a larger breed, so you could really fit a lot of eggs under there.

00:11:42:03 - 00:12:08:07
Unknown
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Gets you with those. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. And you're like, well we might lose some and we might something else. So we'll just stick them all under there. Like you have a whole bunch of chickens, right? so I know that you talked a little bit about kind of keeping a dual purpose flock. and so one of the positives of keeping a sustainable flock would be that dual purpose.

00:12:08:13 - 00:12:36:22
Unknown
So, you know, that you can raise your own chicks for me and to make more laying hens. do you have a favorite dual purpose breed? I would say over the years or for, you know, experiencing different breeds, if you're, if you're interested in having, like, a decent meat bird, you know, it's not going to be a Cornish, but I would say, the Delawares are a really good option.

00:12:36:24 - 00:12:54:00
Unknown
I personally have, you know, raised those in the past. I like those a breed that I haven't personally raised, but I'm interested in would be Buckeyes. I know that those are, you know, revered as a really good dual purpose. So I would say one of those heavier, egg laying breeds would be, one of your best options.

00:12:54:00 - 00:13:16:29
Unknown
Definitely. And they are a heritage breed, too, which is nice. Yeah. Yeah, I've definitely heard that about the Buckeyes. them being a good kind of almost like a delicacy in meat wise. So a good dual purpose breed. But any of those big breeds, like you said, like the Orpington, or even the Morans kind of can be a decent job purpose.

00:13:17:01 - 00:13:40:19
Unknown
bird, did you have anything else, sustainability wise, that you wanted to add in here? As we're talking about keeping a sustainable flock. I guess I would add, you know, some other things that you can do and which I'm sure a lot of people already know as they get started with chickens, but they're really great to help with any kitchen scraps you have extra food.

00:13:40:19 - 00:13:59:16
Unknown
That's a way of reusing that to, you know, supplement your fox feed. and if you garden, you can even grow some vegetables for your chickens, too. That's something that I'd like to get better at gardening. and having a little bit more to provide them over the winter because it gets, you know, it's cold, there's not as much bulk because it's a little boring.

00:13:59:16 - 00:14:29:27
Unknown
So I'd like to have more for them to eat fresh. So that's maybe one of my sustainability goals that I have for myself. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that extends, you know, beyond the chickens kind of that sustain in your flock. And so things like the garden or, you know, if you were trying to harvest some mealworms or the black soldier or fly a lot of us and then that definitely some supplemental feed there.

00:14:29:27 - 00:14:47:26
Unknown
I feel like feed is one of those things that you have to think about when having chickens, because you don't realize kind of how expensive it truly is to get to each dozen eggs and tell you are in the middle of winter, and they're not even laying in your free time anyway. Yeah, it's good to plan ahead for that.

00:14:47:28 - 00:15:16:18
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. Well, we hope that maybe our listeners learned something new today. or maybe you've considered having a sustainable flock, and now you're ready to take the dive into a rooster. and thank you for listening to the coop. be sure to subscribe and please drop us a review. did you know that you can save $5 off your next Meyer Hatchery purchase over $50?

00:15:16:20 - 00:15:43:25
Unknown
Enter the coupon code the coop. No spaces there at checkout. and it'll take that $5 off of any $50 or more purchase. we would love to hear your thoughts. And if you have any ideas of topics or anything you would like to hear on the coop, please send an email to podcast at Meyer Hatch. Rico. We're looking forward to hearing from you another episode.

00:15:43:25 - 00:15:49:26
Unknown
And because we have chickens. Thanks for being here today, Kelsey. Yeah, thank you for having me.