June 6, 2023
Cracking the Poultry Keeping Code: Expert Tips for Starting Your Own Flock
Thinking about raising chickens? Join hosts Rip Stalvey and John Gunterman as they delve into the essentials of starting your own poultry flock. In this episode, they discuss setting clear goals, choosing the right breeds for egg production, meat, or dual-purpose, and understanding how your geographic location influences breed selection.
Learn about the significance of feather types in various climates, the risks associated with heat stress, and the invaluable "rule of ten" for maintaining a healthy flock. Whether you're a novice or looking to expand your poultry knowledge, this episode offers practical advice to ensure your poultry-keeping venture is both enjoyable and successful.
#PoultryKeeping #BackyardChickens #ChickenFarming #EggProduction #DualPurposeBreeds #PoultryBreedSelection #HeatStressPrevention #PoultryManagement #StartingAChickenFlock #Homesteading
You can email us at - poultrykeeperspodcast@gmail.com
Join our Facebook Groups:
Poultry Keepers Podcast -
https://www.facebook.com/groups/907679597724837
Poultry Keepers 360 - - https://www.facebook.com/groups/354973752688125
Poultry Breeders Nutrition - https://www.facebook.com/groups/4908798409211973
Check out the Poultry Kepers Podcast YouTube Channel -
https://www.youtube.com/@PoultryKeepersPodcast/featured
00:00 - Considerations for Keeping Poultry
14:35 - Geographical Considerations for Poultry Keeping
WEBVTT
00:00:00.501 --> 00:00:05.192
If you're thinking of keeping poultry but don't know where to start, coming up will share some things for you to consider.
00:00:15.939 --> 00:00:20.352
Before you make the plunge, we want to give you some things to think about now.
00:00:20.352 --> 00:00:29.913
I know it's happened to me I don't I'm not going to tell you how many times But I go into the feed store and they got all these tubs of baby chicks or brooders full of baby chicks.
00:00:29.913 --> 00:00:32.886
And man, they are hard to resist.
00:00:32.886 --> 00:00:40.691
But please do so, because You really need to think through this whole poultry keeping hobby before you jump into it.
00:00:40.691 --> 00:00:44.061
For example, set your goals.
00:00:44.061 --> 00:00:46.689
What, what do you want your birds to do for you?
00:00:46.689 --> 00:00:48.051
Why are you keeping poultry?
00:00:48.051 --> 00:00:50.060
Are you wanting them for eggs?
00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:52.286
And you know how many?
00:00:52.286 --> 00:00:54.832
what birds would you need to have to feed to your family?
00:00:54.832 --> 00:01:03.872
Well, for a family of four, you want about Four, maybe five females, and that will give you plenty of eggs and some extras to share with friends and family.
00:01:03.872 --> 00:01:06.387
Do you want to raise birds from meat?
00:01:06.387 --> 00:01:11.051
You need to know how many times a week does your family eat chicken?
00:01:11.051 --> 00:01:16.920
Two or three times a week, or maybe once a week, or maybe once every two weeks?
00:01:17.703 --> 00:01:18.808
So what about both?
00:01:18.808 --> 00:01:20.415
can you have both?
00:01:20.998 --> 00:01:21.560
What about both?
00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:25.450
Yeah, there's birds that will do both, and, and we call those dual purpose breeds.
00:01:25.450 --> 00:01:33.549
They lay a good number of eggs, although They're not as productive as your egg layers That are bred specifically for that.
00:01:33.549 --> 00:01:43.766
They also have bigger bodies than your normal egg layers, like leagans, and that will give you a reasonable amount of meat When you process them particularly the male.
00:01:44.027 --> 00:01:46.992
Does that make them harder to raise or less efficient?
00:01:47.820 --> 00:01:49.427
Doesn't make them harder to raise.
00:01:49.427 --> 00:01:57.493
It will make them less efficient than your egg laying breed just because their bodies are larger.
00:01:57.493 --> 00:02:03.228
You can look at egg layers and pick them out because they're typically smaller body.
00:02:03.228 --> 00:02:05.694
Their bodies are more rectangular in shape.
00:02:05.694 --> 00:02:16.395
Dual purpose breeds Have larger bodies and it's starting to become a more box-like shape, more square, and then you get down into your meat breeds.
00:02:16.395 --> 00:02:21.468
Those birds have Very square bodies and they're very heavy.
00:02:21.468 --> 00:02:26.407
So the bigger the body cinder block on legs, exactly right.
00:02:26.407 --> 00:02:29.234
The bigger the body, the more it's gonna cost you to feed them.
00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:30.444
Just bear sad in mind.
00:02:30.444 --> 00:02:33.199
Maybe you want to keep exhibition birds.
00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:47.006
Yeah, you've maybe been to a poultry show at your county fair, your state fair, and you were really impressed with a whole variety of Breeds and different color varieties And it's really is an impressive thing.
00:02:47.006 --> 00:02:53.467
It's a hobby that I've been involved in since I was About 18, 19 years old.
00:02:53.467 --> 00:02:55.239
It's a lot of fun.
00:02:55.239 --> 00:03:03.063
It is a lot of fun but it is a lot of work because one of the things to remember right off top There's what I call the rule of ten.
00:03:03.063 --> 00:03:08.253
That is, for every ten birds you raise to maturity, you will get one.
00:03:08.253 --> 00:03:12.021
That is good enough to keep just one.
00:03:12.021 --> 00:03:22.252
If you raise a hundred birds you'll get ten, and That's either good enough to show or good enough to use to move your flock forward in a breeding program.
00:03:24.882 --> 00:03:28.647
And that's that's from a very well bred Group to begin with.
00:03:28.647 --> 00:03:34.656
Yes, you're starting with hatchery stock, maybe one in 200 or one in 300.
00:03:34.656 --> 00:03:35.519
I.
00:03:35.519 --> 00:03:37.164
Wouldn't start with actually stock.
00:03:37.245 --> 00:03:51.673
But I've tried to and I've experienced the frustration of trying to it's very difficult Because exhibition birds are bred to a written standard, Not only for color but for what we call type or body shape.
00:03:51.673 --> 00:04:16.095
Now your hatchery birds are not bred to a written standard and that's one of the primary differences between hatchery and exhibition birds Exhibition birds that can be hard to find a start in those birds and requires a lot of searching and research and A relationship building on your part to get good ones even finding a breeder who you you can convince that they want to sell you some of their stock.
00:04:17.321 --> 00:04:21.322
Well, that goes back to building the relationship It.
00:04:21.322 --> 00:04:30.127
It can be hard to walk up to John Smith at the show and so, no, john Smith's probably gonna roll his eyes and Look at you like I don't know you.
00:04:30.127 --> 00:04:30.829
I don't want to know.
00:04:30.829 --> 00:04:35.379
I don't know if I want to trust My genetics in your hands or not.
00:04:35.379 --> 00:04:48.434
I want to know that you're gonna be able to not only take care of the birds but breed them properly and Move them forward and have that breeder's name associated with them correct in the future too.
00:04:49.261 --> 00:04:49.701
So what about?
00:04:49.701 --> 00:04:55.213
I've heard at shows that after the shows, or even during the shows, there's a lot of birds for sale and for auction.
00:04:56.745 --> 00:05:01.728
Most shows today have a Section set aside for sale birds.
00:05:01.728 --> 00:05:09.293
Okay, but the thing you got to remember, those birds are in that sale area because they were a breeders culls.
00:05:09.293 --> 00:05:16.074
Okay okay, now that's not to say they're all bad birds, because that's certainly not the case.
00:05:16.074 --> 00:05:22.120
They're just birds that he didn't want to keep in his flock, to breed from or to show for with.
00:05:23.442 --> 00:05:24.144
Are there breeders?
00:05:24.144 --> 00:05:28.913
I mean to people like win ribbons at shows and then sell the bird immediately there.
00:05:30.500 --> 00:05:32.927
So I'll just go from personal experience.
00:05:32.927 --> 00:05:38.805
Okay, i had a bird That was champion of the show.
00:05:38.805 --> 00:05:41.052
overall champion wrote all unread pull it.
00:05:41.052 --> 00:05:51.331
and there was a lady there that was really Enamored with that pull it and she, she offered to buy her and I thought, no, i think I want to keep her.
00:05:51.331 --> 00:05:58.552
and the more I thought about it, the more I thought, you know, she'll not only give that bird a good home, she'll do something with it.
00:05:58.552 --> 00:06:11.353
So before we left, i just called her over and I said, hey, look, you know, i Like, yeah, i think you'll do the right things by these birds, so Just go pick that bird up and take it home with you.
00:06:11.353 --> 00:06:13.639
I I didn't sell it, i just gave it away.
00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:16.266
I've given away more birds than I've ever sold in my life.
00:06:17.435 --> 00:06:20.925
Yes, but I like to think of it as genetic preservation.
00:06:20.925 --> 00:06:26.887
Exactly, I'm stashing some genetics with some people that I trust exactly That's.
00:06:27.086 --> 00:06:38.475
That's That's the way I look at it And I know that's the way a lot of other readers of standard bread poultry look at it, and hopefully that's the way I Our listeners will look at it too after listening to the show.
00:06:38.475 --> 00:06:44.923
So another reason that poultry Are kept, and that's for preservation breed preservation.
00:06:44.923 --> 00:07:00.747
There's a lot of rare breeds out there that are Desperately in need of help Red caps come to mind, lamonas come to mind But they they need folks who are dedicated and willing to work with them.
00:07:00.747 --> 00:07:06.014
But with preservation breeding, you have to maintain a lot of birds.
00:07:06.014 --> 00:07:11.584
I mean, this is not something you can do with the trio or something you can do with two trios.
00:07:11.584 --> 00:07:17.052
I mean we're talking two or three hundred birds in a flock and you're doing open flock mating in this.
00:07:17.875 --> 00:07:19.824
Most of the time you're doing open flock mating.
00:07:19.824 --> 00:07:33.242
There's times when you would resort to other breeding techniques, but you want to keep that genetic diversity and and the diversity up, so Open flock mating is the best for doing that.
00:07:33.882 --> 00:07:53.747
It's hard to make progress with them, but so let's suppose that somebody got some Super rare birds, like a old English pheasant fowl That, uh, you know, starting off with five birds Because they're so five birds is, is there enough genetic diversity there?
00:07:53.747 --> 00:08:00.185
do, because we don't know how they were bred before They got to me and we don't know how they were bred before they left England two years ago.
00:08:02.615 --> 00:08:04.279
If you breed your birds right.
00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:14.038
Yes, there's a good book out on the market Called starting where you are, with what you have, written by Ralph Sturgeon.
00:08:14.038 --> 00:08:16.245
I knew Ralph and he's been.
00:08:16.245 --> 00:08:29.158
He passed away Several decades ago now, sadly, but he was a master preter and if you follow the directions or there's suggestions in his book, you can do it.
00:08:29.158 --> 00:08:39.466
I maintained My family of Rhode Island Reds, or I should say my strain of Rhode Island Reds, for many, many years.
00:08:39.466 --> 00:08:48.764
They had been bred for close to 90 years by the time I got out of them, 90 years with no outside blood being brought in.
00:08:48.764 --> 00:08:52.379
So you can do it, you just have to learn how.
00:08:52.379 --> 00:09:02.835
This is not something that it's easy for the newcomer to Comprehend or to start out doing not trying to discourage everybody, but it's just a fact of life right.
00:09:02.914 --> 00:09:11.886
Well, this, this is a very specific preservation and conservation type question Which I definitely want to cover in more detail later in the series.
00:09:11.886 --> 00:09:31.743
Yeah, and, and we, but the average person starting out, you know, as you said there, they're either gonna take their time and do their research or find a local mentor Who's gonna take them under their wing, or they're gonna come home with the dozen chicks and that all you need, you know, a Stock tank package from tractor supply on an impulse buy.
00:09:31.743 --> 00:09:35.201
That's kind of how we get our New poultry people.
00:09:35.201 --> 00:09:35.966
One of those ways.
00:09:36.470 --> 00:09:37.193
Yes, you know.
00:09:37.193 --> 00:09:47.105
We have hundreds of thousands of people keeping poultry in the United States And I would be willing to bet you that 90% of them started that that very way.
00:09:47.186 --> 00:09:51.979
I know I did so Yes, if there's a mistake to be made.
00:09:51.979 --> 00:09:55.847
You know I did it before I started taking poultry classes in college.
00:09:55.847 --> 00:09:59.629
You know I figured well, let's just see what does well here.
00:09:59.629 --> 00:10:10.149
So I ordered two of this and two of that and two of that so I had, you know, 14 birds of seven different varieties and I thought that's gonna tell me what I need to know and which variety I should grow here.
00:10:10.149 --> 00:10:19.765
And all it did was confuse the economy And it was hatchery stock, So I don't think there was an accurate representation of what we can expect from the breed.
00:10:20.395 --> 00:10:28.908
But and and I know we're sitting here Talking really serious stuff But the beauty of what you did and what I did.
00:10:28.908 --> 00:10:33.601
We learned a lot with that first impulse by.
00:10:33.601 --> 00:10:44.061
We got into the basics of carrying, breeding, managing those birds, and That's how a lot of us started, no doubt about it.
00:10:44.061 --> 00:10:48.337
And, folks, if you're listening and you're thinking about getting into poultry, you can do it too.
00:10:48.678 --> 00:10:51.869
Yes, i think it's usually around about the second year.
00:10:51.869 --> 00:11:01.561
When your birds hit their first mole And they stop laying is when the new poultry keeper starts thinking okay, i got a couple of months off, do I really want to do this?
00:11:01.561 --> 00:11:08.908
and I see a lot of equipment That's right at 18 to 24 months old for sale on the various marketplaces.
00:11:11.115 --> 00:11:18.625
Well, john, we talked about Goals for keeping poultry, but I know I live in Florida, you live in Vermont.
00:11:18.625 --> 00:11:22.938
We have two very Widely divergent.
00:11:24.336 --> 00:11:26.861
Yes, completely different geographical influences.
00:11:26.861 --> 00:11:29.128
I'm at 1800 feet of elevation.
00:11:29.128 --> 00:11:36.586
We have a week or two every winter Where it's negative 30 Fahrenheit before the windshield is factored in.
00:11:36.586 --> 00:11:52.514
That the Dat effects a lot as far as just a flock that I want, the breeds that are going to be in it, where I place my Coupe, in relation to wind breaks and windrows.
00:11:52.514 --> 00:11:57.134
But also it has a huge impact on feed considerations.
00:11:57.134 --> 00:12:00.294
What, what the local feed supply is in my area.
00:12:00.294 --> 00:12:13.945
Do I only have the local big box store and you know to at home 50 pound bags, or could I possibly start getting some raw ingredients and mixing in some oats and wheat and Barley and all those other, you know, whole grains?
00:12:13.945 --> 00:12:21.081
You know we'll definitely get into diet and nutrition later, but that's that's where I'd like to be able to move to.
00:12:21.081 --> 00:12:23.888
But not not everybody has that option.
00:12:23.888 --> 00:12:33.767
Sometimes the only thing you have is Lowe's or Home Depot or tractor supply or Western auto or what are the big chains down south that everybody goes to for feed.
00:12:35.416 --> 00:12:39.126
We have a kind of small chain here called rule King.
00:12:39.126 --> 00:12:46.826
Okay, they have a reasonable Feed available there and it's usually pretty economically priced.
00:12:47.508 --> 00:12:49.794
But you got to learn to read the tags though.
00:12:50.035 --> 00:12:53.875
Another whole another show, and we'll get it coming up before too much longer.
00:12:54.097 --> 00:12:57.081
Let's just put this out there Don't go shopping by price tag.
00:12:57.081 --> 00:13:00.514
Learn to at least look at the tags when you're making your buy.
00:13:00.615 --> 00:13:02.578
Yes, What about?
00:13:02.578 --> 00:13:09.462
and and I know you had to deal with these kind of things when you were Deciding on what breed you wanted to raise.
00:13:09.462 --> 00:13:15.014
But does body size impact the birds up in Vermont?
00:13:15.014 --> 00:13:16.019
I know?
00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:16.761
I'm down here.
00:13:18.517 --> 00:13:24.826
Well, if the birds start getting overweight, they're just not healthy to begin with and they're gonna have a real hard time with the heat.
00:13:24.826 --> 00:13:27.398
So there is that.
00:13:27.398 --> 00:13:33.235
So keeping the birds in good physical condition, i think it's more important than the overall body size.
00:13:33.235 --> 00:13:43.580
I've got some shanta clairs which were bred up in Oka, quebec, canada, about 14 kilometers across the border from me, and they're they're pretty good size.
00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:47.977
At 18 weeks They're pushing six and a half pounds live weight.
00:13:49.655 --> 00:13:50.599
They don't like the heat.
00:13:50.599 --> 00:14:00.059
It's currently 92 degrees out and Which is very rare for this time of year up here, and they just look like they've melted into a puddle in their favorite little hole That they've dug in the ground.
00:14:00.059 --> 00:14:04.383
But on the flip side, they're fantastic in the winter.
00:14:04.383 --> 00:14:14.182
They have no combs, they have no wattles, so that affects their ability to perspire and Give get rid of excess heat in the summer.
00:14:14.182 --> 00:14:19.206
But in the winter I don't have to worry about frostbite, which is a genuine concern.
00:14:19.206 --> 00:14:19.937
I mean it's.
00:14:19.937 --> 00:14:22.772
It's sad to see the birds in pain like that.
00:14:22.772 --> 00:14:30.095
People say it doesn't hurt them, but I've picked them up and I've tried putting some salve on them in the way that they've, you know, kind of reacted.
00:14:30.095 --> 00:14:31.821
I know that they're in pain and I don't like that.
00:14:32.302 --> 00:14:35.716
Yes, it's um One.
00:14:35.716 --> 00:14:47.500
One thing that I want to mention here is that Different breeds of poultry were developed for different purposes, and They were all in four specific regions.
00:14:47.500 --> 00:15:00.580
I just started to say they were developed to perform well in that region because when a lot of our breeds were developed, folks didn't have Much income.
00:15:00.580 --> 00:15:10.505
So they kept chickens and they sold eggs, they sold processed poultry and If those birds didn't perform well where they live, they didn't keep them.
00:15:10.505 --> 00:15:12.068
That's the bottom line.
00:15:15.756 --> 00:15:17.744
The US Postal Service started shipping eggs.
00:15:22.676 --> 00:15:25.961
I would have to look that one up because I really did transform the industry.
00:15:26.543 --> 00:15:32.355
Early on it was a railroad express agency that shipped eggs and birds.
00:15:32.355 --> 00:15:44.144
I've got several birds that came in by train to my location because you couldn't ship them by mail like you can now, but I don't recall exactly when maybe chicks started being mailed.
00:15:44.144 --> 00:15:45.927
I have to look that up.
00:15:45.927 --> 00:15:49.981
Well, we'll share that with our listeners on it on another show.
00:15:49.981 --> 00:15:53.448
Another thing that was the feather type.
00:15:53.448 --> 00:15:59.928
How does that affect the birds that you would evaluate up in your area?
00:16:00.350 --> 00:16:18.428
Well, for my area I want really dense Under feathers down sorry, having a brain cramp and I want thick, wiry Feathers on the outside that are gonna protect against wind and driving, rain and sleet inhale.
00:16:18.428 --> 00:16:22.894
My birds insist on being out in all weather.
00:16:22.894 --> 00:16:28.687
I Can't keep them inside when it's negative 30 Because they just get downright ornery.
00:16:28.687 --> 00:16:32.048
They want to be outside Well, they were bred for that they were.
00:16:32.221 --> 00:16:33.361
They're fine with it.
00:16:33.361 --> 00:16:34.938
They love to eat snow.
00:16:34.938 --> 00:16:42.720
If I put fresh warm water out on a warm poultry fountain plate, the first thing in the morning they come out.
00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:45.386
They don't go for the water or they go and pack up the snow and eat snow.
00:16:45.386 --> 00:16:47.980
I didn't teach them that.
00:16:47.980 --> 00:16:49.043
I mean this.
00:16:49.043 --> 00:16:51.096
This was a complete Cutover.
00:16:51.096 --> 00:16:54.244
These birds had zero contact with anything else on the farm.
00:16:54.244 --> 00:16:59.658
It was like a 90-day zero bird period here.
00:16:59.658 --> 00:17:05.204
I wanted to see what they naturally knew out of the shell.
00:17:06.895 --> 00:17:09.221
One thing that people get into down in the south.
00:17:09.221 --> 00:17:32.650
They see these heavily feathered birds like Cochens Orpington's, just really profusely feathered birds, and Then sadly they get into these birds and then when the summer temperatures here It's the El scorcho mark on on the thermometer, they start having problems with birds actually dying from heat stress.
00:17:32.650 --> 00:17:40.903
So if you have hot temperatures you want to stay away from those breeds, if you possibly can, that have long, profuse feathers.
00:17:40.903 --> 00:17:45.000
And I know, i Know somebody that had English Orpington this.
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:51.686
He was very proud of the fact that they had 13 inch long feathers And that blew me away.
00:17:51.686 --> 00:17:57.702
I couldn't imagine a bird With 13 inch long feathers and these were feathers off the breast area.
00:17:57.702 --> 00:18:01.289
These were not like tail feathers or anything like that.
00:18:03.758 --> 00:18:04.621
But they're down.
00:18:04.621 --> 00:18:09.654
Do they have a lot of yes capacity for airflow under there, or is that taken tight as well?
00:18:09.976 --> 00:18:10.638
It's very thick.
00:18:10.638 --> 00:18:11.623
It's not a fact.
00:18:11.623 --> 00:18:30.778
One lady that I'm aware of them, i'm certainly not going to mention any names Had birds that were dying and she finally resorted to clipping about half the feathers, the lower half of the bird's body, completely off, to cool and help them cool down well, last year my Black Osterlops.
00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:45.847
I was observing them in my front yard and it was one of the very few days that it gets above 90 here in Vermont and One of the old gals she was about four years old was kind of Limpin along a little lethargicly and she was heading for the waterer and I had a sprinkler going and she went underneath the sprinkler to get there.
00:18:45.847 --> 00:19:07.288
I'm like okay, okay, and she literally got to water, get her beak in twice and then fell over And I did in the crops, yana, and it was a heart attack, yeah, and you know it was sad because But you know she was old and her entire life She had not been exposed to that heat was the first time she saw above 90 degrees.
00:19:09.336 --> 00:19:13.307
He can really wreak havoc on the flock if you're not prepared to deal with it.
00:19:13.307 --> 00:19:15.680
I think it's worse than cold It is.
00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:16.701
I would agree with that.
00:19:16.701 --> 00:19:18.204
I would agree with that posed?
00:19:18.506 --> 00:19:22.878
and what's the old, the old Process of to protect dubbing?
00:19:22.878 --> 00:19:32.386
Yeah, so apparently I can take these breeds that are susceptible to Frostbite and dub them and then relieve that sensitivity a little bit.
00:19:34.455 --> 00:19:41.046
But the sad part about Dubbing and removing, you know the comb and the waddles and the air loads.
00:19:41.046 --> 00:19:48.214
That's the, that's the radiator because, that's the radiator to get rid of body heat.
00:19:48.214 --> 00:19:53.971
You know when it gets hot, and if they don't have a calm, they don't have bottles, man, they can suffer from the heat.
00:19:54.472 --> 00:20:05.509
So the bird that I dubbed to protect it from frostbite when we're at negative 30 is probably going to have some real problems on the other end, when we hit above 90 here, because it can't dissipate enough body heat.
00:20:06.310 --> 00:20:09.296
Well, they don't sweat like people, do you know?
00:20:09.296 --> 00:20:18.589
to get rid of the heat they depend on the comb, the waddles, and they can also pant and that will help alleviate some of the body heat.
00:20:18.589 --> 00:20:22.901
But heat is a big stressor to you have to worry about.
00:20:23.810 --> 00:20:26.026
So much to think about with geographical influence.
00:20:26.026 --> 00:20:35.124
Yes, It's probably the single biggest factor that people should consider when selecting a bird making sure that it's properly suited for the environment.
00:20:35.750 --> 00:20:36.551
I would agree with that.
00:20:36.551 --> 00:20:38.758
I would agree with that wholeheartedly.
00:20:38.758 --> 00:20:51.884
You know another thing that people need to decide right up front are you going to keep poultry in a linear fashion or are you going to keep them in a cyclical fashion?
00:20:51.884 --> 00:20:58.242
And by linear I mean you buy the chicks, you raise them up, they lay eggs.
00:20:58.242 --> 00:21:01.589
They hit about 18 months to 24 months of age.
00:21:01.589 --> 00:21:04.298
Their egg production is pretty well over with.
00:21:04.298 --> 00:21:10.589
You're not going to get very many eggs from them, so you can either process them or pass them along to somebody else.
00:21:10.589 --> 00:21:17.042
But to get started you got to go all the way back and start to process over with another batch of chicks.
00:21:18.132 --> 00:21:22.549
Now that style of poultry keeping is not sustainable.
00:21:22.549 --> 00:21:55.669
Usually the birds that are maintained in this linear poultry keeping process are hybrids, and so hybrid, if you don't know, is where they've crossed two different breeds of birds to produce a bird that is a little more productive, lays more eggs, maybe it gets larger And in some of these strains and John and I were talking about this before we started recording the show but there's 16 generations that go into producing that chick.
00:21:55.669 --> 00:22:02.589
You buy at the store The parent stock, you've got the grandparent stock, you've got the great, great parent stock and so on.
00:22:02.589 --> 00:22:06.500
It's amazing the amount of effort that goes into those chicks.
00:22:07.171 --> 00:22:23.589
And these are all held under very strict biosecurity and genetic security conditions, because at each layer of the genetics it's usually a different owner, and then they will contribute their piece and keep their flock going.
00:22:23.589 --> 00:22:30.063
But that's also how they can ensure heterosis and this hybrid vigor and production.
00:22:30.063 --> 00:22:34.980
So there is a lot of science that goes into it, but it's out of the scope of most home breeders.
00:22:35.780 --> 00:22:37.151
Absolutely I would not.
00:22:37.151 --> 00:22:47.403
oh, i don't even want to think about what it would take to maintain parent lines going back so many generations.
00:22:47.403 --> 00:22:48.586
It's scary.
00:22:49.412 --> 00:22:58.589
It's not too bad if you have too small heritage flocks and then you can cross them together for a little heterosis bump, but I still consider that a genetic dead end.
00:22:58.589 --> 00:23:00.634
I would not try to breed those.
00:23:00.734 --> 00:23:02.239
They're not going to breed you, no.
00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:15.297
No, mandel is going to have some real fun there in the Punnett square as far as expression, which is great fun to see If you want to start doing some farmyard science.
00:23:17.710 --> 00:23:26.884
Genetics is a fascinating thing that I know just enough about to be really dangerous, but it can teach you a lot about birds.
00:23:26.884 --> 00:23:37.285
You know we talked about linear poultry keeping and the other thing I mentioned was cyclical poultry keeping and that's the type of poultry keeping that I'm involved in.
00:23:37.285 --> 00:23:59.589
I know that's the type of keeping poultry keeping that John is practicing, but it starts out with breeding and then hatching and then rearing and then going through and selecting the best birds and starting the process all over again Next year, So it goes in a cycle.
00:23:59.589 --> 00:24:05.549
These are usually done with standard bred poultry because they are sustainable.
00:24:05.549 --> 00:24:12.470
If you breed them to each other, you can get the same bird to hatch out.
00:24:13.991 --> 00:24:18.820
That's one of the requirements of being in the considered a standard bred bird.
00:24:18.820 --> 00:24:19.923
Is that it breeds true?
00:24:19.923 --> 00:24:22.332
Yes, It's.
00:24:24.114 --> 00:24:35.589
The one thing that really upsets me and gets my angst going is when I see people that are they're not really breeding, they're just multiplying.
00:24:35.589 --> 00:24:52.589
They take a rooster and a bunch of hands, they throw them together with no concern about trying to improve the breed or maintain the quality that they have, and they practice this philosophy over and over and over again, and all they're in for is to make money off the birds and they pass them off.
00:24:52.589 --> 00:24:55.682
Sadly, many times there's something that they're not.
00:24:55.682 --> 00:24:57.589
You know, these are from show quality lines.
00:24:57.951 --> 00:25:01.259
Well, they might have been seven or eight generation birds.
00:25:02.997 --> 00:25:05.589
Well, i'll tell you how to become a millionaire keeping poultry.
00:25:05.589 --> 00:25:07.076
Start with two.
00:25:07.076 --> 00:25:21.642
No, start out as a billionaire And you you'll find these folks offering birds on eBay and some of these sites like that and are hatching eggs And if you find out they're keeping seven or eight different breeds.
00:25:21.642 --> 00:25:24.589
You can pretty well guess that they're not working to improve any one breed.
00:25:25.490 --> 00:25:33.464
I got my start through the livestock conservancy and they have a good online resource for finding people who have qualified stock.
00:25:33.464 --> 00:25:35.056
Where else can people look?
00:00:00.501 --> 00:00:05.192
00:00:15.939 --> 00:00:20.352
00:00:20.352 --> 00:00:29.913
00:00:29.913 --> 00:00:32.886
00:00:32.886 --> 00:00:40.691
00:00:40.691 --> 00:00:44.061
00:00:44.061 --> 00:00:46.689
00:00:46.689 --> 00:00:48.051
00:00:48.051 --> 00:00:50.060
00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:52.286
00:00:52.286 --> 00:00:54.832
00:00:54.832 --> 00:01:03.872
00:01:03.872 --> 00:01:06.387
00:01:06.387 --> 00:01:11.051
00:01:11.051 --> 00:01:16.920
00:01:17.703 --> 00:01:18.808
00:01:18.808 --> 00:01:20.415
00:01:20.998 --> 00:01:21.560
00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:25.450
00:01:25.450 --> 00:01:33.549
00:01:33.549 --> 00:01:43.766
00:01:44.027 --> 00:01:46.992
00:01:47.820 --> 00:01:49.427
00:01:49.427 --> 00:01:57.493
00:01:57.493 --> 00:02:03.228
00:02:03.228 --> 00:02:05.694
00:02:05.694 --> 00:02:16.395
00:02:16.395 --> 00:02:21.468
00:02:21.468 --> 00:02:26.407
00:02:26.407 --> 00:02:29.234
00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:30.444
00:02:30.444 --> 00:02:33.199
00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:47.006
00:02:47.006 --> 00:02:53.467
00:02:53.467 --> 00:02:55.239
00:02:55.239 --> 00:03:03.063
00:03:03.063 --> 00:03:08.253
00:03:08.253 --> 00:03:12.021
00:03:12.021 --> 00:03:22.252
00:03:24.882 --> 00:03:28.647
00:03:28.647 --> 00:03:34.656
00:03:34.656 --> 00:03:35.519
00:03:35.519 --> 00:03:37.164
00:03:37.245 --> 00:03:51.673
00:03:51.673 --> 00:04:16.095
00:04:17.321 --> 00:04:21.322
00:04:21.322 --> 00:04:30.127
00:04:30.127 --> 00:04:30.829
00:04:30.829 --> 00:04:35.379
00:04:35.379 --> 00:04:48.434
00:04:49.261 --> 00:04:49.701
00:04:49.701 --> 00:04:55.213
00:04:56.745 --> 00:05:01.728
00:05:01.728 --> 00:05:09.293
00:05:09.293 --> 00:05:16.074
00:05:16.074 --> 00:05:22.120
00:05:23.442 --> 00:05:24.144
00:05:24.144 --> 00:05:28.913
00:05:30.500 --> 00:05:32.927
00:05:32.927 --> 00:05:38.805
00:05:38.805 --> 00:05:41.052
00:05:41.052 --> 00:05:51.331
00:05:51.331 --> 00:05:58.552
00:05:58.552 --> 00:06:11.353
00:06:11.353 --> 00:06:13.639
00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:16.266
00:06:17.435 --> 00:06:20.925
00:06:20.925 --> 00:06:26.887
00:06:27.086 --> 00:06:38.475
00:06:38.475 --> 00:06:44.923
00:06:44.923 --> 00:07:00.747
00:07:00.747 --> 00:07:06.014
00:07:06.014 --> 00:07:11.584
00:07:11.584 --> 00:07:17.052
00:07:17.875 --> 00:07:19.824
00:07:19.824 --> 00:07:33.242
00:07:33.882 --> 00:07:53.747
00:07:53.747 --> 00:08:00.185
00:08:02.615 --> 00:08:04.279
00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:14.038
00:08:14.038 --> 00:08:16.245
00:08:16.245 --> 00:08:29.158
00:08:29.158 --> 00:08:39.466
00:08:39.466 --> 00:08:48.764
00:08:48.764 --> 00:08:52.379
00:08:52.379 --> 00:09:02.835
00:09:02.914 --> 00:09:11.886
00:09:11.886 --> 00:09:31.743
00:09:31.743 --> 00:09:35.201
00:09:35.201 --> 00:09:35.966
00:09:36.470 --> 00:09:37.193
00:09:37.193 --> 00:09:47.105
00:09:47.186 --> 00:09:51.979
00:09:51.979 --> 00:09:55.847
00:09:55.847 --> 00:09:59.629
00:09:59.629 --> 00:10:10.149
00:10:10.149 --> 00:10:19.765
00:10:20.395 --> 00:10:28.908
00:10:28.908 --> 00:10:33.601
00:10:33.601 --> 00:10:44.061
00:10:44.061 --> 00:10:48.337
00:10:48.678 --> 00:10:51.869
00:10:51.869 --> 00:11:01.561
00:11:01.561 --> 00:11:08.908
00:11:11.115 --> 00:11:18.625
00:11:18.625 --> 00:11:22.938
00:11:24.336 --> 00:11:26.861
00:11:26.861 --> 00:11:29.128
00:11:29.128 --> 00:11:36.586
00:11:36.586 --> 00:11:52.514
00:11:52.514 --> 00:11:57.134
00:11:57.134 --> 00:12:00.294
00:12:00.294 --> 00:12:13.945
00:12:13.945 --> 00:12:21.081
00:12:21.081 --> 00:12:23.888
00:12:23.888 --> 00:12:33.767
00:12:35.416 --> 00:12:39.126
00:12:39.126 --> 00:12:46.826
00:12:47.508 --> 00:12:49.794
00:12:50.035 --> 00:12:53.875
00:12:54.097 --> 00:12:57.081
00:12:57.081 --> 00:13:00.514
00:13:00.615 --> 00:13:02.578
00:13:02.578 --> 00:13:09.462
00:13:09.462 --> 00:13:15.014
00:13:15.014 --> 00:13:16.019
00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:16.761
00:13:18.517 --> 00:13:24.826
00:13:24.826 --> 00:13:27.398
00:13:27.398 --> 00:13:33.235
00:13:33.235 --> 00:13:43.580
00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:47.977
00:13:49.655 --> 00:13:50.599
00:13:50.599 --> 00:14:00.059
00:14:00.059 --> 00:14:04.383
00:14:04.383 --> 00:14:14.182
00:14:14.182 --> 00:14:19.206
00:14:19.206 --> 00:14:19.937
00:14:19.937 --> 00:14:22.772
00:14:22.772 --> 00:14:30.095
00:14:30.095 --> 00:14:31.821
00:14:32.302 --> 00:14:35.716
00:14:35.716 --> 00:14:47.500
00:14:47.500 --> 00:15:00.580
00:15:00.580 --> 00:15:10.505
00:15:10.505 --> 00:15:12.068
00:15:15.756 --> 00:15:17.744
00:15:22.676 --> 00:15:25.961
00:15:26.543 --> 00:15:32.355
00:15:32.355 --> 00:15:44.144
00:15:44.144 --> 00:15:45.927
00:15:45.927 --> 00:15:49.981
00:15:49.981 --> 00:15:53.448
00:15:53.448 --> 00:15:59.928
00:16:00.350 --> 00:16:18.428
00:16:18.428 --> 00:16:22.894
00:16:22.894 --> 00:16:28.687
00:16:28.687 --> 00:16:32.048
00:16:32.221 --> 00:16:33.361
00:16:33.361 --> 00:16:34.938
00:16:34.938 --> 00:16:42.720
00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:45.386
00:16:45.386 --> 00:16:47.980
00:16:47.980 --> 00:16:49.043
00:16:49.043 --> 00:16:51.096
00:16:51.096 --> 00:16:54.244
00:16:54.244 --> 00:16:59.658
00:16:59.658 --> 00:17:05.204
00:17:06.895 --> 00:17:09.221
00:17:09.221 --> 00:17:32.650
00:17:32.650 --> 00:17:40.903
00:17:40.903 --> 00:17:45.000
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:51.686
00:17:51.686 --> 00:17:57.702
00:17:57.702 --> 00:18:01.289
00:18:03.758 --> 00:18:04.621
00:18:04.621 --> 00:18:09.654
00:18:09.976 --> 00:18:10.638
00:18:10.638 --> 00:18:11.623
00:18:11.623 --> 00:18:30.778
00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:45.847
00:18:45.847 --> 00:19:07.288
00:19:09.336 --> 00:19:13.307
00:19:13.307 --> 00:19:15.680
00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:16.701
00:19:16.701 --> 00:19:18.204
00:19:18.506 --> 00:19:22.878
00:19:22.878 --> 00:19:32.386
00:19:34.455 --> 00:19:41.046
00:19:41.046 --> 00:19:48.214
00:19:48.214 --> 00:19:53.971
00:19:54.472 --> 00:20:05.509
00:20:06.310 --> 00:20:09.296
00:20:09.296 --> 00:20:18.589
00:20:18.589 --> 00:20:22.901
00:20:23.810 --> 00:20:26.026
00:20:26.026 --> 00:20:35.124
00:20:35.750 --> 00:20:36.551
00:20:36.551 --> 00:20:38.758
00:20:38.758 --> 00:20:51.884
00:20:51.884 --> 00:20:58.242
00:20:58.242 --> 00:21:01.589
00:21:01.589 --> 00:21:04.298
00:21:04.298 --> 00:21:10.589
00:21:10.589 --> 00:21:17.042
00:21:18.132 --> 00:21:22.549
00:21:22.549 --> 00:21:55.669
00:21:55.669 --> 00:22:02.589
00:22:02.589 --> 00:22:06.500
00:22:07.171 --> 00:22:23.589
00:22:23.589 --> 00:22:30.063
00:22:30.063 --> 00:22:34.980
00:22:35.780 --> 00:22:37.151
00:22:37.151 --> 00:22:47.403
00:22:47.403 --> 00:22:48.586
00:22:49.412 --> 00:22:58.589
00:22:58.589 --> 00:23:00.634
00:23:00.734 --> 00:23:02.239
00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:15.297
00:23:17.710 --> 00:23:26.884
00:23:26.884 --> 00:23:37.285
00:23:37.285 --> 00:23:59.589
00:23:59.589 --> 00:24:05.549
00:24:05.549 --> 00:24:12.470
00:24:13.991 --> 00:24:18.820
00:24:18.820 --> 00:24:19.923
00:24:19.923 --> 00:24:22.332
00:24:24.114 --> 00:24:35.589
00:24:35.589 --> 00:24:52.589
00:24:52.589 --> 00:24:55.682
00:24:55.682 --> 00:24:57.589
00:24:57.951 --> 00:25:01.259
00:25:02.997 --> 00:25:05.589
00:25:05.589 --> 00:25:07.076
00:25:07.076 --> 00:25:21.642
00:25:21.642 --> 00:25:24.589
00:25:25.490 --> 00:25:33.464
00:25:33.464 --> 00:25:35.056