WEBVTT
00:00:00.100 --> 00:00:05.780
Hi, I'm Mandelyn Royal, and I would like to welcome you to another episode of the Poultry Keepers podcast.
00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:16.910
Joining me in the studio are John Gunterman and Rip Stalvey, the rest of our podcast team, and we're looking forward to visiting with you and talking poultry from feathers to function.
00:00:17.478 --> 00:00:21.998
How many times have you seen someone told to find themselves a mentor?
00:00:22.998 --> 00:00:29.048
Now, how many times have you seen an explanation on how to be a good mentor?
00:00:29.849 --> 00:00:31.318
I don't think I've ever seen that.
00:00:32.118 --> 00:00:38.859
So coming up, we're going to share our thoughts on how you can be a good mentor and make an impact for those in need of help.
00:00:48.887 --> 00:00:52.546
Hey, before we get started on today's episode, there's something I want to talk about.
00:00:52.911 --> 00:00:54.091
That I think is pretty cool.
00:00:54.892 --> 00:01:00.411
This episode actually marks the beginning of the second year of the Poultry Keepers Podcast.
00:01:01.112 --> 00:01:08.292
We started in June of 2023 and this is airing in June of 2024.
00:01:09.091 --> 00:01:11.891
We've covered a lot of topics in our first year.
00:01:12.691 --> 00:01:16.772
When we stop and think about it though, we've really only scratched the surface.
00:01:17.391 --> 00:01:19.412
There's a lot more to keep sharing with you folks.
00:01:20.212 --> 00:01:23.322
And Mandelyn and John and I are looking forward to the next 12 months.
00:01:23.412 --> 00:01:30.751
And we hope you'll come along with us for the ride because it's going to be fun, it's going to be educational, and you're going to enjoy it.
00:01:31.341 --> 00:01:35.311
Without further ado, let's get started on our second year right now.
00:01:36.111 --> 00:01:39.111
I guess we probably should start with some definitions.
00:01:39.742 --> 00:01:43.802
I think there's a bit of a misconception out there of what a mentor is.
00:01:44.591 --> 00:01:48.781
A lot of folks think of a mentor as a coach, which is part of it.
00:01:48.912 --> 00:01:52.522
Coach is a person who trains or instructs an individual or team.
00:01:53.322 --> 00:01:58.751
And then I've also heard a mentor described as a teacher, someone who helps others to acquire knowledge.
00:01:58.811 --> 00:02:00.182
So yeah that's part of it.
00:02:00.981 --> 00:02:03.921
But I think it goes a little more in depth than that.
00:02:04.012 --> 00:02:14.722
I think a mentor is really an experienced person that you can trust who gives you advice and help over a long period of time.
00:02:14.731 --> 00:02:16.622
It's a long term relationship.
00:02:17.102 --> 00:02:35.926
My mentor when I was getting started in Reds, He worked with me for probably 10 or 12 years, and up until just before his health deteriorated so bad, he wasn't able to do it, but I still didn't feel like I had tapped into all of his knowledge, so be in it for the long term.
00:02:36.727 --> 00:02:38.687
I have a little tiny side note.
00:02:39.116 --> 00:02:39.576
Yes.
00:02:40.116 --> 00:02:46.586
Cause I realized the value of having a mentor a long time ago in a lot of different topics.
00:02:47.317 --> 00:02:49.176
Poultry obviously were a main one.
00:02:49.796 --> 00:03:11.736
And when you start developing that relationship with someone who is willing to coach you and teach you and be your mentor, as the mentee, you almost have to run with them as long as you can and really keep that relationship going, but also learn to recognize if you've maybe outgrown them and maybe you need to find a new one.
00:03:12.407 --> 00:03:15.507
And it doesn't have to be a single person.
00:03:16.007 --> 00:03:19.407
As you advance through the hobby and as you acquire your knowledge.
00:03:19.877 --> 00:03:21.947
You might have to trade up on mentors, too.
00:03:22.747 --> 00:03:26.356
Just something to keep in mind if you ever feel like you've outgrown them.
00:03:26.806 --> 00:03:27.947
That's a really good point.
00:03:28.257 --> 00:03:30.947
And different people have different areas of expertise.
00:03:31.217 --> 00:03:32.086
Exactly.
00:03:32.326 --> 00:03:36.977
If you're looking for sustainability perspective, you'd come to me.
00:03:36.977 --> 00:03:40.956
If you're looking for meat production and stuff like that, you go to Mandy.
00:03:40.956 --> 00:03:42.877
If you're going to be showing, you talk to Rip.
00:03:43.296 --> 00:03:45.217
That's how I see us as a resource pool.
00:03:45.236 --> 00:03:49.456
I don't know anything about showing that's why I'm here is to pick Rip's brain on that.
00:03:50.016 --> 00:03:51.056
It takes a village.
00:03:51.856 --> 00:03:54.526
Nobody knows everything, but together we know a lot.
00:03:54.766 --> 00:03:55.266
Yes.
00:03:55.516 --> 00:03:55.937
Yes.
00:03:56.016 --> 00:03:56.336
Yes.
00:03:56.347 --> 00:03:58.336
So don't feel like you have to pick just one.
00:03:58.887 --> 00:04:02.046
And John, you mentioned something the other day that's so important.
00:04:02.667 --> 00:04:05.157
Oh, is that my teaching is learning twice?
00:04:05.157 --> 00:04:06.477
Yes, share that with the folks
00:04:06.477 --> 00:04:06.826
listening.
00:04:07.056 --> 00:04:07.787
If you would, please.
00:04:07.847 --> 00:04:15.997
The whole concept, and my sensei, when I did martial arts, would make his senior students instruct classes, and he'd say, because teaching is learning twice.
00:04:16.357 --> 00:04:25.762
It's going to really going to highlight what you thought you knew, and didn't really know especially when the younger students or pupils are asking you, Okay, yeah, but why?
00:04:25.762 --> 00:04:27.341
Can you explain it to me in a different way?
00:04:27.341 --> 00:04:28.232
I don't quite get it.
00:04:28.312 --> 00:04:33.161
And then you've got to go back and question your own assumptions and beliefs and ways.
00:04:33.701 --> 00:04:36.971
And it's just an amazing learning process.
00:04:37.232 --> 00:04:38.002
It really is.
00:04:38.802 --> 00:04:40.841
I find a lot of fun in it, personally.
00:04:41.531 --> 00:04:44.451
I love it when somebody asks me, why?
00:04:44.461 --> 00:04:46.072
And I go, I don't know.
00:04:46.666 --> 00:04:47.367
But you know what?
00:04:47.406 --> 00:04:49.377
I'm going to hit the books and we're going to find out together.
00:04:49.526 --> 00:04:50.947
We'll figure this out.
00:04:51.427 --> 00:04:54.367
To me that's mutual learning and I love that aspect of it.
00:04:54.396 --> 00:04:55.567
Oh I agree with you, John.
00:04:55.567 --> 00:05:07.156
I thought I knew poultry pretty good until I started Poultry Keepers 360 Facebook group and I was getting questions from people that I thought let me get back to you on that.
00:05:07.377 --> 00:05:11.987
Different environment, different part of the country, different breed, different situations.
00:05:12.516 --> 00:05:17.237
It makes you stop and think, and you really become a better poultry keeper, I think.
00:05:17.666 --> 00:05:19.726
So you can be a mentor and a mentee.
00:05:20.016 --> 00:05:22.596
You could be in the middle, and that's fine too.
00:05:23.396 --> 00:05:32.826
Sometimes, you're taking what's coming down, and you're absorbing it, and processing it, and then, I don't want to say regurgitating that, but you're applying it and then showing others.
00:05:33.346 --> 00:05:38.466
And, at each stage of this, things are going to change slightly, because everybody does things a little different.
00:05:39.156 --> 00:05:46.867
What you tell and show me, and then I go to my farm and implement may not be the exact same way because I have different challenges and different infrastructure.
00:05:47.297 --> 00:05:47.937
Exactly.
00:05:48.047 --> 00:05:53.456
But we all learn a little bit from each other, and I've noticed that around my farm.
00:05:53.516 --> 00:05:56.357
I look at things and I'm like, when did I start doing this that way?
00:05:56.797 --> 00:06:02.326
And then I think back and I'm like, oh yeah, when I saw or heard so and so tell me try this, and I did.
00:06:02.716 --> 00:06:06.646
And it mostly worked, but then I had to do this as well, and then it became my thing.
00:06:07.447 --> 00:06:09.076
My favorite thing about it is.
00:06:09.877 --> 00:06:18.997
Learning something, applying it, but then learning how to make that thing work for our specific flock and our specific situation, because that's how the knowledge can grow.
00:06:19.502 --> 00:06:21.382
And then you learn those little tweaks.
00:06:21.781 --> 00:06:24.812
It's the application of the knowledge that sets it, I believe.
00:06:24.831 --> 00:06:25.781
Yeah.
00:06:25.932 --> 00:06:29.281
The thinking is great, but the doing is what cements it in place.
00:06:29.512 --> 00:06:31.422
That's where the rubber meets the road.
00:06:31.451 --> 00:06:32.961
And whether it's going to work or not.
00:06:33.442 --> 00:06:36.841
And then you reassess and you go that didn't work out as planned.
00:06:36.961 --> 00:06:38.541
Let's noodle on this a little more.
00:06:39.341 --> 00:06:45.132
Mandelyn, what are some of the qualities you think a good mentor should have?
00:06:45.802 --> 00:06:53.632
I've done a lot of, educating and training professionally and within hobbies and especially in chickens.
00:06:53.951 --> 00:07:04.591
And I think the main thing is the respect for diverse perspectives and being a really good people, person, and.
00:07:05.341 --> 00:07:06.781
Being really patient.
00:07:07.214 --> 00:07:15.415
And learning how to ask those qualifying questions to figure out where they already are, where they've already been, and where they're hoping to go.
00:07:16.214 --> 00:07:16.944
Very important.
00:07:17.745 --> 00:07:32.714
What about I know one thing that I've learned mentoring people over the years is, as a mentor, you need to be flexible because, and this is something we've touched on, but, you need to really work at understanding what that person's going through that you're helping.
00:07:33.514 --> 00:07:34.865
What their experiences are.
00:07:35.605 --> 00:07:42.975
You, you have to be flexible and not try to make them conform to exactly the way you do it.
00:07:43.774 --> 00:07:46.824
Yeah, if you have that expectation, you're going to be very disappointed.
00:07:47.625 --> 00:07:48.254
Absolutely.
00:07:48.694 --> 00:07:49.745
John this one's for you.
00:07:49.944 --> 00:07:51.314
What about experience?
00:07:52.115 --> 00:07:54.954
How high does that rank for you in looking for a mentor?
00:07:55.754 --> 00:07:58.454
I, to me, that's pretty critical.
00:07:59.004 --> 00:08:06.834
I've in the corporate world, I've met people who are incredibly intelligent, like engineers who design products.
00:08:06.855 --> 00:08:08.584
I did customer service in between.
00:08:08.915 --> 00:08:12.355
They weren't competent to talk to customers, but they could design products.
00:08:12.865 --> 00:08:14.925
It's that translation gets lost.
00:08:15.725 --> 00:08:16.204
If you're not, and
00:08:16.204 --> 00:08:20.790
having that ability to break things down into easily digestible, manageable tidbits.
00:08:20.975 --> 00:08:21.334
Yeah,
00:08:21.365 --> 00:08:21.665
yeah.
00:08:21.665 --> 00:08:22.925
Manageable chunks.
00:08:23.014 --> 00:08:23.165
Yeah.
00:08:23.165 --> 00:08:26.029
And I don't wanna say, dumb it down, but slow it down.
00:08:26.509 --> 00:08:28.040
Not everybody can hit the ground running.
00:08:28.620 --> 00:08:30.360
Is a process and it takes time.
00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:39.309
And as the birds grow the tender grows and, it's a mutually beneficial situation, hopefully.
00:08:40.110 --> 00:08:53.899
I think it's easy for a mentor, I know it was for me at first, to forget that my experience is certainly not the same as somebody I'm mentoring.
00:08:54.700 --> 00:09:03.919
So you, it's much easier for you to get down on their level and bring someone up than it is to expect them to start on your level.
00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:05.139
Definitely.
00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:06.860
Because that's just going to lose them big time.
00:09:07.309 --> 00:09:10.509
Managing the expectations, I think is really important.
00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:15.409
Unfortunately, I didn't have a mentor, per se, available.
00:09:15.419 --> 00:09:22.610
I went to an ag college that specialized in sustainable ag, and I learned in the field on a flock that fed the campus.
00:09:23.090 --> 00:09:30.779
That was an interesting experience and got me really hooked into poultry and the need for, sustainable foods and a food system.
00:09:31.450 --> 00:09:32.879
But it also highlighted.
00:09:33.110 --> 00:09:41.950
A lot of the failings of our industry and even in our knowledge base, what passes for knowledge on the internet, some of it's downright dangerous.
00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:47.399
Yeah, I had big hopes for the internet back in 1995.
00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:48.789
Oh, yeah.
00:09:49.590 --> 00:09:50.100
But anyways.
00:09:50.820 --> 00:09:51.200
Yeah.
00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:53.034
I think a lot of it is downright dangerous.
00:09:53.664 --> 00:10:04.674
When I was in the military and we were in our senior enlisted continuum, which basically teaches you how to be a good role model to the junior enlisted, they were always stressing, know your people.
00:10:04.904 --> 00:10:07.284
Don't just know them physically, get to know them.
00:10:07.794 --> 00:10:11.845
Bring her in the office, sit down and say, no, not just how you doing, but how you doing?
00:10:11.934 --> 00:10:12.715
How's your wife?
00:10:12.725 --> 00:10:13.544
How's your kids?
00:10:13.544 --> 00:10:15.044
What's happening on the outside?
00:10:15.054 --> 00:10:17.554
Cause that's going to affect their inside performance.
00:10:17.585 --> 00:10:19.125
And same thing, know your birds.
00:10:19.365 --> 00:10:26.115
If you don't sit there and, can at least pick out five or six visually within 30 seconds and go, okay, that's this bird, I know them.
00:10:26.914 --> 00:10:31.634
It's a level of involvement and a level of intimacy that you need to have.
00:10:32.434 --> 00:10:35.144
Otherwise, I don't think you should be in the fancy.
00:10:35.945 --> 00:10:36.434
I agree.
00:10:37.235 --> 00:10:44.855
Because then it's just livestock and you're treating them like a commodity meat and that's not my thing at all.
00:10:45.605 --> 00:10:51.684
That's not mine either because I've realized that each and every bird brings certain things to the table.
00:10:52.355 --> 00:10:59.294
And there's discrepancies within the same breed, same hatch there's just little tiny differences in there.
00:10:59.865 --> 00:11:04.934
And that's what you have to learn to recognize to figure out who you're going to breed forward from or not.
00:11:05.565 --> 00:11:08.264
And I've been in the position a couple of times now where.
00:11:08.524 --> 00:11:14.595
People reach out to me with some very lofty flop goals and they're gonna make so much money on this new business.
00:11:15.394 --> 00:11:25.245
And then that's where honesty comes into play, where you have to explain whoa, these aren't cookie cutter stamped manufactured products.
00:11:26.044 --> 00:11:32.335
Each one is different than the next and you have to go through each one and figure out if they're gonna help you out or not.
00:11:32.750 --> 00:11:40.649
In your program, because you can ruin the work of a good breeder in as little as one generation, three generations.
00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:52.850
If you stray off and do things very differently away from the norms, you might not find the success that you were after, and then your enthusiasm is just going to fall apart.
00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:54.929
You're going to drop out and not be a part of it anymore.
00:11:55.730 --> 00:12:08.440
Well, a lot of that falls back on what I call building rapport with your customer, with your mentee, whoever it is, the trust and, being an active listener and, being is encouraging.
00:12:08.789 --> 00:12:11.399
Without being too rigid as you can.
00:12:12.200 --> 00:12:13.830
I was thinking, go ahead, John.
00:12:14.179 --> 00:12:14.370
Yeah,
00:12:14.419 --> 00:12:23.230
Just really listening to the people and you touched on identifying their goals and their plans and keeping them grounded and in the real moment.
00:12:24.029 --> 00:12:36.539
Another aspect of honesty is you need to be willing to tell your mentor or your mentee what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.
00:12:37.225 --> 00:12:42.745
We've, and we've all seen this on the Facebook groups, somebody posts a picture of a bird and what do you think?
00:12:43.294 --> 00:12:49.024
Nobody seems to want to hurt somebody's feelings, especially newcomers.
00:12:49.034 --> 00:12:51.495
So they say, oh nice bird, he's pretty.
00:12:52.259 --> 00:13:00.240
Always something positive, when in reality, the bird is not really all that good, but nobody will speak up and tell someone that.
00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:20.220
And that's why you as a mentor have to be willing to tell someone that, and you have to know that you may make them completely mad with you, but you're not doing them any service and you're not doing the breed they're working with any service, if they have a poor looking bird, then tell them, oh, that's a great bird, yeah, I'd use him, yeah,
00:13:20.230 --> 00:13:35.379
but part of that comes with Handling the bird and having that person handle the bird and having a copy of the standard of perfection or whatever the standard for that bird is, and having them understand why that bird's not a quality candidate for breeding.
00:13:36.179 --> 00:13:44.149
Yeah, because I've seen people who will rip a bird apart based off of a picture and they don't explain why.
00:13:44.500 --> 00:13:46.610
Why is that trait not desirable?
00:13:47.325 --> 00:13:54.095
They just rip it apart and leave that sit there in all of its negativity without any kind of positive anything to it.
00:13:54.894 --> 00:13:56.875
If there's, you gotta be honest.
00:13:57.004 --> 00:13:58.215
Some people are too honest.
00:13:59.014 --> 00:14:03.504
But, if you're gonna tell somebody, This is not right with your bird.
00:14:03.514 --> 00:14:07.384
Don't go on to something else, tell them why it's not right.
00:14:08.184 --> 00:14:11.544
Tell them what they can do to try to improve on that.
00:14:12.345 --> 00:14:20.235
Because sometimes breeding work and finding the appropriate mate for that bird can fix what's wrong in the offspring, and they'll come out better.
00:14:20.715 --> 00:14:26.284
Because I've used some birds that some people were giving me some grief about, like, why are you using that one?
00:14:26.355 --> 00:14:31.945
And I'm like I need this trait, and this trait, and I have this other bird over here that doesn't have those same problems.
00:14:32.384 --> 00:14:35.404
And then I sort through the offspring, and then I find the better ones.
00:14:35.504 --> 00:14:40.465
It's not going to be all of them by any means, but I only need one good one, technically.
00:14:40.914 --> 00:14:43.360
Birds like you're talking about using there Mandelyn.
00:14:43.539 --> 00:14:46.610
My mentor used to call his parts birds.
00:14:47.169 --> 00:14:48.620
Yeah, parts birds.
00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:57.320
He kept a pen of birds, a pen of females and a pen of males that you look at them, you say, why in the world did he keep that bird?
00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:00.149
And I ask him that sometimes.
00:15:00.850 --> 00:15:03.740
He said that female over there has got a nice long back.
00:15:03.789 --> 00:15:13.919
Yeah, her legs are too short and color's not quite right, but she'll put good backs on the birds, on her chicks, or that bird's got a really nice tail.
00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:15.549
It's not too long.
00:15:15.580 --> 00:15:18.460
It's not too short, nice curve on the sickles.
00:15:19.259 --> 00:15:26.990
So you got to know when you need a parts bird and hopefully you've got a parts bird to go to that'll be able to help you out.
00:15:27.789 --> 00:15:39.259
And that's, I think that falls into line with that providing corrective feedback aspect of evaluating a bird and saying this bird is lacking in these characteristics, but this bird has them.
00:15:39.700 --> 00:15:43.840
So perhaps they're close enough to compensate for each other.
00:15:44.350 --> 00:15:46.529
We did touch on compensation mating.
00:15:47.330 --> 00:15:51.927
You, Just to reiterate, don't, two traits that are widely different.
00:15:51.947 --> 00:15:54.778
You want them close enough to gradually make changes.
00:15:55.307 --> 00:15:58.957
And that, that could be inspiring to the mentee, get them involved.
00:15:58.967 --> 00:16:00.857
Say, okay you know what, let's do a test hatch.
00:16:00.868 --> 00:16:03.628
We'll put this rooster with this hen and see what they throw.
00:16:04.128 --> 00:16:05.898
See if the problem gets better or worse.
00:16:06.697 --> 00:16:07.488
And you touch on
00:16:07.548 --> 00:16:07.967
that one.
00:16:07.967 --> 00:16:08.878
That's just right.
00:16:08.918 --> 00:16:11.918
Off you go into the next generation and now they're even better than they were.
00:16:12.388 --> 00:16:12.868
That's right.
00:16:13.668 --> 00:16:17.977
But John, you touched on something and I could even hear it in your voice.
00:16:18.778 --> 00:16:22.447
And that's the importance of enthusiasm and a positive attitude.
00:16:23.248 --> 00:16:28.937
If you've got a mentor that's Not enthusiastic, and he's a woe is me type person.
00:16:29.738 --> 00:16:33.288
I don't think I could ask someone like that to mentor me.
00:16:34.018 --> 00:16:37.857
I don't want them to be so positive that they gloss over things.
00:16:37.868 --> 00:16:39.207
That's not what I'm talking about.
00:16:39.327 --> 00:16:44.748
But if their just attitude in general is a negative attitude, that's not the person you want working with you.
00:16:45.307 --> 00:16:48.597
I look at these things as opportunities for improvement.
00:16:49.398 --> 00:16:58.168
It seems to really help that you find someone who not only shares your flock goals, but you can get along as friends too, to some extent.
00:16:58.967 --> 00:16:59.258
Yeah.
00:16:59.977 --> 00:17:01.957
Like a temperament match of the people too.
00:17:02.758 --> 00:17:15.663
That brings up something else that's really important is sometimes it may not be a good fit, people, you network with the people in the hobby or fancy, and you'd be a good liaison.
00:17:15.893 --> 00:17:21.212
If you're not a good mentor or mentee, you can recommend somebody who might fit better.
00:17:22.012 --> 00:17:22.982
Exactly right.
00:17:23.403 --> 00:17:28.262
Sometimes it's not who you know, it's who you know that knows the person.
00:17:29.063 --> 00:17:34.613
If somebody comes asking questions about Rhode Island Reds, I don't know, send them to Rip.
00:17:35.413 --> 00:17:45.623
One thing that I place a high value on when looking for a mentor is They don't keep secrets.
00:17:46.192 --> 00:17:48.063
If they know something, they'll share it with you.
00:17:48.843 --> 00:17:58.472
And where I'm coming to on this is that so many people who show poultry, and I'll use them as an example, I'll pick on my show, show friends.
00:17:59.063 --> 00:18:04.732
I know some that would not tell you for a minute how they condition their birds.
00:18:05.532 --> 00:18:07.073
They don't want you knowing what they know.
00:18:07.498 --> 00:18:10.048
You can't be like that and help somebody.
00:18:10.847 --> 00:18:11.708
You just can't.
00:18:12.278 --> 00:18:16.788
And the vibe that newcomers have when they encounter that, it turns them off.
00:18:16.837 --> 00:18:17.577
Sure it does.
00:18:17.637 --> 00:18:22.518
And to me, from the show perspective, I don't show much at all.
00:18:22.748 --> 00:18:26.798
But I used to show dogs and dabbled in some horses and stuff like that.
00:18:27.468 --> 00:18:36.347
And when you are so rigid and you don't help the new people willing to come in, it's gonna shrink how many people are involved over time.
00:18:36.347 --> 00:18:43.222
You And when you go and you win, do you want the best bird out of ten, or do you want to be the best bird out of a hundred?
00:18:43.742 --> 00:18:56.903
But if you block people or otherwise put A negative experience to the beginners, you're very quickly going to have just 10 entries to beat, and not that bigger pull that really helps a good bird shine.
00:18:57.702 --> 00:19:03.952
It's better for your own if you're after the win, you want the big wins, because that's what really means something.