Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Are we ready, pawpaw?
Hello friends and welcome toChicken.
Every Day, a podcast for you,the backyard chicken enthusiasts
, and mine.
Your host is my Pawpaw, gary,Gary Valerie of Senla Backyard
Chickens.
Here we have fun while sharingideas and learning how to care
for our foul-feathered friends.
Check out our videos at Senlathat's C-E-N-L-A Backyard
(00:24):
Chickens on YouTube, tiktok andFacebook.
So, without further ado, let'sstart today's show.
How was that?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey guys, welcome to the show, and if you were
watching or listening to thepodcast a few weeks ago, you
know I let out a cattle.
Call for anybody that loveschickens that's want to talk
chickens.
If, whether or not you're anexpert or a backyard chicken
keeper, I want to hear from you,I want to put you on the show
because we want to talk aboutchickens.
Well, I got another reply forus today and this is about as
(00:55):
far away from Central Louisianaas you could possibly get.
We are in the land down undertoday and we are talking live
with Miss Cara Monte way down inAustralia.
Karen, how are you today?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I'm very well, Gary.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
We are so excited about having you on the show.
First things first, introduceyourself to my audience.
Tell us about why you got intochickens and tell us about your
birds.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
No problems.
So my name's Cara and I live inMelbourne, australia, and was
happily listening to one of mynew favorite chicken podcasts
and heard the call out so Ithought I'd reach out and, yeah,
I'd love, love talking chickensand I probably first got my
first girls around 15 years agoand we just had a a few backyard
(01:45):
Issa Browns in the suburbs andjust really, really loved them.
And in Melbourne we're allowedto have five chickens in a
suburban residential area.
So I ended up with six or sevenfor a little while.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
It's called chicken math.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We all do it people, uh, people need to move chickens
on and things like that, but uh, so that's just how we sort of
started and we've always keptchickens we've had.
We've lost a couple of flocks,unfortunately, in the suburbs to
to foxes they're our mainpredator here, uh.
But across the span of timewe've done, we've done fairly
(02:30):
well and I've recently moved toa property now that had we're on
over an acre and so I'm allowedto have as many chickens as I
like, uh, and roosters if Ichoose to.
So, yeah, a bit of a mixedflock now, mixed few heritage in
there now and really, reallynice girls.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Wonderful.
You know, you and I werechatting a little bit the other
day and it was reallyfascinating some of the things
about Australia, and I had toadmit to you that what I knew
about Australia was fromCrocodile Dundee and the Bajee
Bajees, so that makes itextremely limited.
But you talked about theArachid, what's the name of the
(03:12):
indigenous people down there,yeah, the Aboriginal people, the
traditional owners.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So, in Australia, often when we meet or begin a
ceremony or even an online workmeeting, we might say that we
are going to acknowledge thetraditional owners of the land
that we're working from or thatwe're presenting from.
And so I'm.
Actually.
It would be nice to includethat I'm here living on land
(03:43):
that is traditionally, you know,was looked after by the
custodians, who are theWurundjeri people, so the
Wurundjeri people of the KulinNation.
The Indigenous history inAustralia is vast and rich and
extends anywhere to 65,000 to90,000 years, and so, yeah, it's
(04:07):
a nice thing to acknowledgethose people that have taken
such great care of the land.
Before.
I was lucky enough to live here, that's lovely, that's lovely.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I really really like that.
By the way, you have awonderful accent.
I can understand you quiteeasily and I know I sound like a
country bunk it to you, butyour accent is just really
lovely oh really no, I see Ifind the Australian accent a bit
strange, but uh it look.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
The culture exchange is probably quite unbalanced,
gary, because we get a lot ofAmerican uh and film and music
in Australia.
So your accent is wonderful.
I love a southern accent.
I said to you.
It sounds really warm to me andreally like welcoming and
(04:56):
lovely.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So it's really-.
We were on vacation in Coloradoin the mountains last year and
we met a couple and their familywas there and they were from
Australia and I just bugged thehell out of them, just wanted to
chat with them because of theiraccent it was.
I know they were really ready toget rid of it, you know, but it
was such fun to get to meetthose people.
They were very, very sweet.
(05:17):
Don't don't misunderstand, butthey were probably going.
If this is the average, I'mprobably ready to go home, is
what they were thinking about.
Well, one of the things I hadasked you in an email was about
biosecurity, about do you guysget chickens that come into the
country, or do you getfertilized eggs that are allowed
(05:39):
into the country?
How does that work?
Because y'all are an islandcountry, you're south of the
equator, you're separate fromeverybody, which is not a bad
thing the way things are workingout nowadays.
So how does that work when itcomes to getting more chickens
in and biosecurity when it comesto those chickens?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, australia is really, really strict in terms
of our biosecurity at theairport, even if we we have the
mainland of australia and wehave one of our states which is
separate from the mainland,called tasmania, and so they
even have even stricter lawsdown there in terms of.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
We have a famous cartoon character about tasmania
devils, oh, yeah of, yeah, ofcourse, the Tassie devil.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yeah, of course, yeah , warner Brothers and yeah.
So we're very, very strictabout what can come in to the
country in terms of flora andfauna.
And so when it comes tochickens and I did have to look
at this a little bit but I wasright you, you can there can be
imports of fertilized eggs andso commercially that is done on
(06:49):
quite a wide scale, I think, andso those eggs will come in and
be hatched in really strictquarantine and then bred from
there.
So I think they're like inquarantine for a couple of
months, so they will will bebred from there.
And look, my understanding isthat breeders can bring in
fertilized eggs.
It's quite expensive to do thatbecause they have to be brought
(07:12):
in under those same conditions.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, the US has a lot of that same kind of stuff.
When you bring chickens fromEurope over here, usually they
go to the port of New York andthere's a place that they
quarantine for about six months.
So right now, I know, it'swinter over there where you are.
It's the middle of summer overhere where I am.
So is there anything specialthat you need to do for your
(07:36):
chickens because of the winter?
I mean, are you cold enoughthat they really really, you
know, need some special care, orthat's just not really a big
deal in Sydney.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Well, I'm in Melbourne close.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
In Melbourne.
You're right, my bad, that'sanother thing.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
There's state rivalry .
That goes on.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Oh no.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Look, it's not cold enough really.
You know where I am.
I'm in like the hills we callit the hills in and so it is
that, uh, temperate rainforestand it's so.
It's frosty.
The coldest it would really getup here is maybe minus one
degree celsius.
Uh, I'm not sure what that is,fahrenheit, it's probably around
(08:21):
30 degrees or so.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
you know, because 32 degrees Fahrenheit is zero
degrees Celsius.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
So look the girls.
You know you can see theirbreath in the morning, but
they're not too bad.
It's just a matter of, yeah,keeping them warm in the roost
and trying to insulate that.
This is a new property, so I'mkind of figuring things out as I
go.
We've, we've built the run.
It looks like the people whowere here last used a tiny shed.
(08:52):
I'm not sure where the chickenswere, but they clearly, they
clearly used a very small, smalllittle shed.
But we've, we've extended,we've got a really big, big run
and, uh, I I did think Imentioned to you we haven't had
much rain, uh, and so when wedid get our first big downpour,
I was out there in the night, uh, in my, in my gumboots, which
(09:16):
is like is that galoshes?
Do you have gumboots?
Am I willing?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
we have rubber boots or galoshes.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, boots, yep, all right.
So in my rubber boots umdigging, you know, drainage,
gutters and and all sorts ofthings in the pouring rain.
So, uh, yeah, look, the girlsdon't get too freezing.
I did have some chicks justcome through, so they've just
come out from under under heatand have joined the, the big
girls now.
(09:43):
So everyone's fine out there.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No one's freezing well, how many adult hens do you
have?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
so I've got, uh, nine adult hens and I have now five
girls who are around.
They're they're a little bit ofa mix, but they're around that
sort of three months.
10 weeks?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
yeah, are they still laying right now, while it's
winter?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Not many.
No, I have my youngest hen.
She's the strangest lookingchicken I've ever seen.
I think all chickens arebeautiful.
This is the least beautifulchicken.
I inherited her from someone.
She's very feisty and she's theboss already.
Interestingly, she's anAraucana cross, so she's an
(10:28):
olive egger and she's theyoungest, so she's kept
goingucana cross, so she's anolive egger and she's the
youngest, so she's kept goingthrough the cold.
And I've got one of myWyandottes and my other Araucana
.
They're on and off.
I'm getting maybe one to threeeggs a day, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
At nine hens in the winter, that that's not terribly
bad, you know uh, obviouslyyour girls are probably good and
healthy.
Uh, when it comes to feed, uh,do you have national brands that
y'all have over here, like,like over here?
We have two or three differentbrands that are just national.
Uh, purina is one of them.
Uh, we have a big market feedstore, uh tractor supply that
(11:10):
you'll find in almost everyfreaking town.
Uh, that.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, I've heard of tractor supply.
Yeah, I read about and we havelocal.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, we have local feed distributors too that I
like to patronage as well.
So so what kind of feed is thenormal feed that you give your
girls?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
yeah, there's.
There's a couple of big brands.
There's one that's called RedHen and there's Barristock is
probably the biggest one.
So, look, I support my localsmall feed store but they of
course, carry the big brands, soI've been probably on.
There's a couple of differentBarristock that I've used and I
(11:46):
sort of I can't decide whether Ilike the pellets or the crumble
better.
I think they like the crumblebetter.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I'm a pellet guy.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Yeah, it just depends Like.
I did get a couple of bags ofpellets for a while there and
they did quite like it.
So yeah, we'll see, but they'rea pretty good standard.
Of course you can get can getdifferent, you know, but the
baristox are pretty good.
It's not the highest end butit's.
It's a pretty good.
Uh, nutritional feed and, ofcourse, the brain.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, most stores around here will offer, you know
, three different qualities forlack of a better word for the
consumer, because not everybodywants to buy the most expenses
that they have.
I could go get out of the samestore.
I can get a 15 bag of feed, andthat's 15 us.
I'm not sure how y'all'scurrency works yeah, it's about
(12:40):
one and a half.
Okay, yeah, so 25 dollars, yepoh wow, I can get a 20 and I can
get a 25.
Now the I don't buy because Iwant mine to do maximum egg
production and I will kind of goback and forth with the 20 and
$25.
Just kind of depends on how mywallet goes, how well my
(13:01):
sponsors do that month, becauseI do have a couple of sponsors
that help pay for some of this,but I don't go to the very
bottom.
There's a lot of fillers in that, and not that there's anything
wrong with that.
The chickens can still behealthy and grow and do
everything that they need.
But some of the things I'mlooking for is that really good
protein calcium type mix andyour other vitamins that are in
(13:23):
there, your B vitamins that arevery, very essential for the
birds to make them.
So, yeah, I go to the littlebit more expensive brands and it
helps when you have a sponsorthat's actually buying those for
you you know, believe me, mysponsors barely pay for my feed.
I appreciate it.
They at least do that, you know, and that it's a wonderful
(13:44):
thing.
You know, I also feed the girlsa lot of, a lot of scraps from
the house, and when I say a lot,we do compost and I have two
different compost bins and we'llthrow veggies and different
things in the compost.
Well, they make beelines andthey do head dives into there.
They're going to eat some ofthe compost In the evenings.
Out of a seven-day week,probably four days, I'm going to
(14:07):
go out there and give them someblack soldier, fly larva boost
of protein, especially insummertime, in the dead of
winter.
Uh, protein is a little moreimportant than it is in the
spring and fall, when the when,the wild, where there's where
there's a little bit milder.
So I'll give them the treatsand they really love that.
Uh, I could be anywhere and ifI holler, come on, girls, it is
(14:28):
a wave of chickens, I mean itcould be so funny, you know, uh
with my egg stand outside.
I have people come by sometimesthey go, oh, can I see the
chickens, you know, and we'll goand I'll let them stand by the
fence.
I don't let them go inside andI holler for them and they
almost inevitably they juststart screaming because it's so
funny about watching these birdsdo do this.
(14:49):
But yeah, you know, feed, feedwhat, what makes them happy,
feed what makes them healthy,and just just keep going the way
, the way that you know you wantto do, in the way you know that
are good for your birds but mykids think it's funny because we
now have a uh like a, like amealy worm farm.
You know that really I haven'tstarted that well, it's really
(15:12):
interesting.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I I did get started only well, it's probably about a
month ago and ordered, orderedsome in and and got got my
containers going you're gonnahave to send me pictures and
videos of that yeah, well, atthe moment it was just the first
tub and this this might makeyou laugh, but we've.
We've had a few birthdays, we'vehad things going on and been
(15:33):
checking them and like feedingthe girls out of it and I was a
bit like, oh, I might have, Imight have used too many and
I'll have to bring some more into get the.
But they've just been breedingin there.
So I'd read all of theinformation about needing to
remove the you know the pupa sothey don't eat the worms,
they're just big, they're goingcrazy.
(15:54):
So I've just done that.
Yesterday I've started tonotice the you know the pupa
sort of moving around.
So I've been pulling them out,but it's abundant and I have not
done anything difficult yet.
So the difficult bit's about tostart.
I'll share with you, uh, howthat goes.
But that's a great thing tohave on hand to the girls.
And the girls know, especiallythe, the young, the young birds
(16:18):
there.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Uh, I'll go out there and I'll just call cheap, cheap
and the little ones know andthey'll run earlier you
mentioned about whenever youwere in the city and you had
predators and foxes that wouldget after your animals.
You know, when I think aboutAustralia, I think about some of
the scariest predators on theplanet.
(16:39):
You know crocs, lizards, snakes.
I don't know.
We don't want all, but whereyou are now it's more rural.
So is the predator problem moreso, less so or different?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Well, it's funny.
Not that it's funny, but like Ihear about, all of your
predators are animals that Ithink are like really cute Did
you say cute, okay, y'all heardthat.
Okay, folks, y'all heard that.
(17:14):
Okay, folks, y'all heard that Ireally so things like, like,
like you have, uh, like raccoonsand things like that, like I, I
don't know I I feel likethey're adorable animals like I
where y'all have things thattake a leg off.
I get it you know, look,australia is really funny, like
that we don't have where I am inMelbourne.
(17:36):
Look, there might be sort ofparts of really regional
Australia who may have problemswith, perhaps like large lizards
, like we have goannas, likereally really large lizards,
like we have goannas um, likereally really large lizards
they're.
We see them, like they'rearound, but then they're
definitely not considered.
Like if you see one it'sexciting and they're not.
(17:59):
You know um, but if I had,they're not really common around
here.
So I don't believe they're apredator.
But the main predator for forchickens anywhere in Australia
are foxes, which were introduced.
You know, when we werecolonised, the English thought
(18:19):
it would be a great idea tobring rabbits to do hunting and
foxes to do hunting.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, that's a big thing in England.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
yes, and that's a big thing in England.
Yes, so now our uh, our native,our native uh, fauna really
suffers because of foxes andrabbits.
Rabbits do a lot of damage, asyou can imagine, to vegetation
and foxes are really bigpredators of chickens and it's
it's funny that you should say Ireally thought it would be
worse here.
(18:48):
Um, I did like it was a reallyawful story, but I did live, not
in the meantime, when we werelooking to to buy, we were uh
renting a home and it was asuburb.
It was still up here in thehills, but it was more of a
suburban beautiful greenbackyard.
Actually for the girls it wassmaller but and we lost my son
(19:11):
had a pair of ducks as well andI lost two ducks who would not
go into the coop uh, and likegoing to the coop they wouldn't
go in, they wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, sorry, they, they, they just they refused to
go in the coop and in hindsightit may have been because they
sensed that there was go in thecoop.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
They refused to go in and in hindsight it may have
been because they sensed thatthere was something near the
coop which was quite near thehouse.
However, yeah, that washorrific losing two big,
beautiful white ducks whosenames were Cheese and Quackers.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I'm laughing with you , I promise.
So foxes were a problem there.
I'm laughing with you, Ipromise.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
So foxes were a problem there.
But on this property I have adog.
I have a little dog and no onewould be scared of him.
He tries, but all of myneighbours have very big dogs,
helpful, which, yeah, I meanonce we get settled we might get
(20:13):
another dog in to help lookafter the girls.
But those dogs, my neighbourshave said that they've actually
never seen foxes.
There are definitely foxes here.
Don't misunderstand me.
I see them on the roads all thetime, but in terms of right
where I am, I'm hoping thatoffers me a little bit of
protection at the moment, beingsurrounded by big dogs.
(20:34):
I did hear on a local pagesomeone losing their chickens to
dogs, though that had gottenout from someone's property.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
So it's you know, dogs can be bad.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yes, yeah, in terms of small predators, I don't have
to do like the, the tiny mesh,you know it's kind of big
chicken wire that's dug in aslong as I, as long as foxes, you
know, like that's the.
Yeah, so it's, it's very wellreinforced.
I've got a couple of big treesin the middle of my run so it's
(21:09):
wired in tight around the trees.
But so far, yeah, there wouldbe big, big birds, wedge-tailed
eagles, which are our biggestbird.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Y'all do have predator birds.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, but they're not .
Yeah, I think farmers wouldhave problems with.
You know, in big open spaces wedo see them, but we're very
tree covered here.
They wouldn't come down lowhere.
But they have about a six footwingspan.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
They're huge, beautiful birds, yeah well, we
have, uh, bald eagles close towhere I am.
I've seen them out in thepasture but I've never seen them
to get too close.
But I have lost birds tochicken hawks before, or red
tail hawks.
They may not necessarily bewhat we call a chicken hawk and
(22:04):
that's my worst predator.
I've had raccoons come in theyard but I have them on video
and they just walk back andforth but they can't get in.
You know, inevitably I go totrap them because I have a live
trap and I want to move themseveral miles away.
But I probably the last threetimes I went to trap one the
very next day someone run overit on the road, you know so I, I
(22:26):
, yeah and I hate that to happen, because we need those animals.
You know that they're part.
They're part of the ecosystemand they're part of nature and I
don't want to disturb that.
But I do want to move them awayfrom my place so yeah
absolutely so all right, we'regetting close on our time limit
on here, so so please tell ussome more about what goes on in
(22:48):
australia when it comes tochickens.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I think, look, australia has had a real boom,
probably like much of the worldwhen, when it comes to chickens,
I think, look, australia hashad a real boom.
Probably like much of the worldwhen, when it was COVID time
and COVID did it over here too.
Yes, yeah, everyone, everyonerealized that it's nice to be
able to collect your own eggsand and have you know, have that
happening at home.
But there is a real boom andthere's a real resurgence in
(23:11):
heritage breeds over here.
So my first few girls were IssaBrowns and you know everyone.
They're still a favourite forthe beginner backyard chicken
lover.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
You don't have any Australorps.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
We do I actually Australorps?
Yeah, I don't have anyAustralorps.
That was my choice when I wentto get chickens the first time,
but my daughter was very, verytiny and the Australop chickens
were enormous and I'd never hadchickens before, so I did go
(23:47):
with the Isis, who turned out tobe lovely.
But yeah, I do have my eye on acouple of australops because
they are very reliable layersand I don't have a brown egg
layer in my flock at the moment.
Wow, for the first time I did.
I lost my last ice uh, uh, notlong ago.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So yeah, I've, I've not got a brown layer but
because my eggs are always sofresh they're they're not worth
a flip for boiling because youneed an older egg to peel a lot
better when it's boiled.
So my wife will send me to thestore to buy it at the store and
it's called the walk of shameand I hope no one recognizes me
(24:27):
in there because I'm sneakingout.
You know like I've got goldbullion under my arm with a
dozen eggs.
Now.
You know like I've got goldbullion under my arm with a
dozen eggs.
But if people don't know, youknow you need at least a month
old egg before it's going toboil and peel decently and they
don't ever make it that long.
They're either sold or eatenthe flavor, and I know you've
tasted the difference betweenwhat you get at the market and
(24:50):
what you raise at your house.
It is that they're just rich andbeautiful.
So you go to the local feedstore.
What is an average youngtwo-day-old chick cost Over here
?
You're going to spend between$4 and $6, depending on the
breed.
Maybe $8 if it's a really raretype of breed, but $4 to $6 is
(25:11):
an average for a chick that youget over here that's a really
interesting question, becauseI've never seen a chick for sale
at a feed store really well.
How do you?
You order them through the mailso it's.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
It's really interesting.
The way I've always um sourcedthem is that there are a couple
of kind of poultry farms who dothat and you go and pick up your
chicks there.
Yeah, you can definitely orderum fertilized eggs to to hatch
if you've got a brooder, but forme personally, and from what I
(25:46):
can gather, it's, it's quiterare.
I mean, and people are onwebsites, you know, like gum
tree, gumtree or things like ohno, yours probably isn't called.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Gumtree, never heard of it.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Like Craigslist kind of thing.
Is that a thing?
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Facebook over here Craigslist.
Yes, we have Craigslist.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yes, so people will do that.
It's interesting that you askedthat and I wonder if it's to do
with animal laws and thingslike that.
But people sell out of theirbackyards but it's often kind of
breeders that get a bit of aname and then you buy, yeah,
from the breeder.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I actually haven't ever bought one or two day old
ones myself, but you see themusually going for maybe yeah,
five dollars unsexed, um, yeahokay, well, over here we have
huge hatcheries that that willhatch a few thousand eggs a week
and you may have 20 differenthatcheries that you can choose
(26:47):
from, probably five out there.
That are the biggest dealersthat that you can find and, like
I said, they do thousands ofthe biggest dealers that you can
find and, like I said, they dothousands of birds a week and
you can order them through themail.
The United States PostalService has been delivering baby
chicks since the second daythey opened in
18-oh-whatever-it-was, and youknow, a chick's got the ability
(27:08):
because right before it hatchesit sucks up all that yolk and it
can live two or three daysquite easily without food or
drink because it has all of thatin its body.
So so we get them through themail.
It's really easy and it's a lotof fun to do that, because the
post office will call you up,say, hey, we have your chicks
here, come get them it's.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
It's probably lucky.
I don't know how many I wouldhave if I could order them
through the mail, because it'soften a little bit of a drive,
you know to get them.
But, yeah, definitely aresurgence in in heritage breeds
.
And so I've got, I've got acouple of interesting girls out
there now, which is which isreally cool.
So I like, I don't know, did I,did you want me to?
(27:48):
I I recently was in touch withone of my old high school
teachers.
So it's a long time ago, it's avery long time ago, and he is
retired now.
He was the animal husbandryteacher at my high school, so he
always had chicks in thescience labs and things like
that.
(28:08):
But he breeds very rarechickens in Australia.
And so he contacted me and he,yeah, but he breeds very rare
chickens in Australia.
And so he contacted me and he,yeah, I'll actually send you
some information.
He has some really beautifulchickens, but he did have one
who she wasn't quite her combwasn't quite up to standard,
she's a red Derbyshire.
And he said would it be okay ifI came out and we had a cup of
(28:31):
coffee and would you like thisvery rare chicken to add to your
chicken flock?
And we, uh, I hadn't seen himfor about 30 years and 35 years
and we had a really amazingcatch up.
And he, he, he got on hiswalking stick and I headed out
and uh checked out my coop andmade sure everything was up to
his standard, and uh and we hada really lovely catch up.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
So I've got quite a rare chicken, uh, in there now
and um I just had to pop up onmy screen saying that we're
running out of time so we'regoing to stop it all right here.
I think you and I could chatfor quite a while.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show it's.
I don't how much we learnedabout chicken, but we learned
about Australia and I think itwas just beautiful to do that.
(29:16):
I think the moral of this is uschicken lovers are chicken
lovers and backyard chickenkeepers are backyard chicken
keepers all over the planet.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
And it's great when we can connect over things that
we share.
So maybe we could talk moretechnical chickens another time
but we'll talk more technicalanother time thank you so much
for having me.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
You're welcome, bye, bye that's all we have time for
today.
I really hope you enjoyedlistening to the podcast.
Be sure to watch our videos.
So, on behalf of my papa, gary,and me, sylvia, thanks for
listening.
Are we ready, pawpaw?
Hello friends and welcome toChicken.
Every Day, a podcast for you,the backyard chicken enthusiasts
, and mine.
Your host is my Pawpaw, gary,Gary Valerie of Senla Backyard
Chickens.
Here we have fun while sharingideas and learning how to care
for our foul-feathered friends.
Check out our videos at Senlathat's C-E-N-L-A Backyard
(00:24):
Chickens on YouTube, tiktok andFacebook.
So, without further ado, let'sstart today's show.
How was that?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey guys, welcome to the show, and if you were
watching or listening to thepodcast a few weeks ago, you
know I let out a cattle.
Call for anybody that loveschickens that's want to talk
chickens.
If, whether or not you're anexpert or a backyard chicken
keeper, I want to hear from you,I want to put you on the show
because we want to talk aboutchickens.
Well, I got another reply forus today and this is about as
(00:55):
far away from Central Louisianaas you could possibly get.
We are in the land down undertoday and we are talking live
with Miss Cara Monte way down inAustralia.
Karen, how are you today?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I'm very well, Gary.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
We are so excited about having you on the show.
First things first, introduceyourself to my audience.
Tell us about why you got intochickens and tell us about your
birds.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
No problems.
So my name's Cara and I live inMelbourne, australia, and was
happily listening to one of mynew favorite chicken podcasts
and heard the call out so Ithought I'd reach out and, yeah,
I'd love, love talking chickensand I probably first got my
first girls around 15 years agoand we just had a a few backyard
(01:45):
Issa Browns in the suburbs andjust really, really loved them.
And in Melbourne we're allowedto have five chickens in a
suburban residential area.
So I ended up with six or sevenfor a little while.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
It's called chicken math.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We all do it people, uh, people need to move chickens
on and things like that, but uh, so that's just how we sort of
started and we've always keptchickens we've had.
We've lost a couple of flocks,unfortunately, in the suburbs to
to foxes they're our mainpredator here, uh.
But across the span of timewe've done, we've done fairly
(02:30):
well and I've recently moved toa property now that had we're on
over an acre and so I'm allowedto have as many chickens as I
like, uh, and roosters if Ichoose to.
So, yeah, a bit of a mixedflock now, mixed few heritage in
there now and really, reallynice girls.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Wonderful.
You know, you and I werechatting a little bit the other
day and it was reallyfascinating some of the things
about Australia, and I had toadmit to you that what I knew
about Australia was fromCrocodile Dundee and the Bajee
Bajees, so that makes itextremely limited.
But you talked about theArachid, what's the name of the
(03:12):
indigenous people down there,yeah, the Aboriginal people, the
traditional owners.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So, in Australia, often when we meet or begin a
ceremony or even an online workmeeting, we might say that we
are going to acknowledge thetraditional owners of the land
that we're working from or thatwe're presenting from.
And so I'm.
Actually.
It would be nice to includethat I'm here living on land
(03:43):
that is traditionally, you know,was looked after by the
custodians, who are theWurundjeri people, so the
Wurundjeri people of the KulinNation.
The Indigenous history inAustralia is vast and rich and
extends anywhere to 65,000 to90,000 years, and so, yeah, it's
(04:07):
a nice thing to acknowledgethose people that have taken
such great care of the land.
Before.
I was lucky enough to live here, that's lovely, that's lovely.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I really really like that.
By the way, you have awonderful accent.
I can understand you quiteeasily and I know I sound like a
country bunk it to you, butyour accent is just really
lovely oh really no, I see Ifind the Australian accent a bit
strange, but uh it look.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
The culture exchange is probably quite unbalanced,
gary, because we get a lot ofAmerican uh and film and music
in Australia.
So your accent is wonderful.
I love a southern accent.
I said to you.
It sounds really warm to me andreally like welcoming and
(04:56):
lovely.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So it's really-.
We were on vacation in Coloradoin the mountains last year and
we met a couple and their familywas there and they were from
Australia and I just bugged thehell out of them, just wanted to
chat with them because of theiraccent it was.
I know they were really ready toget rid of it, you know, but it
was such fun to get to meetthose people.
They were very, very sweet.
(05:17):
Don't don't misunderstand, butthey were probably going.
If this is the average, I'mprobably ready to go home, is
what they were thinking about.
Well, one of the things I hadasked you in an email was about
biosecurity, about do you guysget chickens that come into the
country, or do you getfertilized eggs that are allowed
(05:39):
into the country?
How does that work?
Because y'all are an islandcountry, you're south of the
equator, you're separate fromeverybody, which is not a bad
thing the way things are workingout nowadays.
So how does that work when itcomes to getting more chickens
in and biosecurity when it comesto those chickens?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, australia is really, really strict in terms
of our biosecurity at theairport, even if we we have the
mainland of australia and wehave one of our states which is
separate from the mainland,called tasmania, and so they
even have even stricter lawsdown there in terms of.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
We have a famous cartoon character about tasmania
devils, oh, yeah of, yeah, ofcourse, the Tassie devil.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yeah, of course, yeah , warner Brothers and yeah.
So we're very, very strictabout what can come in to the
country in terms of flora andfauna.
And so when it comes tochickens and I did have to look
at this a little bit but I wasright you, you can there can be
imports of fertilized eggs andso commercially that is done on
(06:49):
quite a wide scale, I think, andso those eggs will come in and
be hatched in really strictquarantine and then bred from
there.
So I think they're like inquarantine for a couple of
months, so they will will bebred from there.
And look, my understanding isthat breeders can bring in
fertilized eggs.
It's quite expensive to do thatbecause they have to be brought
(07:12):
in under those same conditions.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, the US has a lot of that same kind of stuff.
When you bring chickens fromEurope over here, usually they
go to the port of New York andthere's a place that they
quarantine for about six months.
So right now, I know, it'swinter over there where you are.
It's the middle of summer overhere where I am.
So is there anything specialthat you need to do for your
(07:36):
chickens because of the winter?
I mean, are you cold enoughthat they really really, you
know, need some special care, orthat's just not really a big
deal in Sydney.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Well, I'm in Melbourne close.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
In Melbourne.
You're right, my bad, that'sanother thing.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
There's state rivalry .
That goes on.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Oh no.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Look, it's not cold enough really.
You know where I am.
I'm in like the hills we callit the hills in and so it is
that, uh, temperate rainforestand it's so.
It's frosty.
The coldest it would really getup here is maybe minus one
degree celsius.
Uh, I'm not sure what that is,fahrenheit, it's probably around
(08:21):
30 degrees or so.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
you know, because 32 degrees Fahrenheit is zero
degrees Celsius.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
So look the girls.
You know you can see theirbreath in the morning, but
they're not too bad.
It's just a matter of, yeah,keeping them warm in the roost
and trying to insulate that.
This is a new property, so I'mkind of figuring things out as I
go.
We've, we've built the run.
It looks like the people whowere here last used a tiny shed.
(08:52):
I'm not sure where the chickenswere, but they clearly, they
clearly used a very small, smalllittle shed.
But we've, we've extended,we've got a really big, big run
and, uh, I I did think Imentioned to you we haven't had
much rain, uh, and so when wedid get our first big downpour,
I was out there in the night, uh, in my, in my gumboots, which
(09:16):
is like is that galoshes?
Do you have gumboots?
Am I willing?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
we have rubber boots or galoshes.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, boots, yep, all right.
So in my rubber boots umdigging, you know, drainage,
gutters and and all sorts ofthings in the pouring rain.
So, uh, yeah, look, the girlsdon't get too freezing.
I did have some chicks justcome through, so they've just
come out from under under heatand have joined the, the big
girls now.
(09:43):
So everyone's fine out there.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No one's freezing well, how many adult hens do you
have?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
so I've got, uh, nine adult hens and I have now five
girls who are around.
They're they're a little bit ofa mix, but they're around that
sort of three months.
10 weeks?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
yeah, are they still laying right now, while it's
winter?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Not many.
No, I have my youngest hen.
She's the strangest lookingchicken I've ever seen.
I think all chickens arebeautiful.
This is the least beautifulchicken.
I inherited her from someone.
She's very feisty and she's theboss already.
Interestingly, she's anAraucana cross, so she's an
(10:28):
olive egger and she's theyoungest, so she's kept
goingucana cross, so she's anolive egger and she's the
youngest, so she's kept goingthrough the cold.
And I've got one of myWyandottes and my other Araucana
.
They're on and off.
I'm getting maybe one to threeeggs a day, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
At nine hens in the winter, that that's not terribly
bad, you know uh, obviouslyyour girls are probably good and
healthy.
Uh, when it comes to feed, uh,do you have national brands that
y'all have over here, like,like over here?
We have two or three differentbrands that are just national.
Uh, purina is one of them.
Uh, we have a big market feedstore, uh tractor supply that
(11:10):
you'll find in almost everyfreaking town.
Uh, that.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, I've heard of tractor supply.
Yeah, I read about and we havelocal.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, we have local feed distributors too that I
like to patronage as well.
So so what kind of feed is thenormal feed that you give your
girls?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
yeah, there's.
There's a couple of big brands.
There's one that's called RedHen and there's Barristock is
probably the biggest one.
So, look, I support my localsmall feed store but they of
course, carry the big brands, soI've been probably on.
There's a couple of differentBarristock that I've used and I
(11:46):
sort of I can't decide whether Ilike the pellets or the crumble
better.
I think they like the crumblebetter.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I'm a pellet guy.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Yeah, it just depends Like.
I did get a couple of bags ofpellets for a while there and
they did quite like it.
So yeah, we'll see, but they'rea pretty good standard.
Of course you can get can getdifferent, you know, but the
baristox are pretty good.
It's not the highest end butit's.
It's a pretty good.
Uh, nutritional feed and, ofcourse, the brain.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, most stores around here will offer, you know
, three different qualities forlack of a better word for the
consumer, because not everybodywants to buy the most expenses
that they have.
I could go get out of the samestore.
I can get a 15 bag of feed, andthat's 15 us.
I'm not sure how y'all'scurrency works yeah, it's about
(12:40):
one and a half.
Okay, yeah, so 25 dollars, yepoh wow, I can get a 20 and I can
get a 25.
Now the I don't buy because Iwant mine to do maximum egg
production and I will kind of goback and forth with the 20 and
$25.
Just kind of depends on how mywallet goes, how well my
(13:01):
sponsors do that month, becauseI do have a couple of sponsors
that help pay for some of this,but I don't go to the very
bottom.
There's a lot of fillers in that, and not that there's anything
wrong with that.
The chickens can still behealthy and grow and do
everything that they need.
But some of the things I'mlooking for is that really good
protein calcium type mix andyour other vitamins that are in
(13:23):
there, your B vitamins that arevery, very essential for the
birds to make them.
So, yeah, I go to the littlebit more expensive brands and it
helps when you have a sponsorthat's actually buying those for
you you know, believe me, mysponsors barely pay for my feed.
I appreciate it.
They at least do that, you know, and that it's a wonderful
(13:44):
thing.
You know, I also feed the girlsa lot of, a lot of scraps from
the house, and when I say a lot,we do compost and I have two
different compost bins and we'llthrow veggies and different
things in the compost.
Well, they make beelines andthey do head dives into there.
They're going to eat some ofthe compost In the evenings.
Out of a seven-day week,probably four days, I'm going to
(14:07):
go out there and give them someblack soldier, fly larva boost
of protein, especially insummertime, in the dead of
winter.
Uh, protein is a little moreimportant than it is in the
spring and fall, when the when,the wild, where there's where
there's a little bit milder.
So I'll give them the treatsand they really love that.
Uh, I could be anywhere and ifI holler, come on, girls, it is
(14:28):
a wave of chickens, I mean itcould be so funny, you know, uh
with my egg stand outside.
I have people come by sometimesthey go, oh, can I see the
chickens, you know, and we'll goand I'll let them stand by the
fence.
I don't let them go inside andI holler for them and they
almost inevitably they juststart screaming because it's so
funny about watching these birdsdo do this.
(14:49):
But yeah, you know, feed, feedwhat, what makes them happy,
feed what makes them healthy,and just just keep going the way
, the way that you know you wantto do, in the way you know that
are good for your birds but mykids think it's funny because we
now have a uh like a, like amealy worm farm.
You know that really I haven'tstarted that well, it's really
(15:12):
interesting.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I I did get started only well, it's probably about a
month ago and ordered, orderedsome in and and got got my
containers going you're gonnahave to send me pictures and
videos of that yeah, well, atthe moment it was just the first
tub and this this might makeyou laugh, but we've.
We've had a few birthdays, we'vehad things going on and been
(15:33):
checking them and like feedingthe girls out of it and I was a
bit like, oh, I might have, Imight have used too many and
I'll have to bring some more into get the.
But they've just been breedingin there.
So I'd read all of theinformation about needing to
remove the you know the pupa sothey don't eat the worms,
they're just big, they're goingcrazy.
(15:54):
So I've just done that.
Yesterday I've started tonotice the you know the pupa
sort of moving around.
So I've been pulling them out,but it's abundant and I have not
done anything difficult yet.
So the difficult bit's about tostart.
I'll share with you, uh, howthat goes.
But that's a great thing tohave on hand to the girls.
And the girls know, especiallythe, the young, the young birds
(16:18):
there.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Uh, I'll go out there and I'll just call cheap, cheap
and the little ones know andthey'll run earlier you
mentioned about whenever youwere in the city and you had
predators and foxes that wouldget after your animals.
You know, when I think aboutAustralia, I think about some of
the scariest predators on theplanet.
(16:39):
You know crocs, lizards, snakes.
I don't know.
We don't want all, but whereyou are now it's more rural.
So is the predator problem moreso, less so or different?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Well, it's funny.
Not that it's funny, but like Ihear about, all of your
predators are animals that Ithink are like really cute Did
you say cute, okay, y'all heardthat.
Okay, folks, y'all heard that.
(17:14):
Okay, folks, y'all heard that Ireally so things like, like,
like you have, uh, like raccoonsand things like that, like I, I
don't know I I feel likethey're adorable animals like I
where y'all have things thattake a leg off.
I get it you know, look,australia is really funny, like
that we don't have where I am inMelbourne.
(17:36):
Look, there might be sort ofparts of really regional
Australia who may have problemswith, perhaps like large lizards
, like we have goannas, likereally really large lizards,
like we have goannas um, likereally really large lizards
they're.
We see them, like they'rearound, but then they're
definitely not considered.
Like if you see one it'sexciting and they're not.
(17:59):
You know um, but if I had,they're not really common around
here.
So I don't believe they're apredator.
But the main predator for forchickens anywhere in Australia
are foxes, which were introduced.
You know, when we werecolonised, the English thought
(18:19):
it would be a great idea tobring rabbits to do hunting and
foxes to do hunting.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, that's a big thing in England.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
yes, and that's a big thing in England.
Yes, so now our uh, our native,our native uh, fauna really
suffers because of foxes andrabbits.
Rabbits do a lot of damage, asyou can imagine, to vegetation
and foxes are really bigpredators of chickens and it's
it's funny that you should say Ireally thought it would be
worse here.
(18:48):
Um, I did like it was a reallyawful story, but I did live, not
in the meantime, when we werelooking to to buy, we were uh
renting a home and it was asuburb.
It was still up here in thehills, but it was more of a
suburban beautiful greenbackyard.
Actually for the girls it wassmaller but and we lost my son
(19:11):
had a pair of ducks as well andI lost two ducks who would not
go into the coop uh, and likegoing to the coop they wouldn't
go in, they wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, sorry, they, they, they just they refused to
go in the coop and in hindsightit may have been because they
sensed that there was go in thecoop.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
They refused to go in and in hindsight it may have
been because they sensed thatthere was something near the
coop which was quite near thehouse.
However, yeah, that washorrific losing two big,
beautiful white ducks whosenames were Cheese and Quackers.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I'm laughing with you , I promise.
So foxes were a problem there.
I'm laughing with you, Ipromise.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
So foxes were a problem there.
But on this property I have adog.
I have a little dog and no onewould be scared of him.
He tries, but all of myneighbours have very big dogs,
helpful, which, yeah, I meanonce we get settled we might get
(20:13):
another dog in to help lookafter the girls.
But those dogs, my neighbourshave said that they've actually
never seen foxes.
There are definitely foxes here.
Don't misunderstand me.
I see them on the roads all thetime, but in terms of right
where I am, I'm hoping thatoffers me a little bit of
protection at the moment, beingsurrounded by big dogs.
(20:34):
I did hear on a local pagesomeone losing their chickens to
dogs, though that had gottenout from someone's property.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
So it's you know, dogs can be bad.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yes, yeah, in terms of small predators, I don't have
to do like the, the tiny mesh,you know it's kind of big
chicken wire that's dug in aslong as I, as long as foxes, you
know, like that's the.
Yeah, so it's, it's very wellreinforced.
I've got a couple of big treesin the middle of my run so it's
(21:09):
wired in tight around the trees.
But so far, yeah, there wouldbe big, big birds, wedge-tailed
eagles, which are our biggestbird.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Y'all do have predator birds.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, but they're not .
Yeah, I think farmers wouldhave problems with.
You know, in big open spaces wedo see them, but we're very
tree covered here.
They wouldn't come down lowhere.
But they have about a six footwingspan.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
They're huge, beautiful birds, yeah well, we
have, uh, bald eagles close towhere I am.
I've seen them out in thepasture but I've never seen them
to get too close.
But I have lost birds tochicken hawks before, or red
tail hawks.
They may not necessarily bewhat we call a chicken hawk and
(22:04):
that's my worst predator.
I've had raccoons come in theyard but I have them on video
and they just walk back andforth but they can't get in.
You know, inevitably I go totrap them because I have a live
trap and I want to move themseveral miles away.
But I probably the last threetimes I went to trap one the
very next day someone run overit on the road, you know so I, I
(22:26):
, yeah and I hate that to happen, because we need those animals.
You know that they're part.
They're part of the ecosystemand they're part of nature and I
don't want to disturb that.
But I do want to move them awayfrom my place so yeah
absolutely so all right, we'regetting close on our time limit
on here, so so please tell ussome more about what goes on in
(22:48):
australia when it comes tochickens.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
I think, look, australia has had a real boom,
probably like much of the worldwhen, when it comes to chickens,
I think, look, australia hashad a real boom.
Probably like much of the worldwhen, when it was COVID time
and COVID did it over here too.
Yes, yeah, everyone, everyonerealized that it's nice to be
able to collect your own eggsand and have you know, have that
happening at home.
But there is a real boom andthere's a real resurgence in
(23:11):
heritage breeds over here.
So my first few girls were IssaBrowns and you know everyone.
They're still a favourite forthe beginner backyard chicken
lover.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
You don't have any Australorps.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
We do I actually Australorps?
Yeah, I don't have anyAustralorps.
That was my choice when I wentto get chickens the first time,
but my daughter was very, verytiny and the Australop chickens
were enormous and I'd never hadchickens before, so I did go
(23:47):
with the Isis, who turned out tobe lovely.
But yeah, I do have my eye on acouple of australops because
they are very reliable layersand I don't have a brown egg
layer in my flock at the moment.
Wow, for the first time I did.
I lost my last ice uh, uh, notlong ago.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So yeah, I've, I've not got a brown layer but
because my eggs are always sofresh they're they're not worth
a flip for boiling because youneed an older egg to peel a lot
better when it's boiled.
So my wife will send me to thestore to buy it at the store and
it's called the walk of shameand I hope no one recognizes me
(24:27):
in there because I'm sneakingout.
You know like I've got goldbullion under my arm with a
dozen eggs.
Now.
You know like I've got goldbullion under my arm with a
dozen eggs.
But if people don't know, youknow you need at least a month
old egg before it's going toboil and peel decently and they
don't ever make it that long.
They're either sold or eatenthe flavor, and I know you've
tasted the difference betweenwhat you get at the market and
(24:50):
what you raise at your house.
It is that they're just rich andbeautiful.
So you go to the local feedstore.
What is an average youngtwo-day-old chick cost Over here
?
You're going to spend between$4 and $6, depending on the
breed.
Maybe $8 if it's a really raretype of breed, but $4 to $6 is
(25:11):
an average for a chick that youget over here that's a really
interesting question, becauseI've never seen a chick for sale
at a feed store really well.
How do you?
You order them through the mailso it's.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
It's really interesting.
The way I've always um sourcedthem is that there are a couple
of kind of poultry farms who dothat and you go and pick up your
chicks there.
Yeah, you can definitely orderum fertilized eggs to to hatch
if you've got a brooder, but forme personally, and from what I
(25:46):
can gather, it's, it's quiterare.
I mean, and people are onwebsites, you know, like gum
tree, gumtree or things like ohno, yours probably isn't called.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Gumtree, never heard of it.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Like Craigslist kind of thing.
Is that a thing?
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Facebook over here Craigslist.
Yes, we have Craigslist.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yes, so people will do that.
It's interesting that you askedthat and I wonder if it's to do
with animal laws and thingslike that.
But people sell out of theirbackyards but it's often kind of
breeders that get a bit of aname and then you buy, yeah,
from the breeder.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I actually haven't ever bought one or two day old
ones myself, but you see themusually going for maybe yeah,
five dollars unsexed, um, yeahokay, well, over here we have
huge hatcheries that that willhatch a few thousand eggs a week
and you may have 20 differenthatcheries that you can choose
(26:47):
from, probably five out there.
That are the biggest dealersthat that you can find and, like
I said, they do thousands ofthe biggest dealers that you can
find and, like I said, they dothousands of birds a week and
you can order them through themail.
The United States PostalService has been delivering baby
chicks since the second daythey opened in
18-oh-whatever-it-was, and youknow, a chick's got the ability
(27:08):
because right before it hatchesit sucks up all that yolk and it
can live two or three daysquite easily without food or
drink because it has all of thatin its body.
So so we get them through themail.
It's really easy and it's a lotof fun to do that, because the
post office will call you up,say, hey, we have your chicks
here, come get them it's.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
It's probably lucky.
I don't know how many I wouldhave if I could order them
through the mail, because it'soften a little bit of a drive,
you know to get them.
But, yeah, definitely aresurgence in in heritage breeds
.
And so I've got, I've got acouple of interesting girls out
there now, which is which isreally cool.
So I like, I don't know, did I,did you want me to?
(27:48):
I I recently was in touch withone of my old high school
teachers.
So it's a long time ago, it's avery long time ago, and he is
retired now.
He was the animal husbandryteacher at my high school, so he
always had chicks in thescience labs and things like
that.
(28:08):
But he breeds very rarechickens in Australia.
And so he contacted me and he,yeah, but he breeds very rare
chickens in Australia.
And so he contacted me and he,yeah, I'll actually send you
some information.
He has some really beautifulchickens, but he did have one
who she wasn't quite her combwasn't quite up to standard,
she's a red Derbyshire.
And he said would it be okay ifI came out and we had a cup of
(28:31):
coffee and would you like thisvery rare chicken to add to your
chicken flock?
And we, uh, I hadn't seen himfor about 30 years and 35 years
and we had a really amazingcatch up.
And he, he, he got on hiswalking stick and I headed out
and uh checked out my coop andmade sure everything was up to
his standard, and uh and we hada really lovely catch up.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
So I've got quite a rare chicken, uh, in there now
and um I just had to pop up onmy screen saying that we're
running out of time so we'regoing to stop it all right here.
I think you and I could chatfor quite a while.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show it's.
I don't how much we learnedabout chicken, but we learned
about Australia and I think itwas just beautiful to do that.
(29:16):
I think the moral of this is uschicken lovers are chicken
lovers and backyard chickenkeepers are backyard chicken
keepers all over the planet.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
And it's great when we can connect over things that
we share.
So maybe we could talk moretechnical chickens another time
but we'll talk more technicalanother time thank you so much
for having me.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
You're welcome, bye, bye that's all we have time for
today.
I really hope you enjoyedlistening to the podcast.
Be sure to watch our videos.
So, on behalf of my papa, gary,and me, sylvia, thanks for
listening.
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