July 10, 2025 • 35 mins
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What role does light play in your flock’s health, behavior, and egg production? In this episode of the Poultry Nerds Podcast, we dig deep into how seasonal changes in daylight—like the summer solstice—affect your chickens and quail. From lighting tricks to manage molting, to using LED and rope lights for consistent laying, we share expert tips for lighting routines in brooders, barns, and breeder pens.
Join Carey and Jennifer as they discuss the science behind light spectrums (blue vs red), setting the mood for fertility, and preventing light-related stress in poultry. Whether you're raising birds naturally or using artificial light to plan for early chick hatches, this episode gives practical insights backed by real-world experience.
Get answers to questions like:
- When should you add artificial light?
- How long should poultry get light per day?
- Can lighting affect molting or aggression?
- Does red or blue light make a difference in poultry care?
Perfect for backyard flock keepers, gamefowl breeders, and poultry nerds of all kinds.
lighting for chickens, egg production in winter, poultry molting, artificial lighting in poultry, daylight hours and egg laying, LED lights for chickens, quail egg production, chicken laying schedule, poultry lighting systems, molting season, rope lights for birds, best lighting for brooders, red vs blue light poultry, summer solstice chickens, chicken egg laying cycle, gamefowl lighting, poultry barn management
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carey (00:01):
Hello poultry nerds.
How are y'all doing today?
We are here for an excitingconversation about light.
We did a podcast a little bitback about the molt and talked
about what all goes on duringthat time of a bird's life.
(00:21):
So now we're gonna talk aboutlighting and how the sun's
coming up and going down thelength of the day.
We're gonna talk about how allthat affects reproduction, egg
laying, what your birds aredoing, all that good stuff on
this episode.
How you doing, Jennifer?
Jennifer (00:41):
I'm good.
Like I just had a flashback tomy childhood.
Do you remember that commercialthat said the more you know.
It was like a star or something.
I can't remember what that wasfor, but
Carey (00:55):
no, and it really makes me wanna like just stop and look
it up because that's how mybrain works.
But I'm not going to, but it istrue.
The more you know, the moreinformed decisions you can make
and it may help.
I was having a conversation withsomebody earlier today.
(01:17):
And blurted out something.
'cause sometimes I do that andmy, I don't think I just speak
and it's also ex takes, it makessense of what we're talking
about.
Headaches are expensive andpeace of mind is worth it.
So we'll talk about some of theheadaches that you encounter
(01:37):
this time of year and all thatgood stuff.
Jennifer (01:41):
I know that we typically try to stay away from
dating our recordings so that ifyou're listening to it, like in
the future it won't matter whattoday's weather is, but in this.
Episode, I think it's relevantthat we say this is June 30th,
right after the summer.
(02:03):
Sol solstice.
Is that how you say it?
Sos, yeah.
Carey (02:06):
Get that word out.
Jennifer (02:08):
So that's the longest day of the year.
And the shortest day issomewhere around Christmas.
Is it like the 27th or somethinglike that?
Yeah,
Carey (02:18):
it's right before New Year's.
I'm not a hundred percent sureexactly what day.
Jennifer (02:23):
Yeah.
And the reason why that isimportant because in the life of
a chicken, their instinct is toprocreate.
And so the days getting longer,they start laying eggs depending
on where you are.
But sometime in the spring,March, April.
(02:45):
Then the days are gettinglonger.
They get their babies out, theyget'em grown up, and then it's
time to kinda replenish theirbodies, prepare for winter,
fall, molt.
So they don't lay as well.
My chickens are not laying wellat all.
(03:05):
And we're talking about olderbirds.
We're not talking about sixmonth old birds here.
Carey (03:11):
Yeah, because they're not, a six month old bird's not
even thinking about molten.
Jennifer (03:15):
No, we're talking about like 18 month old birds,
year old birds, something likethat.
But anyway, so now we've had thesummer solstice.
Last week, last Saturday I thinkit was, and now the days are
starting to get shorter, so thebirds are gonna stop laying as
well and start forging more.
(03:38):
You're gonna see more birdsgoing into the malt.
And replenishing their bodiesand getting prepared for winter,
which I know is hard to imaginewhen it's 188 degrees outside
and 99% humidity.
Carey (03:57):
Yeah.
Jennifer (03:58):
But that's what their bodies are telling them to do.
Carey (04:01):
But like for us, I can go put a jacket on and put some
insulated pants on and I'mprepared.
It takes them a hot minute togrow those feathers.
Jennifer (04:15):
It does.
Was it 90 days or so from startto finish?
Carey (04:18):
It depends a lot on the genetics of the bird.
The breed pretty heavily on thenutrition, but yeah.
Takes a while.
Jennifer (04:31):
Yep.
And you want it done beforewinter is here.
Yeah.
Otherwise you're gonna be outthere putting insulated boots
and coats on your littlechickens.
Carey (04:41):
So those would be the ones that have a burn barrel or
one of those Woodburn stoves outin their chicken run.
Jennifer (04:49):
Yep.
Carey (04:50):
cause their birds are naked.
Jennifer (04:52):
So we're gonna talk about some options that you have
in relation to this light.
So let's start with chickens.
And my preference this time ofyear is to allow them a more
natural, slow down, and go intothe molt gracefully.
(05:15):
And recover at their le leisure.
I don't try to force a mole anddon't try to rush it or
anything.
I just try to provide supportivecare.
I guess I'll pull the males outso they're not aggravating the
hens.
You don't wanna handle the birds'cause they're getting.
(05:37):
Aggravated every little thing.
And they're just, their bodiesare getting ready to do this
thing.
And as the days get shorterit'll happen quicker.
And then I, at the end, in thefall and early winter, and I
know it's hard to think about itlike this, but.
If the shortest day is inDecember and I want chicks in
(06:01):
January, February, then I needto start lengthening their days
in November, December.
So I'm just changing the naturalway of things just ever so
slightly by a month or so is allI'm doing.
So this time of year I'm lettingthem do their natural thing, but
(06:24):
then in.
Dec, say December 1st, around inthereabouts, I'll start adding
light in to start lengtheningtheir days.
So I can get those eggs outsooner so I can get chicks
faster on the ground.
What do you think?
Yeah.
Carey (06:41):
cause those orders, they get backed up very fast.
Jennifer (06:45):
Yeah.
Now the whale, once
Carey (06:47):
hatching season's here, like.
First week or two, you're like,oh this ain't gonna be bad this
year.
I'm good.
It hasn't stopped
Jennifer (06:59):
yet.
Carey (06:59):
Another week or two hits, and you're putting your phone on
silent because the daggumnotifications keep coming in.
And then you're like, I gottaturn off ordering on my page.
I gotta put it outta stock orsomething because I.
(07:20):
I may not have eggs.
I'm so far backed up.
Jennifer (07:23):
Yes.
Carey (07:24):
So that's a real thing.
Jennifer (07:26):
Yep.
So on the quail, now they'reinside my barn.
I do run them in cages inside mybarn.
They have a consistentenvironment.
Consistent light, it comes on atfive 30.
I don't change it with the timechange, so you'll have to bear
(07:47):
with me there a little bit.
It may
Carey (07:48):
be off by an hour or half a year.
Yeah,
Jennifer (07:50):
somewhere around 5 30, 6 o'clock in the morning and it
goes off between eight and nineo'clock at night.
Just depends on what time of theyear it is.
But it's every day.
And then I can open the doors,let the natural light in, let
the air flow through.
I have exhaust fans all, they'vekinda got their own little
(08:11):
housing project going on outthere.
I.
So they're comfortable
Carey (08:16):
Now.
That's like a neighborhood.
You've got more, you got morethan a couple houses out there.
You got a small neighborhood inyour barn.
Jennifer (08:26):
I told David I needed more highrises out there coming
into the fall.
He just looked at me.
Carey (08:32):
Somebody asked me the other day, how many, just, how
many quail do you have?
I was like I don't know.
Jennifer (08:40):
We don't ask, and they're like,
Carey (08:42):
what do you mean?
I said I have this many stacks.
I'm not really sure if all ofthem are full or not.
I go through a little over aton, almost two tons of feed a
month.
But I don't know how many.
Yeah.
Jennifer (08:58):
So do you have lights in your barn?
Carey (09:01):
So I have lights in my Quail barn.
I also have lights outside in mybreeding pens.
Okay.
Mainly because, birds have lessstress, like people when they
have consistency.
So my birds, once they get tothat time, they wake up every
(09:27):
day to get 14 hours a daylight.
And still go to bed at anatural, in a natural way.
That's what time they wake upuntil I start seeing feathers
drop.
Now, when I start seeingfeathers drop this time of year
two days ago, in fact I cut mylights off on all my breeding
(09:52):
pins.
Now I still have the fans on.
And they'll run on the sametimer.
'cause I obviously want the fanson during the day and whatever,
but so I stopped the lightingwhen the molt starts and I let
the molt go.
And I talked about this in thatmolting podcast episode, but
(10:16):
I'll let it start until.
That's almost, the molt isalmost like contagious, like
foul pos.
One starts it and within a weekor so you're seeing some
feathers everywhere.
And then I'll start feeding.
So once it starts, I'll cut thelights off, and then after about
(10:41):
a week when everybody's doingit.
At this point, just a little,then I'll feed a molt ration to
them.
That is a lot lower in protein,but it's really high in fiber
and it also is low inmethionine.
(11:01):
But I don't want to give theirfeathers a whole lot of amino
acids right now.
I want them to fall out.
So I'll do that.
Then I'll go back to feedingthem what I was before, which is
really high in those vitamins.
So the last part of the of itthat pushes the feathers out.
(11:22):
But before I turn my lights backon, I wait until my birds are
fully feathered, like fullyfeathered looks normal.
Everything's good.
Then I will find out what timethe sun comes up and I'll start
(11:45):
my lights at that same time, andI will decrease by 30 minutes.
Like I'll do 30 minutes a weekuntil I get to the point to
where I'm at a 14 hour day withlights on.
(12:06):
Once the light goes off, theyprobably have another hour or so
of daylight.
Jennifer (12:12):
When you say decrease, you mean back it up in the
morning?
Carey (12:13):
Yeah.
I, like right now I think mylights come on at three.
At, before I unplugged them,they were coming on at 3:30 AM
because I want them to have thatconsistent 12 hour day and then
for the next four hours.
I want it to end like normal.
If your lights just go out andyour birds aren't on the roost,
(12:38):
they're like, what the crap'sgoing on?
Where am I at?
And you'll hear all rustling andtussling and they'll hit their
heads flying up and just thatand the other and it them out.
That screws with the eggproduction, it screws with the
delaying frequency, just.
Like they're really finicky.
(13:01):
If they have any kind ofexterior stress, they're not
laying.
Jennifer (13:07):
So when you turn'em back on, are we talking
somewhere around betweenHalloween and Thanksgiving?
Carey (13:13):
No.
September-ish.
But
Jennifer (13:15):
you're, you back'em up, you're nice to your birds
and you back'em up nicely.
30 minutes at a time.
Carey (13:21):
Yeah.
30 week, 30 minutes a week islike nothing.
They don't notice it.
So that, that starts theconsistency of a wake up and
adding the supplemental light.
As stress free as possible.
Jennifer (13:39):
See, I'm so mean to my chickens.
So I use rope lighting.
We're gonna talk about thedifferent kinds of lighting we
use, but in, I have, we call'emthe condos and it's nine pens on
my right, Leann tube of my barn.
And I have LED rope lights inthere on a.
Cheapo Christmas timer, and Idon't back'em up 30 minutes at a
(14:01):
time.
If you're going in those pens,that's because I need you to
start laying eggs and it justcomes on at three o'clock in the
morning.
It's just time change likeflying from here to China or
something.
Carey (14:12):
Oh, now the timers that I use they're like the.
9 99 for two of'em on Amazon,
Jennifer (14:19):
exactly the cheap Christmas summer,
Carey (14:21):
which, I have more money in my ventilation, in my
watering systems being automatedand all that crap.
And it's actually sad because Ican monitor temperatures all
that other crap wifi through anapp on my phone.
(14:42):
But I can't adjust the lightswhen the power goes out and I
don't think about my lights andlike I wake up at two o'clock in
the morning or one o'clock inthe morning to go to the
restroom.
I'm like, why the crap are thelights on?
I'm going back to bed and thenI'll go check it later.
And.
(15:03):
Oh the timer's nine hours off
Jennifer (15:05):
because the electricity went off.
Carey (15:08):
I'm gonna jack with y'all today, but I'm gonna set this
back to the right time.
Jennifer (15:15):
I have to laugh because I do the exact same
thing.
If I get up in the middle of thenight and I look out at the barn
through the window and thelights are on.
They're on.
That means it's after threeo'clock, but still it's dark, so
it's still time for me to goback to bed.
Carey (15:30):
Yeah.
I don't think it is after three
Jennifer (15:34):
or if they're on inside the barn, I'm like, did I
go to bed early or are thosejacked up out there?
And I'll have to go look at themand see,
Carey (15:44):
do I need to get me another one of those$5?
Did that timer mess up?
Jennifer (15:49):
I have discovered that the spiders will go inside of'em
and do what they do and jack'emup that way.
Carey (15:58):
Oh yeah.
Bugs love electronics.
Jennifer (16:01):
Yes.
So let's talk about thedifferent kind of lights that we
use and then we'll go to thebabies.
But in my breeder pens, thecondos and the only reason I
call'em condos is'cause it's onthe pond side of the farm.
Carey (16:18):
Don't even lie.
You call'em condos because theyare compared to other people's
runs.
Y'all people have a 10 by 20 runand they think they're doing
something good and they've gotsix, seven feet per bird and
this, that, and the other.
Her freaking condos mean
Jennifer (16:39):
no.
These are the ones on the leanto.
They're like five by eight orsomething.
Carey (16:44):
Okay.
You can still fit a twin sizebed in a bird where you got in a
condo where you have two orthree birds.
Jennifer (16:53):
I have ain't stressing
Carey (16:54):
with their lake, lake side or pond side view.
Jennifer (16:57):
Yeah, I have a lot of birds.
Anyway, so I bought a hundred,so my barn's 50 feet long.
I bought a hundred feet of LED,exterior rope lighting, the
daylight version of LED.
And we went down and then cameback up.
So they get two strands percondo and it plugs into a nappy
(17:22):
old extension cord.
I found somewhere with wireshanging out of it.
It goes through the windowinside the barn and plugged into
a$5 Christmas timer.
Carey (17:33):
I can see it now.
Hey David, do we have anyelectrical tape?
May, oh, here's some duct tape.
I'll use that.
Jennifer (17:41):
Yep.
Inside the barn for the quail, Ihave bought LED shop lights.
They're like strip lights, maybean inch wide, inch and a half
wide at the most, but they'reeight feet long and you can get
like a bundle of 10 of them for.
(18:02):
I don't know, a hundred bucks orsomething.
I was gonna
Carey (18:04):
say, I think when I ordered mine, they were around a
hundred bucks.
Jennifer (18:07):
Yeah.
And then, and they connect, youcan chain'em together.
And so I just have them proppedup on top of different things.
Cha they don't get hot or atleast really hot.
And so I just have them proppedup on.
The pens and stuff in there andthey are in a$5 Christmas timer.
(18:31):
And I think I've got.
I think I've got three sets ofthose.
'cause you're only supposed tochain'em, link'em, so many of
them together.
I'm gonna say, I think you'reonly
Carey (18:42):
supposed to do three or four.
Jennifer (18:45):
That's, but I
Carey (18:45):
can tell you six works.
Jennifer (18:49):
Yeah.
So they're over there and aslong as the, the quail can see
what they're doing, see theirfood and everything.
The quail are pretty happy.
They're fine.
Carey (18:58):
Yeah.
One of the biggestmisconceptions about light is
that they need a lot.
And really and truly, no, theydon't.
They need about the equivalentof an overcast day.
Jennifer (19:12):
Yeah, that's, yeah.
Now on occasion I do turn thebig LED lights on, like the
built in barn lights during theday.
And on occasion there times one,your birds would
Carey (19:26):
be like, my eyes.
My
Jennifer (19:27):
eyes.
Yeah.
There's been times like where athunderstorm has rolled up or
something, and.
I'm like, I'm not going back outthere to shut those lights off
in this thunderstorm.
They slept with the lights onand in the morning their little
eyes were, woo.
Carey (19:44):
You're just trying to keep'em honest.
Jennifer (19:47):
Everyone saw curve.
You gotta
Carey (19:48):
throw'em.
Hey, they throw you a curve ballevery once in a while.
Yeah.
So I feel like it's totally fairfor me to throw mine a curve
ball.
Jennifer (19:55):
Exactly.
Carey (19:57):
Yeah.
That's the way to do it.
Jennifer (20:00):
So you have these, like what kinda lights do you
have in your outside pens?
They sell water.
No.
They're you got fancy lights?
Carey (20:12):
No, I have Phillips, LED no flicker LEDs.
So I get, maybe you could saythat's fancy.
But so quail, they're alreadyparanoid, stressed out.
(20:33):
Freaking psychos because theirmetabolism runs a million miles
an hour and they're doingwhatever.
But chickens are more laid back.
They're the more relaxed of thepoultry world.
The turkeys are the moreinquisitive, but, so I have
those out there because theflicker rate, if you can look
(20:56):
through the camera on your phoneand you see a flicker.
Your birds can see it with anaked eye and that's another
thing that causes stress.
So
Jennifer (21:07):
yeah, I'm looking at my LED light above me right now.
I do not see a flicker throughmy phone.
Carey (21:14):
That's probably'cause you have quality LED lights.
I doubt it.
But so I use those and I have,just extension cords running
around.
And have those in one of thosesockets that you plug in and
plug it in, like you'll screwthe light into it and then plug
(21:34):
it in the wall.
I have it in that totally notoutdoor rated at all, but a lot
of my breeding pens are eitherthe retriever dog kennels from
tractor supply, so they havethat A-frame type roof.
(21:55):
So I have it up under the air.
Of course.
Zip tied to the pipe.
'cause I ain't mountain jack.
And on my fly pins that I usefor breeding, they're tucked up
under the roof.
It doesn't Okay.
In three years I've had some ofthem for two, some of'em for
(22:17):
three, but I have never once hada trip breaker.
From horizontal rain hitting it,which is shocking, but no pun
intended.
Jennifer (22:29):
Okay, so let's talk about light in the brooder rooms
for the young babies.
What do you do in there?
Carey (22:37):
I have some very blue like party lot blue LEDs.
That is because the bluespectrum, like when you look at
the sun spectrum the colors thatare richer in the blues promote
(22:59):
growth and all that kind ofstuff, which is what you want
chick to do.
So I use that and I will sayoutside I do have a couple of
plant grow lots and I have themfor the red spectrum because
(23:23):
that more promotes eggproduction and some of my pens
are heavily shaded.
So that's why I have that downthere just to make sure.
'cause.
Standard poultry don't like tolay a whole lot anyway.
So they need all the help theycan get.
So
Jennifer (23:43):
you said red helps with the eggland?
I didn't know that.
Carey (23:47):
But let me tell you this also, when you're using those
specific hues to.
Technically manipulate whatthey're doing.
Or promote it or whatever.
It's very important that youstay at a low brightness because
(24:13):
intensity and actually make themviolent.
There's, especially with quail,not as much with chickens.
But I had somebody that was newto quail, but they were having
problems with aggression, andthey had 6,500 K lights and the
(24:37):
place was lit up like YankeeStadium and their birds were
killing each other.
And I was like, cut off aboutthree fourths of your lights,
see what happens.
And within a couple of days, theproblem went away.
Jennifer (24:53):
I have I'm sure you're sitting there wondering why I've
got the giggles, but I just gotlike this picture in my head of
setting the mood, with thelampshade and draping the red
scarf over it.
Carey (25:05):
Heck yeah.
Jennifer (25:07):
So you set the mood for the egg laying right?
Carey (25:10):
That's right.
Jennifer (25:12):
So it's all about like romantic lighting.
That would be about the rightintensity, is that what you're
saying?
Carey (25:19):
Yes.
This is
Jennifer (25:21):
all serious, and I'm giggling
Carey (25:23):
to promote that.
That's what they're doing.
If you want it to be fertileanyway, it's how the mood all it
is, you gotta set the mood.
Jennifer (25:33):
Okay, so let's go back inside for just a minute.
So what is it about the bluelight?
'cause I don't run coloredlights.
My lights are on or off.
What's the blue light?
Carey (25:44):
So with the blue light, I use some, I wanna say they're
four watt, like they're notbright at all.
They're probably about as brightas, they're a little bit bigger
than a night lot.
Okay.
(26:04):
But not a lot.
But like the rope lots for I hadone person want me to come check
their place out.
They had, they were like, oh, Ihave these lights.
Let's see if we can use them.
And they were pretty right atperfect on the intensity.
And it was a set of rope lotsthat they had gotten to put
(26:29):
around their camper.
'cause a lot of people that usecampers and campgrounds will put
like a border around theircamper of lights.
Mainly so you don't walk into itat nighttime.
So that, and they'd have thosein blue.
Jennifer (26:45):
And so chicks can see the blue color
Carey (26:48):
unless they're blind.
Jennifer (26:50):
I never asked one what color they could see.
Carey (26:54):
I don't speak chick, but you know it, the science behind
it.
So there's a company in thecommercial realm of poultry
called Highline, and they havespent probably several million
(27:15):
on different researches.
And when I was studying light.
A lot of documentation that Ifound actually referenced some
of their studies and like they,they've done really long tests
where, birds they break it downto the actual frequency of light
that stimulates the mostefficient amount of growth
(27:40):
because for them, they want tohatch that chick and get it to
start laying eggs as fast aspossible.
So it's, I think at one point iteven said, use lighting like
this for this many days and thenswitch to this.
And I was like, wow.
(28:01):
Okay.
That's intense.
Jennifer (28:03):
I know you did an article about it a while back,
so let's send me a copy of thatand we'll post it to the poultry
nerds website so people can readit.
Okay.
Carey (28:13):
Yeah it breaks down the Kelvin, the can candela
brightness, like 2,700 K is whatyou really want to be at for
brightness, and it breaks downall that crap.
Jennifer (28:28):
Wow.
Yeah.
My birds get on or off, so I seepeople posting pictures of their
brooders and they use those redreptile lights.
So does the red.
Hurt the chicks?
No.
It,
Carey (28:42):
It doesn't hurt'em, it just doesn't speed up the
process, which is one of thequestions why I have wondered,
I've never actually askedsomebody that makes those heat
lamps, but I've always wondered,if Blue produce or if the Blue
Spectrum kicks off growth more.
(29:04):
Wouldn't you wanna make the heatlamp put off a blue light
instead of a red?
Jennifer (29:10):
I think those are made for reptiles, actually.
And I don't know anything aboutreptiles, but I bet it has
something to do with that.
Carey (29:18):
So I have a buddy of mine that was a reptile breeder.
He quit after about 20 somethingyears.
They're a lot different.
They're a whole different ballgame.
Jennifer (29:29):
I bet it has something to do with that.
Carey (29:31):
Probably.
Yep.
Jennifer (29:33):
Have we covered just about everything?
Carey (29:37):
As, as far as I can think of.
Yeah.
Jennifer (29:40):
The only other thing that I can think of, which
people will have a fit about isnot lighting your birds in the
wintertime and let them benatural and everything and I'm
all for it.
Let your birds be natural.
Hey,
Carey (29:55):
you, do you if that's what you
Jennifer (29:56):
want.
Yes.
If you, it's your farm, yourrules, you can do what you want
to.
I just have a problem preachingthat and going to the store and
buying eggs, because if you'rebuying store bought eggs, those
birds are lit up 365 days a year
Carey (30:13):
if you're buying store bought eggs, even the free range
ones.
Because they put lights in thosemobile coops.
Jennifer (30:22):
Yep.
Carey (30:23):
That bird's been light.
And if you go, if you buy likethe normal, regular old white
grade, a large eggs.
Most of those birds have nevereven seen outside.
Unless they got a ride fromtheir brooder to the layer
house.
Yep.
Jennifer (30:43):
So just be mindful of that.
If you're anti lighting a bird,then store bought eggs are gonna
be lit up.
Carey (30:51):
I publish in an article about it, man, I got people
telling me how cruel I was forlighting up my birds.
I'm like,
Jennifer (30:59):
The sun
Carey (30:59):
does it every day.
Jennifer (31:00):
So since we have divulged that, the timeline that
this was recorded, which wasrelevant I will say this, that
egg harvest season will becoming to an end unless you just
have new, a whole bunch of newlayers, then they'll lay for
another few months.
(31:21):
But still put up your eggs.
For fall and winter use foryourself.
You're raising these birds, soyou have their eggs, so save
them.
You can freeze them.
Water, glass them,
Carey (31:35):
Freeze them.
Jennifer (31:35):
I think there's a way to dehydrate them, but I've
never done that.
But I have done the other andI'm just simply taking all of my
clean eggs and putting them inmy garage fridge.
I'm dating them.
The.
Cartons and putting'em in thegarage fridge and we're just
currently eating the dirty eggs.
(31:56):
I've got one, they're
Carey (31:57):
good for three or four months.
Jennifer (31:59):
Yeah.
And then if you put'em
Carey (32:00):
in the fridge
Jennifer (32:01):
and then if all else fails, we'll just eat quail
eggs.
A goes, they don't care whattime of
Carey (32:05):
year it is.
Jennifer (32:06):
No.
So funny story
Carey (32:09):
about those.
I have Bob Watts in an outside.
Grow cage.
And they were on the far side ofthe barn and I wanted them more
on my bedroom side of the house'cause I like to listen to'em.
So I moved them and their cagewas dirty or whatever, so I had
(32:30):
the hose pipe over there,refilling waters.
And I, it's a hot day, so Ispray the cage down, get any
clumps that are attached to thefloor off.
The birds, like they were out inthe rain, the whole nine yards.
So you would think that stressesthem out.
The very next day I go out thereand there's a crap ton of eggs
(32:52):
in the rollout trace.
Oh, nice.
Yep.
Seriously.
Thought about hedge.
Jennifer (33:03):
We're not gonna say you can't.
Carey (33:06):
That's right.
Jennifer (33:06):
Matching addiction.
That's why we're here to feedeach other's addiction and feed
y'all's addiction to birds.
Carey (33:14):
Far be it for me to be an enabler.
Jennifer (33:17):
All right.
We will be back next week.
Carey (33:22):
Yep.
Be sure to give us a, like afollow click that five star if
you love us.
Leave us a review, send us anemail at info@poultrynerds.com.
I think we have it disabled nowon our streamy yard page where
you can't leave us a commentthere.
That's really a stupid featurebecause you, we can't reply to
(33:45):
you.
So I think we've got that turnedoff where you can't do it now.
That's great.
Shoot us an email.
We love helping people out andhey, look, you may ask us a
question that becomes a showtopic.
There you go.
Jennifer (34:01):
Bye.
Hello poultry nerds.
How are y'all doing today?
We are here for an excitingconversation about light.
We did a podcast a little bitback about the molt and talked
about what all goes on duringthat time of a bird's life.
(00:21):
So now we're gonna talk aboutlighting and how the sun's
coming up and going down thelength of the day.
We're gonna talk about how allthat affects reproduction, egg
laying, what your birds aredoing, all that good stuff on
this episode.
How you doing, Jennifer?
Jennifer (00:41):
I'm good.
Like I just had a flashback tomy childhood.
Do you remember that commercialthat said the more you know.
It was like a star or something.
I can't remember what that wasfor, but
Carey (00:55):
no, and it really makes me wanna like just stop and look
it up because that's how mybrain works.
But I'm not going to, but it istrue.
The more you know, the moreinformed decisions you can make
and it may help.
I was having a conversation withsomebody earlier today.
(01:17):
And blurted out something.
'cause sometimes I do that andmy, I don't think I just speak
and it's also ex takes, it makessense of what we're talking
about.
Headaches are expensive andpeace of mind is worth it.
So we'll talk about some of theheadaches that you encounter
(01:37):
this time of year and all thatgood stuff.
Jennifer (01:41):
I know that we typically try to stay away from
dating our recordings so that ifyou're listening to it, like in
the future it won't matter whattoday's weather is, but in this.
Episode, I think it's relevantthat we say this is June 30th,
right after the summer.
(02:03):
Sol solstice.
Is that how you say it?
Sos, yeah.
Carey (02:06):
Get that word out.
Jennifer (02:08):
So that's the longest day of the year.
And the shortest day issomewhere around Christmas.
Is it like the 27th or somethinglike that?
Yeah,
Carey (02:18):
it's right before New Year's.
I'm not a hundred percent sureexactly what day.
Jennifer (02:23):
Yeah.
And the reason why that isimportant because in the life of
a chicken, their instinct is toprocreate.
And so the days getting longer,they start laying eggs depending
on where you are.
But sometime in the spring,March, April.
(02:45):
Then the days are gettinglonger.
They get their babies out, theyget'em grown up, and then it's
time to kinda replenish theirbodies, prepare for winter,
fall, molt.
So they don't lay as well.
My chickens are not laying wellat all.
(03:05):
And we're talking about olderbirds.
We're not talking about sixmonth old birds here.
Carey (03:11):
Yeah, because they're not, a six month old bird's not
even thinking about molten.
Jennifer (03:15):
No, we're talking about like 18 month old birds,
year old birds, something likethat.
But anyway, so now we've had thesummer solstice.
Last week, last Saturday I thinkit was, and now the days are
starting to get shorter, so thebirds are gonna stop laying as
well and start forging more.
(03:38):
You're gonna see more birdsgoing into the malt.
And replenishing their bodiesand getting prepared for winter,
which I know is hard to imaginewhen it's 188 degrees outside
and 99% humidity.
Carey (03:57):
Yeah.
Jennifer (03:58):
But that's what their bodies are telling them to do.
Carey (04:01):
But like for us, I can go put a jacket on and put some
insulated pants on and I'mprepared.
It takes them a hot minute togrow those feathers.
Jennifer (04:15):
It does.
Was it 90 days or so from startto finish?
Carey (04:18):
It depends a lot on the genetics of the bird.
The breed pretty heavily on thenutrition, but yeah.
Takes a while.
Jennifer (04:31):
Yep.
And you want it done beforewinter is here.
Yeah.
Otherwise you're gonna be outthere putting insulated boots
and coats on your littlechickens.
Carey (04:41):
So those would be the ones that have a burn barrel or
one of those Woodburn stoves outin their chicken run.
Jennifer (04:49):
Yep.
Carey (04:50):
cause their birds are naked.
Jennifer (04:52):
So we're gonna talk about some options that you have
in relation to this light.
So let's start with chickens.
And my preference this time ofyear is to allow them a more
natural, slow down, and go intothe molt gracefully.
(05:15):
And recover at their le leisure.
I don't try to force a mole anddon't try to rush it or
anything.
I just try to provide supportivecare.
I guess I'll pull the males outso they're not aggravating the
hens.
You don't wanna handle the birds'cause they're getting.
(05:37):
Aggravated every little thing.
And they're just, their bodiesare getting ready to do this
thing.
And as the days get shorterit'll happen quicker.
And then I, at the end, in thefall and early winter, and I
know it's hard to think about itlike this, but.
If the shortest day is inDecember and I want chicks in
(06:01):
January, February, then I needto start lengthening their days
in November, December.
So I'm just changing the naturalway of things just ever so
slightly by a month or so is allI'm doing.
So this time of year I'm lettingthem do their natural thing, but
(06:24):
then in.
Dec, say December 1st, around inthereabouts, I'll start adding
light in to start lengtheningtheir days.
So I can get those eggs outsooner so I can get chicks
faster on the ground.
What do you think?
Yeah.
Carey (06:41):
cause those orders, they get backed up very fast.
Jennifer (06:45):
Yeah.
Now the whale, once
Carey (06:47):
hatching season's here, like.
First week or two, you're like,oh this ain't gonna be bad this
year.
I'm good.
It hasn't stopped
Jennifer (06:59):
yet.
Carey (06:59):
Another week or two hits, and you're putting your phone on
silent because the daggumnotifications keep coming in.
And then you're like, I gottaturn off ordering on my page.
I gotta put it outta stock orsomething because I.
(07:20):
I may not have eggs.
I'm so far backed up.
Jennifer (07:23):
Yes.
Carey (07:24):
So that's a real thing.
Jennifer (07:26):
Yep.
So on the quail, now they'reinside my barn.
I do run them in cages inside mybarn.
They have a consistentenvironment.
Consistent light, it comes on atfive 30.
I don't change it with the timechange, so you'll have to bear
(07:47):
with me there a little bit.
It may
Carey (07:48):
be off by an hour or half a year.
Yeah,
Jennifer (07:50):
somewhere around 5 30, 6 o'clock in the morning and it
goes off between eight and nineo'clock at night.
Just depends on what time of theyear it is.
But it's every day.
And then I can open the doors,let the natural light in, let
the air flow through.
I have exhaust fans all, they'vekinda got their own little
(08:11):
housing project going on outthere.
I.
So they're comfortable
Carey (08:16):
Now.
That's like a neighborhood.
You've got more, you got morethan a couple houses out there.
You got a small neighborhood inyour barn.
Jennifer (08:26):
I told David I needed more highrises out there coming
into the fall.
He just looked at me.
Carey (08:32):
Somebody asked me the other day, how many, just, how
many quail do you have?
I was like I don't know.
Jennifer (08:40):
We don't ask, and they're like,
Carey (08:42):
what do you mean?
I said I have this many stacks.
I'm not really sure if all ofthem are full or not.
I go through a little over aton, almost two tons of feed a
month.
But I don't know how many.
Yeah.
Jennifer (08:58):
So do you have lights in your barn?
Carey (09:01):
So I have lights in my Quail barn.
I also have lights outside in mybreeding pens.
Okay.
Mainly because, birds have lessstress, like people when they
have consistency.
So my birds, once they get tothat time, they wake up every
(09:27):
day to get 14 hours a daylight.
And still go to bed at anatural, in a natural way.
That's what time they wake upuntil I start seeing feathers
drop.
Now, when I start seeingfeathers drop this time of year
two days ago, in fact I cut mylights off on all my breeding
(09:52):
pins.
Now I still have the fans on.
And they'll run on the sametimer.
'cause I obviously want the fanson during the day and whatever,
but so I stopped the lightingwhen the molt starts and I let
the molt go.
And I talked about this in thatmolting podcast episode, but
(10:16):
I'll let it start until.
That's almost, the molt isalmost like contagious, like
foul pos.
One starts it and within a weekor so you're seeing some
feathers everywhere.
And then I'll start feeding.
So once it starts, I'll cut thelights off, and then after about
(10:41):
a week when everybody's doingit.
At this point, just a little,then I'll feed a molt ration to
them.
That is a lot lower in protein,but it's really high in fiber
and it also is low inmethionine.
(11:01):
But I don't want to give theirfeathers a whole lot of amino
acids right now.
I want them to fall out.
So I'll do that.
Then I'll go back to feedingthem what I was before, which is
really high in those vitamins.
So the last part of the of itthat pushes the feathers out.
(11:22):
But before I turn my lights backon, I wait until my birds are
fully feathered, like fullyfeathered looks normal.
Everything's good.
Then I will find out what timethe sun comes up and I'll start
(11:45):
my lights at that same time, andI will decrease by 30 minutes.
Like I'll do 30 minutes a weekuntil I get to the point to
where I'm at a 14 hour day withlights on.
(12:06):
Once the light goes off, theyprobably have another hour or so
of daylight.
Jennifer (12:12):
When you say decrease, you mean back it up in the
morning?
Carey (12:13):
Yeah.
I, like right now I think mylights come on at three.
At, before I unplugged them,they were coming on at 3:30 AM
because I want them to have thatconsistent 12 hour day and then
for the next four hours.
I want it to end like normal.
If your lights just go out andyour birds aren't on the roost,
(12:38):
they're like, what the crap'sgoing on?
Where am I at?
And you'll hear all rustling andtussling and they'll hit their
heads flying up and just thatand the other and it them out.
That screws with the eggproduction, it screws with the
delaying frequency, just.
Like they're really finicky.
(13:01):
If they have any kind ofexterior stress, they're not
laying.
Jennifer (13:07):
So when you turn'em back on, are we talking
somewhere around betweenHalloween and Thanksgiving?
Carey (13:13):
No.
September-ish.
But
Jennifer (13:15):
you're, you back'em up, you're nice to your birds
and you back'em up nicely.
30 minutes at a time.
Carey (13:21):
Yeah.
30 week, 30 minutes a week islike nothing.
They don't notice it.
So that, that starts theconsistency of a wake up and
adding the supplemental light.
As stress free as possible.
Jennifer (13:39):
See, I'm so mean to my chickens.
So I use rope lighting.
We're gonna talk about thedifferent kinds of lighting we
use, but in, I have, we call'emthe condos and it's nine pens on
my right, Leann tube of my barn.
And I have LED rope lights inthere on a.
Cheapo Christmas timer, and Idon't back'em up 30 minutes at a
(14:01):
time.
If you're going in those pens,that's because I need you to
start laying eggs and it justcomes on at three o'clock in the
morning.
It's just time change likeflying from here to China or
something.
Carey (14:12):
Oh, now the timers that I use they're like the.
9 99 for two of'em on Amazon,
Jennifer (14:19):
exactly the cheap Christmas summer,
Carey (14:21):
which, I have more money in my ventilation, in my
watering systems being automatedand all that crap.
And it's actually sad because Ican monitor temperatures all
that other crap wifi through anapp on my phone.
(14:42):
But I can't adjust the lightswhen the power goes out and I
don't think about my lights andlike I wake up at two o'clock in
the morning or one o'clock inthe morning to go to the
restroom.
I'm like, why the crap are thelights on?
I'm going back to bed and thenI'll go check it later.
And.
(15:03):
Oh the timer's nine hours off
Jennifer (15:05):
because the electricity went off.
Carey (15:08):
I'm gonna jack with y'all today, but I'm gonna set this
back to the right time.
Jennifer (15:15):
I have to laugh because I do the exact same
thing.
If I get up in the middle of thenight and I look out at the barn
through the window and thelights are on.
They're on.
That means it's after threeo'clock, but still it's dark, so
it's still time for me to goback to bed.
Carey (15:30):
Yeah.
I don't think it is after three
Jennifer (15:34):
or if they're on inside the barn, I'm like, did I
go to bed early or are thosejacked up out there?
And I'll have to go look at themand see,
Carey (15:44):
do I need to get me another one of those$5?
Did that timer mess up?
Jennifer (15:49):
I have discovered that the spiders will go inside of'em
and do what they do and jack'emup that way.
Carey (15:58):
Oh yeah.
Bugs love electronics.
Jennifer (16:01):
Yes.
So let's talk about thedifferent kind of lights that we
use and then we'll go to thebabies.
But in my breeder pens, thecondos and the only reason I
call'em condos is'cause it's onthe pond side of the farm.
Carey (16:18):
Don't even lie.
You call'em condos because theyare compared to other people's
runs.
Y'all people have a 10 by 20 runand they think they're doing
something good and they've gotsix, seven feet per bird and
this, that, and the other.
Her freaking condos mean
Jennifer (16:39):
no.
These are the ones on the leanto.
They're like five by eight orsomething.
Carey (16:44):
Okay.
You can still fit a twin sizebed in a bird where you got in a
condo where you have two orthree birds.
Jennifer (16:53):
I have ain't stressing
Carey (16:54):
with their lake, lake side or pond side view.
Jennifer (16:57):
Yeah, I have a lot of birds.
Anyway, so I bought a hundred,so my barn's 50 feet long.
I bought a hundred feet of LED,exterior rope lighting, the
daylight version of LED.
And we went down and then cameback up.
So they get two strands percondo and it plugs into a nappy
(17:22):
old extension cord.
I found somewhere with wireshanging out of it.
It goes through the windowinside the barn and plugged into
a$5 Christmas timer.
Carey (17:33):
I can see it now.
Hey David, do we have anyelectrical tape?
May, oh, here's some duct tape.
I'll use that.
Jennifer (17:41):
Yep.
Inside the barn for the quail, Ihave bought LED shop lights.
They're like strip lights, maybean inch wide, inch and a half
wide at the most, but they'reeight feet long and you can get
like a bundle of 10 of them for.
(18:02):
I don't know, a hundred bucks orsomething.
I was gonna
Carey (18:04):
say, I think when I ordered mine, they were around a
hundred bucks.
Jennifer (18:07):
Yeah.
And then, and they connect, youcan chain'em together.
And so I just have them proppedup on top of different things.
Cha they don't get hot or atleast really hot.
And so I just have them proppedup on.
The pens and stuff in there andthey are in a$5 Christmas timer.
(18:31):
And I think I've got.
I think I've got three sets ofthose.
'cause you're only supposed tochain'em, link'em, so many of
them together.
I'm gonna say, I think you'reonly
Carey (18:42):
supposed to do three or four.
Jennifer (18:45):
That's, but I
Carey (18:45):
can tell you six works.
Jennifer (18:49):
Yeah.
So they're over there and aslong as the, the quail can see
what they're doing, see theirfood and everything.
The quail are pretty happy.
They're fine.
Carey (18:58):
Yeah.
One of the biggestmisconceptions about light is
that they need a lot.
And really and truly, no, theydon't.
They need about the equivalentof an overcast day.
Jennifer (19:12):
Yeah, that's, yeah.
Now on occasion I do turn thebig LED lights on, like the
built in barn lights during theday.
And on occasion there times one,your birds would
Carey (19:26):
be like, my eyes.
My
Jennifer (19:27):
eyes.
Yeah.
There's been times like where athunderstorm has rolled up or
something, and.
I'm like, I'm not going back outthere to shut those lights off
in this thunderstorm.
They slept with the lights onand in the morning their little
eyes were, woo.
Carey (19:44):
You're just trying to keep'em honest.
Jennifer (19:47):
Everyone saw curve.
You gotta
Carey (19:48):
throw'em.
Hey, they throw you a curve ballevery once in a while.
Yeah.
So I feel like it's totally fairfor me to throw mine a curve
ball.
Jennifer (19:55):
Exactly.
Carey (19:57):
Yeah.
That's the way to do it.
Jennifer (20:00):
So you have these, like what kinda lights do you
have in your outside pens?
They sell water.
No.
They're you got fancy lights?
Carey (20:12):
No, I have Phillips, LED no flicker LEDs.
So I get, maybe you could saythat's fancy.
But so quail, they're alreadyparanoid, stressed out.
(20:33):
Freaking psychos because theirmetabolism runs a million miles
an hour and they're doingwhatever.
But chickens are more laid back.
They're the more relaxed of thepoultry world.
The turkeys are the moreinquisitive, but, so I have
those out there because theflicker rate, if you can look
(20:56):
through the camera on your phoneand you see a flicker.
Your birds can see it with anaked eye and that's another
thing that causes stress.
So
Jennifer (21:07):
yeah, I'm looking at my LED light above me right now.
I do not see a flicker throughmy phone.
Carey (21:14):
That's probably'cause you have quality LED lights.
I doubt it.
But so I use those and I have,just extension cords running
around.
And have those in one of thosesockets that you plug in and
plug it in, like you'll screwthe light into it and then plug
(21:34):
it in the wall.
I have it in that totally notoutdoor rated at all, but a lot
of my breeding pens are eitherthe retriever dog kennels from
tractor supply, so they havethat A-frame type roof.
(21:55):
So I have it up under the air.
Of course.
Zip tied to the pipe.
'cause I ain't mountain jack.
And on my fly pins that I usefor breeding, they're tucked up
under the roof.
It doesn't Okay.
In three years I've had some ofthem for two, some of'em for
(22:17):
three, but I have never once hada trip breaker.
From horizontal rain hitting it,which is shocking, but no pun
intended.
Jennifer (22:29):
Okay, so let's talk about light in the brooder rooms
for the young babies.
What do you do in there?
Carey (22:37):
I have some very blue like party lot blue LEDs.
That is because the bluespectrum, like when you look at
the sun spectrum the colors thatare richer in the blues promote
(22:59):
growth and all that kind ofstuff, which is what you want
chick to do.
So I use that and I will sayoutside I do have a couple of
plant grow lots and I have themfor the red spectrum because
(23:23):
that more promotes eggproduction and some of my pens
are heavily shaded.
So that's why I have that downthere just to make sure.
'cause.
Standard poultry don't like tolay a whole lot anyway.
So they need all the help theycan get.
So
Jennifer (23:43):
you said red helps with the eggland?
I didn't know that.
Carey (23:47):
But let me tell you this also, when you're using those
specific hues to.
Technically manipulate whatthey're doing.
Or promote it or whatever.
It's very important that youstay at a low brightness because
(24:13):
intensity and actually make themviolent.
There's, especially with quail,not as much with chickens.
But I had somebody that was newto quail, but they were having
problems with aggression, andthey had 6,500 K lights and the
(24:37):
place was lit up like YankeeStadium and their birds were
killing each other.
And I was like, cut off aboutthree fourths of your lights,
see what happens.
And within a couple of days, theproblem went away.
Jennifer (24:53):
I have I'm sure you're sitting there wondering why I've
got the giggles, but I just gotlike this picture in my head of
setting the mood, with thelampshade and draping the red
scarf over it.
Carey (25:05):
Heck yeah.
Jennifer (25:07):
So you set the mood for the egg laying right?
Carey (25:10):
That's right.
Jennifer (25:12):
So it's all about like romantic lighting.
That would be about the rightintensity, is that what you're
saying?
Carey (25:19):
Yes.
This is
Jennifer (25:21):
all serious, and I'm giggling
Carey (25:23):
to promote that.
That's what they're doing.
If you want it to be fertileanyway, it's how the mood all it
is, you gotta set the mood.
Jennifer (25:33):
Okay, so let's go back inside for just a minute.
So what is it about the bluelight?
'cause I don't run coloredlights.
My lights are on or off.
What's the blue light?
Carey (25:44):
So with the blue light, I use some, I wanna say they're
four watt, like they're notbright at all.
They're probably about as brightas, they're a little bit bigger
than a night lot.
Okay.
(26:04):
But not a lot.
But like the rope lots for I hadone person want me to come check
their place out.
They had, they were like, oh, Ihave these lights.
Let's see if we can use them.
And they were pretty right atperfect on the intensity.
And it was a set of rope lotsthat they had gotten to put
(26:29):
around their camper.
'cause a lot of people that usecampers and campgrounds will put
like a border around theircamper of lights.
Mainly so you don't walk into itat nighttime.
So that, and they'd have thosein blue.
Jennifer (26:45):
And so chicks can see the blue color
Carey (26:48):
unless they're blind.
Jennifer (26:50):
I never asked one what color they could see.
Carey (26:54):
I don't speak chick, but you know it, the science behind
it.
So there's a company in thecommercial realm of poultry
called Highline, and they havespent probably several million
(27:15):
on different researches.
And when I was studying light.
A lot of documentation that Ifound actually referenced some
of their studies and like they,they've done really long tests
where, birds they break it downto the actual frequency of light
that stimulates the mostefficient amount of growth
(27:40):
because for them, they want tohatch that chick and get it to
start laying eggs as fast aspossible.
So it's, I think at one point iteven said, use lighting like
this for this many days and thenswitch to this.
And I was like, wow.
(28:01):
Okay.
That's intense.
Jennifer (28:03):
I know you did an article about it a while back,
so let's send me a copy of thatand we'll post it to the poultry
nerds website so people can readit.
Okay.
Carey (28:13):
Yeah it breaks down the Kelvin, the can candela
brightness, like 2,700 K is whatyou really want to be at for
brightness, and it breaks downall that crap.
Jennifer (28:28):
Wow.
Yeah.
My birds get on or off, so I seepeople posting pictures of their
brooders and they use those redreptile lights.
So does the red.
Hurt the chicks?
No.
It,
Carey (28:42):
It doesn't hurt'em, it just doesn't speed up the
process, which is one of thequestions why I have wondered,
I've never actually askedsomebody that makes those heat
lamps, but I've always wondered,if Blue produce or if the Blue
Spectrum kicks off growth more.
(29:04):
Wouldn't you wanna make the heatlamp put off a blue light
instead of a red?
Jennifer (29:10):
I think those are made for reptiles, actually.
And I don't know anything aboutreptiles, but I bet it has
something to do with that.
Carey (29:18):
So I have a buddy of mine that was a reptile breeder.
He quit after about 20 somethingyears.
They're a lot different.
They're a whole different ballgame.
Jennifer (29:29):
I bet it has something to do with that.
Carey (29:31):
Probably.
Yep.
Jennifer (29:33):
Have we covered just about everything?
Carey (29:37):
As, as far as I can think of.
Yeah.
Jennifer (29:40):
The only other thing that I can think of, which
people will have a fit about isnot lighting your birds in the
wintertime and let them benatural and everything and I'm
all for it.
Let your birds be natural.
Hey,
Carey (29:55):
you, do you if that's what you
Jennifer (29:56):
want.
Yes.
If you, it's your farm, yourrules, you can do what you want
to.
I just have a problem preachingthat and going to the store and
buying eggs, because if you'rebuying store bought eggs, those
birds are lit up 365 days a year
Carey (30:13):
if you're buying store bought eggs, even the free range
ones.
Because they put lights in thosemobile coops.
Jennifer (30:22):
Yep.
Carey (30:23):
That bird's been light.
And if you go, if you buy likethe normal, regular old white
grade, a large eggs.
Most of those birds have nevereven seen outside.
Unless they got a ride fromtheir brooder to the layer
house.
Yep.
Jennifer (30:43):
So just be mindful of that.
If you're anti lighting a bird,then store bought eggs are gonna
be lit up.
Carey (30:51):
I publish in an article about it, man, I got people
telling me how cruel I was forlighting up my birds.
I'm like,
Jennifer (30:59):
The sun
Carey (30:59):
does it every day.
Jennifer (31:00):
So since we have divulged that, the timeline that
this was recorded, which wasrelevant I will say this, that
egg harvest season will becoming to an end unless you just
have new, a whole bunch of newlayers, then they'll lay for
another few months.
(31:21):
But still put up your eggs.
For fall and winter use foryourself.
You're raising these birds, soyou have their eggs, so save
them.
You can freeze them.
Water, glass them,
Carey (31:35):
Freeze them.
Jennifer (31:35):
I think there's a way to dehydrate them, but I've
never done that.
But I have done the other andI'm just simply taking all of my
clean eggs and putting them inmy garage fridge.
I'm dating them.
The.
Cartons and putting'em in thegarage fridge and we're just
currently eating the dirty eggs.
(31:56):
I've got one, they're
Carey (31:57):
good for three or four months.
Jennifer (31:59):
Yeah.
And then if you put'em
Carey (32:00):
in the fridge
Jennifer (32:01):
and then if all else fails, we'll just eat quail
eggs.
A goes, they don't care whattime of
Carey (32:05):
year it is.
Jennifer (32:06):
No.
So funny story
Carey (32:09):
about those.
I have Bob Watts in an outside.
Grow cage.
And they were on the far side ofthe barn and I wanted them more
on my bedroom side of the house'cause I like to listen to'em.
So I moved them and their cagewas dirty or whatever, so I had
(32:30):
the hose pipe over there,refilling waters.
And I, it's a hot day, so Ispray the cage down, get any
clumps that are attached to thefloor off.
The birds, like they were out inthe rain, the whole nine yards.
So you would think that stressesthem out.
The very next day I go out thereand there's a crap ton of eggs
(32:52):
in the rollout trace.
Oh, nice.
Yep.
Seriously.
Thought about hedge.
Jennifer (33:03):
We're not gonna say you can't.
Carey (33:06):
That's right.
Jennifer (33:06):
Matching addiction.
That's why we're here to feedeach other's addiction and feed
y'all's addiction to birds.
Carey (33:14):
Far be it for me to be an enabler.
Jennifer (33:17):
All right.
We will be back next week.
Carey (33:22):
Yep.
Be sure to give us a, like afollow click that five star if
you love us.
Leave us a review, send us anemail at info@poultrynerds.com.
I think we have it disabled nowon our streamy yard page where
you can't leave us a commentthere.
That's really a stupid featurebecause you, we can't reply to
(33:45):
you.
So I think we've got that turnedoff where you can't do it now.
That's great.
Shoot us an email.
We love helping people out andhey, look, you may ask us a
question that becomes a showtopic.
There you go.
Jennifer (34:01):
Bye.
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