April 24, 2025 • 30 mins
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In this episode of the Poultry Nerds Podcast, we welcome a passionate and knowledgeable guest — Tyrel Thurston — for his first-ever podcast appearance! Based in Montana and soon relocating to Wisconsin, Tyrel is a Master Exhibitor with the APA and ABA, known for his dedication to quality waterfowl and poultry breeding.
We dive deep into:
- The Saxony duck breed — history, temperament, egg production, and show potential
- What makes Saxony ducks the quadruple threat: egg layers, meat birds, beautiful for exhibition, and pet-worthy personalities
- Tyrell's thoughts on line breeding, outcrossing, and how he’s increasing size and quality in his flock
- Incubation tips and hatch rates (including a 204/209 duckling hatch rate success!)
- His waterfowl breeding projects, including Black East Indies, Welsh Harlequins, and Gray Rowans
- How he balances full-time concrete work, poultry breeding, and national shows
Tyrell shares stories from the road, earning exhibitor awards, and practical advice on raising ducks successfully — whether you’re breeding for show, utility, or backyard pets.
💬 Interested in Saxony ducks or want to connect with Tyrell? Reach out to him on Facebook.
👉 Subscribe and hit the 🔔 for more in-depth poultry episodes with breeders, experts, and true poultry nerds.
Saxony duck breed, Tyrell Thurston, poultry breeder interview, duck breeding tips, waterfowl for show, APA master exhibitor, ABA master breeder, Saxony ducks for show, exhibition poultry podcast, duck hatching tips, best ducks for backyard, Saxony duck egg production, line breeding vs outcrossing, how to breed ducks for size, friendly duck breeds, Saxony ducks personality, poultry nerds podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennifer (00:00):
Exciting guest for you today.
(00:02):
This is his first podcast, sowelcome Tyrell Thurston.
How are you?
Tyrell (00:10):
I'm good.
Glad to be here.
Jennifer (00:12):
Did I say it right?
Tyrell Thurston, yes.
Tyrell (00:14):
Thurston.
Yep.
Jennifer (00:15):
All right.
So tell us a bit about yourself.
Where you are, what you raise,all the goodies.
Tyrell (00:21):
Oh, gosh.
So I'm currently in.
Central Montana living in GreatFalls which I will only be here
for a little bit longer.
I am relocating soon.
Jennifer (00:34):
Too cold up there?
Tyrell (00:36):
No, I'm just relocating to cold.
Headed east to Wisconsin here ina few months.
But gosh, I raise all sorts ofstuff.
I used to raise just backyardstuff and was reading some stuff
on hold to Reed's website and hehad said something about it
costs the same amount of moneyto raise a poor quality bird as
(00:57):
it does good quality bird.
So I got rid of all of myhatchery stuff and invested in
exhibition quality stuff Startedwith Black East Indies and it's
gone from there.
And now I raise Black EastIndies, Walsh Harlequins, Keas,
Saxony Gray Rowans.
And that's brown Africans.
(01:19):
Working on another little SteinBarker project for geese.
That's on the waterfowl side.
On the chicken side, I've gotpartridge and white wine up
bans.
I've got rose comb and singlecomb kins.
I just acquired this last fall,some black Sumatra bantams and
got started in those, juststarted in large foul
(01:39):
buffingtons.
So I've got quite an array ofprojects.
Jennifer (01:47):
Do you do poultry full-time?
Tyrell (01:50):
Time?
No.
So on top of poultry.
I for the last year I've beendoing concrete for four years,
which up here is seasonal justbecause it gets cold and you
can't do concrete in the cold.
And then I've also been inrestaurant for 10 years.
So I also, him and assistantmanager at a local restaurant.
(02:11):
So I've been doing both.
So I alarm goes off at aboutfive 30 in the morning, do
concrete till the mid-afternoon.
I get about an hour and a halfbetween jobs, which I go as
quickly through chores as I can.
And then I'm at the restauranttill 11, 11 30 at night, I come
home, go to bed, and do it allover again.
(02:31):
But it's gotten to be too much.
So I'm stepping down from theposition at the restaurant and
just go concrete full-time,which will give me my evenings
and weekends back so I don'thave to work seven days a week
and I can spend more time withthe birds.
Jennifer (02:46):
Are you taking all of the birds with you when you
move?
Tyrell (02:49):
I hatched way too many.
I think I hatched about 550waterfowl this year.
I'm shooting for way less thanthat, just'cause I don't want
move all that.
But yeah everything will go withme.
Carey (03:04):
Wow.
We don't
Tyrell (03:06):
judge for people hatching out tons of birds.
No, that'll be next year once Iget resettled.
Jennifer (03:12):
Wow.
Is where you're going, alreadyhas the coops and everything
ready so you can just pick upand move the birds and put'em
back down.
Tyrell (03:19):
There's some buildings and stuff there, and I've got a
bunch of chain link panels thatI can throw up and make some
pens quick.
So we'll make it work.
Jennifer (03:29):
Because moving is stressful and then trying to
move all those different birds.
Wow.
I don't envy you this summer.
Tyrell (03:37):
my plan is find a, get ahold of a stock trailer and
load'em all in a stock trailerand away we go.
Jennifer (03:44):
Sometimes you just gotta do it right.
So I saw on Facebook that youhad some really exciting mail
not too long ago from theAmerican Bantam Association.
Tyrell (03:55):
Batam Association.
I got my master exhibitor fromthem.
So
Jennifer (04:01):
you got more awards that I didn't know about.
You're getting'em all confused.
Tyrell (04:06):
When you said mail just yesterday, the IWBA sent out
their yearly newsletter with theend of year points awards.
And I won a few things there.
So I didn't know if that's whatyou had just seen and were
referencing, but in the a BA Idid, I got my grand or my master
exhibitor there.
In the a PA I actually have mymaster exhibitor and my grand
(04:30):
master exhibitor in Black EastIndies that I got last year.
Jennifer (04:36):
Congratulations.
Tyrell (04:38):
Thank you.
What does it take
Jennifer (04:39):
to get that.
Tyrell (04:41):
In the PA or a BA?
Jennifer (04:43):
Let's just do both.
Tyrell (04:44):
Do both.
to get your master exhibitor,you have to have a cumulative
200 points combined overwhatever you've shown and
raised.
You have to have 300 points.
And then when you have.
200 points in a specific breed,then you get your grand master
exhibitor.
(05:05):
It's essentially the equivalentto the master breeder.
What the A BA does with the ABA, I always get'em mixed up.
I have to think before I say theA, b, A 20 starred winds.
and it can be cumulative overmultiple breeds.
You get your master exhibitor.
And then once you have 20starred winds in a specific
(05:27):
breed, then you get your masterbreeder.
Jennifer (05:31):
Is it a certain time limit?
Tyrell (05:34):
There's no time limit.
I think in the a ba there's aminimum five year enrollment
before you can achieve it.
But I think that might be formaster breeder.
Don't quote me on that.
I'd have to look at that again.
in my brain, there's somethingthat's remembering a minimum
five year.
Jennifer (05:56):
I'm not quoting you on any of it.
I just think it's awesome thatyou spend that much time on the
road showing these birds.
Tyrell (06:03):
Oh Lord, if I put some miles on, that's for sure.
other than the show that we hosthere locally, which is about 300
birds, the next closest show forme is Utah, which is about seven
hours.
And then I go out to Washington,to Monroe, Washington.
That shows 10 hours.
Drive roughly.
And then my next closest showwould be Hutchinson, Minnesota
(06:25):
that I've gone to is 14 hours.
Portage Wisconsin's, 18 hours.
If I go down, like last year Iwent down to Shawnee, Oklahoma
for nationals, and that was 22hours.
So yeah, when I go to a show,it's not a short trip.
Jennifer (06:42):
You'll have a lot more close to once you move.
Tyrell (06:46):
Oh, I am so excited about that.
The Portage Wisconsin show isgonna be about 45 minutes away.
Yeah, there's several shows thatare gonna be within a few hours,
and then the big shows like Ohioand even going down south,
they're only 14 to 16 hours,which for me is nothing right
now.
(07:07):
And it actually, it'll open someof those East Coast shows up for
me too.
Like I'll actually get to go toCongress and the Bath, New York
show and some of those otherbigger waterfowl shows.
So I'm pretty excited about it.
Good.
Jennifer (07:20):
Good.
All right, so today we're gonnatalk about Saxony Ducks.
So I had to do some reading onthem'cause I just wasn't
familiar with them.
And they're a nice, big, heavybreed, right?
Tyrell (07:37):
Yeah.
they're a wonderful breed andI've only been raising them for
a couple years.
I have a good friend of minethat's been helping me with'em
and mentoring me with'em.
'cause it's something that, it'sa breed he's passionate about as
well.
And so he's let me run wild with'em.
And yeah, they're a big breed.
They're in the heavy duck class.
Your old Drakes standard callsfor nine pounds.
(07:58):
Young Drakes are eight, and thenyour old ducks are eight pounds.
Your young ducks are seven.
But to my knowledge and stuffthat I've heard, there was a lot
of discrepancy on whether theyshould be medium duck or heavy
duck, just because They don'tlook as big as some of the heavy
breeds, like the in and theRowan, because they're a
tighter, they're not as loosefeathered.
(08:20):
And so I think, I'd have to lookat my standard again for the
exact wording, but side by side,they're supposed to appear
smaller than a Pekin or a Rowan.
But when you grab a hold of'emthey've definitely got some
substance to'em.
Jennifer (08:36):
What drew you to them that makes you like'em so much?
Tyrell (08:40):
Have you ever seen a Saxony?
They are in my opinion, they'reneat looking.
They're beautiful.
People are might get on me'causeI might use some of the wrong
color terminology, but they'realmo, the females are almost
like a butter scotch color.
With the white eye stripes andthe white throat, and then your
Drakes have that almost likesteel gray, that they're, they
(09:04):
have a blue jean is what gives'em the color.
But the males have that grayhead and they've got a lighter
colored body with some of theclaret and stuff up around their
shoulders.
Carey (09:16):
Yeah I like the, I think the head on the DR are nice.
that gray color.
It's different.
Tyrell (09:23):
Yeah.
It's I know we all say gray inthe poultry world.
It's a blue, but Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, if it's easier just to saygray.
In fact, I think the standardcalls it a soft powder blue,
gray.
Jennifer (09:38):
How long have they been in the standard?
Tyrell (09:41):
Oh gosh, I don't remember exactly when, but I
will tell you, I actually havemy standard sitting right next
to me.
They were admitted into thestandard in 2000.
Jennifer (09:52):
Yeah, I didn't think it had been very long.
Really?
Tyrell (09:55):
Yeah, so it'd be 25 years this year.
To my knowledge, I believe Reedwas one of the first people to
import'em, because they are aEuropean duck that was created
over there.
And then I believe it was HolderReed that brought some of the
first ones over, but then therewas no new genetics brought
over.
And so we all know in breedingpoultry, when you continue
breeding the same bloodlinesover and over, there was a big
(10:19):
reduction in size.
And that was one of the biggestcomplaints, especially in show
halls, that people would saywith the Saxons, they were just
too small.
They were too small, they weretoo small.
And so that's why I say I'vebeen working with a friend of
mine and we did an outcross toanother breed, which I'm gonna
keep secret.
But it's dramatically helped intheir size.
(10:42):
I had some young ducks last yearthat at four months old were at
eight pounds, which is what anold duck's supposed to be.
So we definitely got the sizeback in'em, which is great.
And when you pick'em up and yougrab a hold of'em you got a duck
in your arms, that's for sure.
There's no littleness to'emanymore.
(11:02):
At least in the ones I'mraising.
But yeah I love'em.
And, I'm trying to be a hugepromoter of this breed to get'em
going again and get'em popular.
And I'd love to see more peoplewith'em, showing'em, because
visually I say they're aquadruple threat.
I know in poultry world, weusually talk about like a triple
(11:22):
threat as terms of.
Production meat and thenexhibition.
But the quadruple that I'm goingwith is personality.
I raise Harlequin ducks.
My Saxony every year are thefirst ones to start laying, and
they lay just as well as myharlequins do.
I'm almost an egg a day from'em.
(11:43):
One thing I have noticed,especially this year with them,
is I'm getting a lot of doubleyolked eggs, though.
A lot of really big eggs from'em, but like I say, they lay
really well.
They're a great butcher bird.
We've butchered some out in thelast couple years.
Like I say, you got a birdthat's eight, nine pounds.
That's a good butcher.
And then exhibition they're avery pretty visually stunning
bird.
(12:03):
And then, like I say, thatfourth one is personality.
They're one of the sweetestpersonalities that I have out
there.
And even with minimal.
Hands on.
They're really friendly.
They're not really wild in acage when you show'em.
And they're just easy to workwith.
Jennifer (12:21):
That, I was gonna say, when you
Carey (12:22):
look online about'em and a lot of the stuff that I read,
there's a lot of people thatthey raise them for pets because
they are such docile birds.
Tyrell (12:35):
Oh, absolutely.
like in the spring when I'mhatching, I'm always looking to
call stuff early because it'sless stuff I have to feed.
And I've definitely had a lot offamilies local to me here in
Montana, we don't have a lot ofpeople that raise exhibition
poultry or waterfowl.
And so I've sold a lot of themto people around here as pets.
And I have people that messageme and tell me how much they
(12:57):
love'em and how sweet they are.
And sometimes they'll send mevideos of the ducks hanging out
with them or.
outta their hand and yeah.
No, I know there's a lot ofpeople around here that I've
sold some to that have'em justas pets,
Jennifer (13:10):
so I'm assuming they're that heavy that they
don't fly.
Tyrell (13:13):
They don't fly.
No.
Jennifer (13:15):
Okay.
Are they loud?
Tyrell (13:17):
Honestly, my Saxony are Really quiet.
They're definitely not like acall duck.
Jennifer (13:24):
You can pick those out in the show hall in an instant.
Tyrell (13:27):
Yeah, no, my saxe are pretty quiet even here, around
the place.
I don't hear much from'em.
Even the females aren't realloud.
Jennifer (13:36):
Even at feed time.
Tyrell (13:38):
Even at feed time.
I, especially with my heavybreeds though, I like to just.
Keep food in front of'em all thetime.
So they just have free choice.
So they never really give methose hungry screams.
But I guess when they have runout of food a time or two
they've let me know.
Jennifer (13:53):
Okay.
So I'm trying to think ifsomebody were wanting to keep
ducks and they had just a smallplot of land, then friendly and.
They don't fly, they're notgonna be loud.
So the neighbors won't complain.
And you're saying they lay morethan the welshes because, I have
(14:16):
Welshes and they're like layingmachines out there, so it's hard
to,
Tyrell (14:20):
I don't know on a numbers basis if I'd say they
lay more than the Welsh.
But out of all the breeds Iraise, they definitely lay as
well as they do.
Like I say, they're the firstbird.
They're the every year.
They're the first breed I havethat starts laying as far as my
ducks go.
And when I go collect eggs, I'venever actually put pen to paper
(14:41):
and counted.
But as a mental note, I collectpretty much an egg a day from
them.
I will say they fade off in thesummer faster than the
harlequins do.
The harlequins will lay longer.
But in the middle of summer, Ipersonally am tired of dealing
with eggs.
I'd rather just everything stoplaying eggs because at that
(15:03):
point I just wanna feed babiesand get ready for fall.
Jennifer (15:06):
I understand.
So is it a large white egg?
Tyrell (15:10):
Yeah.
Yep.
They lay a big white egg.
Jennifer (15:13):
Alright.
So I wanted to ask you, I don'twanna get like super in depth
into breeding, but just a quickconversation where you said line
breeding the same breed over andover, and the birds were getting
smaller.
Is that, I know that's a kind ofa point of contention sometimes.
(15:33):
Is that a selection issue or isthat a genetic thing?
Tyrell (15:37):
Or both?
Oh gosh.
I'm not a geneticist.
I just know what I, experiencedand learn, but no, I think it's
a bit of both.
I think line breeding is a verygood thing.
And a very beneficial thing.
But when you're breeding, and itdepends on how you line breed
(15:58):
too.
If you're breeding.
A mother to her son and a fatherto his daughters year after
year.
No matter what you're raising,you're gonna start having issues
and you're gonna see sizedecrease.
I know like in some of my other,my bantam duck breeds,
everybody's told me, if you wantto fix your size, just breed
(16:19):
tighter, meaning line, breedcloser.
And see, I'm not.
I'm not even opposed to when Ifind traits that I like
selectively breeding a brotherand sister together for a
generation.
But then personally, when I comethat close, then I like to go
back out into a grandparent oreven a distant aunt or uncle if
(16:43):
that makes sense.
Jennifer (16:44):
But
Tyrell (16:45):
I think with the Saxony, it was a genetic thing.
And then, and I think.
People are also afraid tooutcross to other breeds.
I know like in the Y dots,people will sometimes breed to
white rocks to try to get astiffer tail in their Y dots and
then come back in and, it's, Ithink some people get afraid to
(17:08):
do stuff like that because then.
And it's a personal thing.
They just don't view it as awand dot anymore.
But if we all go back, mostwaterfowl all goes back to the
mallard.
You know what I mean?
All these breeds we have beencreated at some point in time by
crossing other stuff andselectively breeding to create
another breed.
Look at call ducks and all thedifferent colors of call ducks.
(17:31):
People got those colors bybreeding other colors together.
And the way I look at it is youcan't be afraid sometimes to mix
another breed.
Like my Stein blockers that I'mtrying to work on right now.
We're trying to create them fromscratch, how they did it years
and years ago in Germany.
And that's where we got anotherdock that we bred to that I also
(17:56):
raise here.
I guess I didn't even mention'embefore, which is, it's fine.
But I'm running two separatebreeds simultaneously and then
I'm gonna cross back and forthjust so that I never get.
Those super inbred issues.
Hopefully.
Jennifer (18:13):
So eventually in the Saxony, you're going to have to
outcross again since only oneline was brought over.
Do you think or no?
Tyrell (18:27):
Are you talking like from the first imports?
Jennifer (18:30):
Yeah.
Is it just the one line that wasbrought over by Hol Reed or has
there been more since?
Tyrell (18:35):
I'm not a hundred percent sure.
I really couldn't answer thatquestion.
I do know he was one of thefirst people that brought some
over and imported some, I don'tknow how many he brought, or if
it was one or two or threeimports I'm really not sure.
Jennifer (18:48):
Yeah.
You just gotta play with themand work it out for yourself as
a breeder, right?
Tyrell (18:54):
Yep.
You're a
Jennifer (18:55):
master at it.
Somebody said, so you havecertificates.
Tyrell (18:58):
Oh, I don't know if that makes me a master that just
means the ducks did well enough.
It shows that they earned somepoints and I got an award for
it.
I don't think that makes me amaster.
Yeah.
I'm a student of the hobby andforever will be.
Jennifer (19:13):
Yep.
Yep, exactly.
You just gotta keep working atit.
Tyrell (19:16):
understand that.
Jennifer (19:18):
Yep.
Is there anything else that youwould like to talk about with
the Saxon Ease before we let yougo?
Tyrell (19:25):
I think we covered quite a bit of it.
Jennifer (19:28):
Do you sell eggs or chicks or ducklings?
Tyrell (19:32):
I'm not selling eggs or ducklings right now just because
I'm trying to refine with doingthe outcross.
I did sell some young birds lastfall.
And I'll sell some again.
In fact, I actually just, I gotasked for donations for the Hot
Topa show.
Are you guys gonna hot topa?
Not this year.
(19:52):
So I'll be there for nationalsI'm donating a pair of Saxony to
their live auction that they'redoing.
So maybe get somebody elseinterested, excited in them.
Jennifer (20:04):
If somebody wanted to contact you, what is the best
way?
Tyrell (20:09):
Facebook.
That's pretty much where I doall of my poultry communication.
Shoot me a message on Facebook.
That's where I do all mycommunication, but I'll
definitely start selling somemore off this year.
Can't keep'em all.
Jennifer (20:24):
No, you can't move'em all either.
Tyrell (20:26):
No.
I can't move'em all, but thisyear I decided that it was just
gonna be a maintenance yearwhere I just hatched some small
numbers just to have a few youngbirds.
20 was gonna be my target foreach breed to hatch out.
And last inventory count that Idid, I've got 40 Saxony actually
I hatched four last week on myfirst hatch of the year.
(20:46):
I had nine hatched this week.
Next week I've got some more,but I have, 40 developing, so I
am a little over what I wasplanning on.
Jennifer (20:59):
You know what, it's just bird math.
It all makes sense.
Carey (21:02):
It's, it happens.
Tyrell (21:04):
And it's that feeling when you're collecting eggs.
At least I'm sure other peopleare like this, but I know I am.
Every time I pick up an egg fromthe nest.
It's that thought of this onemight be the show winner.
I have to hatch it.
The eggs keep coming and thatmentality doesn't change, so I
just keep putting them in theincubator and that's how I ended
(21:24):
up in the issue I had last yearis I was hatching, granted, I
had probably the best hatchingyear I ever had in my life.
I think at one point, halfwaythrough the season I had hatched
204 or 205 ducklings outta 209eggs.
That's really good.
That's insane.
I'll never have ear like thatagain, but you just have to get
(21:46):
better at calling.
Yes.
Some of the best, some of themost successful breeders are the
best colors.
Jennifer (21:53):
Yep.
What kind of incubator are youusing for decades?
Tyrell (21:57):
I run A-G-Q-F-G-Q-F cabinet.
I had a friend here.
It was gracious enough to justgive me an old pair.
She gave me an incubator andhatcher and that's what I did
the first year.
And then I got a newer model,GQF.
I use that.
I have a, I've got a big 200model humid air barrel
(22:20):
incubator.
I use that one year, but thatthing is just, it holds 600 eggs
and I am not trying to have thatmany birds and it's expensive to
run.
It sucks up the electricity.
So I haven't plugged that inthis year.
And then I do have an rcomincubator as well.
'cause everyone says you have toincubate duck eggs on their side
(22:40):
'cause they do better.
I don't know.
I've done both ways.
I personally, I hatch'em uprightjust like the chickens and I've
had just as good success thatway as putting'em on their side.
So to each their own, whateverworks for everybody.
But
Jennifer (22:57):
yeah, you've gotta take your environment in and
your humidity and everythingelse to master incubating.
You have to do it within yourown environment.
I've decided.
Tyrell (23:10):
Oh, absolutely.
I try to give people tips,especially'cause I've shipped
out Harlequin eggs and some kueggs and I always try to help
people through that process ofhatching eggs.
I've done it a lot myself.
I've incubated a lot of hatchingeggs and I've gotten fairly
successful at it.
And so I just try to help peoplethrough that process because.
Realistically, every egg I shipout, I want them to hatch for
(23:33):
whoever buys'em.
You know what I mean?
I want them to be successful andhave a good hatch, and so I try
to help'em through the processand all that stuff.
Jennifer (23:42):
Do you do all of this cooling and misting and all of
the other stuff that you see onFacebook with your duck eggs or
you just set'em.
Tyrell (23:51):
If I have time, I've done both my very first time
ever hatching duck eggs.
I bought all these eBay eggs offeBay and had'em all shipped in.
Everything was developing Madeit all the way right up until
Hatch day, and then everythingdied.
And.
What I later learned was myhumidity was too high and my air
(24:14):
cells weren't growing like theyshould have been.
So when everything started topimp, they just, they were
drowning in the eggs'causethere's too much fluid still in
them.
And so that's, when I try tohelp people hatch waterfowl and
I still don't know if I knowwhat I'm doing.
They're hatching, but I don'tfeel confident in what I'm
doing.
I just keep doing it.
And hope for the best.
I've tried it all.
I've tried dry hatch in'em.
(24:36):
I've tried misting'em.
I've tried not washing.
I've tried washing.
I've tried.
I don't know that it makes adifference.
Really, some people swear thatit helps.
I've had the same similar hatchrates trying all the different
methods.
(24:56):
Biggest thing I can say iscandle your eggs frequently.
Watch your air cells, make surethey're growing, adjust your
humidity accordingly.
I do keep a spray bottle in myincubator and I'll pull'em out
and let'em sit on the counterfor five, 10 minutes I don't sit
there and time it, I just gothrough and I candle, make sure
(25:20):
everything's still growing andalive.
Anything that's not I pull.
And then I'll take that warmwater from the bottle and I'll
spray'em.
And I don't lightly miss'em.
I soak'em until they're drippingwet.
I mean it they're as wet as dunkthem in water.
And then I just put'em rightback in the incubator, close it
up the humidity spikes to 98%,and I just let it come back down
(25:43):
on its own.
And that's what I do.
And sometimes I forget, like Isay.
I get home at 1130 at night, andsometimes I'm just exhausted and
I don't care, and I just check,make sure everything's still
running okay, and I go to bed.
But if I'm feeling all right,I'll pull everything out and it.
And.
Sometimes, some days I don'teven look at the incubator for
three or four days.
(26:03):
Some days I look at it everyday.
I know when I first started, Iwas a mother hen and I checked
it every five minutes it feltlike.
But now I just what'll be?
What will, what's that saying?
It'll be what it'll be.
Jennifer (26:15):
I did something yesterday that I can't say I've
ever done before.
I set a whole tray of Harlequineggs and they were muddy.
It had rained on.
Friday.
And they were pretty muddy.
So I was like, you know what,I'm just gonna wash these bad
boys.
And I just put'em down in thesink and I just washed them.
But I made a note on my, I usetape on everything.
(26:38):
And I made a note on there thatI washed them.
'cause I thought, this would beinteresting if these do better,
than the other ones.
Tyrell (26:45):
And if you're putting eggs in a clean environment,
It'll be clean and sterile.
I don't have the time for itnow, but couple years ago, I
actually was taking one of thesquare sponges.
It's a sponge on one side and alittle bristle pad on the other
side.
I would wash in like lukewarmwater and I would scrub every
(27:06):
single egg until they weresparkly clean.
Every single egg got scrubbedand cleaned and I set'em that
way.
And I honestly, I didn't noticeany difference in my hatch
rates.
And I'd also actually, I putevery incubator's different, but
in the gq, fs, anyone who has'em, then there's that hum, the
water tray.
I put about a tablespoon ofbleach in my water and then put
(27:28):
that in there.
It smelled clean when you openedit up.
Made me feel better.
I don't know if it did anything.
Jennifer (27:34):
I used to put vinegar in mine.
I've had several 15 oh twos overthe years and I used to put
vinegar in there hoping to keepthose mineral deposits.
I don't know that worked either.
Carey (27:45):
so what I do is I have a copper, I use copper in my.
Tank reservoir to keep out allthe sludge and all that kind of
stuff.
And that's actually been workingpretty good.
Tyrell (27:59):
Okay.
Yeah, that would work.
See, in my GQFI just run, I'mactually on a cistern here.
I have to haul water here, butI'm on a cistern and I just, so
it's city water, but I use thatin the GQF and I get all the
mineral deposits on the edges ofthe water tub.
But then in my other machinesthat have automatic humidity, I
only run distilled water through'em.
That's the only thing I putthrough'em is distilled water,
(28:21):
just so they don't deposit upand get plugged up and spend
that much money on incubators.
You try to keep'em nice.
Jennifer (28:31):
Yes, exactly.
I super appreciate you joiningus today to talk about Saxon
East.
Tyrell (28:39):
It's been great.
It was fun.
It's always fun when fellowpoultry people can get together
and talk about birds.
And anybody that's interested inSaxony, get ahold of me on
Facebook.
Carey (28:50):
I like hearing about ducks.
I like the look of the Saxony,and one day
Tyrell (28:56):
I will have ducks.
You when that time comes, youjust let me know I've got some
options.
Sounds good.
Jennifer (29:06):
All right.
Till next time, poultry nerds.
Thank you.
Bye.
Exciting guest for you today.
(00:02):
This is his first podcast, sowelcome Tyrell Thurston.
How are you?
Tyrell (00:10):
I'm good.
Glad to be here.
Jennifer (00:12):
Did I say it right?
Tyrell Thurston, yes.
Tyrell (00:14):
Thurston.
Yep.
Jennifer (00:15):
All right.
So tell us a bit about yourself.
Where you are, what you raise,all the goodies.
Tyrell (00:21):
Oh, gosh.
So I'm currently in.
Central Montana living in GreatFalls which I will only be here
for a little bit longer.
I am relocating soon.
Jennifer (00:34):
Too cold up there?
Tyrell (00:36):
No, I'm just relocating to cold.
Headed east to Wisconsin here ina few months.
But gosh, I raise all sorts ofstuff.
I used to raise just backyardstuff and was reading some stuff
on hold to Reed's website and hehad said something about it
costs the same amount of moneyto raise a poor quality bird as
(00:57):
it does good quality bird.
So I got rid of all of myhatchery stuff and invested in
exhibition quality stuff Startedwith Black East Indies and it's
gone from there.
And now I raise Black EastIndies, Walsh Harlequins, Keas,
Saxony Gray Rowans.
And that's brown Africans.
(01:19):
Working on another little SteinBarker project for geese.
That's on the waterfowl side.
On the chicken side, I've gotpartridge and white wine up
bans.
I've got rose comb and singlecomb kins.
I just acquired this last fall,some black Sumatra bantams and
got started in those, juststarted in large foul
(01:39):
buffingtons.
So I've got quite an array ofprojects.
Jennifer (01:47):
Do you do poultry full-time?
Tyrell (01:50):
Time?
No.
So on top of poultry.
I for the last year I've beendoing concrete for four years,
which up here is seasonal justbecause it gets cold and you
can't do concrete in the cold.
And then I've also been inrestaurant for 10 years.
So I also, him and assistantmanager at a local restaurant.
(02:11):
So I've been doing both.
So I alarm goes off at aboutfive 30 in the morning, do
concrete till the mid-afternoon.
I get about an hour and a halfbetween jobs, which I go as
quickly through chores as I can.
And then I'm at the restauranttill 11, 11 30 at night, I come
home, go to bed, and do it allover again.
(02:31):
But it's gotten to be too much.
So I'm stepping down from theposition at the restaurant and
just go concrete full-time,which will give me my evenings
and weekends back so I don'thave to work seven days a week
and I can spend more time withthe birds.
Jennifer (02:46):
Are you taking all of the birds with you when you
move?
Tyrell (02:49):
I hatched way too many.
I think I hatched about 550waterfowl this year.
I'm shooting for way less thanthat, just'cause I don't want
move all that.
But yeah everything will go withme.
Carey (03:04):
Wow.
We don't
Tyrell (03:06):
judge for people hatching out tons of birds.
No, that'll be next year once Iget resettled.
Jennifer (03:12):
Wow.
Is where you're going, alreadyhas the coops and everything
ready so you can just pick upand move the birds and put'em
back down.
Tyrell (03:19):
There's some buildings and stuff there, and I've got a
bunch of chain link panels thatI can throw up and make some
pens quick.
So we'll make it work.
Jennifer (03:29):
Because moving is stressful and then trying to
move all those different birds.
Wow.
I don't envy you this summer.
Tyrell (03:37):
my plan is find a, get ahold of a stock trailer and
load'em all in a stock trailerand away we go.
Jennifer (03:44):
Sometimes you just gotta do it right.
So I saw on Facebook that youhad some really exciting mail
not too long ago from theAmerican Bantam Association.
Tyrell (03:55):
Batam Association.
I got my master exhibitor fromthem.
So
Jennifer (04:01):
you got more awards that I didn't know about.
You're getting'em all confused.
Tyrell (04:06):
When you said mail just yesterday, the IWBA sent out
their yearly newsletter with theend of year points awards.
And I won a few things there.
So I didn't know if that's whatyou had just seen and were
referencing, but in the a BA Idid, I got my grand or my master
exhibitor there.
In the a PA I actually have mymaster exhibitor and my grand
(04:30):
master exhibitor in Black EastIndies that I got last year.
Jennifer (04:36):
Congratulations.
Tyrell (04:38):
Thank you.
What does it take
Jennifer (04:39):
to get that.
Tyrell (04:41):
In the PA or a BA?
Jennifer (04:43):
Let's just do both.
Tyrell (04:44):
Do both.
to get your master exhibitor,you have to have a cumulative
200 points combined overwhatever you've shown and
raised.
You have to have 300 points.
And then when you have.
200 points in a specific breed,then you get your grand master
exhibitor.
(05:05):
It's essentially the equivalentto the master breeder.
What the A BA does with the ABA, I always get'em mixed up.
I have to think before I say theA, b, A 20 starred winds.
and it can be cumulative overmultiple breeds.
You get your master exhibitor.
And then once you have 20starred winds in a specific
(05:27):
breed, then you get your masterbreeder.
Jennifer (05:31):
Is it a certain time limit?
Tyrell (05:34):
There's no time limit.
I think in the a ba there's aminimum five year enrollment
before you can achieve it.
But I think that might be formaster breeder.
Don't quote me on that.
I'd have to look at that again.
in my brain, there's somethingthat's remembering a minimum
five year.
Jennifer (05:56):
I'm not quoting you on any of it.
I just think it's awesome thatyou spend that much time on the
road showing these birds.
Tyrell (06:03):
Oh Lord, if I put some miles on, that's for sure.
other than the show that we hosthere locally, which is about 300
birds, the next closest show forme is Utah, which is about seven
hours.
And then I go out to Washington,to Monroe, Washington.
That shows 10 hours.
Drive roughly.
And then my next closest showwould be Hutchinson, Minnesota
(06:25):
that I've gone to is 14 hours.
Portage Wisconsin's, 18 hours.
If I go down, like last year Iwent down to Shawnee, Oklahoma
for nationals, and that was 22hours.
So yeah, when I go to a show,it's not a short trip.
Jennifer (06:42):
You'll have a lot more close to once you move.
Tyrell (06:46):
Oh, I am so excited about that.
The Portage Wisconsin show isgonna be about 45 minutes away.
Yeah, there's several shows thatare gonna be within a few hours,
and then the big shows like Ohioand even going down south,
they're only 14 to 16 hours,which for me is nothing right
now.
(07:07):
And it actually, it'll open someof those East Coast shows up for
me too.
Like I'll actually get to go toCongress and the Bath, New York
show and some of those otherbigger waterfowl shows.
So I'm pretty excited about it.
Good.
Jennifer (07:20):
Good.
All right, so today we're gonnatalk about Saxony Ducks.
So I had to do some reading onthem'cause I just wasn't
familiar with them.
And they're a nice, big, heavybreed, right?
Tyrell (07:37):
Yeah.
they're a wonderful breed andI've only been raising them for
a couple years.
I have a good friend of minethat's been helping me with'em
and mentoring me with'em.
'cause it's something that, it'sa breed he's passionate about as
well.
And so he's let me run wild with'em.
And yeah, they're a big breed.
They're in the heavy duck class.
Your old Drakes standard callsfor nine pounds.
(07:58):
Young Drakes are eight, and thenyour old ducks are eight pounds.
Your young ducks are seven.
But to my knowledge and stuffthat I've heard, there was a lot
of discrepancy on whether theyshould be medium duck or heavy
duck, just because They don'tlook as big as some of the heavy
breeds, like the in and theRowan, because they're a
tighter, they're not as loosefeathered.
(08:20):
And so I think, I'd have to lookat my standard again for the
exact wording, but side by side,they're supposed to appear
smaller than a Pekin or a Rowan.
But when you grab a hold of'emthey've definitely got some
substance to'em.
Jennifer (08:36):
What drew you to them that makes you like'em so much?
Tyrell (08:40):
Have you ever seen a Saxony?
They are in my opinion, they'reneat looking.
They're beautiful.
People are might get on me'causeI might use some of the wrong
color terminology, but they'realmo, the females are almost
like a butter scotch color.
With the white eye stripes andthe white throat, and then your
Drakes have that almost likesteel gray, that they're, they
(09:04):
have a blue jean is what gives'em the color.
But the males have that grayhead and they've got a lighter
colored body with some of theclaret and stuff up around their
shoulders.
Carey (09:16):
Yeah I like the, I think the head on the DR are nice.
that gray color.
It's different.
Tyrell (09:23):
Yeah.
It's I know we all say gray inthe poultry world.
It's a blue, but Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, if it's easier just to saygray.
In fact, I think the standardcalls it a soft powder blue,
gray.
Jennifer (09:38):
How long have they been in the standard?
Tyrell (09:41):
Oh gosh, I don't remember exactly when, but I
will tell you, I actually havemy standard sitting right next
to me.
They were admitted into thestandard in 2000.
Jennifer (09:52):
Yeah, I didn't think it had been very long.
Really?
Tyrell (09:55):
Yeah, so it'd be 25 years this year.
To my knowledge, I believe Reedwas one of the first people to
import'em, because they are aEuropean duck that was created
over there.
And then I believe it was HolderReed that brought some of the
first ones over, but then therewas no new genetics brought
over.
And so we all know in breedingpoultry, when you continue
breeding the same bloodlinesover and over, there was a big
(10:19):
reduction in size.
And that was one of the biggestcomplaints, especially in show
halls, that people would saywith the Saxons, they were just
too small.
They were too small, they weretoo small.
And so that's why I say I'vebeen working with a friend of
mine and we did an outcross toanother breed, which I'm gonna
keep secret.
But it's dramatically helped intheir size.
(10:42):
I had some young ducks last yearthat at four months old were at
eight pounds, which is what anold duck's supposed to be.
So we definitely got the sizeback in'em, which is great.
And when you pick'em up and yougrab a hold of'em you got a duck
in your arms, that's for sure.
There's no littleness to'emanymore.
(11:02):
At least in the ones I'mraising.
But yeah I love'em.
And, I'm trying to be a hugepromoter of this breed to get'em
going again and get'em popular.
And I'd love to see more peoplewith'em, showing'em, because
visually I say they're aquadruple threat.
I know in poultry world, weusually talk about like a triple
(11:22):
threat as terms of.
Production meat and thenexhibition.
But the quadruple that I'm goingwith is personality.
I raise Harlequin ducks.
My Saxony every year are thefirst ones to start laying, and
they lay just as well as myharlequins do.
I'm almost an egg a day from'em.
(11:43):
One thing I have noticed,especially this year with them,
is I'm getting a lot of doubleyolked eggs, though.
A lot of really big eggs from'em, but like I say, they lay
really well.
They're a great butcher bird.
We've butchered some out in thelast couple years.
Like I say, you got a birdthat's eight, nine pounds.
That's a good butcher.
And then exhibition they're avery pretty visually stunning
bird.
(12:03):
And then, like I say, thatfourth one is personality.
They're one of the sweetestpersonalities that I have out
there.
And even with minimal.
Hands on.
They're really friendly.
They're not really wild in acage when you show'em.
And they're just easy to workwith.
Jennifer (12:21):
That, I was gonna say, when you
Carey (12:22):
look online about'em and a lot of the stuff that I read,
there's a lot of people thatthey raise them for pets because
they are such docile birds.
Tyrell (12:35):
Oh, absolutely.
like in the spring when I'mhatching, I'm always looking to
call stuff early because it'sless stuff I have to feed.
And I've definitely had a lot offamilies local to me here in
Montana, we don't have a lot ofpeople that raise exhibition
poultry or waterfowl.
And so I've sold a lot of themto people around here as pets.
And I have people that messageme and tell me how much they
(12:57):
love'em and how sweet they are.
And sometimes they'll send mevideos of the ducks hanging out
with them or.
outta their hand and yeah.
No, I know there's a lot ofpeople around here that I've
sold some to that have'em justas pets,
Jennifer (13:10):
so I'm assuming they're that heavy that they
don't fly.
Tyrell (13:13):
They don't fly.
No.
Jennifer (13:15):
Okay.
Are they loud?
Tyrell (13:17):
Honestly, my Saxony are Really quiet.
They're definitely not like acall duck.
Jennifer (13:24):
You can pick those out in the show hall in an instant.
Tyrell (13:27):
Yeah, no, my saxe are pretty quiet even here, around
the place.
I don't hear much from'em.
Even the females aren't realloud.
Jennifer (13:36):
Even at feed time.
Tyrell (13:38):
Even at feed time.
I, especially with my heavybreeds though, I like to just.
Keep food in front of'em all thetime.
So they just have free choice.
So they never really give methose hungry screams.
But I guess when they have runout of food a time or two
they've let me know.
Jennifer (13:53):
Okay.
So I'm trying to think ifsomebody were wanting to keep
ducks and they had just a smallplot of land, then friendly and.
They don't fly, they're notgonna be loud.
So the neighbors won't complain.
And you're saying they lay morethan the welshes because, I have
(14:16):
Welshes and they're like layingmachines out there, so it's hard
to,
Tyrell (14:20):
I don't know on a numbers basis if I'd say they
lay more than the Welsh.
But out of all the breeds Iraise, they definitely lay as
well as they do.
Like I say, they're the firstbird.
They're the every year.
They're the first breed I havethat starts laying as far as my
ducks go.
And when I go collect eggs, I'venever actually put pen to paper
(14:41):
and counted.
But as a mental note, I collectpretty much an egg a day from
them.
I will say they fade off in thesummer faster than the
harlequins do.
The harlequins will lay longer.
But in the middle of summer, Ipersonally am tired of dealing
with eggs.
I'd rather just everything stoplaying eggs because at that
(15:03):
point I just wanna feed babiesand get ready for fall.
Jennifer (15:06):
I understand.
So is it a large white egg?
Tyrell (15:10):
Yeah.
Yep.
They lay a big white egg.
Jennifer (15:13):
Alright.
So I wanted to ask you, I don'twanna get like super in depth
into breeding, but just a quickconversation where you said line
breeding the same breed over andover, and the birds were getting
smaller.
Is that, I know that's a kind ofa point of contention sometimes.
(15:33):
Is that a selection issue or isthat a genetic thing?
Tyrell (15:37):
Or both?
Oh gosh.
I'm not a geneticist.
I just know what I, experiencedand learn, but no, I think it's
a bit of both.
I think line breeding is a verygood thing.
And a very beneficial thing.
But when you're breeding, and itdepends on how you line breed
(15:58):
too.
If you're breeding.
A mother to her son and a fatherto his daughters year after
year.
No matter what you're raising,you're gonna start having issues
and you're gonna see sizedecrease.
I know like in some of my other,my bantam duck breeds,
everybody's told me, if you wantto fix your size, just breed
(16:19):
tighter, meaning line, breedcloser.
And see, I'm not.
I'm not even opposed to when Ifind traits that I like
selectively breeding a brotherand sister together for a
generation.
But then personally, when I comethat close, then I like to go
back out into a grandparent oreven a distant aunt or uncle if
(16:43):
that makes sense.
Jennifer (16:44):
But
Tyrell (16:45):
I think with the Saxony, it was a genetic thing.
And then, and I think.
People are also afraid tooutcross to other breeds.
I know like in the Y dots,people will sometimes breed to
white rocks to try to get astiffer tail in their Y dots and
then come back in and, it's, Ithink some people get afraid to
(17:08):
do stuff like that because then.
And it's a personal thing.
They just don't view it as awand dot anymore.
But if we all go back, mostwaterfowl all goes back to the
mallard.
You know what I mean?
All these breeds we have beencreated at some point in time by
crossing other stuff andselectively breeding to create
another breed.
Look at call ducks and all thedifferent colors of call ducks.
(17:31):
People got those colors bybreeding other colors together.
And the way I look at it is youcan't be afraid sometimes to mix
another breed.
Like my Stein blockers that I'mtrying to work on right now.
We're trying to create them fromscratch, how they did it years
and years ago in Germany.
And that's where we got anotherdock that we bred to that I also
(17:56):
raise here.
I guess I didn't even mention'embefore, which is, it's fine.
But I'm running two separatebreeds simultaneously and then
I'm gonna cross back and forthjust so that I never get.
Those super inbred issues.
Hopefully.
Jennifer (18:13):
So eventually in the Saxony, you're going to have to
outcross again since only oneline was brought over.
Do you think or no?
Tyrell (18:27):
Are you talking like from the first imports?
Jennifer (18:30):
Yeah.
Is it just the one line that wasbrought over by Hol Reed or has
there been more since?
Tyrell (18:35):
I'm not a hundred percent sure.
I really couldn't answer thatquestion.
I do know he was one of thefirst people that brought some
over and imported some, I don'tknow how many he brought, or if
it was one or two or threeimports I'm really not sure.
Jennifer (18:48):
Yeah.
You just gotta play with themand work it out for yourself as
a breeder, right?
Tyrell (18:54):
Yep.
You're a
Jennifer (18:55):
master at it.
Somebody said, so you havecertificates.
Tyrell (18:58):
Oh, I don't know if that makes me a master that just
means the ducks did well enough.
It shows that they earned somepoints and I got an award for
it.
I don't think that makes me amaster.
Yeah.
I'm a student of the hobby andforever will be.
Jennifer (19:13):
Yep.
Yep, exactly.
You just gotta keep working atit.
Tyrell (19:16):
understand that.
Jennifer (19:18):
Yep.
Is there anything else that youwould like to talk about with
the Saxon Ease before we let yougo?
Tyrell (19:25):
I think we covered quite a bit of it.
Jennifer (19:28):
Do you sell eggs or chicks or ducklings?
Tyrell (19:32):
I'm not selling eggs or ducklings right now just because
I'm trying to refine with doingthe outcross.
I did sell some young birds lastfall.
And I'll sell some again.
In fact, I actually just, I gotasked for donations for the Hot
Topa show.
Are you guys gonna hot topa?
Not this year.
(19:52):
So I'll be there for nationalsI'm donating a pair of Saxony to
their live auction that they'redoing.
So maybe get somebody elseinterested, excited in them.
Jennifer (20:04):
If somebody wanted to contact you, what is the best
way?
Tyrell (20:09):
Facebook.
That's pretty much where I doall of my poultry communication.
Shoot me a message on Facebook.
That's where I do all mycommunication, but I'll
definitely start selling somemore off this year.
Can't keep'em all.
Jennifer (20:24):
No, you can't move'em all either.
Tyrell (20:26):
No.
I can't move'em all, but thisyear I decided that it was just
gonna be a maintenance yearwhere I just hatched some small
numbers just to have a few youngbirds.
20 was gonna be my target foreach breed to hatch out.
And last inventory count that Idid, I've got 40 Saxony actually
I hatched four last week on myfirst hatch of the year.
(20:46):
I had nine hatched this week.
Next week I've got some more,but I have, 40 developing, so I
am a little over what I wasplanning on.
Jennifer (20:59):
You know what, it's just bird math.
It all makes sense.
Carey (21:02):
It's, it happens.
Tyrell (21:04):
And it's that feeling when you're collecting eggs.
At least I'm sure other peopleare like this, but I know I am.
Every time I pick up an egg fromthe nest.
It's that thought of this onemight be the show winner.
I have to hatch it.
The eggs keep coming and thatmentality doesn't change, so I
just keep putting them in theincubator and that's how I ended
(21:24):
up in the issue I had last yearis I was hatching, granted, I
had probably the best hatchingyear I ever had in my life.
I think at one point, halfwaythrough the season I had hatched
204 or 205 ducklings outta 209eggs.
That's really good.
That's insane.
I'll never have ear like thatagain, but you just have to get
(21:46):
better at calling.
Yes.
Some of the best, some of themost successful breeders are the
best colors.
Jennifer (21:53):
Yep.
What kind of incubator are youusing for decades?
Tyrell (21:57):
I run A-G-Q-F-G-Q-F cabinet.
I had a friend here.
It was gracious enough to justgive me an old pair.
She gave me an incubator andhatcher and that's what I did
the first year.
And then I got a newer model,GQF.
I use that.
I have a, I've got a big 200model humid air barrel
(22:20):
incubator.
I use that one year, but thatthing is just, it holds 600 eggs
and I am not trying to have thatmany birds and it's expensive to
run.
It sucks up the electricity.
So I haven't plugged that inthis year.
And then I do have an rcomincubator as well.
'cause everyone says you have toincubate duck eggs on their side
(22:40):
'cause they do better.
I don't know.
I've done both ways.
I personally, I hatch'em uprightjust like the chickens and I've
had just as good success thatway as putting'em on their side.
So to each their own, whateverworks for everybody.
But
Jennifer (22:57):
yeah, you've gotta take your environment in and
your humidity and everythingelse to master incubating.
You have to do it within yourown environment.
I've decided.
Tyrell (23:10):
Oh, absolutely.
I try to give people tips,especially'cause I've shipped
out Harlequin eggs and some kueggs and I always try to help
people through that process ofhatching eggs.
I've done it a lot myself.
I've incubated a lot of hatchingeggs and I've gotten fairly
successful at it.
And so I just try to help peoplethrough that process because.
Realistically, every egg I shipout, I want them to hatch for
(23:33):
whoever buys'em.
You know what I mean?
I want them to be successful andhave a good hatch, and so I try
to help'em through the processand all that stuff.
Jennifer (23:42):
Do you do all of this cooling and misting and all of
the other stuff that you see onFacebook with your duck eggs or
you just set'em.
Tyrell (23:51):
If I have time, I've done both my very first time
ever hatching duck eggs.
I bought all these eBay eggs offeBay and had'em all shipped in.
Everything was developing Madeit all the way right up until
Hatch day, and then everythingdied.
And.
What I later learned was myhumidity was too high and my air
(24:14):
cells weren't growing like theyshould have been.
So when everything started topimp, they just, they were
drowning in the eggs'causethere's too much fluid still in
them.
And so that's, when I try tohelp people hatch waterfowl and
I still don't know if I knowwhat I'm doing.
They're hatching, but I don'tfeel confident in what I'm
doing.
I just keep doing it.
And hope for the best.
I've tried it all.
I've tried dry hatch in'em.
(24:36):
I've tried misting'em.
I've tried not washing.
I've tried washing.
I've tried.
I don't know that it makes adifference.
Really, some people swear thatit helps.
I've had the same similar hatchrates trying all the different
methods.
(24:56):
Biggest thing I can say iscandle your eggs frequently.
Watch your air cells, make surethey're growing, adjust your
humidity accordingly.
I do keep a spray bottle in myincubator and I'll pull'em out
and let'em sit on the counterfor five, 10 minutes I don't sit
there and time it, I just gothrough and I candle, make sure
(25:20):
everything's still growing andalive.
Anything that's not I pull.
And then I'll take that warmwater from the bottle and I'll
spray'em.
And I don't lightly miss'em.
I soak'em until they're drippingwet.
I mean it they're as wet as dunkthem in water.
And then I just put'em rightback in the incubator, close it
up the humidity spikes to 98%,and I just let it come back down
(25:43):
on its own.
And that's what I do.
And sometimes I forget, like Isay.
I get home at 1130 at night, andsometimes I'm just exhausted and
I don't care, and I just check,make sure everything's still
running okay, and I go to bed.
But if I'm feeling all right,I'll pull everything out and it.
And.
Sometimes, some days I don'teven look at the incubator for
three or four days.
(26:03):
Some days I look at it everyday.
I know when I first started, Iwas a mother hen and I checked
it every five minutes it feltlike.
But now I just what'll be?
What will, what's that saying?
It'll be what it'll be.
Jennifer (26:15):
I did something yesterday that I can't say I've
ever done before.
I set a whole tray of Harlequineggs and they were muddy.
It had rained on.
Friday.
And they were pretty muddy.
So I was like, you know what,I'm just gonna wash these bad
boys.
And I just put'em down in thesink and I just washed them.
But I made a note on my, I usetape on everything.
(26:38):
And I made a note on there thatI washed them.
'cause I thought, this would beinteresting if these do better,
than the other ones.
Tyrell (26:45):
And if you're putting eggs in a clean environment,
It'll be clean and sterile.
I don't have the time for itnow, but couple years ago, I
actually was taking one of thesquare sponges.
It's a sponge on one side and alittle bristle pad on the other
side.
I would wash in like lukewarmwater and I would scrub every
(27:06):
single egg until they weresparkly clean.
Every single egg got scrubbedand cleaned and I set'em that
way.
And I honestly, I didn't noticeany difference in my hatch
rates.
And I'd also actually, I putevery incubator's different, but
in the gq, fs, anyone who has'em, then there's that hum, the
water tray.
I put about a tablespoon ofbleach in my water and then put
(27:28):
that in there.
It smelled clean when you openedit up.
Made me feel better.
I don't know if it did anything.
Jennifer (27:34):
I used to put vinegar in mine.
I've had several 15 oh twos overthe years and I used to put
vinegar in there hoping to keepthose mineral deposits.
I don't know that worked either.
Carey (27:45):
so what I do is I have a copper, I use copper in my.
Tank reservoir to keep out allthe sludge and all that kind of
stuff.
And that's actually been workingpretty good.
Tyrell (27:59):
Okay.
Yeah, that would work.
See, in my GQFI just run, I'mactually on a cistern here.
I have to haul water here, butI'm on a cistern and I just, so
it's city water, but I use thatin the GQF and I get all the
mineral deposits on the edges ofthe water tub.
But then in my other machinesthat have automatic humidity, I
only run distilled water through'em.
That's the only thing I putthrough'em is distilled water,
(28:21):
just so they don't deposit upand get plugged up and spend
that much money on incubators.
You try to keep'em nice.
Jennifer (28:31):
Yes, exactly.
I super appreciate you joiningus today to talk about Saxon
East.
Tyrell (28:39):
It's been great.
It was fun.
It's always fun when fellowpoultry people can get together
and talk about birds.
And anybody that's interested inSaxony, get ahold of me on
Facebook.
Carey (28:50):
I like hearing about ducks.
I like the look of the Saxony,and one day
Tyrell (28:56):
I will have ducks.
You when that time comes, youjust let me know I've got some
options.
Sounds good.
Jennifer (29:06):
All right.
Till next time, poultry nerds.
Thank you.
Bye.
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