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Ever wondered which chicken, duck, or quail breed is best for your self-sufficient lifestyle? In this fun and informative episode of the Poultry Nerds Podcast, Carey and Jennifer compare their two very different homesteads—one on multiple acres, one on a small plot—to show how anyone can start raising poultry, no matter the space.
We dive into heritage breeds like Orpingtons and American Bresse, fast-growing Cornish Cross, ducks for natural pest control, and quail for small-space egg and meat production. You’ll learn about feed costs, flavor differences, processing tips (hello, Instant Pot magic!), and how each bird can play a unique role on your homestead.
Whether you’re on half an acre in the city or 20 acres in the country, this episode will inspire you to take the first step toward raising your own food—and give you the confidence to figure out what works for you.
Key topics covered:
- Heritage vs. commercial poultry breeds for meat and eggs
- Ducks as natural mosquito and fly control
- Quail for small spaces and urban homesteads
- Cost, feed conversion, and flavor profiles
- Tips for processing and cooking older birds
- The importance of adapting advice to your land, climate, and lifestyle
Keywords
poultry podcast, poultry breeds, heritage chicken breeds, Cornish Cross, American Bresse chicken, Orpington chickens, ducks for pest control, quail for meat and eggs, small space farming, self-sufficient living, homestead poultry, raising poultry, backyard chickens, poultry self sufficiency, homesteading podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennifer (00:02):
Hey, poultry nerds.
So we're just gonna jibberjabber today about why we've
chosen the breeds and speciesthat we have and how they fit
into our self-sufficientlifestyle.
And two different perspectivesbecause I have some land and
(00:23):
Carey does all of his stuff on asmaller piece of land, which I
would, I would be guessing tosay that that's probably the
more norm people on smallerpieces of land wanna get started
with farming.
When she's saying, I mean, it,
Carey (00:37):
it is, it's like good enough to get you hooked.
You know?
It's kind of like going to thestore and be like, oh, I'm just
gonna get a couple of chicks.
You know?
It's the gateway.
So you can, you can start it onhalf acre, acre, whatever.
And you know, for, I started onproperty in a year.
You'll be looking for propertyin a year or two.
Jennifer (00:57):
Yeah.
I started on two acres and itworked for I think two years,
maybe not quite two years.
And then, I mean,
Carey (01:06):
you can do it.
Jennifer (01:07):
We had to upgrade.
We just upgraded a little.
So.
So I just started,'cause I justwanted eggs.
There was no concept ofself-sufficiency or meat or I
just wanted orpingtons and Iwanted all the colors of the
orpingtons and I just wanted tosit and the butterflies and the
(01:31):
daisies and, and feed themtreats and have them in my lap
and stuff.
And yeah.
Yeah, I don't do that.
I did for a minute.
Carey (01:42):
Couldn't imagine.
Jennifer (01:44):
But I don't do that anymore.
I used to have an orpington.
Her name was hoppy'causesomething was wrong with her
leg.
Okay.
And I would get Minow out of thepond to feed her in the morning
before I let everybody else out.
Nice.
So now you know I'm a bigsoftie.
So I wouldn't do that now.
I would say, oh, you, you'rehopping, oh, you're going in the
(02:06):
pot.
It's a whole totally differentperspective now.
Carey (02:11):
Yeah.
You're like, oh, you're hopping.
Okay, let me, uh, let me changeyour diet.
Jennifer (02:20):
So the Orpingtons, we still eat the Orpingtons.
I mean now that we're, so, letme backtrack just a little bit.
So we bought the more land andwe kept the Orpingtons, but then
I went up to the standard breadversus the hatchery.
'cause they're much bigger andyou have to grow out a bunch of
them to see which ones you wannakeep.
(02:40):
And then you're gonna have thatproblem with, you know, why do I
have 400 grow out?
You know, not me or anything,but some people might have 400
grow outs and you only wannakeep like 60 or 70 through the
winter.
So what are you gonna do withthe rest of those Orpingtons?
Carey (02:58):
Dinner?
Jennifer (02:59):
Dinner?
It comes down to dinner.
Mm-hmm.
Carey (03:01):
You know, and a lot of people think, oh, you can't cook
'em when they're that old.
Lemme tell you something.
Jennifer (03:07):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (03:07):
An Instapot is a homestead's best friend.
Jennifer (03:11):
It is
Carey (03:13):
because you could take a 2-year-old rooster, 20 minutes
in Instant pot, and he is justas fresh as it can be.
Jennifer (03:23):
You, you're getting me sidetracked, but you know what?
The vest dinner and when it'scold outside in instant pot,
take you some big baked potatoesand put in the bottom, okay?
And then put you a chicken ontop of them.
Put it in the Instant pot for, Idon't know, 40 minute timer and
then go finish all your eveningchores.
Okay.
And you have a bacon stuffedbake, a chicken stuffed baking
(03:46):
potato when you come in readyfor you.
Carey (03:51):
I like it.
Jennifer (03:52):
It's great.
Carey (03:54):
It, yeah, I can go for that.
Jennifer (03:56):
Yes.
And then probably have somechicken left over for lunch
tomorrow.
But the Orpingtons, they makefantastic broth.
They really do because they're,they're older and they're, they
have a, you know, they've beenout on pasture.
Their bones are developed.
So that bone broth is just outof this world for a developed
(04:18):
bird.
Not like,
Carey (04:20):
I mean, yeah, it, it, it's probably richer, especially
than the crappy you buy at thestore.
Jennifer (04:25):
That's like water.
Yeah.
This like, that's like chickenflavored water.
Yeah, so the Orpingtons aregreat.
They taste good, they taste likechicken.
Um, that's important.
Yeah.
But your feed conversion is notgoing to be great on them
because you gotta grow'em out awhole lot longer, which means
(04:47):
you gotta feed'em longer, whichmeans they're expensive per
pound.
Carey (04:53):
Well, yeah, but the whole aspect behind this is
self-sufficiency.
On the homestead.
I mean, anybody can order, ordersome Cornish and have'em shipped
in.
Jennifer (05:05):
So Cornish have their place.
They do.
They always tell people that thedifference between Cornish and
like Orpington or any heritagebird and you know your reds is
gonna be like, dear venison tobeef, beef is gonna be a much
milder flavor than venison.
(05:26):
They both have their place, butyou have to be prepared for the
flavor difference.
So the organ thing, I
Carey (05:33):
could, yeah, I could definitely see where that would
be important because, well, eventhe, the beef that you go to the
store and buy.
That's not gonna be the beefroaming out in the pasture.
Jennifer (05:46):
No, that's very mild.
So we grow our own beef.
And your son has his own beef.
Mm-hmm.
But if you harvest your beef inlike may you better like onion,
because that beef is gonna havea really strong onion flavor.
Carey (06:07):
Oh yeah.
If you got, especially if yougot'em in your pasture.
Because they're gonna tear'emup.
Jennifer (06:12):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So we like to send ours late inthe summer.
So in Tennessee it's usuallystops raining sometime in July
and won't start up again tilllate October, November.
So kind of really dry weather.
And how's that working
Carey (06:30):
out for you this year?
Jennifer (06:32):
Well, David's mowing for like the 87th time this
year.
Yeah.
But so far, so good this year.
But in general, we are typicallyin a drought right now, so I
would, I would send our, likeour steer went in in the middle
of July because we were preppingfor a drought and we ended up
(06:53):
having to feed hay last yearfor, gosh, I think nine months.
Um, because of the drought and,and hay can get expensive.
Yeah.
So we tried to be preemptivethis year, send them in early
and it's still raining.
So, you know, you just, being afarmer is a lot of guesswork
(07:14):
sometimes, you know, that
Carey (07:17):
is definitely the truth.
Jennifer (07:18):
You know, those processing dates on the beef, we
have to set those up almost ayear in advance here.
Carey (07:26):
Yeah.
'cause y'all don't have a wholelot and I mean the, the people
that we use, they, we kind ofget preferential a little bit.
Mm-hmm.
Because usually when we take,it's 10 to 12 head at the time,
but during hunting season, it,he's not open to livestock,
(07:48):
period.
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer (07:50):
None of them are during
Carey (07:50):
hunting.
Hunting season is his bread andbutter processing deer.
And then after that, he'll goback.
So, because if you need, if Ineed some cows ran during deer
season, you know, it, it doescost a little extra because it
takes'em about two days to dothe deep clean, required to
(08:11):
clean everything out.
But they, they would do it forus.
Jennifer (08:17):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (08:17):
But it's not, you know, that's not something you can
just do anytime.
Jennifer (08:22):
So if you were, if you on your little plot of land or
me go back 10 years on my littleplot of land and was just
starting out and what, whatchicken would you suggest that
somebody who just wanted to diptheir toes into
self-sufficiency, which chickenwould you tell'em to get?
Carey (08:42):
Somebody that was willing to dip their toes in
self-sufficiency, I'd tell'em togo to Tractor Supply and buy.
Whatever the 2 99 3 99 chicksare now, that's not gonna give
you your biggest bang for yourbuck, that you know none of
that, but it's gonna be a, aninexpensive way to dip your feet
(09:05):
that's gonna let you know if youcan, or have the ability to
brood those birds and get'em toadulthood or maturity and.
If you have the internalfortitude to do the deed and
process'em, because that's Sothat
Jennifer (09:24):
would be more of a heritage bird.
Carey (09:26):
Yeah, definitely a heritage.
'cause you know they're gonnahave like Rhode Island, reds,
black copper, morans, whateverit's gonna be.
It's gonna be hatchery stock.
It's not gonna be from abreeder.
That's why I said you're notgonna get the best thing out
there, but I mean, you'restarting out 2 99, you know,
that's different ballgame.
Jennifer (09:48):
See, I would suggest them get the Cornish, which
can't they buy the Cornish atthe box store.
Carey (09:53):
A lot of times they do have'em cheap like that.
Jennifer (09:56):
Yeah.
Cornish will get you in and outquick and then you can kind of
relax and go, Hmm, maybe I don'twanna do this.
You know?
Yeah.
Or, Ooh, that wasn't so bad andI wanna do it again
Carey (10:09):
to get the quickest answer to your question.
Get some Cornish, feed'em right.
In six, seven weeks, dependingon which set of genetics you
get, eight at the most, you'llhave your answer.
Jennifer (10:22):
Yeah.
So you just gotta keep'em alive,feed'em right, and then process
'em and eat'em.
Now Cornish, if you don'talready know, Cornish are like
what you would get at thegrocery store.
Yeah.
Um, when you buy packagedchicken or you go to
Chick-fil-A, that's what you'reeating is a Cornish.
Um, but when you, that's so
Carey (10:41):
sad.
Like you really just said itabout Chick-fil-A, like it was
nothing.
Jennifer (10:45):
I had Chick-fil-A today.
That's, it's good.
That's, that's God's
Carey (10:47):
chicken.
Jennifer (10:49):
But if you feed them at home, especially if you have
them outside and the sun shiningon the grass, eating bugs
occasionally.
'cause they don't move a lot.
Um, they are gonna have a littlebit different flavor profile.
Yeah.
So you don't wanna feed themonions and, um, I don't know,
(11:12):
like loud, you don't wanna feedthem a lot of loud stuff, a lot
of herbs or, I don't even know.
Just give them benign stuff, youknow, like meat crumbles, some
corn.
But they're still gonna have astronger flavor than what you're
gonna get at Walmart.
Carey (11:28):
Well, you know, Ripy said it best.
He said, you are what you eat,eats.
Mm-hmm.
And you know, like the onions,for example, if something's
strong like that, you know,Jennifer and I joke about, um,
marinating our chickens for along time, but.
(11:51):
It kind of starts with thatstarter feed, the whole
marinating process because youknow when you eat a heritage
bird or a bird that you fed realfood to that you know what it
is, and they've had theopportunity to hit grass and eat
bugs like they have a richflavor profile.
(12:13):
Mm-hmm.
You know, the first time I'dnever ate a Heritage Turkey
until this past Thanksgiving.
And you know that, that bronze,he was all right, but it just
wasn't his time.
He wasn't lucky.
And you know, it was, you couldtaste the grain like it had,
(12:35):
there was no p it didn't evensalt and pepper.
It
Jennifer (12:39):
wasn't that one of my turkeys.
Carey (12:40):
It was,
Jennifer (12:41):
it wasn't a bronzes, a red,
Carey (12:44):
oh.
Oh yeah, the bourbon red.
Jennifer (12:48):
Yep.
So that was the first time you'deaten a heritage Turkey.
Carey (12:52):
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer (12:53):
Uh, will you ever go back?
Carey (12:55):
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer (12:56):
No.
There's no, like I,
Carey (12:57):
I'd done the, um, broad rested blacks.
Jennifer (13:00):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (13:01):
Uh, I'd done those and, you know, that's very, the broad
breasted, you get in troublesaying that too many times, but
either the white ones or theblack ones is what you get at
the grocery store.
And so for a couple years I'ddone those.
And they do taste different thanwhat you get at the store.
'cause you don't really have tomarinade them in anything.
(13:23):
Like, I ain't put nothing on.
Mm-hmm.
But the Heritage Bird has the,it's got a, like the texture of
the meat and stuff is different.
It's
Jennifer (13:34):
more like beef.
It's,
Carey (13:35):
yes.
And like everybody liked it.
So I will say this though, whenyou're.
Cleaning everything up beforeyou cook it.
Make sure you get the gizzardout.
Jennifer (13:51):
The crop.
The
Carey (13:52):
crop.
Yeah.
That, that crop and gizzard.
Uh,
Jennifer (13:56):
some people eat gizzards.
Carey (13:58):
Yeah, well they can have them.
Uh, mine's crop wasn't empty andit accidentally got cooked and
my wife gave me the God awfullylook.
Jennifer (14:09):
Yeah.
When
Carey (14:09):
she said, what is this?
Jennifer (14:11):
Yeah, it's still edible.
Carey (14:12):
I was like.
Nothing.
Jennifer (14:14):
It's fine.
Just,
Carey (14:15):
just a little extra grain.
Yeah.
Lemme get that.
Jennifer (14:17):
So, side of corn,
Carey (14:19):
but, you know, try the Cornish and, because that's
gonna answer your question thefastest.
Yes.
Like, like she said earlier.
And then after that, you know,obviously I'm in a point where I
decided it is what I wanna do.
I really like an Americanbreast.
Mm-hmm.
They, they are the Wagyu of thechicken world.
(14:41):
I mean, you finish them thingsout just like what people say or
even close.
It's, that's some really goodchicken.
Jennifer (14:53):
Yeah, it's so good.
Um, we switched over, I guess,right at what, a year ago now?
Um, I sold my coachings earlythis year to make room for the
breasts.
That's how much I have decidedto invest in them.
So,
Carey (15:09):
and that's a lot because you, you've had a really good
line of coachings that you won alot of trophies with.
Jennifer (15:17):
Yeah, the new owner's very happy though.
She texted me yesterday.
She's like, they're doing good,and they're going to the show,
so they're still good.
But the I'm, I'm comfortable,you know, it's been a couple
months now and I'm stillcomfortable with my decision.
I really liked them.
I really enjoyed that ride withthem, but.
The, I'm really excited aboutthe breasts.
(15:40):
I mean, just so excited.
Actually, I'm gonna downsize theOrpingtons just a little bit
next year to make more room forthe breasts.
Yeah, don't look at me likethat.
Carey (15:49):
I mean, big Mac's not in trouble, is he?
Is he?
Is he at risk?
Jennifer (15:54):
Big Mac was a coach and he's gone.
No, I'm just not going to hatch.
You know, the, the 40 plus azero next year with the
Orpingtons.
Carey (16:07):
Y'all, y'all gonna have to stay tuned.
We'll see how far that lasts.
Jennifer (16:10):
Yeah, we'll, we'll see,
Carey (16:12):
because I, I heard that about the ducks, but you got a
lot of those,
Jennifer (16:16):
the ducks are super useful though, and they don't
eat a lot.
Carey (16:20):
So that, that flips us to another thing about doing this
on the homestead mm-hmm.
Is.
You know, animals, you've gotseveral different animals and
everybody serves a purpose.
Mm-hmm.
On your farm.
So ducks.
Why do you have ducks?
Jennifer (16:37):
So we have a pond, um, or we are working on a pond.
Um, it is no longer dry as ofthis year.
We've, we've maintained waterright at a year now, and the
ducks,
Carey (16:50):
thanks, thanks to the pigs.
Jennifer (16:51):
Yeah.
Yeah.
See another purposeful animal.
Um, the duck's purpose is theproperty that we live on was an
old dairy farm.
Like this whole area as far asyou could see, was a dairy farm.
And it was just, it's like theflies were in the ground or
something.
So when we first moved here, theflies were just horrible.
(17:13):
Like you couldn't go outside.
It was horrible.
Um, you couldn't, if you openeda door, 50 came in.
It was, it was almostembarrassing, but there was
nothing you could do.
And so.
Um, the ducks.
We started noticing about twoyears ago that the flies were
starting to really dissipate andwe started working on the pond,
(17:37):
and mosquitoes were really badbecause there's a low spot in
the property over there.
And, um, so I started lettingthe ducks out.
Didn't sell any.
And we had about 75 running theproperty last year and we
noticed that the mosquitoesreally weren't that bad.
And you know, we've got the twomount poop mowers over there
(18:00):
from all the quail waste.
Mm-hmm.
So that's like.
Should be fly heaven, right?
Carey (18:07):
Definitely.
A breeding ground for
Jennifer (18:09):
that is like the golden buffet for the ducks.
I mean, they just tear it up allthe time.
If you can't find them, you golook over there and there, you
can go over there.
I mean, there is flies.
I'm not gonna say there's not.
But what you would think wouldhave a hundred thousand flies,
(18:30):
because it's just a big pile ofquail poop.
And, and look,
Carey (18:34):
guys, just to put it into perspective, her, her quail
poop, like if you're.
A five foot tall person, youwould look eye to eye with the
top of one of mount put Marsh.
Jennifer (18:49):
Well, David needs to scoop it up a little bit, so it
might be even taller than thatnow.
Um, but the, we were over therethis morning dumping the wagon
and.
Um, David's like, you know,there's flies over here.
And I looked up and I said,ducks?
Ducks.
And here, here comes the CoastGuard on its way over.
And, and I'm sure they fixed itright up, but they tear that
(19:12):
stuff up, keep it clean, keepit.
That's their job to keep themosquitoes.
So they're filter feeders andthey, they eat the mosquito
larvae out of the pond and theyeat the maggots and.
Um, you know, we see'em, they goall over the property.
We've seen'em all the way at thefront fence.
They come up to the house, theygo under the decks.
(19:35):
They, um, they don't go nearDavid's shop.
I'm not a hundred percent whythey don't go over there.
Um, but he's, I'm sure he'shappy about that.
So the ducks, we have about 80ducks this year running the
property.
And I mean, I can go outside andsit and you won't get a mosquito
on you.
(19:55):
I mean, you've been here, Idon't know how many times, have
you ever got a mosquito on you?
Carey (20:01):
I, I thought your place was about the only place in the
South that did not havemosquitoes.
Jennifer (20:06):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (20:06):
I'm not sure that I have ever.
I seen one there.
Jennifer (20:11):
Mm-hmm.
We don't have'em.
Um, so that's, that's thepurpose of the ducks.
We don't eat the ducks,honestly.
Um, not that I don't like it, Ido like to eat duck, but I hate
cleaning them.
They're just a pain to clean.
And so I usually do some tradingwith a guy down the road.
(20:35):
And, um, he'll take my extraDrakes and stuff if, if we have
a problem, if we're So thatworks out heavy.
That works.
Yeah.
If we're so Drake heavy thatthey fight, then we'll do some
trading.
But if everybody's gettingalong, which I'm pretty hand
heavy this year, um, should nothave a problem actually.
So that's what the duck purposesis.
(20:59):
So you wanna talk about thequail?
Carey (21:02):
Yeah.
Why did you go down that rabbithole?
What, what was the idea?
Did you get into quails so youcould have some eggs?
Jennifer (21:11):
No.
Carey (21:13):
Well, what was it?
What is their purpose?
Jennifer (21:17):
They, the quail, they just happened.
Like I woke up one day and likethe barn was quail.
There's like no.
There's no beginning and end tothat.
They just, they just explode andthey reproduce, and then all of
a sudden you have thousands ofquail.
(21:38):
So when we first moved out hereat a big, big, big mealworm farm
and in the move we moved in Juneand in the move the heat killed
off the Mealworm farm and a guydown the road, he goes, he
stopped to introduce himself andhe said, well, would you
incubate these for me?
And I didn't.
(21:58):
Okay.
And they were quail and now Ihave quail.
And that's how quail and so.
Um, I just really liked'em andthey're super easy because you
can keep'em inside.
They can go vertical, they're ina smaller space.
You don't have to have a largeamount of property to have
(22:21):
quail.
They're very versatile in howyou can house them.
Um, I mean, I keep mine in ainsulated barn, you know, it's
easier for me that way.
But if you were on a, like youkeep yours in a hutch outside,
so there's not a lot of cleanup.
Right.
Carey (22:40):
So I have outside hutch that is like, I think both of'em
together is right at 20 feetlong.
And it's got a couple differentsections.
It, it is really nice because Idon't have a whole lot of
issues.
Every couple of weeks I willheavily spread lime or fly side,
(23:06):
like I alternate the two and Idon't have any issues with flies
there.
And the ones that I have down inmy breeder barn, I don't have
issues there either.
I don't know if it's the, like Ifeed a custom formula, so I
(23:27):
don't really have any additivesor fillers in there.
And I think one of the thingsyou noted in your feed study
that you did a few years ago isbrands that used a lot of those
poop smelled really bad, whichdrew a lot of flies.
Jennifer (23:45):
Flies are drawn to the moisture.
And if you can keep your stuffdry, then you will dissipate
your flies.
So if you have or if, if you arehaving wet manure issues in your
poop trays for your quail, wouldhighly suggest buying some Ag
(24:07):
lime barn lime.
Just make sure it's the cheapone.
It's like four or$5 for 50pounds at your supply store.
Might even be able to buy it atLowe's.
The one that's like 16 to$20that's, um, hydrated lime.
You do not want that one.
You want the cheap stuff.
Carey (24:26):
Yep.
You want the cheap stuff.
Um, the.
The one I get from tractorsupplies like, like you said,
four or$5.
It's a brown bag, got bluewriting on it.
Jennifer (24:39):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (24:40):
And mine says
Jennifer (24:41):
slip resistant.
It's like little pellets.
Carey (24:43):
Yep.
Yeah.
Mine's like little pellets orlittle.
Curly beads or something.
I don't know what they're, yeah,
Jennifer (24:49):
it's, they're very tiny.
Just, I don't know.
It's not like a flour, like cakeflour or anything.
It's got a texture to it.
Like sand.
Mm-hmm.
But you can put it down.
Okay.
This is a good example.
So last week.
We had a, one of the buttonsplayed in their water and filled
up their poop tray and the,there was just no way around it.
(25:12):
You move that cage and watercame out, there was no way
around that situation, so it gotall over the concrete.
Now, one you might consider justhosing it out or trying to sweep
it and disperse it or whatever,and that's what I would've done,
you know, five years ago.
But now what we do is we justkeep our lime in.
(25:37):
It's a little garden, um,wheelbarrow, I don't know if
wheelbarrows the right word.
It's like a little cart with twowheels on it.
Mm-hmm.
And it might be as big as like18 inches around or something.
Mm-hmm.
And it will hold about two bags,a hundred pounds of the lime.
And I just keep it in that in ascooper.
And I just wheeled that overthere.
(26:00):
And just dumped lime in thepuddle and it soaks it right up.
Maybe 20 minutes, it's dry andthen you just sweep it up.
And actually I swept it and putit right back in the wheelbarrow
because it's just gonna go in,you know, another puddle or a
poop tray or something else.
It's dry.
(26:20):
I was gonna say,
Carey (26:21):
you can use it like that.
Jennifer (26:22):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (26:23):
Nothing wrong with that.
Jennifer (26:25):
No, I mean, I use so much lime.
We probably go through 50 to ahundred pounds a month.
I use it in all the coops.
I use it all over the barn inempty stalls.
It's the most you.
You have to have it if you'regoing to have animals because it
dries everything, and that'sreally what is the first step in
(26:47):
keeping the flies away.
Carey (26:49):
Because I mean, I go through a hundred pounds a month
easy.
Jennifer (26:52):
Yeah, you can.
So
Carey (26:53):
you probably go through more.
Jennifer (26:55):
Yeah, I really would suggest getting the slip, the
antis, I think it's calledanti-slip.
Um, yeah, it's,
Carey (27:02):
it's on there.
Barn line, anti-slip, some,some, some something.
Jennifer (27:06):
Because if you have, like, I have a big, what is it,
five foot fan sitting in thefloor and or you use your blower
to like try to blow out some ofthe dust and stuff outta your
barn.
Th That stuff is so heavy itwon't blow, so it won't Right.
Get up in the bird's faces.
If you use the one that's notpelletized, it's kind of like
(27:28):
bread flour, cake, flour,consistency.
Mm-hmm.
It will actually lift with theblower or the fan, and it will
get up in their faces and it cancause eye issues and stuff.
I've had'em do that before.
So by the anti-slip.
Barn lime, ag lime.
There's a slight difference.
(27:48):
Somebody pointed out to me theother day.
It's a very slight difference,but what it all it is is
limestone.
Crushed limestone.
Carey (27:56):
Yep.
Yeah.
Finally crushed limestone.
But it works.
Jennifer (27:59):
Yeah.
I mean, it's completely harmlessto anybody.
Um, you, I mean, you don't wannabreathe it, so that's why I like
the pelletized stuff, but as faras like stepping on it.
Whatever it, it won't burn oranything.
That hydrated lime, the moreexpensive one.
Was it like$20 for 50 pounds orsomething?
Yeah, no, that'll cause burns,acid burns.
(28:20):
Yeah.
Carey (28:21):
It's uh, high magnesium is usually what it is.
I think they use
Jennifer (28:27):
concrete or something, don't they?
Carey (28:28):
Yeah.
You're, what you're looking foris calcium, lime, high cow,
lime, bar and lime.
Mm-hmm.
You know, the main difference iswhen it gets wet or moist.
The magnesium based lime getshot, has a chemical reaction.
Jennifer (28:45):
Mm-hmm.
The
Carey (28:45):
limestone lime
Jennifer (28:47):
is limestone,
Carey (28:48):
gets less dusty and absorbs the moisture.
Jennifer (28:52):
Right.
And you can go more expensiveand get the fancy lime with a
little bit of citric acid thatcomes in that black bag.
You have to order online now.
That's really, oh, you can get
Carey (29:03):
on the auto ship.
Jennifer (29:05):
I've never even had any, but that's the cheap lime
plus a little squeeze of lemonor something and sold really.
And a lot
Carey (29:13):
of shipping
Jennifer (29:14):
and yeah, it's expensive.
So we try to tell you, um, howto do this without having to
spend a bunch of money on sillythings.
Um, so ag lime, barn, lime,that's what you wanna use.
So quail are good for meat andeggs.
In a small confined.
Yeah, we got sidetracked, didn'twe?
Carey (29:37):
Well, so like, you know, your friend, our friend, because
we're both friends with him, um,I won't call his name out, but
he lives up north in big city,very, very in town life.
And, you know, he wanted meatand eggs and he got him a garden
(29:57):
shed and a couple of cages andput some quail in it.
And now he is getting meat andthe eggs.
You know, he's enjoying life.
He's raising his own stuff.
And, and it's, it's so good forhim that he's even getting
haters on TikTok.
Jennifer (30:15):
So it's funny you mentioned him.
He was actually just texting mewhile we were talking about
lime, um, the homesteading bugbit him hard.
Mm-hmm.
Because he texted me last weekand he's like, I'm making basil,
salt.
And I was like, okay, thatsounds great.
I had to Google what?
(30:35):
Basil salt.
Carey (30:36):
I've never heard of it.
Jennifer (30:39):
You take basil and you crunch it up and you mix it with
salt and then you have to dry itin the oven.
And I thought when I watched theYouTube, I was like, Hmm, why
don't you just salt your food?
Sparkle some basil on it,
Carey (30:51):
but well, you know, so I use this, the stuff, I use, the
salt, pepper, and garlic.
So you know, maybe it's the sameconcept as mincing up real fine.
Your garlic.
Putting some salt in it and somepepper and stick it in the oven,
Jennifer (31:07):
like garlic salt.
Carey (31:09):
I mean, you know, maybe he likes basil.
Jennifer (31:11):
I get it.
Well, but that was my point.
So now he has like a pot with atomato in it and he has a pot
with basil and stuff in it, andso he can grow
Carey (31:20):
his own.
Jennifer (31:20):
So David calls him the concrete hillbilly and so, okay,
but let me
Carey (31:25):
ask you this.
Jennifer (31:25):
Yeah.
Does
Carey (31:26):
he have an Instapot yet?
Jennifer (31:29):
I don't know.
Did you know that he was a grillmaster?
Carey (31:33):
I did know that.
Now I don't know how he's gonnaraise his own cow in, in that,
in his concrete jungle backyard.
Yeah.
But we probably should not talkabout that a whole lot because
he will try it.
Jennifer (31:49):
Yeah, he probably would.
But it's so much fun, the peoplethat we meet doing this and then
seeing how they apply it intheir spaces and just, just
taking, you know, 5% ofsomething and then turning it
into what works for them,because we can tell you how to
(32:12):
do something.
But really that's just kind ofhow to get started, give you
enough information to getstarted.
You have to figure out how itworks in your lifestyle with
your space.
We, we can't Oh, yeah.
Do that part for you.
Carey (32:27):
No.
Jennifer (32:29):
So, because, I
Carey (32:30):
mean, that's the way, the way I do stuff, like I'm, I'm
telling you what I'm tellingyou.
Hoping you learn from mistakes,you know, because that, that's
why I tell my kids stuff.
I know a lot of ways not to doit.
Right.
This is the one way that workedreally well for me.
Mm-hmm.
So learn, learn from ourmistakes and might save you some
(32:53):
money.
'cause the, the lessons in lifethat you never forget, or either
very painful or very expensive.
Jennifer (33:02):
You know what David does?
He calls it the Bryantbackwards.
We try something and then weback up and go a different
direction.
Hey, whatever works, works.
You know?
If you don't try and you don'tfail, then you didn't learn
anything.
Carey (33:16):
Well, that's all part of homesteading.
Jennifer (33:18):
Yeah.
We're forever.
Just so, so you
Carey (33:21):
can try it, figure it out and do it your way.
Jennifer (33:25):
Yes.
We just want you to have theconfidence to try.
That's it.
Carey (33:31):
Yep.
Jennifer (33:32):
That's what we had.
Carey (33:33):
So whether it's Orpingtons, coaching coachings,
quail breasts, Rhode Island,reds, bourbon, red turkeys,
whatever you do, startsomewhere.
Figure it out.
And if you need help Jenniferat, or
carry@poultrynerdspodcast.com.
Jennifer (33:56):
Yep.
So I do wanna add one morething.
People ask me this a ton aboutmy ducks.
It's, I don't know, I guess Ijust don't think about it, but
they ask me, why don't they justfly away?
My ducks can't fly.
Carey (34:11):
Well, so I tell people a little different story.
I say, well, my chickens arelike kids.
You take good care of'em andfeed'em.
Right.
And they never can't get'em out.
Jennifer (34:27):
Well, if you let my, if you open the door for my
turkeys, man, they'd be gone ina heartbeat.
Turkeys like to wander.
Carey (34:34):
That is true.
They're, they're natural,natural forages, which they are.
You know, that's what you wantin a heritage bird, so
Jennifer (34:44):
Yeah.
Can't turn
Carey (34:44):
them out.
Jennifer (34:45):
But the, the ducks can't fly, so they just walk
around everywhere.
They're the walking Coast Guard.
Carey (34:52):
I have, I have Rambo.
Um, he got out about two yearsago now, and he, he don't leave.
Jennifer (35:00):
What is he?
I haven't
Carey (35:01):
tried to catch him.
It's a Rhode Island red that hasthese really jacked up toes that
I would never in my life breed.
Mm-hmm.
He got out and like I've hadtons of predator problems and
none of them have ever got him.
So I just let him, he's like themascot, you know?
(35:22):
He, he hangs out on Game FoulRoad and he'll, he's got a
girlfriend there.
There's, there's a hen and a penby herself and he, he nest on
top of it at night.
They share meals together.
And sometimes he poops in herwater cup.
Jennifer (35:44):
I have a crooked toe.
Carey (35:46):
I move it around to the other side.
Jennifer (35:48):
We have a hen that's probably, I don't know, 10 or 11
years old and her name isCrooked Toe.
Carey (35:54):
Yeah.
Like one of his toes makes a 90degree angle.
Yeah.
I'm pretty sure I accidentallyclosed it in the incubator or in
the Hatcher door, but um, I'mnot taking the risk.
I'm not gonna breed him.
Jennifer (36:07):
Gotcha.
Yeah.
He, he's living his best life.
Carey (36:11):
That's right.
Jennifer (36:12):
All right, well hopefully this wasn't too like
Ramly and something, I don'teven know the word.
Carey (36:21):
I mean, we had fun and we hope y'all enjoyed listening to
it too.
Jennifer (36:24):
Yep.
And if you need us to rambleabout anything else, by all
means, let us know
Carey (36:29):
and we're on it.
Jennifer (36:31):
All right.
Have a great day
Carey (36:32):
next time.
Hey, poultry nerds.
So we're just gonna jibberjabber today about why we've
chosen the breeds and speciesthat we have and how they fit
into our self-sufficientlifestyle.
And two different perspectivesbecause I have some land and
(00:23):
Carey does all of his stuff on asmaller piece of land, which I
would, I would be guessing tosay that that's probably the
more norm people on smallerpieces of land wanna get started
with farming.
When she's saying, I mean, it,
Carey (00:37):
it is, it's like good enough to get you hooked.
You know?
It's kind of like going to thestore and be like, oh, I'm just
gonna get a couple of chicks.
You know?
It's the gateway.
So you can, you can start it onhalf acre, acre, whatever.
And you know, for, I started onproperty in a year.
You'll be looking for propertyin a year or two.
Jennifer (00:57):
Yeah.
I started on two acres and itworked for I think two years,
maybe not quite two years.
And then, I mean,
Carey (01:06):
you can do it.
Jennifer (01:07):
We had to upgrade.
We just upgraded a little.
So.
So I just started,'cause I justwanted eggs.
There was no concept ofself-sufficiency or meat or I
just wanted orpingtons and Iwanted all the colors of the
orpingtons and I just wanted tosit and the butterflies and the
(01:31):
daisies and, and feed themtreats and have them in my lap
and stuff.
And yeah.
Yeah, I don't do that.
I did for a minute.
Carey (01:42):
Couldn't imagine.
Jennifer (01:44):
But I don't do that anymore.
I used to have an orpington.
Her name was hoppy'causesomething was wrong with her
leg.
Okay.
And I would get Minow out of thepond to feed her in the morning
before I let everybody else out.
Nice.
So now you know I'm a bigsoftie.
So I wouldn't do that now.
I would say, oh, you, you'rehopping, oh, you're going in the
(02:06):
pot.
It's a whole totally differentperspective now.
Carey (02:11):
Yeah.
You're like, oh, you're hopping.
Okay, let me, uh, let me changeyour diet.
Jennifer (02:20):
So the Orpingtons, we still eat the Orpingtons.
I mean now that we're, so, letme backtrack just a little bit.
So we bought the more land andwe kept the Orpingtons, but then
I went up to the standard breadversus the hatchery.
'cause they're much bigger andyou have to grow out a bunch of
them to see which ones you wannakeep.
(02:40):
And then you're gonna have thatproblem with, you know, why do I
have 400 grow out?
You know, not me or anything,but some people might have 400
grow outs and you only wannakeep like 60 or 70 through the
winter.
So what are you gonna do withthe rest of those Orpingtons?
Carey (02:58):
Dinner?
Jennifer (02:59):
Dinner?
It comes down to dinner.
Mm-hmm.
Carey (03:01):
You know, and a lot of people think, oh, you can't cook
'em when they're that old.
Lemme tell you something.
Jennifer (03:07):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (03:07):
An Instapot is a homestead's best friend.
Jennifer (03:11):
It is
Carey (03:13):
because you could take a 2-year-old rooster, 20 minutes
in Instant pot, and he is justas fresh as it can be.
Jennifer (03:23):
You, you're getting me sidetracked, but you know what?
The vest dinner and when it'scold outside in instant pot,
take you some big baked potatoesand put in the bottom, okay?
And then put you a chicken ontop of them.
Put it in the Instant pot for, Idon't know, 40 minute timer and
then go finish all your eveningchores.
Okay.
And you have a bacon stuffedbake, a chicken stuffed baking
(03:46):
potato when you come in readyfor you.
Carey (03:51):
I like it.
Jennifer (03:52):
It's great.
Carey (03:54):
It, yeah, I can go for that.
Jennifer (03:56):
Yes.
And then probably have somechicken left over for lunch
tomorrow.
But the Orpingtons, they makefantastic broth.
They really do because they're,they're older and they're, they
have a, you know, they've beenout on pasture.
Their bones are developed.
So that bone broth is just outof this world for a developed
(04:18):
bird.
Not like,
Carey (04:20):
I mean, yeah, it, it, it's probably richer, especially
than the crappy you buy at thestore.
Jennifer (04:25):
That's like water.
Yeah.
This like, that's like chickenflavored water.
Yeah, so the Orpingtons aregreat.
They taste good, they taste likechicken.
Um, that's important.
Yeah.
But your feed conversion is notgoing to be great on them
because you gotta grow'em out awhole lot longer, which means
(04:47):
you gotta feed'em longer, whichmeans they're expensive per
pound.
Carey (04:53):
Well, yeah, but the whole aspect behind this is
self-sufficiency.
On the homestead.
I mean, anybody can order, ordersome Cornish and have'em shipped
in.
Jennifer (05:05):
So Cornish have their place.
They do.
They always tell people that thedifference between Cornish and
like Orpington or any heritagebird and you know your reds is
gonna be like, dear venison tobeef, beef is gonna be a much
milder flavor than venison.
(05:26):
They both have their place, butyou have to be prepared for the
flavor difference.
So the organ thing, I
Carey (05:33):
could, yeah, I could definitely see where that would
be important because, well, eventhe, the beef that you go to the
store and buy.
That's not gonna be the beefroaming out in the pasture.
Jennifer (05:46):
No, that's very mild.
So we grow our own beef.
And your son has his own beef.
Mm-hmm.
But if you harvest your beef inlike may you better like onion,
because that beef is gonna havea really strong onion flavor.
Carey (06:07):
Oh yeah.
If you got, especially if yougot'em in your pasture.
Because they're gonna tear'emup.
Jennifer (06:12):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So we like to send ours late inthe summer.
So in Tennessee it's usuallystops raining sometime in July
and won't start up again tilllate October, November.
So kind of really dry weather.
And how's that working
Carey (06:30):
out for you this year?
Jennifer (06:32):
Well, David's mowing for like the 87th time this
year.
Yeah.
But so far, so good this year.
But in general, we are typicallyin a drought right now, so I
would, I would send our, likeour steer went in in the middle
of July because we were preppingfor a drought and we ended up
(06:53):
having to feed hay last yearfor, gosh, I think nine months.
Um, because of the drought and,and hay can get expensive.
Yeah.
So we tried to be preemptivethis year, send them in early
and it's still raining.
So, you know, you just, being afarmer is a lot of guesswork
(07:14):
sometimes, you know, that
Carey (07:17):
is definitely the truth.
Jennifer (07:18):
You know, those processing dates on the beef, we
have to set those up almost ayear in advance here.
Carey (07:26):
Yeah.
'cause y'all don't have a wholelot and I mean the, the people
that we use, they, we kind ofget preferential a little bit.
Mm-hmm.
Because usually when we take,it's 10 to 12 head at the time,
but during hunting season, it,he's not open to livestock,
(07:48):
period.
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer (07:50):
None of them are during
Carey (07:50):
hunting.
Hunting season is his bread andbutter processing deer.
And then after that, he'll goback.
So, because if you need, if Ineed some cows ran during deer
season, you know, it, it doescost a little extra because it
takes'em about two days to dothe deep clean, required to
(08:11):
clean everything out.
But they, they would do it forus.
Jennifer (08:17):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (08:17):
But it's not, you know, that's not something you can
just do anytime.
Jennifer (08:22):
So if you were, if you on your little plot of land or
me go back 10 years on my littleplot of land and was just
starting out and what, whatchicken would you suggest that
somebody who just wanted to diptheir toes into
self-sufficiency, which chickenwould you tell'em to get?
Carey (08:42):
Somebody that was willing to dip their toes in
self-sufficiency, I'd tell'em togo to Tractor Supply and buy.
Whatever the 2 99 3 99 chicksare now, that's not gonna give
you your biggest bang for yourbuck, that you know none of
that, but it's gonna be a, aninexpensive way to dip your feet
(09:05):
that's gonna let you know if youcan, or have the ability to
brood those birds and get'em toadulthood or maturity and.
If you have the internalfortitude to do the deed and
process'em, because that's Sothat
Jennifer (09:24):
would be more of a heritage bird.
Carey (09:26):
Yeah, definitely a heritage.
'cause you know they're gonnahave like Rhode Island, reds,
black copper, morans, whateverit's gonna be.
It's gonna be hatchery stock.
It's not gonna be from abreeder.
That's why I said you're notgonna get the best thing out
there, but I mean, you'restarting out 2 99, you know,
that's different ballgame.
Jennifer (09:48):
See, I would suggest them get the Cornish, which
can't they buy the Cornish atthe box store.
Carey (09:53):
A lot of times they do have'em cheap like that.
Jennifer (09:56):
Yeah.
Cornish will get you in and outquick and then you can kind of
relax and go, Hmm, maybe I don'twanna do this.
You know?
Yeah.
Or, Ooh, that wasn't so bad andI wanna do it again
Carey (10:09):
to get the quickest answer to your question.
Get some Cornish, feed'em right.
In six, seven weeks, dependingon which set of genetics you
get, eight at the most, you'llhave your answer.
Jennifer (10:22):
Yeah.
So you just gotta keep'em alive,feed'em right, and then process
'em and eat'em.
Now Cornish, if you don'talready know, Cornish are like
what you would get at thegrocery store.
Yeah.
Um, when you buy packagedchicken or you go to
Chick-fil-A, that's what you'reeating is a Cornish.
Um, but when you, that's so
Carey (10:41):
sad.
Like you really just said itabout Chick-fil-A, like it was
nothing.
Jennifer (10:45):
I had Chick-fil-A today.
That's, it's good.
That's, that's God's
Carey (10:47):
chicken.
Jennifer (10:49):
But if you feed them at home, especially if you have
them outside and the sun shiningon the grass, eating bugs
occasionally.
'cause they don't move a lot.
Um, they are gonna have a littlebit different flavor profile.
Yeah.
So you don't wanna feed themonions and, um, I don't know,
(11:12):
like loud, you don't wanna feedthem a lot of loud stuff, a lot
of herbs or, I don't even know.
Just give them benign stuff, youknow, like meat crumbles, some
corn.
But they're still gonna have astronger flavor than what you're
gonna get at Walmart.
Carey (11:28):
Well, you know, Ripy said it best.
He said, you are what you eat,eats.
Mm-hmm.
And you know, like the onions,for example, if something's
strong like that, you know,Jennifer and I joke about, um,
marinating our chickens for along time, but.
(11:51):
It kind of starts with thatstarter feed, the whole
marinating process because youknow when you eat a heritage
bird or a bird that you fed realfood to that you know what it
is, and they've had theopportunity to hit grass and eat
bugs like they have a richflavor profile.
(12:13):
Mm-hmm.
You know, the first time I'dnever ate a Heritage Turkey
until this past Thanksgiving.
And you know that, that bronze,he was all right, but it just
wasn't his time.
He wasn't lucky.
And you know, it was, you couldtaste the grain like it had,
(12:35):
there was no p it didn't evensalt and pepper.
It
Jennifer (12:39):
wasn't that one of my turkeys.
Carey (12:40):
It was,
Jennifer (12:41):
it wasn't a bronzes, a red,
Carey (12:44):
oh.
Oh yeah, the bourbon red.
Jennifer (12:48):
Yep.
So that was the first time you'deaten a heritage Turkey.
Carey (12:52):
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer (12:53):
Uh, will you ever go back?
Carey (12:55):
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer (12:56):
No.
There's no, like I,
Carey (12:57):
I'd done the, um, broad rested blacks.
Jennifer (13:00):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (13:01):
Uh, I'd done those and, you know, that's very, the broad
breasted, you get in troublesaying that too many times, but
either the white ones or theblack ones is what you get at
the grocery store.
And so for a couple years I'ddone those.
And they do taste different thanwhat you get at the store.
'cause you don't really have tomarinade them in anything.
(13:23):
Like, I ain't put nothing on.
Mm-hmm.
But the Heritage Bird has the,it's got a, like the texture of
the meat and stuff is different.
It's
Jennifer (13:34):
more like beef.
It's,
Carey (13:35):
yes.
And like everybody liked it.
So I will say this though, whenyou're.
Cleaning everything up beforeyou cook it.
Make sure you get the gizzardout.
Jennifer (13:51):
The crop.
The
Carey (13:52):
crop.
Yeah.
That, that crop and gizzard.
Uh,
Jennifer (13:56):
some people eat gizzards.
Carey (13:58):
Yeah, well they can have them.
Uh, mine's crop wasn't empty andit accidentally got cooked and
my wife gave me the God awfullylook.
Jennifer (14:09):
Yeah.
When
Carey (14:09):
she said, what is this?
Jennifer (14:11):
Yeah, it's still edible.
Carey (14:12):
I was like.
Nothing.
Jennifer (14:14):
It's fine.
Just,
Carey (14:15):
just a little extra grain.
Yeah.
Lemme get that.
Jennifer (14:17):
So, side of corn,
Carey (14:19):
but, you know, try the Cornish and, because that's
gonna answer your question thefastest.
Yes.
Like, like she said earlier.
And then after that, you know,obviously I'm in a point where I
decided it is what I wanna do.
I really like an Americanbreast.
Mm-hmm.
They, they are the Wagyu of thechicken world.
(14:41):
I mean, you finish them thingsout just like what people say or
even close.
It's, that's some really goodchicken.
Jennifer (14:53):
Yeah, it's so good.
Um, we switched over, I guess,right at what, a year ago now?
Um, I sold my coachings earlythis year to make room for the
breasts.
That's how much I have decidedto invest in them.
So,
Carey (15:09):
and that's a lot because you, you've had a really good
line of coachings that you won alot of trophies with.
Jennifer (15:17):
Yeah, the new owner's very happy though.
She texted me yesterday.
She's like, they're doing good,and they're going to the show,
so they're still good.
But the I'm, I'm comfortable,you know, it's been a couple
months now and I'm stillcomfortable with my decision.
I really liked them.
I really enjoyed that ride withthem, but.
The, I'm really excited aboutthe breasts.
(15:40):
I mean, just so excited.
Actually, I'm gonna downsize theOrpingtons just a little bit
next year to make more room forthe breasts.
Yeah, don't look at me likethat.
Carey (15:49):
I mean, big Mac's not in trouble, is he?
Is he?
Is he at risk?
Jennifer (15:54):
Big Mac was a coach and he's gone.
No, I'm just not going to hatch.
You know, the, the 40 plus azero next year with the
Orpingtons.
Carey (16:07):
Y'all, y'all gonna have to stay tuned.
We'll see how far that lasts.
Jennifer (16:10):
Yeah, we'll, we'll see,
Carey (16:12):
because I, I heard that about the ducks, but you got a
lot of those,
Jennifer (16:16):
the ducks are super useful though, and they don't
eat a lot.
Carey (16:20):
So that, that flips us to another thing about doing this
on the homestead mm-hmm.
Is.
You know, animals, you've gotseveral different animals and
everybody serves a purpose.
Mm-hmm.
On your farm.
So ducks.
Why do you have ducks?
Jennifer (16:37):
So we have a pond, um, or we are working on a pond.
Um, it is no longer dry as ofthis year.
We've, we've maintained waterright at a year now, and the
ducks,
Carey (16:50):
thanks, thanks to the pigs.
Jennifer (16:51):
Yeah.
Yeah.
See another purposeful animal.
Um, the duck's purpose is theproperty that we live on was an
old dairy farm.
Like this whole area as far asyou could see, was a dairy farm.
And it was just, it's like theflies were in the ground or
something.
So when we first moved here, theflies were just horrible.
(17:13):
Like you couldn't go outside.
It was horrible.
Um, you couldn't, if you openeda door, 50 came in.
It was, it was almostembarrassing, but there was
nothing you could do.
And so.
Um, the ducks.
We started noticing about twoyears ago that the flies were
starting to really dissipate andwe started working on the pond,
(17:37):
and mosquitoes were really badbecause there's a low spot in
the property over there.
And, um, so I started lettingthe ducks out.
Didn't sell any.
And we had about 75 running theproperty last year and we
noticed that the mosquitoesreally weren't that bad.
And you know, we've got the twomount poop mowers over there
(18:00):
from all the quail waste.
Mm-hmm.
So that's like.
Should be fly heaven, right?
Carey (18:07):
Definitely.
A breeding ground for
Jennifer (18:09):
that is like the golden buffet for the ducks.
I mean, they just tear it up allthe time.
If you can't find them, you golook over there and there, you
can go over there.
I mean, there is flies.
I'm not gonna say there's not.
But what you would think wouldhave a hundred thousand flies,
(18:30):
because it's just a big pile ofquail poop.
And, and look,
Carey (18:34):
guys, just to put it into perspective, her, her quail
poop, like if you're.
A five foot tall person, youwould look eye to eye with the
top of one of mount put Marsh.
Jennifer (18:49):
Well, David needs to scoop it up a little bit, so it
might be even taller than thatnow.
Um, but the, we were over therethis morning dumping the wagon
and.
Um, David's like, you know,there's flies over here.
And I looked up and I said,ducks?
Ducks.
And here, here comes the CoastGuard on its way over.
And, and I'm sure they fixed itright up, but they tear that
(19:12):
stuff up, keep it clean, keepit.
That's their job to keep themosquitoes.
So they're filter feeders andthey, they eat the mosquito
larvae out of the pond and theyeat the maggots and.
Um, you know, we see'em, they goall over the property.
We've seen'em all the way at thefront fence.
They come up to the house, theygo under the decks.
(19:35):
They, um, they don't go nearDavid's shop.
I'm not a hundred percent whythey don't go over there.
Um, but he's, I'm sure he'shappy about that.
So the ducks, we have about 80ducks this year running the
property.
And I mean, I can go outside andsit and you won't get a mosquito
on you.
(19:55):
I mean, you've been here, Idon't know how many times, have
you ever got a mosquito on you?
Carey (20:01):
I, I thought your place was about the only place in the
South that did not havemosquitoes.
Jennifer (20:06):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (20:06):
I'm not sure that I have ever.
I seen one there.
Jennifer (20:11):
Mm-hmm.
We don't have'em.
Um, so that's, that's thepurpose of the ducks.
We don't eat the ducks,honestly.
Um, not that I don't like it, Ido like to eat duck, but I hate
cleaning them.
They're just a pain to clean.
And so I usually do some tradingwith a guy down the road.
(20:35):
And, um, he'll take my extraDrakes and stuff if, if we have
a problem, if we're So thatworks out heavy.
That works.
Yeah.
If we're so Drake heavy thatthey fight, then we'll do some
trading.
But if everybody's gettingalong, which I'm pretty hand
heavy this year, um, should nothave a problem actually.
So that's what the duck purposesis.
(20:59):
So you wanna talk about thequail?
Carey (21:02):
Yeah.
Why did you go down that rabbithole?
What, what was the idea?
Did you get into quails so youcould have some eggs?
Jennifer (21:11):
No.
Carey (21:13):
Well, what was it?
What is their purpose?
Jennifer (21:17):
They, the quail, they just happened.
Like I woke up one day and likethe barn was quail.
There's like no.
There's no beginning and end tothat.
They just, they just explode andthey reproduce, and then all of
a sudden you have thousands ofquail.
(21:38):
So when we first moved out hereat a big, big, big mealworm farm
and in the move we moved in Juneand in the move the heat killed
off the Mealworm farm and a guydown the road, he goes, he
stopped to introduce himself andhe said, well, would you
incubate these for me?
And I didn't.
(21:58):
Okay.
And they were quail and now Ihave quail.
And that's how quail and so.
Um, I just really liked'em andthey're super easy because you
can keep'em inside.
They can go vertical, they're ina smaller space.
You don't have to have a largeamount of property to have
(22:21):
quail.
They're very versatile in howyou can house them.
Um, I mean, I keep mine in ainsulated barn, you know, it's
easier for me that way.
But if you were on a, like youkeep yours in a hutch outside,
so there's not a lot of cleanup.
Right.
Carey (22:40):
So I have outside hutch that is like, I think both of'em
together is right at 20 feetlong.
And it's got a couple differentsections.
It, it is really nice because Idon't have a whole lot of
issues.
Every couple of weeks I willheavily spread lime or fly side,
(23:06):
like I alternate the two and Idon't have any issues with flies
there.
And the ones that I have down inmy breeder barn, I don't have
issues there either.
I don't know if it's the, like Ifeed a custom formula, so I
(23:27):
don't really have any additivesor fillers in there.
And I think one of the thingsyou noted in your feed study
that you did a few years ago isbrands that used a lot of those
poop smelled really bad, whichdrew a lot of flies.
Jennifer (23:45):
Flies are drawn to the moisture.
And if you can keep your stuffdry, then you will dissipate
your flies.
So if you have or if, if you arehaving wet manure issues in your
poop trays for your quail, wouldhighly suggest buying some Ag
(24:07):
lime barn lime.
Just make sure it's the cheapone.
It's like four or$5 for 50pounds at your supply store.
Might even be able to buy it atLowe's.
The one that's like 16 to$20that's, um, hydrated lime.
You do not want that one.
You want the cheap stuff.
Carey (24:26):
Yep.
You want the cheap stuff.
Um, the.
The one I get from tractorsupplies like, like you said,
four or$5.
It's a brown bag, got bluewriting on it.
Jennifer (24:39):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (24:40):
And mine says
Jennifer (24:41):
slip resistant.
It's like little pellets.
Carey (24:43):
Yep.
Yeah.
Mine's like little pellets orlittle.
Curly beads or something.
I don't know what they're, yeah,
Jennifer (24:49):
it's, they're very tiny.
Just, I don't know.
It's not like a flour, like cakeflour or anything.
It's got a texture to it.
Like sand.
Mm-hmm.
But you can put it down.
Okay.
This is a good example.
So last week.
We had a, one of the buttonsplayed in their water and filled
up their poop tray and the,there was just no way around it.
(25:12):
You move that cage and watercame out, there was no way
around that situation, so it gotall over the concrete.
Now, one you might consider justhosing it out or trying to sweep
it and disperse it or whatever,and that's what I would've done,
you know, five years ago.
But now what we do is we justkeep our lime in.
(25:37):
It's a little garden, um,wheelbarrow, I don't know if
wheelbarrows the right word.
It's like a little cart with twowheels on it.
Mm-hmm.
And it might be as big as like18 inches around or something.
Mm-hmm.
And it will hold about two bags,a hundred pounds of the lime.
And I just keep it in that in ascooper.
And I just wheeled that overthere.
(26:00):
And just dumped lime in thepuddle and it soaks it right up.
Maybe 20 minutes, it's dry andthen you just sweep it up.
And actually I swept it and putit right back in the wheelbarrow
because it's just gonna go in,you know, another puddle or a
poop tray or something else.
It's dry.
(26:20):
I was gonna say,
Carey (26:21):
you can use it like that.
Jennifer (26:22):
Mm-hmm.
Carey (26:23):
Nothing wrong with that.
Jennifer (26:25):
No, I mean, I use so much lime.
We probably go through 50 to ahundred pounds a month.
I use it in all the coops.
I use it all over the barn inempty stalls.
It's the most you.
You have to have it if you'regoing to have animals because it
dries everything, and that'sreally what is the first step in
(26:47):
keeping the flies away.
Carey (26:49):
Because I mean, I go through a hundred pounds a month
easy.
Jennifer (26:52):
Yeah, you can.
So
Carey (26:53):
you probably go through more.
Jennifer (26:55):
Yeah, I really would suggest getting the slip, the
antis, I think it's calledanti-slip.
Um, yeah, it's,
Carey (27:02):
it's on there.
Barn line, anti-slip, some,some, some something.
Jennifer (27:06):
Because if you have, like, I have a big, what is it,
five foot fan sitting in thefloor and or you use your blower
to like try to blow out some ofthe dust and stuff outta your
barn.
Th That stuff is so heavy itwon't blow, so it won't Right.
Get up in the bird's faces.
If you use the one that's notpelletized, it's kind of like
(27:28):
bread flour, cake, flour,consistency.
Mm-hmm.
It will actually lift with theblower or the fan, and it will
get up in their faces and it cancause eye issues and stuff.
I've had'em do that before.
So by the anti-slip.
Barn lime, ag lime.
There's a slight difference.
(27:48):
Somebody pointed out to me theother day.
It's a very slight difference,but what it all it is is
limestone.
Crushed limestone.
Carey (27:56):
Yep.
Yeah.
Finally crushed limestone.
But it works.
Jennifer (27:59):
Yeah.
I mean, it's completely harmlessto anybody.
Um, you, I mean, you don't wannabreathe it, so that's why I like
the pelletized stuff, but as faras like stepping on it.
Whatever it, it won't burn oranything.
That hydrated lime, the moreexpensive one.
Was it like$20 for 50 pounds orsomething?
Yeah, no, that'll cause burns,acid burns.
(28:20):
Yeah.
Carey (28:21):
It's uh, high magnesium is usually what it is.
I think they use
Jennifer (28:27):
concrete or something, don't they?
Carey (28:28):
Yeah.
You're, what you're looking foris calcium, lime, high cow,
lime, bar and lime.
Mm-hmm.
You know, the main difference iswhen it gets wet or moist.
The magnesium based lime getshot, has a chemical reaction.
Jennifer (28:45):
Mm-hmm.
The
Carey (28:45):
limestone lime
Jennifer (28:47):
is limestone,
Carey (28:48):
gets less dusty and absorbs the moisture.
Jennifer (28:52):
Right.
And you can go more expensiveand get the fancy lime with a
little bit of citric acid thatcomes in that black bag.
You have to order online now.
That's really, oh, you can get
Carey (29:03):
on the auto ship.
Jennifer (29:05):
I've never even had any, but that's the cheap lime
plus a little squeeze of lemonor something and sold really.
And a lot
Carey (29:13):
of shipping
Jennifer (29:14):
and yeah, it's expensive.
So we try to tell you, um, howto do this without having to
spend a bunch of money on sillythings.
Um, so ag lime, barn, lime,that's what you wanna use.
So quail are good for meat andeggs.
In a small confined.
Yeah, we got sidetracked, didn'twe?
Carey (29:37):
Well, so like, you know, your friend, our friend, because
we're both friends with him, um,I won't call his name out, but
he lives up north in big city,very, very in town life.
And, you know, he wanted meatand eggs and he got him a garden
(29:57):
shed and a couple of cages andput some quail in it.
And now he is getting meat andthe eggs.
You know, he's enjoying life.
He's raising his own stuff.
And, and it's, it's so good forhim that he's even getting
haters on TikTok.
Jennifer (30:15):
So it's funny you mentioned him.
He was actually just texting mewhile we were talking about
lime, um, the homesteading bugbit him hard.
Mm-hmm.
Because he texted me last weekand he's like, I'm making basil,
salt.
And I was like, okay, thatsounds great.
I had to Google what?
(30:35):
Basil salt.
Carey (30:36):
I've never heard of it.
Jennifer (30:39):
You take basil and you crunch it up and you mix it with
salt and then you have to dry itin the oven.
And I thought when I watched theYouTube, I was like, Hmm, why
don't you just salt your food?
Sparkle some basil on it,
Carey (30:51):
but well, you know, so I use this, the stuff, I use, the
salt, pepper, and garlic.
So you know, maybe it's the sameconcept as mincing up real fine.
Your garlic.
Putting some salt in it and somepepper and stick it in the oven,
Jennifer (31:07):
like garlic salt.
Carey (31:09):
I mean, you know, maybe he likes basil.
Jennifer (31:11):
I get it.
Well, but that was my point.
So now he has like a pot with atomato in it and he has a pot
with basil and stuff in it, andso he can grow
Carey (31:20):
his own.
Jennifer (31:20):
So David calls him the concrete hillbilly and so, okay,
but let me
Carey (31:25):
ask you this.
Jennifer (31:25):
Yeah.
Does
Carey (31:26):
he have an Instapot yet?
Jennifer (31:29):
I don't know.
Did you know that he was a grillmaster?
Carey (31:33):
I did know that.
Now I don't know how he's gonnaraise his own cow in, in that,
in his concrete jungle backyard.
Yeah.
But we probably should not talkabout that a whole lot because
he will try it.
Jennifer (31:49):
Yeah, he probably would.
But it's so much fun, the peoplethat we meet doing this and then
seeing how they apply it intheir spaces and just, just
taking, you know, 5% ofsomething and then turning it
into what works for them,because we can tell you how to
(32:12):
do something.
But really that's just kind ofhow to get started, give you
enough information to getstarted.
You have to figure out how itworks in your lifestyle with
your space.
We, we can't Oh, yeah.
Do that part for you.
Carey (32:27):
No.
Jennifer (32:29):
So, because, I
Carey (32:30):
mean, that's the way, the way I do stuff, like I'm, I'm
telling you what I'm tellingyou.
Hoping you learn from mistakes,you know, because that, that's
why I tell my kids stuff.
I know a lot of ways not to doit.
Right.
This is the one way that workedreally well for me.
Mm-hmm.
So learn, learn from ourmistakes and might save you some
(32:53):
money.
'cause the, the lessons in lifethat you never forget, or either
very painful or very expensive.
Jennifer (33:02):
You know what David does?
He calls it the Bryantbackwards.
We try something and then weback up and go a different
direction.
Hey, whatever works, works.
You know?
If you don't try and you don'tfail, then you didn't learn
anything.
Carey (33:16):
Well, that's all part of homesteading.
Jennifer (33:18):
Yeah.
We're forever.
Just so, so you
Carey (33:21):
can try it, figure it out and do it your way.
Jennifer (33:25):
Yes.
We just want you to have theconfidence to try.
That's it.
Carey (33:31):
Yep.
Jennifer (33:32):
That's what we had.
Carey (33:33):
So whether it's Orpingtons, coaching coachings,
quail breasts, Rhode Island,reds, bourbon, red turkeys,
whatever you do, startsomewhere.
Figure it out.
And if you need help Jenniferat, or
carry@poultrynerdspodcast.com.
Jennifer (33:56):
Yep.
So I do wanna add one morething.
People ask me this a ton aboutmy ducks.
It's, I don't know, I guess Ijust don't think about it, but
they ask me, why don't they justfly away?
My ducks can't fly.
Carey (34:11):
Well, so I tell people a little different story.
I say, well, my chickens arelike kids.
You take good care of'em andfeed'em.
Right.
And they never can't get'em out.
Jennifer (34:27):
Well, if you let my, if you open the door for my
turkeys, man, they'd be gone ina heartbeat.
Turkeys like to wander.
Carey (34:34):
That is true.
They're, they're natural,natural forages, which they are.
You know, that's what you wantin a heritage bird, so
Jennifer (34:44):
Yeah.
Can't turn
Carey (34:44):
them out.
Jennifer (34:45):
But the, the ducks can't fly, so they just walk
around everywhere.
They're the walking Coast Guard.
Carey (34:52):
I have, I have Rambo.
Um, he got out about two yearsago now, and he, he don't leave.
Jennifer (35:00):
What is he?
I haven't
Carey (35:01):
tried to catch him.
It's a Rhode Island red that hasthese really jacked up toes that
I would never in my life breed.
Mm-hmm.
He got out and like I've hadtons of predator problems and
none of them have ever got him.
So I just let him, he's like themascot, you know?
(35:22):
He, he hangs out on Game FoulRoad and he'll, he's got a
girlfriend there.
There's, there's a hen and a penby herself and he, he nest on
top of it at night.
They share meals together.
And sometimes he poops in herwater cup.
Jennifer (35:44):
I have a crooked toe.
Carey (35:46):
I move it around to the other side.
Jennifer (35:48):
We have a hen that's probably, I don't know, 10 or 11
years old and her name isCrooked Toe.
Carey (35:54):
Yeah.
Like one of his toes makes a 90degree angle.
Yeah.
I'm pretty sure I accidentallyclosed it in the incubator or in
the Hatcher door, but um, I'mnot taking the risk.
I'm not gonna breed him.
Jennifer (36:07):
Gotcha.
Yeah.
He, he's living his best life.
Carey (36:11):
That's right.
Jennifer (36:12):
All right, well hopefully this wasn't too like
Ramly and something, I don'teven know the word.
Carey (36:21):
I mean, we had fun and we hope y'all enjoyed listening to
it too.
Jennifer (36:24):
Yep.
And if you need us to rambleabout anything else, by all
means, let us know
Carey (36:29):
and we're on it.
Jennifer (36:31):
All right.
Have a great day
Carey (36:32):
next time.
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