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BONUS EPISODE: Joel Salatin’s Chicken-Keeping Masterclass: Clean Eggs and Healthy Hens · Beyond Labels Premium

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Beyond Labels Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're your hosts, Joel and Sina.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: And since we're at the farm today, at our farm, everybody thought it'd be neat to do something kind of key to homesteading.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so, Sina, I I have been on so many homesteads and backyard operations where dirty eggs are how do I get the eggs dirty, how do uh clean, that sort of thing.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh I thought, well, maybe it'd be neat to just come up.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Your three kids are here, I've got three egg baskets, we they can gather eggs and we can talk about how to keep eggs clean.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds great.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: These chickens are ones that we've had, we've had been hatching our chickens for 15 years.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so we started with about four or five different kinds of breeds.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Old traditional American varieties.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And as you can tell, they've pretty much gone to the barred rock, the barred rock look.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's because that's the hardest one for predators for hawks to get.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're kind of camouflage, they're hard to focus on, as opposed to a solid-colored bird.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like the white one?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like the white one or the black ones.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so over there is a guard goose.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's a guard goose, and he is he is somewhat effective about aerial predators, but the main guard here is a dog.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: We're up here, we're up here, you know, a mile away from the house.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of bears, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, possums, pine martens, skunks, um, uh weasels, minks, and so the guard dog is a very uh very effective, a very effective deterrent.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what his name is.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: We've we've got several, and I can never keep up with them all.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you can just call him dog.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Hi dog.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll call you Mason.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Mason.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: Oh Mason.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he looks like our dog Mason.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, okay.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Alright.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, um there's there's a thousand here.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we call the Millennium Feathernet.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's a thousand birds, and we move, we move the shelter every two days, and we move the whole ring every four days.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So they just they they were just up there, you can see, and they've just come here and they're you know they're heading up, heading up this way.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: You move that big shelter?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, the whole everything moves.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's on skids.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: You hook up here to the front with a tractor to the to the feed buggy, and the whole the whole thing just pulls like a train.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Moves right along.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: I was sure we drill up that that was stationary.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no, no, no.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Cena, I know, you should know we don't have stationary here.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was a little shocked.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Joel has stationary?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is all everything's everything's portable.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's portable.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Can we touch the chicken?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: You sure can.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um do you um so I can uh I can pick up one and show you the act the actual official way to hold a chicken.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um let me let me get down here and so the official way to hold a chicken is with your middle finger between her legs, so that her keel bone rests in the rests in the palm of your hand.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow because people do what they get them like this, well then the chicken's scratching you, you know.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: She's she's okay.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: This way, if she starts to dog paddle or you know, or scratch, she's just out here in the air, okay?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: See how calm she is?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And and and so you can you you can you can move her around, you can you can turn her upside down, you can m move her all.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Look how she compensates for her balance.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Watch her tail.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but um by putting her by putting her legs in here, she can't scratch anything, okay?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and you can look at her all over, and the nice thing is no matter where you point, where you move her, her rear is away from you.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't get pooped on.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So since since we've been since we've been hatching our own, um docility is one of the traits that we select for.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Docility?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because docility means that um they don't have blood spots and meat spots in their eggs.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So here, you want to hold her?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if a chicken is laying, if she's laying well, so you you can feel her abdomen here, you can feel her pubic bones.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Put your hand up here and and and feel her, see her two pubic bones?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Feel them?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Two pubic bones?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Feel them?
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right there, okay?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: If she's laying, they they become, if she's laying well, see like I can put I can put two fingers between them, she's laying well.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: But if she weren't laying, they'd be real, real tight together.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing is that as they begin to lay, the they they take the pigment, the yellow pigment out of their body and they put it in the egg yolk.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, and it comes out in a certain pattern.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: It starts the vent, vent, eye ring, earlobe, beak, feet, and shanks.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Alright?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: So if they have a if they have yellow, look at her, look at her vent here.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: See her vent, see how white it is?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that was yellow before she started laying, alright?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: If that was yellow and her feet were white, that means she would be, she's going out of production.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: The pigment is coming back in, but it hasn't gotten to her feet yet.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: When she goes into production, the pigment comes out again.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's vent, eye ring, earlobe, beak, feet, and shanks.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Feet, shanks, okay?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's the way the yellow comes out of her body when she begins laying.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Is some of the yellow gone from the top of her beak?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like it looks a little white.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what that means.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you can you can tell.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Eating an egg.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: So you you can tell if a if a chicken is laying or not.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um the blood you mentioned the blood spot and an egg, because I I know most of us who cook with eggs at some point or another have cracked open an egg and there's a little thing of blood.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: So what is that from, I guess?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Stress.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's stress.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Stress.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's stress.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: We are probably seeing it.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're probably the largest.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm saying this guardly, I don't know, but I would surmise that we're probably the largest commercial egg producer in the nation that doesn't candle eggs.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody candles eggs for that reason.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: They're looking for the blood spots.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Looking for the blood spots.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: We don't candle eggs.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and we sell because you don't have to?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because we don't have to.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's it, Trinity.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: You just look at every box and get every egg that's in there.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'll have that right now.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, clean eggs.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: How do you so Yeah, these look like they've been washed.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like with the exception of just a couple spots, they look washed.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people, they go, they're going to these roll-out, roll-out nest boxes, you know, where they lay and the eggs roll out under a cover.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: In them.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's now the the kind of the thing.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what's the first thing a chicken does?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Look, there's one in there.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing a chicken does when she gets into a nest, no, don't don't don't knock, don't knock her out.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Just reach in under her like that.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, just reach in under her.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: First thing a chicken does when she's gonna lay an egg is she goes in there and she she makes a nest.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, she I don't care if there's four eggs in there already.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: She's gonna, she's gonna pick up a little.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: She's gonna she's gonna pick up a little something.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: She's gonna, you know, she's gonna get in there, she's gonna scrunch down, she's gonna, you know, kind of get right?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Get cozy.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, get it, get her cozy.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So so so these roll away roll away nests don't allow the chicken to express any of that natural.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it they can't express that.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because the back is gone?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: So they can't get it.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: No, because there's no nest material.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's they're just going in and laying on a on like astro turf.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's just it's just like a little little plastic plastic pad.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: They gotta go in, squat, boop, the egg goes away.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: They they can't even see the egg.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: When they lay, they generally get up, they look around, and they and they look around at the egg they just laid, and then they cackle.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then they cackle.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Look what I just did, you know?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, because it's a sense of purpose.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, none of that's possible in a roll away thing because they can't make a nest, they they can't they can't scrunch into it, it's not soft, and the egg immediately rolls away out of sight, and none of that, okay.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: So people go to roll away nest boxes in order to have clean eggs because they think these are filthy, okay?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, the first thing is you want your nest boxes higher than bird height.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, you don't want the nest boxes down on the floor where they can see in them.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: You want them to where they have to hop up to get up in them.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: Why?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because if they can see in them, they start to become mischievous.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want loitering.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: We want them to lay an egg and leave.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want them to loiter.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like going to the yes, it's it's it's too tempting.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: So we want the boxes to be up off the floor where the chickens can't just, you know, go in and out at will.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: The next thing is you want, see how she picked up that piece of look, look, see, see how she's picking up those.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: See that?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, see how she's making a nest?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, she is.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, she's making a nest.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and she's thinking about it, you know.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: She's she's like, there's a lot of commotion here.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Then what happens is when we when we gather them, we close up.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: We close, we close up this and we latch it.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: That excludes them from being able to sleep in there at night.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: The number one thing that makes them dirty is manure from where the chickens sleep and then they poop.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so, so having these hinge up so you can exclude them keeps the nest boxes clean from manure from from sleeping in there.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Come on down to and Joel, uh, how often, this is hay, right?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: How often do you have to replace that hay that's in there for the floor?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Very seldom.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Very seldom, yeah.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because they've been because they're trained to just go in there and do the job and come in.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because because they're not they're not messing around in there.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing good, Trinity.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: You're reaching right in there, okay?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing is that the boxes, you have to have a high enough front.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: See, this is this is um like eight inches, eight inches from from the lip down, which allows them to get down in there and scrunch down so they get no they want their privacy.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: They don't want somebody to you know come in and see what they're doing.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, so um, so you you want that you want that high front lip so they can kind of scrunch down and um and get and get private.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, is this one of the sides?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I am uh a homesteader and I'm starting to do backyard chickens, one of the things I want to look for, I'm presuming, is that I want my eggs to come out looking like this.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like they've already been washed.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, I'm doing something.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: There's something wrong with your management if you're not getting.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Our rule of thumb is if I have to wash 10%, more than 10%, something's wrong with my management.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that they'll they'll break an egg once in a while.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: All right, yeah, it just happens.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: But um, but by by giving them free choice, free choice oyster shells, they it keeps their shells hard.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Free choice oyster shells?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, they've they've got a feeder down there with free choice oyster shell, and that keeps their calcium up, so their shell is good and hard.
• 13:45
  unknown: Oh, nice.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: To recap, then you want to make sure that the chicken, the these are high enough, the nesting boxes are high enough the chicken can't see in.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then you need the lift to be high enough so that the chicken can get in there and nest.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: All right, yes.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, um, and you don't want to have the one where the egg rolls out.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: You want them to get the accomplishment of seeing the have accomplished their purpose.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Wait, did I miss anything?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't miss anything, and then you've got you've got these handy pushboards.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: To to close up when you're done.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wait, so do you come out here then every morning and open it back up?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: So every morning we have to open them back up.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then when you collect the the eggs, you would then close it.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: So then they start to learn.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: This is their time of the day where they can lay the eggs.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, so they are smart.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: They're trainable like dogs.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's yeah, there's nothing under there.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think we got them all.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so can we we can pull the chip up?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we the thing is we don't normally gather till four.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got people coming out to gather eggs.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna leave them and they'll they'll check them one more time.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's a few still, you know, still laying.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to, but but yes, you got you got the you got the whoops.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Just drop it down there.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, watch them eat it.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, look at them go! They're like piranhas.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you see this little this little catch here.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: This little catch here is a way is a way to to hold that up, you know, so that doesn't, so they can't get in there.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: This poor chicken's still like, wait a minute.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm still in here.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how you that's how you have clean eggs.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's incredible.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh just think all the time you got you saved by not having to wash those eggs.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, oh, yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can put these away as fast as you can pick them up.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, our our benchmark is somebody, one person should be able to put away 30 dozen eggs in 20 minutes.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: One person.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and just think of how much healthier this egg is.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: And less risk of uh microbial overgrowth.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right, right.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: When you don't have to wash them, it keeps that, you know, they put a film on the outside of it, a bloom?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: A bloom, a bloom film to protect them.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't wash them, then that bloom stays on.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it and it help adds a diff a another um a veil, if you will, you know, a a different uh, you know, protective layer to keep anything from getting in.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: So how long can you keep these out on the counter?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Unrefrigerated?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can keep these out on the counter unrefrigerated, you know, uh for I don't know, three weeks.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh nice.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: But then as soon as you wash off that balloon, you gotta refrigerate it, right?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when I re-refrigerate them anyway, just because you know, a hot day, they'll deteriorate.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: In your house, your house isn't as hot as generally out in the sun.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um so that they deteriorate faster.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: But but in your house, you know, or in a you know, in a cool um, you know, cellar basement or something.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: So Joel, you're saying so you don't have to use like chlorine then to disinfect these?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: No there's no no disinfectant, no nothing.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: It just the way they came out of the chicken.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't that amazing though?
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like if somebody because most of us think of eggs as being dirty, but if you came here and you saw these eggs, you would literally think there is no need to chlorinate, in other words, adulterate perfectly good eggs.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Especially because I like to take the eggshells and I grind them up and turn them into like toothpaste and things, you know, and it gives you calcium and such.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: I would much rather by far do that to with this egg than any egg that I bought from the grocery store that you know is probably gonna be.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know it's been washed.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know it's been washed.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it was filthy, so they had to wash it.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, this is this is incredible.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: It truly makes them want to get chickens, but then but that's another benefit of just moving here.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'll just come get your eggs.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: We'd love to have you.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: So the calcium, does it go in here with the with the supplement?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: No, there's a separate feeder.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's called a free choice cafeteria.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: So the chickens get to eat as much or as little as they want.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice! This this is called a total mixed ration.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it's got a bunch of different stuff in it.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's called TMR, total mixed ration.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: The oyster shell are out in a separate feeder that they can they can eat if they want and don't have to eat if they want.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a buffet.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but the the reason is because the different chickens are laying at different rates, and so the heavier a chicken lays, the more calcium she needs.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: If we put it in here, she would, some of them would get too much, some of them wouldn't get enough.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: So by giving it free choice, they get to choose do I want more calcium or do I not.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And since the chickens don't watch TV, they actually know what they need.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say, so you're telling me the chicken is smart enough to know what it needs, when it needs to go get that.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: God gave that chicken everything she needs to know to be a successful chicken.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Everything she needs to know.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't that amazing though, as a society now, how dumb we think animals are that we have to control everything and manage them?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then then we end up with saying that the happiness of a chicken is dangerous to itself.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Those roosters are really a lot bigger than the chickens.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: I had no idea.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: And the hens.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, sorry, then the hens.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're all chickens.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: They're all chickens.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: This is like barnyard 101 from the channel.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're trying to and we obviously we don't need roosters to have eggs.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: We need roosters to hatch eggs.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: We don't need roosters to have eggs, but a couple of roosters are actually very protective.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: They're actually they uh I don't want a bunch, but but a couple are actually very protective.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're you know, they they watch for stuff and sound an alarm.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Do they fight each other?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've heard sometimes roosters can be really territorial.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they can uh they can they can kill each other.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow now you're right-handed, right?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I would take my.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you see, you see what I'm doing here?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm putting my middle finger way up in between there so that you can actually squeeze those legs.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: So you can squeeze those legs so when she starts to starts to you know bicycle on you, you can kind of squeeze her legs a little bit.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh and and that and and what that does, it's it's the temple grandin squeeze.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, temple grandon, you know, the squeeze thing.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh that's the idea.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're you're just you're just squeezing those legs, and then she just quits fighting.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of like how we have those weighted blankets that we put on people to give them that little bit of a squeeze when they calm down.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: So do you when you pick them up from the ground though, do you pick them up like this and then slide your hand under?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, well, you pick them up however you can, whether you grab them by the leg or or gab them by both arms or whatever.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: But but here.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Get your right, all right, stick your middle finger right between her legs there.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I don't think I have my finger all the way in there.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, get get them on up there.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: You should you should be able to take her clear away from your body now.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: There, there.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: See?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you're looking for.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right there.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you're looking for.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: See, we when you when you get them.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Get one further back with both of us in it.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: When you when you get them, when you get them right, they'll they'll they'll uh settle down real pretty quick.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, look at that.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I don't know if my hand's big enough to flip her upside down like you did, though.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: I can barely hold on to her.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it takes a little bit of practice.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you gotta keep your hand, really keep it slit up, you know.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Is this right?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh all the way, you know, so her legs are right in your in your fingers here.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um this is just uh up close and personal here, folks.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um uh I hope the I hope you you got the essence of the content plus the video hopefully will really help to to bring it home for you.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: But um uh you know, you're welcome to come and visit anytime.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: We have an open door policy.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's no uh you don't have to come through sheep dip to go visit our chicken.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I had people here last week, they have a you know one of these big confinement chicken houses, and um and and I was gonna show them the chickens, they would they wouldn't go near them.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Bio security, biosecurity.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know, they got contracts they've signed, you know, you can't come in contact with the chicken.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh just it's just just ridiculous.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, we've had a good time with the chickens.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you've had a good time visiting with us on them.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so the question is, um, are your nest boxes uh are your next boxes um polyface approved?
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh or are you having trouble with dirty eggs?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope that after today you'll be able to solve your uh any uh egg, egg um uh you know, egg problems.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um once in a while there is an egg eater, that a chicken that just just wants to eat eggs.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so to do that, um yeah, there are other things involved here.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one is you want the nest boxes to be as dark as possible, because the only time chickens are drawn to darkness is to lay an egg.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh if and so sometimes your dirty eggs could be because the nest boxes are too bright, too light, and chickens are are are wanting to go in there and be mischievous.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so so the darkness, so they'll actually, depending on where the morning sunlight is coming in, uh they'll actually change, they'll actually flex their production um or lay based on where the light's coming in.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's it's pretty, it's pretty amazing.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you want it to be as dark as possible.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: But if you have an egg eater and you have problems with eating eggs and you're trying to break them, um hang a piece of material, cloth, down the nest boxes.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: The chickens will push through it, but that'll make it so dark, nobody will want to go in there.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that that that's a way to break an egg eater.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, there's there's there's more nuances to this, but the main thing is make sure they're healthy, that they have free choice oyster shell to keep their shells good and strong, that the boxes are up high, that they're excluded at night so they don't root uh sleep in them, and um, and they have a landing space on the top to you know to uh an exclusion purchase to be able to be in there, and they can scrunch down and get and get uh private.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Those are all really important things.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: And not have the eggs roll down.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: And not have the eggs roll down.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's right, that's right.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, thanks for visiting with us.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be uh enjoying being with you again next week on another Beyond Labels podcast.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, everybody.