Murrell’s Fowl Play

Today I'm talking with Kristin at Murrell’s Fowl Play.

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00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Kristen at Merle's Foul Play. How are you this morning, Kristen? I'm good. How are you? I'm great. You're in Tennessee? East Tennessee, yes. Okay, cool. Another Southern accent. I love it.

00:27
I talk to so many people in the South and I'm in the very, well not the very, I'm in the North, I'm in Minnesota so I don't hear a lot of Southern accents up here very often. I like to say that mine's not that bad but if you ask my husband he's going to disagree. Yes and most of us who have accents can't hear them at all because we're so used to it. Yeah. Okay so tell me about yourself and what you do.

00:53
Uh, let's see. I used to breed, well, I used to show chickens when I was in 4-H in middle school. And for the last three years, I have been joking with my husband that I wanted to get chickens. And he thought I was not serious. And the next thing you know, we're going to, well, two, three hours away to buy a coop and bring it back. And I started with four birds that have now turned into 30. Oh my. Yes. So now we breed.

01:21
Silky's and seramas and we just got some Rhode Island Reds and now we are working on our egg production and our incubation Okay, so I was looking at your Facebook page because that's what I do and I saw that you raised chickens for show for showing them Do you also raise chickens for eggs and meat eggs? Yes meat? No, I have not got into meat birds

01:49
I have a couple friends who do that and they love it. And then I have a couple of friends who do that and they hate it. So we don't eat a lot of chicken here. We're more of a beef household. So I just couldn't justify the feed cost to meat cost. Uh-huh. Yeah. Um, chicken feed is very expensive right now. Yes. That's why we don't have chickens this winter. We called them a month and a half ago because they were being lazy and they're also getting old.

02:17
And my husband said, I don't want to feed chickens all winter for no return. And I said, that's fine. Yes, exactly. And I could, I mean, we eat chicken maybe twice a month in this house. So I couldn't justify raising a ton of birds to just let them sit in the freezer for a while. Yeah. And we didn't raise meat birds. We had them for eggs and we can afford to buy a dozen eggs a week. Right now it's fine. So, and there's a really sweet woman who sells eggs at the farmer's market in the summertime. And my husband.

02:47
works at the farmers market. He sells our stuff there. So he knows her and he's going to get ahold of her and be like, can we buy some of your eggs? That's probably going to be the cheaper route compared to chicken feed. Yeah. Your eggs are better than the store bought eggs and your eggs are cheaper than chicken feed. So we would like to buy eggs from you ma'am. So tell me how, how in the world did you go from, I don't know, taking care of chickens for 4-H when you were a kid

03:17
to now being so invested in this? I'm not even sure how it happened. I just kind of got this idea one day and I ended up with those four birds. And I bought, I originally bought pet quality silkies, even though I knew that my goal was to breed show quality silkies. So I bought these four silkies and I was just like, I just want to see if I enjoy raising the chickens. Cause I can maintain four birds and if I don't like them, they'll just live and die here and I never have to get any more. And then I got those four.

03:44
And they were so sweet and they're still really sweet birds. They're not as sweet as my seramas, but they're still incredibly sweet. And I enjoyed messing with them and I enjoyed hanging out with them. And then my grandfather had this coop at his house and he was like, I'm not raising chickens anymore. Why don't you take it? And I was like, well, if I get a coop, then I got to get more birds. So then I ended up with some egg laying birds and then my husband loves those birds. So he decided to get more egg laying birds and I was like, well, I got to go back to, you know, showing my birds. So I started getting.

04:14
I won a contest for six free bread to standard silkies and I was like well that would be perfect because then I can separate them into their color pens and work on that. And then one thing led to another and now there's birds everywhere. Well I bet they're clucking happy birds. Very much so. Uh huh. Okay so I am not anywhere near an expert on chicken varieties so tell me about what silkies are and why those.

04:45
Silky's are bantams, so they're a lot smaller than your regular standard size chicken, which I absolutely, I showed Brahmas, so I showed the big birds and I absolutely hated that and I swore that I would never go back to a full size bird. I say that as there's nine birds out there that are full size birds now, but I wanted Bantams and Bantams only. And I got three Silky's and one Sarama and I had that Sarama sold before I even got her home because I knew that I didn't want Saramas. And I got her here.

05:14
and I got her in the coop and I fell in love with her. Like she's beautiful and she is the sweetest bird I have and I was like, you know, I can't, I can't sell her. So I canceled that sale and my husband was like, wow, we gotta have a Sarama pin now cause we don't want silkied Saramas. So we put her over there and I kept the sarama or the silkies down there where they are. And the silkies are a lot smaller, they're really docile. They're super fluffy. They have the beautiful feathered feet and the pretty beaks. However,

05:42
I got them because I heard they were the most docile chicken breed and that is just not true. Are they Spitfires? Yes, I have a couple that are pretty rough, but my Saramas are probably the nicest breed I have. Even my Rooster is really gentle and my son can go in there and pick him up and play with him and like super nice birds. Okay, tell me about the Saramas because I've never even heard of them. They're a lot smaller than a Silkie. I mean they're very tiny.

06:09
My rooster maybe weighs a pound and a half. Oh. Yes, very tiny. And I mean, he's still a juvenile. He's just now reached the age of maturity where he can start, you know, mounting my hens and producing that so that we can get fertilized eggs. But I mean, he's still incredibly small and he won't get much bigger than he is now. And the hens are also incredibly small, but I think the biggest they get is two pounds. I could be wrong on that. All of mine are under two pounds.

06:39
So there's itty bitty chickens. Yes, they are very little. Okay, so do they have itty bitty crows? When the rooster crows, is it just a little tiny er, er, er, or is it just a loud one? No, it is very little. And I thought it was just because, you know, he's just learning to crow, so I figured he was just trying to find that voice. But he stayed pretty consistent at that volume. However, he doesn't understand he is only supposed to crow in the morning, and he crows consistently throughout the day.

07:07
And if you walk outside, he thinks you have treats and he will immediately start crowing and not stop. At least he's not a donkey. Yes, that is true. Our neighbor across the way has a donkey and he doesn't bray all the time or she females and male donkeys. Yes. But boy, when that donkey starts yelling, you can hear it miles. And it's so- Growing up I had four.

07:33
Yeah, it's so funny because it's obnoxious as all hell, but it's so cool to hear it. It's cool the first time and then it gets annoying. Yeah, and it sounds like a fake noise. Like it sounds like something AI produced and it's actually coming out of a real live donkey. It's so funny. He will pray now and then in the morning at like 4 35 o'clock in the morning.

08:00
And I'm usually up by then I'm sitting outside drinking my coffee and he starts in and I'm like you stupid donkey So living in the country has its benefits and hearing crazy noises is definitely one of them. Yeah Okay, so When you say show your birds, are you showing them at fairs or how does it work? So I have not yet taking one of the birds to show I have a

08:29
bird out there that I'm working on, I think I'm going to take, I'm not even sure if it's her or him at this moment, but I'm going to take that one to show. It's beautiful, all white, perfect feathering, great feet, all of it. I'm going to hopefully do the fair first. I think that would be great to get the birds, get my feet in the water again since I haven't showed in 10 years. And I think I want to start with the fair and then just see where it goes. There's a really nice website for silky breeders and silky showers.

08:59
that will list all of the shows. Usually on the East Coast, I mean, you can separate it. Sometimes it's worldwide. And I want to look into doing that after I see how we do it a fair. Cause I don't wanna start breeding and go crazy and travel all these miles to show a bird that isn't worth it. Yeah, that makes sense. So what are the judges looking for when you take a bird to be shown?

09:24
With seal keys, it is, seal keys is extreme because there's so many people that have decided to start breeding seal keys right now. And with seal keys, they're looking at proper toe spacing, the proper coloring of the beak and the legs and the skin. They wanna see how the feathers are when you spread their feathers out, if they're nice and tight and go straight up to the rear, or if they fall down, like they are looking for everything. The poof on the head, the poof on the tail, the way they stand, the way they walk, the way they are with humans.

09:55
So confirmation and coordination and coloring and I assume temperament? Yes, yeah, all of it. Okay, cool. So that's what I'm working on with my white one right now. She's good with, I've got a really nice model and I've got a really nice white one and I'm working with both of those to get them more used to people. Because I mean, they're good and they'll come to you, they're just not as good as like my

10:22
If you go to reach down to them, they'll back away and you don't want that in show. You want to be able to walk down there, pick them up and everything's good to go. Yeah. I'm assuming you're trying to get them to not be as easily startled. Yes. Plus they are still really young. Like seal keys don't mature for a really long time. So these compared to other birds, like I've got birds out there that'll start laying at 20 weeks. Seal keys can take almost a year to fully mature.

10:50
Wow. Yes, so they've got plenty of time and that gives me until this, you know, the fair in the fall of next year. So that gives me plenty of time to get out there and get those birds handled and all of that. Okay, this may be a dumb question. I'm going to ask it anyway. How long do they live? Stilkies, let's see. I think they're at five to six years. Don't hold me to that.

11:12
I have a couple birds that are specifically egg birds that will only live two years, two to three years, because they are specifically bred for egg production. They lay almost 320 eggs a year. Is that the ASA ones? It is. Yes, it is. Yeah, we had some of those when we first got chickens years ago. That was my goal. I was like, well, if they lay a lot of eggs, no, I'm not going to get super connected to them, not super attached, and we'll just do that. But I end up getting super attached to everything that comes through here.

11:43
Of course, because you have a heart and you're taking care of those babies, whether they're babies or not. So the ASA chickens that you have that we started with, they are really, really sweet chickens. And I'm going to be honest, I don't love chickens. I don't like touching chickens. Their quills make me just, I don't know, it bothers me. But they were the sweetest girls. They are, yes.

12:10
And they gave us an egg a day for two years and then stopped. Yep. And we knew that was going to happen. And when it was time to call them, I actually cried. Yes. I was like, it's just, doesn't seem fair that you guys only put out eggs for two years and then you're no longer useful. Yes. They are specifically bred for that purpose. And plus, you know, they're sex links. So you can tell the day they hatch based on their colors, what is a hen and what is a rooster. Yes.

12:39
Yes, and they're very good for people who just want to do eggs. And that's why I said, you know, I wouldn't breed any of those because I don't want to take down those traits because those have already been bred. So when you start breeding those, then you get into the health issues and all of that faced with whatever rooster you decide to put in there. Yeah. And they breed and those chicks will have those issues. So I decided to just leave those just as eggs. They're in their own little coop down there. They're perfectly happy, perfectly fine. We're supposed to get the first egg from them because they're still, they're

13:09
So we're supposed to get the first egg from them around December 20th. However, you know, we're facing the winter. So will we get that egg? I'm not entirely sure. Yeah. For anyone who doesn't know about this, chickens are reliant on sunlight to lay eggs. And they usually need about 12 hours of sunlight a day to produce an egg a day. And chickens only lay one egg in 24 hours. Usually.

13:35
There's been, you know, those rare instances where people claim to have gotten two eggs in 24 hours. I'm not sure if they just, you know, caught it at the end of the day and then got it again the next day. And they just assumed it was in 24 hours. But most of the time it is one in 24 hours and daylight savings time absolutely kills your egg production. Unless you have a light in your coop. If you put light in your coop.

14:01
And you extend that light for a couple hours past the time sunsets, they'll still lay. I have left. So we've got a couple birds kind of hanging out in the carport and coops and bedding and all of that. And I leave the light on in there. So they get light constantly. So it maybe that's why, cause we just recently bought the Rhode Island Reds. I mean, they've only been here for like three days and they're already, we've already got six eggs from those five.

14:27
So I figured there would be an adjustment period, you know, when you bring in new birds. Sometimes they say it takes them eight weeks to start laying again. So these girls did not care. They have laid eggs consistently since we got them. Yes. The lady that we got our first chickens from said that they probably wouldn't lay that day or the day after because moving them, especially in a vehicle, stresses them and it screws them up. And we got them home at like noon.

14:55
put them in the coop and there were two eggs waiting for us by five o'clock that afternoon. That is how we, yes, exactly how it happened. You're the most laid back chickens ever, ladies good. And we got them for a very good price because it's getting winter, the guy had hundreds of chickens and he wanted, he doesn't want to feed all through winter and I can't say I blame him. So I've started sprouting lentils to.

15:21
make up for the fact that they're not, you know, being able to free range all of that out there. So we're going to work on fodder for them. That way we can help supplement some of that grass throughout the winter to see if we can keep egg production up as strong as it has been. And just as healthy for you to eat. Yes. Yes. Yep. I can't, I cannot get over how expensive chicken food has become in the last year and a half. It is insane. And when you get into show birds, so I've kind of got my show birds on the cheap.

15:48
feed right now because you know they're not actively being shown. But when you get into show birds you want to with silkies especially you want to bump up their protein like you want 20% protein and the chicken feed for that I mean you're talking 30-40 dollars for a 50 pound bag. Uh huh. I know it's insane. It is. Um I went to get chicken feed two and a half months ago and I don't usually get it. My husband usually picks it up. Yes.

16:15
The lady told me the price for two bags and I was like, excuse me? And I wasn't being snotty. I was just confused. And she looked at me like I was stupid and repeated it back to me. And I said, I'm sorry, last time I bought chicken feed, it was a quarter less than what you just told me at least. And she said, I know, she said, I feel so bad, but this is how it is. And I said, I see inflation hasn't just hit people food, it's hit animal food too. And she said, oh. Absolutely.

16:43
She said, Oh my God, you have no idea. It's ridiculous. Yes. We're doing everything because I'm a stay at home mom. My husband works insane amount of hours and we have three kids. So I'm doing everything I can to not only cut food costs on us, but to cut it on them. So our chickens enjoy fridge clean out day. They enjoy the discount produce. They enjoy all the little snacks here because mealworms. I mean, you're talking $50 for a 10 pound bag of mealworms.

17:11
I think on Amazon it's five pounds for $45. Jesus. Yes, that is insane. So if I can go and get some discount produce and they enjoy those treats, because happy chickens lay eggs. So I want to keep my chickens, you know, happy and fed and just like my kids, those things demand treats. Oh yeah, absolutely. Look, I cannot afford or justify $45 for five pounds of mealworms that these girls will eat in a week.

17:40
Yes, they're super fast. Yes. They're fast eaters and they're fast hunters. Yes. When my husband was digging in the garden this spring, he found a bunch of earthworms, like maybe 10. And we had 20 something chickens then. Yes. And he threw those earthworms in the run and they had them eaten in like 30 seconds. Absolutely, yes. Gone. They are the best. I mean, everybody calls them, you know, the new age dinosaurs and it's true. They will eat anything. I mean, I saw a chicken kill a mouse.

18:10
They will take care of anything. Well, the good news is that they don't eat kittens. We had kittens last year, no, last summer, two falls ago. And once the kittens were big enough to follow mom out of the barn, they went over to the chicken coop and they were small enough to get in the holes in the chicken wire and get in the coop. And my husband sent me a picture from his phone of one of the kittens in the coop with chickens.

18:39
And I called him and I said, um, are they going to eat the kitten? And he said, no, he said, they're actually running away from her. Yes. So we got a cat, my son wanted a cat. So we got a little kitten and she is absolutely terrified of the birds. We had, at that time we had a broder inside with, uh, I guess they were about four weeks old, four week old silkies. She was terrified of them.

19:03
Now she's grown up with them so she's more used to having birds around here so she's more curious than anything. But when we would get the silky out to look at it and to make sure everything was good, she would run. She was terrified of them or she would get real close and sniff it and the minute it would move she'd freak out. Uh huh. Yeah, I was just afraid that they were going to eat that kitten because that kitten wasn't much bigger than an adult mouse. Yes. And they love mice.

19:31
And they love all of that. So I'm surprised it didn't try and peck at the kitten. Nope. It was totally fine. And the rest of the kittens would go out there and like chase the kitten, the chickens around once they got bigger. I was like, you guys are dumb. Get out of there. And they finally realized that it was boring and then they found other things to do. So that was fine. Um, yeah, one of the joys of being on a farm or a homestead or whatever it is that, that we want to call our places.

19:59
is that you find out things are true that you thought were false and you find out that things are false that you thought were true. Yes. Like supposedly dogs and cats don't get along, which is not true. Our dog and whatever cat she's around in the yard, they're best friends. Yes. I think I really enjoy raising my kids the way that my grandparents raised me. And I enjoy watching my husband get into it because my husband absolutely hated the ideas of chickens.

20:28
And now he'll be sitting on the couch on his phone and I'll be like, what are you doing? He'll be over there just scrolling the chicken groups on Facebook. So now he has like completely engulfed himself into these chickens that he claimed to hate. Like he'll go out there all the time and be like, I hate these birds. And then he'll be like, you think we need to buy these for the chickens? The world has gone topsy turvy when you move to a piece of land. Yes, like I enjoy watching him.

20:55
get mess with his chickens because those seramas are all his and he'll tell you that too. He loves his seramas. That's why we that's what he got for his birthday was two new seramas. And then I enjoy watching my kids get out there and my daughter she is barely like she is she's 14 months old and absolutely loves her chickens. She will not say mama but she will say chicken. Oh funny really? Yes she will say chicken and she'll say kitty cat and she'll say dada but she will not say mama.

21:25
She will. She'll get there. She'll eventually call you mama. She just knows I'm there so she doesn't have to ask for me. She just wants to yell at the birds. Uh huh. I remember when our youngest was starting to walk and talk and he had three older siblings and the older siblings adored him so much that all he had to do was point and then get him whatever he wanted. Yes. He said his first sentence.

21:51
at like a little over a year old. He only had a couple of words that he'd actually said out loud. He said his first full sentence before he even had like 10 words he'd ever uttered because he knew how to talk, he just wasn't talking. Yep. Our son starts talking the minute he wakes up and he talks through his sleep. So he doesn't ever stop talking. And he's our little chicken wrangler. Like if we need one in the back of the coop and we don't wanna get in there and crawl around and get, he'll go right in there and grab it. And they love him.

22:21
I love it. He's your helper. Yes. And at school, when they ask you, you know, they ask the kids like, draw, because he's in preschool. And they'll ask him, you know, draw what makes you happy. He always draws pictures of his chickens. That's so cute. He loves his chickens. He talks about them all day. The teachers say he never stops talking about them. Well, maybe he's going to be a politician when he gets older because he'll have all the words and all the ways of saying them. And he is very good at arguing. Yeah.

22:52
Or he'll be a really good lawyer. That too, yes. Uh-huh, those are not terrible things to be. Or he'll be a chicken farmer, just like mom. Exactly, and that's also not a terrible thing to be. Exactly. So what's your, I mean, I think that chickens are just your favorite thing, but what's your favorite thing about the chickens? I love their personalities. Like, I know that the egg laying birds, they all look almost identical. I mean, a couple of them have

23:22
maybe a different coloring pattern to their feathers or maybe some more white than brown. But you can tell them by their personalities. Like every chicken has a different personality. I know which birds are going to come to me. I know which birds are going to try to eat the rings off my fingers. Like you just, you get to learn them and they become like part of your kids. You know, before your kids can talk, you go off their personalities. You know, when they're sad or happy or upset, even if they're not speaking to you. And that's the same way the birds are. I can tell when one's getting sick. I can tell when they want something different.

23:51
It's just, I enjoy being outside and learning the different personalities and characteristics of all of the birds on this farm. Okay. What's your least favorite thing about having chickens? Oh man. They can, we had one this morning, escaped from the coop and I'm not even sure how she did it and she was just wandering around staring at everything. Like they are so mischievous when they want to be. And then the coop clean out. Nobody enjoys that.

24:16
Nope. I've tried coming up with like a hundred different ways to make it easier. Right now we're using, you know, the cheap, pelletized horse bedding, which has been great. I like it a lot better than I like straw because straw holds too much moisture. Yeah. But I mean, it is it's awful. And then I'm out there with like a pooper scooper, just scoping it out, trying to clean it. It is not fun. Nobody enjoys coop clean out and nobody enjoys the prices and the upkeep of show birds.

24:41
It is astounding to me how beautiful birds are and how disgusting they are at the same time. It's like kids. Or your husband. Or my husband. Or any husband, yes. Yes. Yup. So, we have like five minutes left and I want to hear your take on if people want to start keeping any kind of chicken, you know, whether it's for meat or for eggs or for showing, what would you suggest to them?

25:09
I'm always going to be pro getting your chickens and seeing if you like it. And if you don't come dump them at my house, because I will, but do extensive research like before we even went, I mean, I just, you know, I showed when I was a kid, but before I even went into it again, as an adult, I had researched everything about the breed I wanted, what I needed to buy for feed, what I needed for supplies. And I mean, no matter how much you research, something is still going to come up and you're going to be like, dang, I don't know what I'm going to do. And that's when, you know, the

25:38
chicken groups on Facebook are really good, reaching out to people that you know who have chickens are really good. Like the breeder that I bought my first silky's off of, she probably hears from me once a week and I've been doing this for a while and there's still stuff that comes up and I'm like man I don't know what to do about this. And I'll message her and she's great about telling me what I need to do, how I need to fix it. So just make sure you have...

26:00
those people that you can reach out to if something happens and start small so you know what to expect before you go into something like me and you've got chickens everywhere. Uh huh. Yeah. I'm going to jump in and say that I would recommend getting like three or four to start with because don't get one. They will die of loneliness. Yes. And chicken math is a real thing. So you will end up with four.

26:24
and your friend down the road will drop off too. And then you'll need another friend for those two, so you'll end up with six. And then you'll go to the feed store and they're running a sale. And then you'll come home with 15 and it just never ends. Uh-huh. What I would say is when you get your first three or four, don't tell anybody until you've decided whether you enjoy it or not. Yes. And then the other thing that I would share and you can jump in whenever you would like is that there are things that happen with chickens. Chickens are flying birds. They actually fly.

26:54
And they will fly out of the chicken run. So what you can do is you can take one of their wings, extend it out from their body and clip off like an inch of their flying feathers. Don't do any more than that because you can actually hurt them. Yes. And they can't fly if they're unbalanced. Unbalanced birds don't fly. And like you said, misconception. Do not clip both of their feathers. If you cut both sides, they will still fly.

27:24
You have to just do one side. If you clip both, they're still gonna fly. And we've got all of our coupes have covered tops for that reason. Uh huh. Yeah, ours didn't. So they were escaping. My son would go out and grab one and bring it up. And I'd sit down with him and he'd hold the wing out and I'd clip the edge ends of the feathers. Because I was like, no. Like I said, you know, all of my coupes are covered. But I had one find a little hole in the chest. I've got one coupe that is covered in nothing but hardware cloth, which I...

27:52
Absolutely loved but it is so expensive I have the other Coupes covered in chicken wire and that one bird this morning decided she was gonna find the one hole in that Coupe, I'm not even sure how she got out of it and flew right out of it Yep, I believe it. They're they're escape artists. They're they're as bad as goats sometimes

28:12
The other thing is that chickens can get something called bumblefoot and it's basically a staph infection on the bottom of their foot. It is, and it is disgusting and you get to play surgeon and you get to pick it out and it is gross and it's like for people who watch all those pimple popping videos on Facebook that would be perfect for you. I do not like that. Thankfully and luckily I have not had any with bumblefoot and I hope I never do because that grosses me out and I will probably make my husband do it.

28:42
Yeah, I can't. Nope, I'm not. Nope. That's a big nope. I'm not doing that. But anyway, you've got pasty butts in the chicks too. I can handle that. Yeah, that's I mean, if you've changed a diaper, you can deal with pasty butt. But the bumble foot and the digging it out. Yeah. And the thing that we noticed when a couple of ours had it is that they start walking funny or they they hop because they don't want to put pressure on it because it's like having a blister on the bottom of your foot. Yes, it is.

29:11
So there are things you need to look out for, but if you're looking to get into livestock, chickens are the gateway drug to everything else. They're the easiest, most efficient way to start on livestock, I think. Yes, I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Yes. They used to be the least expensive, but uh...

29:34
I don't think that's true anymore. Especially when you start because, you know, chicken math is real. Once you start adding up those numbers, you're like, oh, the eggs will pay for it. The eggs won't pay for it. It's just an ever-ending cycle of dumping money into your hobbies. And that's what I do. I like my show birds and, you know, I'm doing all this work and spending all this money to win a ribbon. You know? Well, I think the satisfaction will be will be worth it. Absolutely. The bragging rights would be nice as well. Yeah. And I mean, everybody has their hobbies. Yes. And

30:04
Lots of people dump tons of money into them and don't see any actual monetary returns. Yes, just ask my husband about all of his vehicles. Yeah, exactly. And just ask me, I'm doing a podcast and have made like a hundred dollars so far in a year and a half.

30:19
But it's not about the money, it's about talking to you guys and learning and having a platform so other people can learn about what it takes to do these things. Exactly. So that's another thing. If you decide to get into chickens, do not get into it because you think you're going to make money within the first couple years because it's not going to happen. No, and it may never happen. And again, I hate to end the episode on a bummer, so let's not stick with that last statement. Chickens can be really, really fun.

30:48
They are highly entertaining to watch they're crazy and the eggs are really good. The eggs are yummy they are and they make amazing cakes and cookies and and German pancakes we call it Dutch. What is it a Dutch baby pancake? Oh, I'm not sure. I've never heard of this. It's cross between a crepe and a pancake and it's this really thin batter like a crepe and You pour it into a buttered heated a Dutch oven frying pan

31:17
Mm-hmm. Not Dutch oven cast iron frying pan and it basically like blows up like a funnel cake It gets really light and fluffy. They are amazing and it's like eating a crepe only it's huge I have the fact that you know the the eggs that you have will last a lot longer than the eggs you have in the store Yes. Yes, they will and most people freak out when they see my egg cartons on my table Well, I do not refrigerate my eggs

31:46
Yeah, not right now because I don't have any eggs, but all the time we've had chickens here People are like why you have eggs on your counter and I'm like because they have something called a bloom Yes, that is the code on the outside the egg outside of the egg from the chicken Yeah, and it basically protects it from bacteria getting in there So they last longer the minute I put them in the fridge. I have to leave them in the fridge Yes And as long as you do not mess with that cuticle or bloom you can leave those eggs on your counter for almost two months

32:16
Yeah, absolutely. Or you can water glass them and store them for six months to a year. Yes, and we're not going to get into how water glassing happens because we don't have enough time. But if you're interested, you can Google it because it's all over the internet. Yes. The other thing is if you have a bad egg, you will know because bad eggs stink. 100%, yes. Yeah.

32:39
We had a scent in the kitchen we could not place for about two weeks and it wasn't that the eggs had been sitting too long It was just a bad egg Yes, and sometimes happens. Uh-huh And I finally walked over by where the eggs were stacked and I was like well I now know where the icky smell is coming from. Let's figure out which carton it's in. Yeah, and Luckily, we didn't break the egg. So it went out to the trash and it was fine once you break it You're not getting that smell out for a hot minute

33:08
If it's really, really bad, it's not gonna go away for a couple of days. No.

33:14
Yes, so there are again, there are some things about chickens that are gross. That's one of them. But there's a lot of fun things about chickens, too. Thank you. The fun things outweigh the gross things. Yeah, absolutely. Kristin, thank you for taking the time to teach me more about chickens, because I am by no means an expert and I love learning new things. Thank you for having me. All right. Thanks. Have a great day, Kristin. You too. Bye.