Choosing the Right Poultry Breeds for Self-Sufficiency: Heritage vs. Cornish, Ducks, Quail & More
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
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Jennifer: 0:26
Hey, poultry nerds. So we're just gonna jibber jabber today about why we've chosen the breeds and species that we have and how they fit into our self-sufficient lifestyle. And two different perspectives because I have some land and Carey does all of his stuff on a smaller piece of land, which I would, I would be guessing to say that that's probably the more norm people on smaller pieces of land wanna get started with farming. When she's saying, I mean, it,
Carey: 1:00
it is, it's like good enough to get you hooked. You know? It's kind of like going to the store 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 on half acre, acre, whatever. And you know, for, I started on property in a year. You'll be looking for property in a year or two.
Jennifer: 1:20
Yeah. I started on two acres and it worked for I think two years, maybe not quite two years. And then, I mean,
Carey: 1:29
you can do it.
Jennifer: 1:31
We had to upgrade. We just upgraded a little. So. So I just started,'cause I just wanted eggs. There was no concept of self-sufficiency or meat or I just wanted orpingtons and I wanted all the colors of the orpingtons and I just wanted to sit and the butterflies and the daisies and, and feed them treats and have them in my lap and stuff. And yeah. Yeah, I don't do that. I did for a minute.
Carey: 2:05
Couldn't imagine.
Jennifer: 2:07
But I don't do that anymore. I used to have an orpington. Her name was hoppy'cause something was wrong with her leg. Okay. And I would get Minow out of the pond to feed her in the morning before I let everybody else out. Nice. So now you know I'm a big softie. So I wouldn't do that now. I would say, oh, you, you're hopping, oh, you're going in the pot. It's a whole totally different perspective now.
Carey: 2:34
Yeah. You're like, oh, you're hopping. Okay, let me, uh, let me change your diet.
Jennifer: 2:43
So the Orpingtons, we still eat the Orpingtons. I mean now that we're, so, let me backtrack just a little bit. So we bought the more land and we kept the Orpingtons, but then I went up to the standard bread versus the hatchery.'cause they're much bigger and you have to grow out a bunch of them to see which ones you wanna keep. And then you're gonna have that problem 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 wanna keep like 60 or 70 through the winter. So what are you gonna do with the rest of those Orpingtons?
Carey: 3:21
Dinner?
Jennifer: 3:22
Dinner? It comes down to dinner. Mm-hmm.
Carey: 3:25
You know, and a lot of people think, oh, you can't cook'em when they're that old. Lemme tell you something.
Jennifer: 3:30
Mm-hmm.
Carey: 3:31
An Instapot is a homestead's best friend.
Jennifer: 3:35
It is
Carey: 3:37
because you could take a 2-year-old rooster, 20 minutes in Instant pot, and he is just as fresh as it can be.
Jennifer: 3:46
You, you're getting me sidetracked, but you know what? The vest dinner and when it's cold outside in instant pot, take you some big baked potatoes and put in the bottom, okay? And then put you a chicken on top of them. Put it in the Instant pot for, I don't know, 40 minute timer and then go finish all your evening chores. Okay. And you have a bacon stuffed bake, a chicken stuffed baking potato when you come in ready for you.
Carey: 4:14
I like it.
Jennifer: 4:15
It's great.
Carey: 4:17
It, yeah, I can go for that.
Jennifer: 4:19
Yes. And then probably have some chicken left over for lunch tomorrow. But the Orpingtons, they make fantastic broth. They really do because they're, they're older and they're, they have a, you know, they've been out on pasture. Their bones are developed. So that bone broth is just out of this world for a developed bird. Not like,
Carey: 4:44
I mean, yeah, it, it, it's probably richer, especially than the crappy you buy at the store.
Jennifer: 4:49
That's like water. Yeah. This like, that's like chicken flavored water. Yeah, so the Orpingtons are great. They taste good, they taste like chicken. Um, that's important. Yeah. But your feed conversion is not going to be great on them because you gotta grow'em out a whole lot longer, which means you gotta feed'em longer, which means they're expensive per pound.
Carey: 5:16
Well, yeah, but the whole aspect behind this is self-sufficiency. On the homestead. I mean, anybody can order, order some Cornish and have'em shipped in.
Jennifer: 5:28
So Cornish have their place. They do. They always tell people that the difference between Cornish and like Orpington or any heritage bird and you know your reds is gonna be like, dear venison to beef, beef is gonna be a much milder flavor than venison. They both have their place, but you have to be prepared for the flavor difference. So the organ thing, I
Carey: 5:56
could, yeah, I could definitely see where that would be important because, well, even the, the beef that you go to the store and buy. That's not gonna be the beef roaming out in the pasture.
Jennifer: 6:10
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 in like may you better like onion, because that beef is gonna have a really strong onion flavor.
Carey: 6:30
Oh yeah. If you got, especially if you got'em in your pasture. Because they're gonna tear'em up.
Jennifer: 6:36
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we like to send ours late in the summer. So in Tennessee it's usually stops raining sometime in July and won't start up again till late October, November. So kind of really dry weather. And how's that working
Carey: 6:53
out for you this year?
Jennifer: 6:55
Well, David's mowing for like the 87th time this year. Yeah. But so far, so good this year. But in general, we are typically in a drought right now, so I would, I would send our, like our steer went in in the middle of July because we were prepping for a drought and we ended up having to feed hay last year for, gosh, I think nine months. Um, because of the drought and, and hay can get expensive. Yeah. So we tried to be preemptive this year, send them in early and it's still raining. So, you know, you just, being a farmer is a lot of guesswork sometimes, you know, that
Carey: 7:40
is definitely the truth.
Jennifer: 7:42
You know, those processing dates on the beef, we have to set those up almost a year in advance here.
Carey: 7:49
Yeah.'cause y'all don't have a whole lot and I mean the, the people that we use, they, we kind of get 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, period. Mm-hmm.
Jennifer: 8:13
None of them are during
Carey: 8:14
hunting. Hunting season is his bread and butter processing deer. And then after that, he'll go back. So, because if you need, if I need some cows ran during deer season, you know, it, it does cost a little extra because it takes'em about two days to do the deep clean, required to clean everything out. But they, they would do it for us.
Jennifer: 8:40
Mm-hmm.
Carey: 8:41
But it's not, you know, that's not something you can just do anytime.
Jennifer: 8:45
So if you were, if you on your little plot of land or me go back 10 years on my little plot of land and was just starting out and what, what chicken would you suggest that somebody who just wanted to dip their toes into self-sufficiency, which chicken would you tell'em to get?
Carey: 9:05
Somebody that was willing to dip their toes in self-sufficiency, I'd tell'em to go to Tractor Supply and buy. Whatever the 2 99 3 99 chicks are now, that's not gonna give you your biggest bang for your buck, that you know none of that, but it's gonna be a, an inexpensive way to dip your feet that's gonna let you know if you can, or have the ability to brood those birds and get'em to adulthood or maturity and. If you have the internal fortitude to do the deed and process'em, because that's So that
Jennifer: 9:47
would be more of a heritage bird.
Carey: 9:50
Yeah, definitely a heritage.'cause you know they're gonna have like Rhode Island, reds, black copper, morans, whatever it's gonna be. It's gonna be hatchery stock. It's not gonna be from a breeder. That's why I said you're not gonna get the best thing out there, but I mean, you're starting out 2 99, you know, that's different ballgame.
Jennifer: 10:11
See, I would suggest them get the Cornish, which can't they buy the Cornish at the box store.
Carey: 10:17
A lot of times they do have'em cheap like that.
Jennifer: 10:20
Yeah. Cornish will get you in and out quick and then you can kind of relax and go, Hmm, maybe I don't wanna do this. You know? Yeah. Or, Ooh, that wasn't so bad and I wanna do it again
Carey: 10:32
to get the quickest answer to your question. Get some Cornish, feed'em right. In six, seven weeks, depending on which set of genetics you get, eight at the most, you'll have your answer.
Jennifer: 10:45
Yeah. So you just gotta keep'em alive, feed'em right, and then process'em and eat'em. Now Cornish, if you don't already know, Cornish are like what you would get at the grocery store. Yeah. Um, when you buy packaged chicken or you go to Chick-fil-A, that's what you're eating is a Cornish. Um, but when you, that's so
Carey: 11:04
sad. Like you really just said it about Chick-fil-A, like it was nothing.
Jennifer: 11:08
I had Chick-fil-A today. That's, it's good. That's, that's God's
Carey: 11:10
chicken.
Jennifer: 11:12
But if you feed them at home, especially if you have them outside and the sun shining on the grass, eating bugs occasionally.'cause they don't move a lot. Um, they are gonna have a little bit different flavor profile. Yeah. So you don't wanna feed them onions and, um, I don't know, like loud, you don't wanna feed them a lot of loud stuff, a lot of herbs or, I don't even know. Just give them benign stuff, you know, like meat crumbles, some corn. But they're still gonna have a stronger flavor than what you're gonna get at Walmart.
Carey: 11:51
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 a long time, but. It kind of starts with that starter feed, the whole marinating process because you know when you eat a heritage bird or a bird that you fed real food to that you know what it is, and they've had the opportunity to hit grass and eat bugs like they have a rich flavor profile. Mm-hmm. You know, the first time I'd never 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 could taste the grain like it had, there was no p it didn't even salt and pepper. It
Jennifer: 13:02
wasn't that one of my turkeys.
Carey: 13:04
It was,
Jennifer: 13:05
it wasn't a bronzes, a red,
Carey: 13:07
oh. Oh yeah, the bourbon red.
Jennifer: 13:11
Yep. So that was the first time you'd eaten a heritage Turkey.
Carey: 13:15
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer: 13:16
Uh, will you ever go back?
Carey: 13:18
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer: 13:19
No. There's no, like I,
Carey: 13:20
I'd done the, um, broad rested blacks.
Jennifer: 13:23
Mm-hmm.
Carey: 13:24
Uh, I'd done those and, you know, that's very, the broad breasted, you get in trouble saying that too many times, but either the white ones or the black ones is what you get at the grocery store. And so for a couple years I'd done those. And they do taste different than what you get at the store.'cause you don't really have to marinade them in anything. 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: 13:57
more like beef. It's,
Carey: 13:59
yes. And like everybody liked it. So I will say this though, when you're. Cleaning everything up before you cook it. Make sure you get the gizzard out.
Jennifer: 14:14
The crop. The
Carey: 14:15
crop. Yeah. That, that crop and gizzard. Uh,
Jennifer: 14:19
some people eat gizzards.
Carey: 14:21
Yeah, well they can have them. Uh, mine's crop wasn't empty and it accidentally got cooked and my wife gave me the God awfully look.
Jennifer: 14:32
Yeah. When
Carey: 14:33
she said, what is this?
Jennifer: 14:34
Yeah, it's still edible.
Carey: 14:36
I was like. Nothing.
Jennifer: 14:37
It's fine. Just,
Carey: 14:38
just a little extra grain. Yeah. Lemme get that.
Jennifer: 14:40
So, side of corn,
Carey: 14:42
but, you know, try the Cornish and, because that's gonna answer your question the fastest. 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 American breast. Mm-hmm. They, they are the Wagyu of the chicken world. I mean, you finish them things out just like what people say or even close. It's, that's some really good chicken.
Jennifer: 15:16
Yeah, it's so good. Um, we switched over, I guess, right at what, a year ago now? Um, I sold my coachings early this year to make room for the breasts. That's how much I have decided to invest in them. So,
Carey: 15:32
and that's a lot because you, you've had a really good line of coachings that you won a lot of trophies with.
Jennifer: 15:40
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 still comfortable with my decision. I really liked them. I really enjoyed that ride with them, but. The, I'm really excited about the breasts. I mean, just so excited. Actually, I'm gonna downsize the Orpingtons just a little bit next year to make more room for the breasts. Yeah, don't look at me like that.
Carey: 16:12
I mean, big Mac's not in trouble, is he? Is he? Is he at risk?
Jennifer: 16:17
Big Mac was a coach and he's gone. No, I'm just not going to hatch. You know, the, the 40 plus a zero next year with the Orpingtons.
Carey: 16:31
Y'all, y'all gonna have to stay tuned. We'll see how far that lasts.
Jennifer: 16:34
Yeah, we'll, we'll see,
Carey: 16:36
because I, I heard that about the ducks, but you got a lot of those,
Jennifer: 16:39
the ducks are super useful though, and they don't eat a lot.
Carey: 16:43
So that, that flips us to another thing about doing this on the homestead mm-hmm. Is. You know, animals, you've got several different animals and everybody serves a purpose. Mm-hmm. On your farm. So ducks. Why do you have ducks?
Jennifer: 17:01
So we have a pond, um, or we are working on a pond. Um, it is no longer dry as of this year. We've, we've maintained water right at a year now, and the ducks,
Carey: 17:13
thanks, thanks to the pigs.
Jennifer: 17:15
Yeah. Yeah. See another purposeful animal. Um, the duck's purpose is the property that we live on was an old dairy farm. Like this whole area as far as you could see, was a dairy farm. And it was just, it's like the flies were in the ground or something. So when we first moved here, the flies were just horrible. Like you couldn't go outside. It was horrible. Um, you couldn't, if you opened a door, 50 came in. It was, it was almost embarrassing, but there was nothing you could do. And so. Um, the ducks. We started noticing about two years ago that the flies were starting to really dissipate and we started working on the pond, and mosquitoes were really bad because there's a low spot in the property over there. And, um, so I started letting the ducks out. Didn't sell any. And we had about 75 running the property last year and we noticed that the mosquitoes really weren't that bad. And you know, we've got the two mount poop mowers over there from all the quail waste. Mm-hmm. So that's like. Should be fly heaven, right?
Carey: 18:30
Definitely. A breeding ground for
Jennifer: 18:32
that is like the golden buffet for the ducks. I mean, they just tear it up all the time. If you can't find them, you go look 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 would have a hundred thousand flies, because it's just a big pile of quail poop. And, and look,
Carey: 18:57
guys, just to put it into perspective, her, her quail poop, like if you're. A five foot tall person, you would look eye to eye with the top of one of mount put Marsh.
Jennifer: 19:13
Well, David needs to scoop it up a little bit, so it might be even taller than that now. Um, but the, we were over there this 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 Coast Guard on its way over. And, and I'm sure they fixed it right up, but they tear that stuff up, keep it clean, keep it. That's their job to keep the mosquitoes. So they're filter feeders and they, they eat the mosquito larvae out of the pond and they eat the maggots and. Um, you know, we see'em, they go all over the property. We've seen'em all the way at the front fence. They come up to the house, they go under the decks. They, um, they don't go near David's shop. I'm not a hundred percent why they don't go over there. Um, but he's, I'm sure he's happy about that. So the ducks, we have about 80 ducks this year running the property. And I mean, I can go outside and sit and you won't get a mosquito on you. I mean, you've been here, I don't know how many times, have you ever got a mosquito on you?
Carey: 20:24
I, I thought your place was about the only place in the South that did not have mosquitoes.
Jennifer: 20:29
Mm-hmm.
Carey: 20:30
I'm not sure that I have ever. I seen one there.
Jennifer: 20:35
Mm-hmm. We don't have'em. Um, so that's, that's the purpose of the ducks. We don't eat the ducks, honestly. Um, not that I don't like it, I do like to eat duck, but I hate cleaning them. They're just a pain to clean. And so I usually do some trading with a guy down the road. And, um, he'll take my extra Drakes and stuff if, if we have a problem, if we're So that works out heavy. That works. Yeah. If we're so Drake heavy that they fight, then we'll do some trading. But if everybody's getting along, which I'm pretty hand heavy this year, um, should not have a problem actually. So that's what the duck purposes is. So you wanna talk about the quail?
Carey: 21:53
Yeah. Why did you go down that rabbit hole? What, what was the idea? Did you get into quails so you could have some eggs?
Jennifer: 22:02
No.
Carey: 22:04
Well, what was it? What is their purpose?
Jennifer: 22:08
They, the quail, they just happened. Like I woke up one day and like the barn was quail. There's like no. There's no beginning and end to that. They just, they just explode and they reproduce, and then all of a sudden you have thousands of quail. So when we first moved out here at a big, big, big mealworm farm and in the move we moved in June and in the move the heat killed off the Mealworm farm and a guy down the road, he goes, he stopped to introduce himself and he said, well, would you incubate these for me? And I didn't. Okay. And they were quail and now I have quail. And that's how quail and so. Um, I just really liked'em and they're super easy because you can keep'em inside. They can go vertical, they're in a smaller space. You don't have to have a large amount of property to have quail. They're very versatile in how you can house them. Um, I mean, I keep mine in a insulated barn, you know, it's easier for me that way. But if you were on a, like you keep yours in a hutch outside, so there's not a lot of cleanup. Right.
Carey: 23:31
So I have outside hutch that is like, I think both of'em together is right at 20 feet long. And it's got a couple different sections. It, it is really nice because I don't have a whole lot of issues. Every couple of weeks I will heavily spread lime or fly side, like I alternate the two and I don't have any issues with flies there. And the ones that I have down in my breeder barn, I don't have issues there either. I don't know if it's the, like I feed a custom formula, so I don't really have any additives or fillers in there. And I think one of the things you noted in your feed study that you did a few years ago is brands that used a lot of those poop smelled really bad, which drew a lot of flies.
Jennifer: 24:35
Flies are drawn to the moisture. And if you can keep your stuff dry, then you will dissipate your flies. So if you have or if, if you are having wet manure issues in your poop trays for your quail, would highly suggest buying some Ag lime barn lime. Just make sure it's the cheap one. It's like four or$5 for 50 pounds at your supply store. Might even be able to buy it at Lowe's. The one that's like 16 to$20 that's, um, hydrated lime. You do not want that one. You want the cheap stuff.
Carey: 25:16
Yep. You want the cheap stuff. Um, the. The one I get from tractor supplies like, like you said, four or$5. It's a brown bag, got blue writing on it.
Jennifer: 25:30
Mm-hmm.
Carey: 25:31
And mine says
Jennifer: 25:31
slip resistant. It's like little pellets.
Carey: 25:33
Yep. Yeah. Mine's like little pellets or little. Curly beads or something. I don't know what they're, yeah,
Jennifer: 25:40
it's, they're very tiny. Just, I don't know. It's not like a flour, like cake flour 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 buttons played in their water and filled up their poop tray and the, there was just no way around it. You move that cage and water came out, there was no way around that situation, so it got all over the concrete. Now, one you might consider just hosing 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 just keep our lime in. It's a little garden, um, wheelbarrow, I don't know if wheelbarrows the right word. It's like a little cart with two wheels on it. Mm-hmm. And it might be as big as like 18 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 a scooper. And I just wheeled that over there. And just dumped lime in the puddle and it soaks it right up. Maybe 20 minutes, it's dry and then you just sweep it up. And actually I swept it and put it 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. I was gonna say,
Carey: 27:11
you can use it like that.
Jennifer: 27:13
Mm-hmm.
Carey: 27:14
Nothing wrong with that.
Jennifer: 27:15
No, I mean, I use so much lime. We probably go through 50 to a hundred pounds a month. I use it in all the coops. I use it all over the barn in empty stalls. It's the most you. You have to have it if you're going to have animals because it dries everything, and that's really what is the first step in keeping the flies away.
Carey: 27:40
Because I mean, I go through a hundred pounds a month easy.
Jennifer: 27:43
Yeah, you can. So
Carey: 27:44
you probably go through more.
Jennifer: 27:46
Yeah, I really would suggest getting the slip, the antis, I think it's called anti-slip. Um, yeah, it's,
Carey: 27:52
it's on there. Barn line, anti-slip, some, some, some something.
Jennifer: 27:56
Because if you have, like, I have a big, what is it, five foot fan sitting in the floor and or you use your blower to like try to blow out some of the dust and stuff outta your barn. Th That stuff is so heavy it won't blow, so it won't Right. Get up in the bird's faces. If you use the one that's not pelletized, it's kind of like bread flour, cake, flour, consistency. Mm-hmm. It will actually lift with the blower or the fan, and it will get up in their faces and it can cause 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. Somebody pointed out to me the other day. It's a very slight difference, but what it all it is is limestone. Crushed limestone.
Carey: 28:46
Yep. Yeah. Finally crushed limestone. But it works.
Jennifer: 28:50
Yeah. I mean, it's completely harmless to anybody. Um, you, I mean, you don't wanna breathe it, so that's why I like the pelletized stuff, but as far as like stepping on it. Whatever it, it won't burn or anything. That hydrated lime, the more expensive one. Was it like$20 for 50 pounds or something? Yeah, no, that'll cause burns, acid burns. Yeah.
Carey: 29:11
It's uh, high magnesium is usually what it is. I think they use
Jennifer: 29:17
concrete or something, don't they?
Carey: 29:19
Yeah. You're, what you're looking for is calcium, lime, high cow, lime, bar and lime. Mm-hmm. You know, the main difference is when it gets wet or moist. The magnesium based lime gets hot, has a chemical reaction.
Jennifer: 29:35
Mm-hmm. The
Carey: 29:36
limestone lime
Jennifer: 29:38
is limestone,
Carey: 29:39
gets less dusty and absorbs the moisture.
Jennifer: 29:43
Right. And you can go more expensive and get the fancy lime with a little bit of citric acid that comes in that black bag. You have to order online now. That's really, oh, you can get
Carey: 29:53
on the auto ship.
Jennifer: 29:55
I've never even had any, but that's the cheap lime plus a little squeeze of lemon or something and sold really. And a lot
Carey: 30:03
of shipping
Jennifer: 30:04
and yeah, it's expensive. So we try to tell you, um, how to do this without having to spend a bunch of money on silly things. Um, so ag lime, barn, lime, that's what you wanna use. So quail are good for meat and eggs. In a small confined. Yeah, we got sidetracked, didn't we?
Carey: 30:27
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 meat and eggs and he got him a garden shed and a couple of cages and put some quail in it. And now he is getting meat and the eggs. You know, he's enjoying life. He's raising his own stuff. And, and it's, it's so good for him that he's even getting haters on TikTok.
Jennifer: 31:05
So it's funny you mentioned him. He was actually just texting me while we were talking about lime, um, the homesteading bug bit him hard. Mm-hmm. Because he texted me last week and he's like, I'm making basil, salt. And I was like, okay, that sounds great. I had to Google what? Basil salt.
Carey: 31:27
I've never heard of it.
Jennifer: 31:29
You take basil and you crunch it up and you mix it with salt and then you have to dry it in the oven. And I thought when I watched the YouTube, I was like, Hmm, why don't you just salt your food? Sparkle some basil on it,
Carey: 31:41
but well, you know, so I use this, the stuff, I use, the salt, pepper, and garlic. So you know, maybe it's the same concept as mincing up real fine. Your garlic. Putting some salt in it and some pepper and stick it in the oven,
Jennifer: 31:57
like garlic salt.
Carey: 31:59
I mean, you know, maybe he likes basil.
Jennifer: 32:02
I get it. Well, but that was my point. So now he has like a pot with a tomato in it and he has a pot with basil and stuff in it, and so he can grow
Carey: 32:10
his own.
Jennifer: 32:11
So David calls him the concrete hillbilly and so, okay, but let me
Carey: 32:15
ask you this.
Jennifer: 32:16
Yeah. Does
Carey: 32:17
he have an Instapot yet?
Jennifer: 32:20
I don't know. Did you know that he was a grill master?
Carey: 32:24
I did know that. Now I don't know how he's gonna raise his own cow in, in that, in his concrete jungle backyard. Yeah. But we probably should not talk about that a whole lot because he will try it.
Jennifer: 32:40
Yeah, he probably would. But it's so much fun, the people that we meet doing this and then seeing how they apply it in their spaces and just, just taking, you know, 5% of something and then turning it into what works for them, because we can tell you how to do something. But really that's just kind of how to get started, give you enough information to get started. You have to figure out how it works in your lifestyle with your space. We, we can't Oh, yeah. Do that part for you.
Carey: 33:18
No.
Jennifer: 33:20
So, because, I
Carey: 33:20
mean, that's the way, the way I do stuff, like I'm, I'm telling you what I'm telling you. 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 do it. Right. This is the one way that worked really well for me. Mm-hmm. So learn, learn from our mistakes and might save you some money.'cause the, the lessons in life that you never forget, or either very painful or very expensive.
Jennifer: 33:53
You know what David does? He calls it the Bryant backwards. We try something and then we back up and go a different direction. Hey, whatever works, works. You know? If you don't try and you don't fail, then you didn't learn anything.
Carey: 34:06
Well, that's all part of homesteading.
Jennifer: 34:09
Yeah. We're forever. Just so, so you
Carey: 34:11
can try it, figure it out and do it your way.
Jennifer: 34:15
Yes. We just want you to have the confidence to try. That's it.
Carey: 34:22
Yep.
Jennifer: 34:23
That's what we had.
Carey: 34:24
So whether it's Orpingtons, coaching coachings, quail breasts, Rhode Island, reds, bourbon, red turkeys, whatever you do, start somewhere. Figure it out. And if you need help Jennifer at, or carry@poultrynerdspodcast.com.
Jennifer: 34:47
Yep. So I do wanna add one more thing. People ask me this a ton about my ducks. It's, I don't know, I guess I just don't think about it, but they ask me, why don't they just fly away? My ducks can't fly.
Carey: 35:01
Well, so I tell people a little different story. I say, well, my chickens are like kids. You take good care of'em and feed'em. Right. And they never can't get'em out.
Jennifer: 35:17
Well, if you let my, if you open the door for my turkeys, man, they'd be gone in a heartbeat. Turkeys like to wander.
Carey: 35:25
That is true. They're, they're natural, natural forages, which they are. You know, that's what you want in a heritage bird, so
Jennifer: 35:34
Yeah. Can't turn
Carey: 35:35
them out.
Jennifer: 35:36
But the, the ducks can't fly, so they just walk around everywhere. They're the walking Coast Guard.
Carey: 35:42
I have, I have Rambo. Um, he got out about two years ago now, and he, he don't leave.
Jennifer: 35:51
What is he? I haven't
Carey: 35:52
tried to catch him. It's a Rhode Island red that has these really jacked up toes that I would never in my life breed. Mm-hmm. He got out and like I've had tons of predator problems and none of them have ever got him. So I just let him, he's like the mascot, you know? He, he hangs out on Game Foul Road and he'll, he's got a girlfriend there. There's, there's a hen and a pen by herself and he, he nest on top of it at night. They share meals together. And sometimes he poops in her water cup.
Jennifer: 36:35
I have a crooked toe.
Carey: 36:36
I move it around to the other side.
Jennifer: 36:38
We have a hen that's probably, I don't know, 10 or 11 years old and her name is Crooked Toe.
Carey: 36:44
Yeah. Like one of his toes makes a 90 degree angle. Yeah. I'm pretty sure I accidentally closed it in the incubator or in the Hatcher door, but um, I'm not taking the risk. I'm not gonna breed him.
Jennifer: 36:57
Gotcha. Yeah. He, he's living his best life.
Carey: 37:01
That's right.
Jennifer: 37:03
All right, well hopefully this wasn't too like Ramly and something, I don't even know the word.
Carey: 37:11
I mean, we had fun and we hope y'all enjoyed listening to it too.
Jennifer: 37:14
Yep. And if you need us to ramble about anything else, by all means, let us know
Carey: 37:19
and we're on it.
Jennifer: 37:21
All right. Have a great day
Carey: 37:23
next time.