Quail Mania 2 Debrief + Rooster Health: Fertility, Layer Feed Myths, Molt & Aggression

Quail Mania 2 is officially in the books — and the turnout was huge. In this episode of the Poultry Nerds Podcast, we debrief the event results, what improved from last year, and what’s already being planned for Quail Mania 3 (including a Kids Corner and the possibility of expanding to three days).

Event highlights discussed:

• 15 speakers, 16 sponsors, and 1,363 participants
• Over 4,800 live chat messages
• All-Access Pass availability through May 31 (so you can learn through breeding season)

Then we shift into a topic that directly impacts hatch rates and breeder success: rooster (cock bird) health and fertility.

You’ll learn:

• Layer feed vs all-flock feed: what’s best during breeding season
• The truth about calcium and roosters (and why it’s usually a long-term management issue)
• How fat roosters reduce fertility and performance
• Molt management and why weight cycling matters
• Foot health, roost height, and preventing injuries
• Spur management and protecting hens
• Easy ways to check fertility before setting a full batch
• Why aggression shouldn’t be tolerated in a breeding program

If you’re trying to improve fertility, hatchability, and chick quality — this is a must-listen.

Sponsors mentioned: Valley Hatchery (coupon code: QuailMania), Hatching Time, ParcelPath

Join Carey of Show Pro Farm Supply and Jennifer of Bryant's Roost as we delve into chickens and quail (mostly)  to help you enjoy your birds more and worry less. Backyard chicken keeping shouldnt be stressfull, let's get back to the simple days

Valley Hatchery is a proud sponsor of Poultry Nerds, find more at ValleyHatchery.com

Transcript

0:39

Hi and welcome. Hi. Today we are going to do a post Quail Mania two, I guess debrief.'cause it wouldn't, or would it be a follow up? I think debrief would be a good word. I don't know. But we want all of our people that listen on the podcast that didn't get a chance to join to hear about it. So, yep, we've got the final results of how successful it was. I mean, we, I think, I don't think, we didn't break the website. No, but looking, looking at the graph, it definitely got taxed. So we tell us about that. So Quail Mania one was one day and it was, mm-hmm. It was an experience. Quail Mania two was two days. Mm-hmm. We had 15 speakers and videos. 16 sponsors 1,363 participants. And we did a live chat and it moved 4,800 messages, which I'm still perplexed about that, but that's what the thing said. So I'm gonna go with it. But then I found like a little button off to the side that said people could do private chats off to the side. So I'm assuming there was some of that going on maybe. And I didn't realize that, I mean, there was a lot of activity in it. There was, but I don't know that there was that many thousands. Yeah, but you know, but people were like grouping together and having side conversations about stuff. That's good. Right? Yeah. I mean, I didn't see it, so it was fine with me. Hope they learned. I mean, I hope they learned something that was the point. Yeah, so I, I'm excited. I mean, I got it. Quail Mania is going to stay up with the all excess pass through May 31st to kind of get through breeding season, and, and you'll have access to all of that stuff for all of 2026 and. If you missed it, you can always access it that way, but, you know, I think it was okay. We've already got people signing up to be speakers and sponsors for next year, but I need a little bit of a breather'cause we are That's so excited. We're still kind of, we're still wrapping up some stuff. We're still notifying people for the giveaways that we did, so we're kind of working through all of that and, you know, we, we, I need to decompress just a little bit.'cause it, it was a lot. I mean, it took us, it was just a couple days ago. Yeah. Like several months to put that together. Like, like hours every day. Tweaking, making sure stuff worked. I mean, y'all, she's a person that, like, if her husband lost what time his clock said. Then he could like twist it around to nine and push the button for it to start when she went to bed, because she's in bed by nine every day. Yeah. And like I'm getting text messages from her at 10 30, 11 o'clock at night and I'm like, this isn't working. Fix it. Has somebody broken into her house and got her phone? Oh my God. But you know, it was about qua mania stuff, but I mean, she worked really hard on a lot of the stuff, putting it together. It turned out great. And I really do like the format that million time improvement over last year. Mm-hmm. And you know, now thanks to some of your late nights, we've got the template. That, that we can use. So next year that'll help streamline stuff and it looks good. So, I mean, it was awesome. We are going to add a kids corner to Quail Mania three and let kids of all ages participate. I am going to pull those details out of the back of my head soon. I kind of have a working game plan of what I wanna do. But I will be posting all of that information on the website and where to upload those videos. And if you are interested in being a speaker or a sponsor or an organizer to help Jennifer, like keep all this stuff together, then we are going to create a page on the website. To, with all the links of how you could help or participate or whatever it is that, that you wanna do for Qua Mania three, because I, I envision the way it's going right now, that it might go into three days. I will not go past three days. Three days will be the cutoff. So personally, I would like to see in the near Quail Mania future maybe something like in person. No. Well, I know you don't like people and I know you don't do public, and I know you don't like to leave home. No, but like, I don't know. I like, you know, I think it'd be kind of neat. No. Look, y'all, she, she's saying no. No, but if we get enough requests from our listeners, we might be able to get, if, if we can promise her the beach, we might can get Jennifer out of bell Buckle, Tennessee. No. Do you realize that I have not left Bell Buckle, Tennessee since 2019. That's why I'm saying, and I, I know at some point in time in your life you love the beach. So if we do it at the beach mm-hmm. You know that guys, listen. Mm-hmm. That is jennifer@poultrynurse.com or info@poultrynerds.com and, and just tell her, you know, we, we want to shake your hand. Yeah, they have to come to Bell Buckle. So I'm not sure that Main Street is a big enough venue for 1300 people. No, but this is, but hey, we could get that cafe to cater it and we'd have good food. Oh, they like me. I wanna keep it that way. So today. Well first, well, before we go into today, we do have to thank all of our sponsors. One more time. We had Valley Hatchery and Hatching Time and Parcel Path. If y'all aren't familiar with Parcel Path, that is a shipping platform, it's free. Of course. I think everybody knows Hatching time and how great their incubators are. And then Valley Hatchery. Is well, I mean, it's Valley Hatchery. It's a big hatchery and it's a sponsor of the podcast and you can see them@valleyhatchery.com. I was gonna say, they, they make their website simple. It's Valley Hatchery. Yep. And you can use coupon code Quail Mania for 10% off. I do not know at this particular moment how long that coupon code is good for, but try it and see what happens. Yeah. He, he, the person said that. They were just gonna leave it out there. Oh, okay. Is that what he said? Didn't say how long. Nothing. Hopefully it's still working. To me. It is like, I dare you to order some chicks. Or hatch and eggs or anything else that they have. So yeah, so they sell all kinds of breeds, I think. I think I'm seeing almost 200 breeds on their website and last time I looked. But they do have availability for Cornish because I got that email the other day on their availability. But kind of leads us into our topic today of Rooster Health. We're gonna talk about the mail birds and how we can, you know, make them feel a little special instead of just checking on the ladies every day. You know, valley sells Guinea Keats. I, no, we don't need any guines. I feel confident. You want some of those? No. I've had guineas twice. Did you know that? I did. I don't know that I knew. Did you know that? I think David might kill you. Yeah. Or I I think that might be a breaking point. I think you'd rather see an emo than a Guinea Keep. There you go. There's, there's how you get your emo. So the first time we had Guineas was in the house before this one, and they would fly over the fence and then they would run back and forth screaming, trying to figure out how to get back. And you'd have to go over there with a fishing net and get'em and you just fling'em over the fence. Yeah, because they didn't want to touch them. No, you can't touch'em. They have very, very sharp nails. And so I sold them all. Got rid of them. Well actually we ate them and then we got rid of all of those and they don't taste good and I don't recommend it. I was gonna say, do they taste like chicken? No, they taste like greasy, what I imagine possum to taste like. I don't know. But you know what? The kids were younger than like young adults and they were poor. And so I filled up all the crockpots with a bunch of barbecue sauce and they thought it was pulled chicken and they were all happy. So. Nice. I know, right? And so then we, you can use a crockpot to cover up anything. Yeah. Yeah. Enough, enough barbecue sauce works too, but I Guinea, they're, it's greasy meat. It's very, very dark. It's really, it's yeah. And it's greasy. Hmm. So, okay. It, it wa it's not for me, but, and it has a, has a aftertaste. I don't know exactly how to describe it. But then we got, that makes it even worse. We got'em again when we lived here. And this time I got, I had whites and lavenders and chocolates, and they're super cool looking. But we were on, we, I had reduced them because they were being mean to my chickens. And so I kept reducing my, my Guinea flock. Is it a flock? I guess it is a Guinea flock. And I only had, I think, six left. I actually had learned how to sex them and everything, which nobody I think can actually do it a hundred percent, but I had figured it out pretty good. And I had'em in one of the condos on the far side of the barn. Mm-hmm. And we were sitting on the deck and we were actually eating breakfast and they were screaming so loud. That David just looked at me and he said, I'm done. That's all he said. And I was like, okay. So I sold them. They were, they're just so loud, but funny story before we get, actually get into our topic they had been in the, I know, right? They had been in the condo for a while and I realized, you know, I hadn't really cleaned that condo. I need to go in there and I got my pitchfork and I went in there already to clean it and everything and it was clean. So I'm standing there bewildered. I'm like, what is going on? Who's cleaning? I don't dunno. Who's cleaning. We have like little leprechauns or something cleaning behind us. I was gonna say now if that tubes out and stuff that Yeah. Might, might be interesting enough to find out a way to make'em stop screaming. So they were all up on the roost. And of course they were mad because I was looking at'em. And I mean, they, they get mad if the wind blows. I mean, they scream about everything. Mm-hmm. And I'm standing there and I'm looking at'em, and of course one of'em drops a load off of the roost. Right. Guess what happens next? But they all flew down to the ground and fought over who got to eat it. That's why my condo was so. And I was like, yeah, okay, I can see it. I'm done now too. I don't wanna eat that mess. That's crazy. That Mm. Okay. Mm-hmm. So yeah, we, I don't see us getting guineas again. But to be honest with you, I'm gonna tell you the ducks are much better at cleaning up the bugs on the property than the guineas ever. Were really. And, and the ducks, like when I've been by there, I do hear'em quacking. Mm-hmm. And they're, they're laughing at loud as the guineas. But they'll let you know if something comes up. Mm-hmm. They laugh at all your jokes. Mm-hmm. They're always happy they come up to you. I mean, ducks are friendly. Guineas wanna tear your arm off? Most of the scars on my arms are from guineas and turkeys. And the turkeys were be, it was an accident, not the guineas. Yeah. But no, the ducks,'cause they, they can clean all the mosquito larvae out of the pond. I was say they just go, they get the mosquitoes out of the pond and out of the ground. Yeah. And they just go across the entire property. I mean, you've seen'em. They walk all over the place and they're just constantly digging in the dirt, eating everything. If they would just eat ant hills, if we can find the bird that eats the ant hills, we would have gold. Well, I mean, you could get an an eater. No, I don't think so. I've heard grouse eat ants. I need to look into that more. I don't really know anything about grouse. Sure. Get you a Pac Cobra. I don't even know what that is. I don't even think it's real. I think it's like a snipe, but still you can get one. No, I thought snipes aren't real either. Well, I know you don't go hunting'em in the middle of the night with a sack. No, no, I don't really hunt anything in the middle of the night. Okay, so, so let's let's actually talk about our topic. Yeah. So, Brewsters. Roosters, which some people hate that term. I don't know why. Everybody knows what it is. And that's the word you have to use on social media because it doesn't flag anything. But if you wanna do your proper terminology, it would be a cock, bird or cock girl. If we're talking about chickens. Mm-hmm. Turkeys would be Jakes and Toms. Ducks would be Drakes, geese would be gander. See, I always wondered where, what was meant by what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Keep the wife happy. Dude been working at my house for 22, almost years, so yeah, yeah, yeah. So the, the males are, let's just talk about chickens for right now because it's just as easier. But they're usually the prettier ones, right? Kinda like the blue Jays flying around are always prettier than the female Blue Jays. That's the same, and I guess all of. The bird world, right? Mm-hmm. The males are, males are showier. They gotta they got the big comb and waddles and you know, they gotta be big. They make all that noise. I don't know. I've got some girls that can chatter pretty loud, but yes, you're right. So. We tend to look at them as if they were really pretty and just assume they're doing their job, but that isn't necessarily always the case. There's a lot of reasons why a male. Won't be doing his job efficiently or, or well, really at all. And one of the, the big things is their health being fat or their feet hurt. And so if, if he's not doing his job or, and he, he's kind of lethargic, check his feet because I mean, when your feet hurt, you don't really wanna do anything. Right. I mean, much less Go climb, climb around on a bunch of chickens. Yeah, exactly. So you gotta make sure that they, they have good nutrition. I know we harp on that and it seems like on social media we have to harp on that, but if you don't feel well, you are not going to perform well and that translate into the bird world at the same time. So you gotta eat, well obviously they're not going, you know, prance around your yard and cock do to do like they should. They're not gonna give you high AccessAbility rates. You know, so let's, this is gonna be more your avenue here. So we see people talking about they don't feed their birds layer because they have a rooster in their flock. So I do it and I don't have any trouble, but tell us the scientific. Part of that. Okay, so can three and a half percent calcium versus one and a half, and I'm using rough numbers between layer and non layer. Kill a rooster possibly 8, 10, 12 years down the road maybe. But it also depends on your feet. What I mean by that is, so with mine, like if y'all don't know, I make feed. I have a feed company. It is what it is with mine. I use in my breeder layer ration, I have all the vitamins and minerals and stuff where they need to be, but actual calcium. That's in it is 1.5%, but to get the total calcium, like what you looking for on the feed tag to that three point a half that the hens really need, I put crushed oyster shell in the feed and the roosters will pick around it if they don't need it. So that's another benefit to feeding. A coarse mash or something along those lines, as opposed to just a solid pellet, because it don't matter how they get the 3.5% protein in a solid pellet, the rooster can't not eat the protein or not eat the pellet with the calcium. So, you know, I don't really have a choice, but when the calcium. The feed is one thing, and there's oyster shells in there to raise it up to the three and a half to make it where they, the layers need it to support their bone function and their eggshells. You know, you put oyster shells in, but you know, again, we're, we're talking about a very long period. People, there's influencers out there saying that they've had birds die from it, that were like one or two years old. Do you know what a necropsy is? And did you do one? Like what are you basing that off of? And that's probably one in mine. And Jennifer's biggest pet peeves is all the misinformation that there is floating around in all the different chicken groups. That's why we try to educate folks as much as possible for free. Okay, so, so let me ask you this, okay? Is it better to give your flock all flock an oyster shell? Does that give the hen everything that she needs during breeding season? So one of the things that I know is I've seen it. Witnessed it, read about it. In studies. Chickens are very, very intelligent and very, very stupid at the same time, you know, a chicken knows what an oyster shell looks like and what it is and what they get out of it. Just like you know, you'll see people talking about their chickens or quail or whatever, birds eating feathers. And, you know, feed people, people that have studied nutrition, one of the first things they say is, what does the feed tag look like?'cause they wanna see it, because if the methionine level is low, birds know they can eat feathers to get methionine. So they will, but you know, they don't know. A lot of stuff and they're stupid. It makes like chickens do some really dumb stuff, but they do know what in nature they get what vitamins and minerals from, which is why so let's, when people have'em that just like free roam all over the place, they can get away with feeding them corn because they, they get all their vitamins and minerals where they get it. Okay. So if we've got somebody that's keeping them very confined mm-hmm. Like one of those fancy coops that we see in the sand and the swings and all that stuff, would an all flock in a oyster shell be better? Or does it really matter? Because are we trade in the hens health for the rooster's health? Is that, that's basically what I'm asking you. I mean, not necessarily because. Number one, as a breeder, you should always be trying to improve your flock because nobody has the perfect bird. And if you have gotten to that point, why are you listening to our show? We need to be talking to you. Mm-hmm. So with that, you know, when I'm looking at the birds that I grow out, I've got, you know, I've got. My king, my heir, and a my king, my heir and a spare for my roosters, for my breeding pins. And I'm always comparing them to my grow out. And if one of them is not as nice as one in my grow out, you know, I've, I've taken paint pens, all kinds of crap and colored legs. On chickens to, you know, give me mental notes when I'm looking. If I grow out something better than my king, my, he or my spare, somebody's getting upgraded and somebody's getting fired. So, with that in mind, do you really need to keep a bird alive? 10, 12, 15 years? Now, if you're to the point where you have gotten to that point and you're just listening to us for entertainment, then yeah, do it because it it, I mean, it will extend the life too much. Calcium taxes, their kidneys, like too much protein and too much of a lot of other stuff. It attacks their kidneys and their other internal organs and eventually cause'em to have organ failure. So, okay. So for me, what I do, and you can feel free to critique it, but I mean you basically know what I do. So during breeding season right now, because I'm hatching and I want Viggo healthy chick, where are they? I use your. I use your layer, right? Mm-hmm. And so I use a layer feed during breeding season. Now my turkeys get pellets because they don't like the mash, but everybody else gets the mash stuff and then they get layer. During the entire season, but then when they stop, when I stop incubating, or they stop laying and are getting ready for mole or it's too hot or whatever, then I put'em all back on off lock. So nobody stays on the same feed 365 days a year any, well, the quail do, but nobody else does. I mean, the quail is just about lay 365 days. Yeah. Once some things start laying, they don't stop. Right. And so when we're talking about the chickens and stuff, we're not, we don't, do we need to leave'em on layer feed when they're not laying? I don't. Okay. So I mean, a good breeder feed is expensive, so more so than just a regular feed. So if when it's like a million degrees outside and they're not laying. You know, three to or four to five eggs a day. I mean a week. You know, if you, if you are lucky to get one or two because it's a million degrees, then they don't, there's no sense in it. Some people they feed layer feed every day of the year. Mm-hmm. And ultimately at the end of the day, it is your flock your rules. But if they're not laying. Their bodies aren't using the extra, which is one of the reasons why I'm, I'm fond of mine'cause I am kind of partial, but the crushed oyster shells that's in it means if they don't need the extra calcium, they don't eat it. And what I do is in my, I've got a couple of large breeding groups. And in those, when I start seeing a lot of those oyster shells left in the trough and less eggs in the nest box, I'm like, eh. Y'all are getting developer conditioner feed until y'all get back to work. Okay, so you've brought up another point that I wanna ask. So if you feed'em layer, let's just say you leave them on layer through the mulch and through the winter when there's no eggs. Mm-hmm. Are you taxing the hens kidneys with too much calcium? Not as much as you are a rooster.'cause obviously roosters, they don't have the extra shell demand. Because they don't make'em. Mm-hmm. But a hen is born with all she's ever gonna have, and you have to support that. So, you know, does it build up a little extra in the calcium bank? Maybe. But out of all of the research things that I have read, they haven't done any studies on hens. Ha having too much calcium. So I don't really thi think that it's a thing or somebody would've studied it by now. Mm-hmm. Because some of the crap that I've seen studies on, I'm like, why are you studying that? Well, the studies are gonna be where the money is and the money is in layer houses. They're gonna be studying layer feed. Right. Right. So, okay. So. Would, so you obviously do the same thing I do, so, mm-hmm. Breeder feed, layer feed when we're breeding and laying and incubating because the feed impacts the chick health directly. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. If they don't have enough nutrition, they might not even exit the egg during incubation. Okay. So there's that, and then during. Molt and hot. I mean, nobody eats a ton of food when they're super hot, so they don't need those extra calories and stuff right during the mol and the heat. So during that time, it is best to feed them something with a lower energy, but it needs to be really rich in vitamins and all the necessities because they're hot and miserable. So let's say you're outside, you yourself, and it's a hundred degrees or 90 something degrees. At what point do you think, Ooh, let me eat a sandwich? Not often because that's, you're hot, you're miserable, and you know, chickens are the same way. It's like, you know, I've had people with layer flocks say my layers aren't laying, what's changed? Nothing. Send me a picture. They'll have the water like out in the middle of the field and all the chickens are over in the edge of the trees and I'm like, move your water. Well, what's that gotta do with it? They're not drinking enough water. Mm-hmm. And just like people, when you're hot and sweaty and you don't drink enough water, eventually you feel funny. So you definitely ain't gonna lay an egg. True. So move the water in the shade to where it's where they are and it doesn't heat up as hot in the daytime, they'll drink more and they'll start laying. Okay, so during the malt, and I have a reason why, where I have a direction of my question. So during the malt when it's hot mm-hmm. And it's the end of the season. Mm-hmm. They actually drop weight during the molt. Right. If you manage it properly. Okay, so let's just say the chickens are out like mine. Free ranging, they can eat whatever they want to and run 10 miles a day, okay? Mm-hmm. So the course of the year, they're kind of huddled up in the wintertime and they want all their feed like brought to them in bed, right? Mm-hmm. And. Then in spring they start eating all the bugs and the fresh grass and the dirt and the rocks and the butterflies and whatever else they're eating. Right? Yep. And they're laying eggs and hatching babies and everything's good. So we're giving them layer feet. Right. Then summer turns to August, which is just the devil's armpit here in Tennessee. Mm-hmm. And so you. You don't wanna eat and you're hot and you don't wanna lay eggs. And so we need to drop their calorie intake a little bit because first of all, they don't wanna eat, so they're gonna naturally drop some weight anyway, right? Yeah. But, and then they're gonna molt, but then they need to have, so where's that misconception that we gotta put weight on'em for the winter? Because that kind of goes against the natural cycle, right? So. When they molt and you're managing it properly, ideally they will get back to a pull it weight or copper weight because they been packing it on all spring. They've been packing it on ever since they got their feathers back and they, you know, like you got your beats by back and you're looking good and you kinda. That donut don't look like it's so bad anymore. Winter weight. Winter weight happens. Same with chickens. But when a rooster is fat or overweight, and the best way to get that is to get you a copy of the standard. See what they say, the darn thing's supposed to weigh.'cause that's what it should weigh. Mm-hmm. And if your bird's fat. It's not, you know, your hatching and fertility sucks. Well, it's probably because a bird's too fat and he can't do his job. That's why a proper molt that's managed helps because it, it lets them get their weight back down to where it should be and you support'em through it because they're miserable and then they come back and they look more beautiful and stuff. Vi the colors are more vibrant. So it, it is a good thing, it, it a properly managed mold where they do lose that weight, helps with fertility, it helps with their overall health because, you know, fat chickens waddling around will fall over instead of, even, even if you just have yard candy to make your yard look good. You still want good looking birds, not a bird, just. Watling like a duck if you want that. Get some ducks. Well, so you picked up where I was going. So a fat rooster doesn't want to mate any more than one that has bad feet. Right? And when, when they do want to mate the extra fat on their body prevents things from working. And reaching where it needs to reach to do what it needs to do. For the hen to lay a fertilized egg. I'll dance around that'cause we're a family friendly show, as easy as I can, but. That's how it happens. Well, and a fat, he is going to cause issues on that too. Mm-hmm. So we, we've gotta have good condition for everything to kind of work together. Yeah. Okay. So we've talked about nutrition, we've talked about feet, which feet is a big thing. We need to keep'em dry. We need to keep'em. Healthy. We don't wanna, one thing I see a lot of people do is put their roost too high and then that's a lot of impact when they jump down and cause joint issues. So we wanna make sure we don't damage them that way. I've got one out there right now. Now my roost in the condos are about About waist high. About waist high. Something he has, yeah, I think there's, there's one that's about waist high. And some of them have one that's just a little bit more Yeah, they're not, which is really, they're high. Great. When you're trying to get turkeys. Yeah. Because you know, they hop up on the one that's waist high and then you get closer and they hop up on the one that's chest high and then you just reach out and grab'em. Mm-hmm. And they're like, whatcha doing? So I have a male, it's a Cockrell, and he apparently has slipped a tendon in one of his legs. And the only thing I can figure, and he's been in a condo, he is perfectly fine when I put him in there. And the only thing I can figure is he went up and hit something or hit the wall or something and fell off the roost. So don't make your roost so high that when they fall that impact. Is too much and make sure there's no rocks underneath of that either. So to bruise the bottom of their feet when they do land, you know? Yeah.'cause they can get bumblefoot from that. Exactly. So we need to make sure that those are, I mean, there's a lot of things that go into that. Mm-hmm. Let's see. We did under fee, I'm going through my notes here. Ideally, ideally your rules to be. Anywhere from 18 to 24 inches off the ground for a large foul mm-hmm. Is great. A lot of breeders will put'em at waist high, which is not a lot more because it's convenient for us, because, you know, me personally, I don't want to get down on the ground. I'll sit on a bucket. But if I wanna look at my bird's eye level, I would much rather them be about waist high. So I can just lean over like this, be like, oh, your legs are, Ooh, your legs are straight. Your back. Your back has that perfect, and then you got your tail, or. You're, you're gonna look really good in the crockpot next week because I'm not feeding you any longer. You do need to pick up your birds, feel them, feel their keels, make sure they're straight. You don't want to breed that forward for sure. Mm-hmm. So people ask me what that means if you have a rotisserie chicken from. Publix or wherever you get your rotisserie from the breastbone, like, so the breast meet's on either side. Mm-hmm. That in the middle right there is the keel. Mm-hmm. Right. And so when you pick up a bird, whichever hand you're in, the, that breast meets in your hand. Right. And that bone right there should be straight. And when it, it's not straight, you will know. Oh yeah, if it's straight, if you've never felt a crooked one you, you, you probably don't know what we're talking about, but when you pick one up and it's crooked, you will know you, you won't miss it. Yeah. So check those.'cause usually the crooked ones are also protruded, bila, protruding. And you know when, when you pick, pick it up and the bird is pointing towards you, like if you hold your hand up and you look at it, the bird's pointing towards you, you can feel the keel in the hand. Mm-hmm. And if, if you feel it when you put your hand on the bird's back, you feel it more than you feeling the breast, then you really need to check it out.'cause it might be too much. And you don't wanna breed that. Let's see. Saddle, oh, I mean spur wear on the hens. So I am anti pulling spurs. I don't do it because it's kind of like pulling your fingernails off. I know people that do take that, it's exactly like pulling your fingernail us. I mean, that's their fingernail. Yeah. I do not pull them off. I don't trim them. Mm-hmm. I don't do anything to them. If I have a big boy that in say one of my orpingtons and I need to breed him and his spurs are along, then. I will do conjugal visits and the hens wear saddles. I realize that that's more of a specialty thing and not for just people who have birds in their backyard. But. There are, I guess, other ways of keeping roosters with long spurs. It's not something that I come across very often, but you do need to be aware of the wear and tear on the hens with those. Yeah, just get you some more hens. Okay. And then somebody asked me on the, on this part of the outline here, somebody asked me how to check fertility. That when I say I'm checking fertility, you can do a couple things. You can just, when you're cracking your eggs for breakfast, look for the bullseye. It. To me that didn't come easy. I really had to work at it to see that bullseye. But I don't have the best eyesight to begin with anyway. But all I do is I just take a couple eggs from the pens and put them in the incubator and then candle'em in a week. And if there's, that's the easiest way. There's flood vessels if a chick comes out, it was fertile. Yep. So that's how I check. I check fertility right there. Yep, I'm doing that right now. I got, I do have some pul eggs that are in the incubator, but that's only because I want to see the fertility and those, those are already promised to somebody to feed something else when they hatch. So I can't believe you're testing bullet eggs well. It is kind of like a, they got put in with some, he, and right now I could still, I could tell the difference. So while they were still smaller, I figured, what the heck? I'll have a, a feeder for some snakes. That's about the size of a two week old quail when it hatches. All right. Let's talk about aggression for just a minute. That's easy. Yeah, that's pretty easy. Just don't, there is 10 times, and I say this loosely, there's 10 times more males than there are females. If your ratio of male to female is one to 10, that would mean you have 10 times more extra males, right? So. Keep the one that's not aggressive and eat the rest of'em. There's just too many to choose from, to have to warrant dealing with an aggressive rooster. That's my opinion. Yeah, and you know, even if you breed for something different, even, even those folks, the ones that I come across, they don't, they don't want ones that are aggressive towards them. They'll, they'll do the same thing we do. Yep. Just don't. I have dealt with some breeds before and I could not get any that weren't aggressive and I just don't deal with them anymore. Now, now I do have the breasts and they are. Flighty than my Orpingtons. And when I say that they're flighty, people will say, well, well, mine aren't flighty. Well then I got to thinking one day, I was like, wonder why their birds aren't flighty. And then I picked up one of my orpingtons and I realized that I'm comparing my breasts to the Orpingtons, which are just about on the scale of flighty, one level above dead. So. I mean, it's hard to get sweaty compared to them nine pounds off the ground. I mean, we moved some yesterday and they were just like, okay, where are we going? I mean, you can sit'em in the front seat of the Gator and drive all over town with them. So in the sale of Flightiness, you put a grass in the Gator with you on the front seat, and they'll ride for a little bit, but eventually they're gonna be like, Ooh, what is that? You're gonna take off, but I can go in the pens and pick'em up and they don't like freak out anymore or anything. Mm-hmm. I've been raising them with the Orpingtons and hoping that it would like rub off on'em a little bit. But nobody's been really like aggressive per se. I did have one I was moving him, it was a cock girl and he bit me like a dog, and I was like, dude, you totally changed which coop you were going into. He went in the coal pile. We're just, just don't tolerate it. Anything that you're willing to tolerate is what you're gonna have on the yard. Yeah. So just don't tolerate it. Yeah. When I first started working with breasts, I had one that was a little aggressive and he accidentally rung his neck before I realized it. But I didn't, I didn't want it, I didn't want that part of the genetics, so it made it where I didn't get the rest. Yeah. And now I have birds that I can go in the coop and they're like. Stuff. You got some food. What are we doing today? You know, they don't go nuts and they, and they don't try to attack me. I did want to say one thing that was kind of brought up to me by somebody with the incubation masterclass. Mm-hmm. And she said, well, the very first video you said it has to be in a warmish room and, and I don't have mine in a warmish room. And so it got me thinking like, did I really, what did I really mean to say? And so in general. When we are talking about these things, we are trying to portray like a more ideal situation. Mm-hmm. And then there'll be compensations that people make for their environment or their budget or their needs or abilities. And so if, if we give out information, we're trying to do it like in an ideal world. This is what you would do, and we understand that we don't live in an ideal world, and your incubator may not be as good as the million dollar one at the hatchery. Or you might have it in your basement, which stays in the fifties versus in your house, which stays in the seventies. I mean, there's compensations all over the world, but if we give you the correct information, like. This is, this is the goal. Then at least you know where you're trying to get to. Yeah. And so by talking about these, these roosters or cock birds or cock rolls, whatever you wanna call them, this is in an ideal world. So yes, there is some truth to calcium can be hard on the birds. But it takes years and years and years for that to happen. And you don't feed them layer year round. I mean, it's just you, you just really shouldn't. I mean, I guess you can, but you shouldn't. And it's Well, and that's why for me, for me, I, I say it and a lot of people, I'm gonna say this first. carry@poultrynerdspodcast.com. Not Jennifer. All right. If that happens, just like co acidosis and some other things, it's more of a management issue than an environment issue. I'll say that because if you have a bird in captivity, any kind of a pen. No matter how big it is, that bird has no control over its diet. So it's a management issue, not a bird issue. Manage your flop. Mm-hmm. And do the best you can. We give you the, the accurate information and just get as close to that as you can look. Not everybody can do that, and that's cool. No, I mean, I, I mean, I don't know. I did have one chicken that was 13 years old, but I don't know that I really care a whole lot about having chicken. That old. Mm-hmm. I don't need teenager chickens. I have two. We call her cookie. She has crooked toast, but we would never tell you to breed crooked toast, and I don't breed her. She's a hatchery quality bird. But I mean, I have Rambo. And Rambo free ranges because I don't want him in a breeding pen. Mm-hmm. And that son of a gun has survived some stuff. Mm-hmm. He earned his name. Yep. All right. Well we hope this was helpful. Go feed your chickens and don't sweat it. Take a buck, that bucket that you take with you to feed'em in when you, when it's empty, what that really means is turn it upside down, sit on it, enjoy your cup of coffee and watch'em. Mm-hmm. We'll see y'all next week.