Poultry Nerds: Backyard Chickens, Quail & Hatching Eggs

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Missing feathers? Before you change the whole pen—or blame the feed—watch what your birds are actually doing.

Jennifer Bryant and Carey Blackmon talk through feather picking in quail and poultry, from crowded grow-outs and boredom to feed labels, dust baths and the breeding decisions that shape a flock. Jennifer shares what she noticed in her turkey pens and quail setup, while Carey explains why the protein number is only part of the feed conversation.

In this episode:
• Crowding, boredom and the layout around the pen
• Dust baths and Jennifer’s observations with quail
• Feed labels, amino acids and feather quality
• Finding the bird that starts the trouble
• Territorial aggression versus feather picking
• Selecting breeders you can handle

A useful starting point: sit down, watch the group and record who does what, where and when. The hosts share their experiences across different species and setups; the conversation is not a single stocking-density or feeding formula for every flock.

Hosts: Jennifer Bryant & Carey Blackmon

Explore more Poultry Nerds resources:

Management & Welfare guides

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EggFoam.com get your egg shippers and live shipping boxes and always get free shipping!

ShowPro feed supplement for all your feathered friends! Grow them bigger and healthier with the best ingredients.

Coturnix Quail hatching eggs from Bryant's Roost, including jumbo celadons!

Quail cartons and Supplies from Double R Farms

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review, we appreciate you.  And if you have a subject request, email us. [email protected]

send us an email and be sure to include your address so we can respond!

Standard Cornish chickens aren’t Cornish Cross—and choosing good breeders takes more than spotting a big young bird.

Blake Phillips of 4 Hill Acres joins Jennifer Bryant and Carey Blackmon to talk about raising large-fowl Cornish, selecting for balanced proportions, and waiting long enough to see a potential breeder’s full promise. Blake explains why he waits until about 18 months to choose his breeders and what he hopes to preserve by continuing to breed an older male.

In this episode:
• Standard Cornish versus Cornish Cross
• Body shape, leg placement, and clamshell wing carriage
• Maturity, natural breeding, and longevity
• Feeding decisions and seasonal fertility in Blake’s flock
• Preparing white Cornish for a poultry show

WATCH THE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/Oujdkqx_wp0

EXPLORE POULTRY NERDS
https://www.poultrynerdspodcast.com/

Guest: Blake Phillips • 4 Hill Acres, Cookeville, Tennessee
Hosts: Jennifer Bryant & Carey Blackmon

WEIGHT CORRECTION
The 8½ lb and 6½ lb weights discussed early in the episode are for large-fowl Cornish cockerels and pullets, respectively—not bantams.
Reference: https://livestock.extension.wisc.edu/articles/chicken-breeds-varieties-a2880/

Blake’s growth, maturity, and fertility observations describe his own birds and breeding program; results vary between flocks.

Support the show

Feel Free to email us at - [email protected]

Join us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/PoultryNerds

Sign up for News at PoultryNerds.com

EggFoam.com get your egg shippers and live shipping boxes and always get free shipping!

ShowPro feed supplement for all your feathered friends! Grow them bigger and healthier with the best ingredients.

Coturnix Quail hatching eggs from Bryant's Roost, including jumbo celadons!

Quail cartons and Supplies from Double R Farms

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review, we appreciate you.  And if you have a subject request, email us. [email protected]

send us an email and be sure to include your address so we can respond!

A beautiful chicken coop is only useful if it works for your birds—and for the person doing the chores.

Jennifer Bryant and Carey Blackmon talk with Nikki Husted of Purely Chickens about backyard chicken keeping, learning from social media without copying every trend, and making practical choices for your own flock. Nikki shares her journey from hatching chicks in a kindergarten classroom to educating chicken keepers online, plus the thinking behind her books Chicken Keeping Pure and Simple and A Healthy Home Flock.

In this conversation:
• Designing a setup around your flock, climate, and daily routine
• Learning from other chicken keepers while questioning questionable advice
• Choosing products thoughtfully instead of following every promotion
• Preparing for the health, injury, and predator problems that can come with keeping chickens
• Nikki’s new book, A Healthy Home Flock, scheduled for release November 3, 2026

READ THE COMPANION ARTICLE & FIND RESOURCES
https://www.poultrynerdspodcast.com/2026-episodes/how-to-choose-a-chicken-coop
Our website brings together the coop-planning checklist, related episodes, and Nikki’s book link.

Educational discussion, not a substitute for veterinary diagnosis or care.

Support the show

Feel Free to email us at - [email protected]

Join us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/PoultryNerds

Sign up for News at PoultryNerds.com

EggFoam.com get your egg shippers and live shipping boxes and always get free shipping!

ShowPro feed supplement for all your feathered friends! Grow them bigger and healthier with the best ingredients.

Coturnix Quail hatching eggs from Bryant's Roost, including jumbo celadons!

Quail cartons and Supplies from Double R Farms

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review, we appreciate you.  And if you have a subject request, email us. [email protected]

send us an email and be sure to include your address so we can respond!

Do ducks need a pond? Can ducklings swim? Does every duck need extra niacin—and what health risks should backyard keepers actually watch for?

Jennifer Bryant welcomes poultry veterinarian Dr. Teresa Morishita back to Poultry Nerds for a practical conversation about duck care, feeding, and flock health. Jennifer brings examples from her own Welsh Harlequin flock and her move toward Muscovies, while Dr. Morishita discusses the questions she encounters in veterinary practice.

In this episode:
• Drinking water, bill-dipping, and the mess around duck waterers
• Preening, feather condition, and safe water access for ducklings
• Cold-weather questions and how ducks conserve heat
• Avian influenza, duck viral enteritis, botulism, and Salmonella
• Why dead birds and contaminated water need prompt attention
• Niacin, brewer’s yeast, balanced feed, and medicated-feed questions
• Handling ducks carefully and protecting their feet

This episode is educational and is not a diagnosis or treatment plan for an individual bird. If birds are sick, injured, or dying unexpectedly, contact a poultry veterinarian or your state animal-health office.

Read the companion duck-care guide and find the research links:
https://www.poultrynerdspodcast.com/2026-episodes/duck-care-myths

Explore poultry health and biosecurity:
https://www.poultrynerdspodcast.com/poultry-health

About our guest:
Dr. Teresa Y. Morishita, DVM, PhD, DACPV, is a professor of poultry medicine and food safety at Western University of Health Sciences and a Diplomate of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians.

Subscribe to Poultry Nerds for more practical poultry conversations, and send your questions to [email protected].

Support the show

Feel Free to email us at - [email protected]

Join us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/PoultryNerds

Sign up for News at PoultryNerds.com

EggFoam.com get your egg shippers and live shipping boxes and always get free shipping!

ShowPro feed supplement for all your feathered friends! Grow them bigger and healthier with the best ingredients.

Coturnix Quail hatching eggs from Bryant's Roost, including jumbo celadons!

Quail cartons and Supplies from Double R Farms

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review, we appreciate you.  And if you have a subject request, email us. [email protected]

send us an email and be sure to include your address so we can respond!

The chick pulls much of its calcium out of the eggshell, so what the hen ate before she laid the egg matters long before it hatches.

Thin shells, soft shells, or chicks that don't make it: it is not always the incubator and it is not always shipping. Carey and I walk through calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D, why a hen needs all three, whether more oyster shell helps, whether chickens get vitamin D from the sun, and why vitamins in the water are a poor plan.

We also get into soil health and feed quality, what to ask a hatching-egg seller about their feed, whether roosters can eat layer feed, feeding through the seasons, and the concrete block grit and shell feeder. Our free vaccine and disease masterclass is coming to poultrynerdspodcast.com.

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OnH4uyFxio

Blog with sources and studies: https://www.poultrynerdspodcast.com/2026-episodes/how-thin-shells-affect-incubation

Studies and resources mentioned:
Alabama Extension, Feeding the Laying Hen: https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/farming/backyard-small-poultry-flock-management-series-feeding-the-laying-hen/
Oregon State Extension, How to Feed Your Laying Hens: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pnw-477-how-feed-your-laying-hens

Support the show

Feel Free to email us at - [email protected]

Join us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/PoultryNerds

Sign up for News at PoultryNerds.com

EggFoam.com get your egg shippers and live shipping boxes and always get free shipping!

ShowPro feed supplement for all your feathered friends! Grow them bigger and healthier with the best ingredients.

Coturnix Quail hatching eggs from Bryant's Roost, including jumbo celadons!

Quail cartons and Supplies from Double R Farms

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review, we appreciate you.  And if you have a subject request, email us. [email protected]

send us an email and be sure to include your address so we can respond!

Heat plates don't heat the brooder. They heat the chick, and only if it can touch the plate. If you're losing chicks, that's one of several brooder mistakes we see all the time.

Carey is building a new brooder, so we're getting into what actually matters when you raise chicks: why an old-time show breeder swears by solid-top brooders, why 99.9% of the "my chicks are dying" messages we get in winter come down to one thing (the brooder is sitting on the floor), how to set a heat plate so chicks can pick their own temperature, and why food, water and heat all belong in one pile in the middle.

We also cover the 95°F-and-down rule and when it doesn't apply, how to tell cold chicks from hot ones from a draft, bedding that keeps them dry and off slick plastic, and brooding button quail, turkeys and ducks, including a cake pan waterer that saves your sanity.

Also in this episode: the new Poultry Nerds news email, with updates on Georgia's egg candler license, Oklahoma loosening restrictions, and the EU treating HPAI as a year-round wild bird risk.

🎥 Watch the video: https://youtu.be/9OnZeK07V5I

📬 Get the Poultry Nerds news email every Monday: poultrynerdspodcast.com

📖 Read the brooding blog: poultrynerdspodcast.com

Support the show

Feel Free to email us at - [email protected]

Join us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/PoultryNerds

Sign up for News at PoultryNerds.com

EggFoam.com get your egg shippers and live shipping boxes and always get free shipping!

ShowPro feed supplement for all your feathered friends! Grow them bigger and healthier with the best ingredients.

Coturnix Quail hatching eggs from Bryant's Roost, including jumbo celadons!

Quail cartons and Supplies from Double R Farms

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review, we appreciate you.  And if you have a subject request, email us. [email protected]

send us an email and be sure to include your address so we can respond!

Why do raccoons, snakes, hawks, and other wildlife keep appearing around a chicken coop? Sometimes the chickens are not what attracted them first.

National Wildlife Federation naturalist David Mizejewski joins Jennifer and Carey to explain how spilled feed, rodents, habitat, and easy access can turn a poultry area into a predator destination. Drawing on more than two decades of wildlife education, David helps us look beyond simply blaming the predator and understand what is happening around the coop.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How spilled feed can attract mice and rats—and what may follow them
• Why raccoons can be dangerous even when they cannot enter the coop
• Hawks, snakes, and the realities of free-ranging poultry
• Practical ways to protect birds without trying to eliminate every wild animal
• How habitat and natural prey influence predator activity
• Carpenter bees and other misunderstood wildlife around the farm
• Why making poultry harder to access is often more effective than constantly reacting

David Mizejewski is a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation, where he has spent more than 25 years helping people understand wildlife and create healthier habitats. He has appeared across national television and hosts the Wild Critters USA podcast.

If you raise chickens, quail, ducks, or other poultry, this conversation will change how you look at the wildlife—and the food chain—around your coop.

Follow Poultry Nerds for practical poultry conversations grounded in experience, science, and the people doing the work.

Support the show

Feel Free to email us at - [email protected]

Join us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/PoultryNerds

Sign up for News at PoultryNerds.com

EggFoam.com get your egg shippers and live shipping boxes and always get free shipping!

ShowPro feed supplement for all your feathered friends! Grow them bigger and healthier with the best ingredients.

Coturnix Quail hatching eggs from Bryant's Roost, including jumbo celadons!

Quail cartons and Supplies from Double R Farms

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review, we appreciate you.  And if you have a subject request, email us. [email protected]

send us an email and be sure to include your address so we can respond!

Does keeping chickens really have to mean constant coop cleaning? Matt Dubois of Carolina Coops joins Jennifer Bryant and Carey Blackmon to discuss how thoughtful coop design can make backyard chicken keeping easier.

We explore Matt’s approach to deep litter, why ventilation matters in every season, and how space, moisture management, and predator protection shape a functional chicken coop.

In this episode:
• Deep litter explained—and why sand is a different approach
• Ventilation versus drafts, including cold-weather considerations
• How stocking density affects litter and outdoor runs
• Matt’s three coop priorities: safety, ventilation, and space
• Duck tubs, working animals, and “bullseye gardening”
• How Carolina Coops grew from a small Craigslist sale into a custom coop business
• The story behind building Mike Tyson’s pigeon coop

Whether you’re buying your first coop or improving your current setup, this conversation offers plenty of questions to ask before you spend.

Explore Carolina Coops: https://carolinacoops.com
Find poultry education, research, and more episodes: https://www.poultrynerdspodcast.com

Subscribe to Poultry Nerds for new conversations every Thursday.

Support the show

Feel Free to email us at - [email protected]

Join us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/PoultryNerds

Sign up for News at PoultryNerds.com

EggFoam.com get your egg shippers and live shipping boxes and always get free shipping!

ShowPro feed supplement for all your feathered friends! Grow them bigger and healthier with the best ingredients.

Coturnix Quail hatching eggs from Bryant's Roost, including jumbo celadons!

Quail cartons and Supplies from Double R Farms

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review, we appreciate you.  And if you have a subject request, email us. [email protected]

send us an email and be sure to include your address so we can respond!

Fresh. Natural. Organic. Free-range. Air-chilled. Raised without antibiotics. A package of chicken can carry half a dozen reassuring claims—but what are you actually paying for?

In this episode, Jennifer and Carey sort through the language on grocery-store chicken packages and explain which questions those labels answer, which details they leave out, and when a higher price may—or may not—match what matters to you.

We discuss:
• Why “fresh” describes temperature history, not the slaughter date
• What natural and organic actually mean
• Free-range, cage-free, and the difference between outdoor access and active foraging
• Why “no hormones added” is not a special poultry-production achievement
• What raised without antibiotics does—and does not—tell you
• Air-chilled versus water-chilled poultry
• Retained water versus an added solution
• How genetics, age, activity, rigor, resting, and cooking affect flavor and texture
• Why buying locally or raising your own provides traceability—not an automatic guarantee

Chicken labels are not useless. They simply answer specific questions. The smartest approach is to decide what difference matters to you before paying more for the words on the package.

Read the companion article:
https://www.poultrynerdspodcast.com/2026-episodes/chicken-labels-explained

Explore the Poultry Nerds Research Library:
https://www.poultrynerdspodcast.com/research-library

Support the show

Feel Free to email us at - [email protected]

Join us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/PoultryNerds

Sign up for News at PoultryNerds.com

EggFoam.com get your egg shippers and live shipping boxes and always get free shipping!

ShowPro feed supplement for all your feathered friends! Grow them bigger and healthier with the best ingredients.

Coturnix Quail hatching eggs from Bryant's Roost, including jumbo celadons!

Quail cartons and Supplies from Double R Farms

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review, we appreciate you.  And if you have a subject request, email us. [email protected]

send us an email and be sure to include your address so we can respond!

Chicken molt season can make even experienced keepers panic: feathers everywhere, birds that suddenly look half naked, fewer eggs, and a flock that seems miserable.

In this episode, Jennifer and Carey break down what a normal molt looks like, what triggers it, and how to help chickens through it without adding more stress. They cover:

• Why shorter days can trigger a molt
• Why egg production often slows down or stops
• Why molting birds may feel hot, uncomfortable, and sensitive to handling
• When to separate roosters from hens
• Feed, treats, supplements, and why more protein is not always the simple answer
• Why cat food and dog food are not a shortcut for chicken nutrition
• How lighting affects laying—and why extending the morning is often easier on the flock
• When switching from layer feed to an all-flock feed can make sense
• What feather-eating can tell you about your flock’s diet

Whether you are seeing your first molt or managing breeders through the season, this episode will help you know what is normal, what deserves attention, and how to keep your birds comfortable while they grow their new feathers.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Poultry Nerds Research Library: https://www.PoultryNerdsPodcast.com/research-library
• First Peck Chick Start Supplement: https://showprofarmsupply.com/showpro/p/first-peck-chick-start-supplement
• HBN Outdoor Waterproof Mechanical Timer: https://amzn.to/4gT1LN3
• 100-Foot Outdoor LED Rope Lights, White: https://amzn.to/4zBxKbU

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Support the show

Feel Free to email us at - [email protected]

Join us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/PoultryNerds

Sign up for News at PoultryNerds.com

EggFoam.com get your egg shippers and live shipping boxes and always get free shipping!

ShowPro feed supplement for all your feathered friends! Grow them bigger and healthier with the best ingredients.

Coturnix Quail hatching eggs from Bryant's Roost, including jumbo celadons!

Quail cartons and Supplies from Double R Farms

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review, we appreciate you.  And if you have a subject request, email us. [email protected]