0:00

Hi, I'm John Gunterman, and I want to welcome

0:02

you to another episode of the Poultry Keepers

0:04

podcast. Joining me in the studio

0:07

are Mandelyn Royal and Rip Stalvey,

0:09

the rest of our podcast team, and we're looking forward

0:12

to visiting with you and talking poultry

0:14

from feathers to function.

0:26

We're going to be talking about heat stress that's something

0:28

a lot of us are dealing with. Let's

0:30

get right to it, shall we? When

0:33

we get hot weather, the birds are suffering,

0:35

feed intake drops, egg

0:38

production drops, the egg

0:40

weight decreases, the

0:42

shell quality decreases, the

0:44

albumin height or the egg white height

0:47

decreases, they're drinking a lot of water, trying

0:49

to stay hydrated, trying to keep cool, and

0:52

all that. Water intake will affect the

0:54

albumin height. Their growth

0:56

rate slows. I know I've got some young reds

0:58

now, and it's really bad

1:01

on them. They just sit around and mope, and

1:03

they don't eat much, and they don't grow much. Maybe

1:05

when cool weather comes it'll pick back up, and

1:08

they'll get with the program. We

1:10

can see an increase in mortality

1:12

especially when we have really

1:14

severe cases of heat stress. Cannibalism

1:17

can increase. The suppression and

1:19

immuno system goes up and

1:21

one thing a lot of folks don't realize is that

1:23

it can also affect hatchability

1:26

and fertility, especially in roosters,

1:29

although I think most of us are probably done hatching

1:31

by this point. I know we've still got some diehards

1:34

who live further north and aren't quite as impacted

1:37

with the heat that are Not

1:39

having those problems down

1:41

below that, but production losses from

1:43

heat stress. It's going

1:45

to depend a lot on the maximum

1:47

temperature to which our flock is exposed. I'm

1:50

not going to get in, Jeff's going to, I know

1:52

he's going to address what we do to overcome

1:55

that. But the high temperatures,

1:57

the duration of the high temperatures, the

1:59

rate of temperature change. And

2:02

relative humidity, we've, here

2:04

in Florida, we have a real problem with humidity.

2:07

Yesterday, the humidity was actually higher

2:09

than the temperature and that's

2:11

not all that uncommon. Jeff,

2:14

what can we do to help

2:16

our birds get through this season?

2:19

Yeah, I, just looking at the top

2:21

slide or the top, stuff up there.

2:23

Look that feed intake is going to go down. We've

2:26

talked about it in previous episodes

2:28

where, Birds eat for

2:30

their calorie need every day. And

2:33

so when it gets hot, they require less calories.

2:35

That's why we had that heat feed,

2:38

that temperature chart that, how much bird

2:41

needs to eat and what the protein should be. So

2:44

people that are still actually trying to

2:46

produce eggs for hatching or

2:48

table eggs or whatever in Florida,

2:51

All of my customers are on a 20 percent

2:53

protein layer feed in the summer. And

2:56

we pretty much start that by tax day,

2:58

somewhere around April 15th, first

3:00

of May, and we stay on that

3:02

till mid November,

3:05

so you're almost looking at tax

3:07

day through Thanksgiving, same thing in Texas.

3:09

Oklahoma, all of the hotter

3:12

states higher humidity, and

3:14

instead of looking at temperature, we, just like

3:16

they do for us, we need to look at that, heat

3:19

index, what is that field like

3:21

temperature, what is that heat index number,

3:24

because they're feeling it too, when the humidity goes

3:26

up and the temperature goes up, that's

3:29

the number that actually matters to the chicken

3:31

it's not just heat, and it's not

3:33

just humidity, it's a combination. But,

3:35

to make a good size egg,

3:37

you got to get 21

3:39

grams, not percent,

3:42

so people need to hear me. I

3:44

need to get 21 grams of

3:46

protein in a chicken to

3:49

produce a large egg, okay? So

3:52

if we don't get them, then we're not

3:54

going to get a decent egg.

3:56

I got a quick question. Last

3:58

time I was in our local big box

4:00

feed store here. About

4:02

the only thing I could find in the

4:05

way of a layer was 16 or 17

4:07

percent.

4:08

Yep.

4:08

Is it possible you could switch

4:11

them back to a starter to raise that protein

4:13

up? If you can't find something?

4:15

You can absolutely move them back to a 21,

4:18

20 to 22 starter. And

4:20

then hand add the oyster shell, for

4:23

the calcium part of it, and they'll do fine. Where

4:25

people can't access those higher

4:27

quality, 19 20

4:29

percent protein feeds, that's exactly what

4:31

we do. We go find something in

4:34

the right protein range, hopefully

4:36

with the right amino acid levels, and

4:39

then we add the calcium separately.

4:42

And it works. It gets you through.

4:44

I was so thankful when we

4:46

finally got somebody carrying that triple M

4:49

farm feeds down here. That

4:52

stuff has made a huge difference. And I don't

4:54

have that problem or that concern when

4:56

we deal with heat, trying to find

4:58

a higher quality protein. It

5:01

just was not available here in this area.

5:03

No, it wasn't. It was for

5:05

a little while then it wasn't for,

5:08

a couple of years and then, Caleb

5:10

started bringing it back in again down there at Bergen

5:12

farms. Cause he wanted it for

5:14

himself, Caleb called me and said, Hey, I

5:16

need good breeder feed for my turkeys.

5:19

So I made him formulas and he started

5:21

working it up to bring it in from triple M farms

5:24

and. I said, why don't you make

5:26

this available for other people in your area? I

5:29

can do that. Of course, Caleb's always pretty

5:31

positive and, wish there was more people

5:33

like that who can bring it in, turn it.

5:35

And I got us off track with that, but I,

5:37

it's just an experience that I've had and

5:39

I know how difficult it's going to be for

5:41

some folks trying to find

5:43

a hire. Protein feed to

5:46

feed their birds, if they're looking for those

5:48

high end or higher protein levels in their

5:50

layer, it's just not out there in a lot of places,

5:52

so you have to scratch around

5:54

and do the best you can for your birds.

5:56

Yep, but you definitely, whenever you're above

5:58

90 degrees or above 85 actually,

6:01

with a fair amount of humidity above 60%,

6:04

you really want your layers on

6:07

19, 20, 21 percent

6:09

protein. And

6:11

just, especially if you want eggs, okay,

6:13

if you need eggs, that's fine. You can

6:16

get them through the summer on a 16%,

6:18

just don't have high expectations

6:21

for performance and they're not going to eat a lot. So

6:23

feed intake goes down, automatically,

6:26

your production and your egg weight and shell

6:28

quality, all that's going to go right with it. So

6:30

it's directly tied.

6:32

Jeff, should we be cutting back on our fat

6:35

additives on our feed to reduce the

6:37

energy levels?

6:39

Actually, John, no, because here's

6:41

the thing so if you

6:43

break apart your different components of a feed

6:45

just into the simplistic, proteins,

6:48

carbs, and fats fats

6:51

have the least effect on body temperature,

6:53

proteins are the worst, And carbs

6:55

are right behind them, so getting

6:58

energy from fat is actually

7:00

more of a stress reliever than,

7:02

getting energy from corn or grain

7:04

or, starch and carbohydrates. Yeah,

7:07

definitely not the time to remove. to

7:10

remove your fats.

7:11

And folks, if you're brand new

7:13

to poultry and you're not really sure what

7:15

some of the signs of heat stress are, if

7:18

you see your birds standing around with their

7:20

wings dropped down and held out from the

7:22

body, they're trying to cool

7:24

off. You'll see them panting a lot.

7:26

They don't have the ability to sweat

7:28

like we do, so the only way

7:31

they can get rid of body heat is

7:33

through opening those wings up and trying

7:36

to cool off. through panning, and

7:39

also their comb and wattles will

7:41

also serve to help dissipate their body

7:43

heat just by circulating

7:45

the blood through those, but

7:47

if you see any of those combinations going

7:50

on you need to do something for

7:52

your birds before it gets

7:54

too bad. I talk to folks every year who have

7:56

lost birds. I talked to one

7:58

Orpington Breeder, oh gosh,

8:00

it's been about four or five years ago now, who

8:03

lost almost half their flock of

8:06

English Orpingtons, and they

8:08

didn't live in a particularly hot part of the

8:10

country, but they have

8:12

such profuse feathering that

8:15

the heat was really rough on them, so if you're

8:17

raising these breeds, Loose feathered birds

8:20

like Orpingtons, or Cochins, or Brahmas,

8:23

Langshans you're basically some of

8:25

your Asiatic type breeds. You

8:27

need to plan ahead for these birds because they're

8:30

going to have problems dealing with the heat, I can guarantee

8:32

it.

8:33

Rip, people don't want to hear this

8:35

and I beat a dead horse, so to speak, but

8:38

when we hit this end of July,

8:40

beginning of August, It's a perfect

8:43

time to molt your birds, and here's the thing, you

8:45

want to get rid of the internal fat, because

8:47

all it's doing is holding heat, plus

8:50

you lowered the protein, you lowered the carbohydrates

8:53

so you're taking heat stress off the birds anyway,

8:56

and you're limiting the amount

8:58

of feed, it all comes together timing

9:01

wise for a reason. When you hit

9:03

the hardest, now, people living in the tropics

9:05

with 12 hours of light and the weather's always

9:07

85 degrees, the birds don't really

9:09

know when to molt. I think it's more based

9:12

on the length of day, just

9:14

shifting a little bit that might trigger it.

9:16

But it's not as indicative,

9:19

as what we have up here, in the Northern

9:21

Hemisphere. It's completely

9:23

different, but the timing

9:25

for doing a molt is perfect,

9:28

for most people, birds want to do

9:30

it that time anyway hard part is,

9:32

right now are all the fairs, and

9:34

some of the shows, but 4

9:36

H shows and county fairs

9:39

and so on, you want your bird to be looking good

9:41

and it's tough.

9:42

It is, so many shows particularly

9:45

north of where I live, much, much further

9:47

north occurred during the summer and

9:49

that's the hardest time of the year

9:51

to have a bird in condition to show well.

9:53

You can just look at them cross eyed and they'll start

9:56

dropping plumage, just molting like crazy. But

9:59

you're right. This is the opportune time of the year

10:01

to take advantage of what would occur naturally

10:03

and just manage that moat. We've got

10:05

a video on YouTube. It's

10:08

called Managing the Molt. We

10:10

did a live stream on that and Jeff was talking

10:12

to everybody through exactly the steps you

10:14

need to go through to properly

10:17

manage that moat and drop that excess

10:19

body weight. I'm just going to echo what he

10:21

said because we can't say it enough. Our

10:24

birds can overeat in

10:26

a heartbeat. They can put on excess fat

10:28

that they don't need. If you have

10:30

a bird that, that dies, unfortunately,

10:32

and you open it up and you see all this yellow fat

10:34

in there, that bird's overweight, and

10:37

that, that was adding to the stress that bird

10:39

was under trying to lose body

10:41

heat. Jeff, what about

10:43

Water. What can we do to

10:46

encourage birds to drink water?

10:49

I uploaded the video that Carol Wilson

10:51

shared with us from Grimes Cadillac, where you're

10:53

using a fairly inexpensive

10:56

cooler, and you're putting cold

10:58

water in there, and Carol's

11:00

actually going out to get like the one gallon

11:03

paint pails that you can get at Lowe's or Home Depot.

11:05

She's going to be freezing blocks of water. Of

11:08

water to put in those coolers

11:10

to keep that temperature cool.

11:13

More throughout the day. And what

11:15

I'm getting ready to say, I realize not everybody

11:17

can do this, but for people that

11:19

are at home all

11:21

the time, throughout the day, if you can

11:24

figure out how to change out your water

11:27

just before the hottest part of the day, so

11:29

if you eat your lunch and you go out and you actually

11:31

changed your water, then. You

11:33

would be helping your birds out

11:35

tremendously, as long as

11:37

there's air movement, the birds also,

11:40

as long as, so using fans,

11:42

setting up your buildings, trying to get as much

11:44

air movement as you can is going

11:47

to help the birds, they do perspire,

11:50

so that evaporation process, if there's

11:52

no air moving, the birds are just miserable. No

11:55

matter where they're at. So

11:57

that's going to be a big help. I actually

12:00

told a breeder out

12:02

in California, if he could rig up his pens

12:05

with recirculating water, like they

12:07

do in motels and other places. So you

12:09

always, you get hot water right away. In

12:11

this case, you would get cold water right away.

12:14

So tubing going through all

12:16

the pens or the, or all the,

12:18

where the birds are and, doing

12:20

a cutout trough, but the water's constantly

12:22

moving in Because birds

12:24

will chase moving water. We've all seen it,

12:26

right? You dump a bucket and they're gonna chase

12:29

dirty water across the floor or across

12:31

the ground. Yeah, friends

12:33

of mine down here in O'Brien, Florida,

12:36

they figured this out with their turkeys, right? So

12:39

they'll actually use that quarter

12:41

inch tubing small spaghetti

12:43

type tubing, and they'll rig

12:45

that up so it just dribbles all day

12:48

into a pan, all day

12:50

it's moving. They increase

12:52

their water consumption by nearly 20%.

12:55

By doing that, they increase their

12:57

feed consumption by

12:59

almost 40%. And they knocked

13:01

off grow out time for those birds.

13:04

Those are pretty good numbers.

13:05

Those are really good numbers. When they figured out

13:07

that the turkeys needed, they wanted running

13:09

water. And he sent me a video.

13:11

I should share that with you. Remind me tomorrow and I'll try

13:13

and dig it up. But, okay. He

13:16

sent me a video of that dribbling into a

13:18

pan underneath, and turkeys

13:20

are just reaching right up there,

13:22

they're trying to get to that water source, catch it

13:24

while it's in midair. It's hilarious.

13:27

If you need some good redneck entertainment,

13:29

this is it.

13:30

I know I've got some good friends

13:32

who are into birding and bird

13:34

photography and wild birds and all those kind of things.

13:36

And they actually have what they call a water

13:38

dribbler. Attaches

13:40

to the side of your birdbath and it's just

13:42

constantly dripping water. And the

13:44

sound of that water, the birds just flock

13:47

to it. I can absolutely see where it worked with

13:49

poultry.

13:51

I have never seen any type

13:53

of poultry that didn't like to chase water.

13:55

I never have. And

13:57

you're older than me, Rip, but you know it to

13:59

be true, right? You're thinking,

14:01

you birds are stupid. I just gave you fresh water

14:04

and you're chasing it across the dirty floor.

14:07

So if you can figure out

14:09

a way to, to move water and

14:11

they, that once they find it, you'll increase

14:14

that. And if you can figure out how to cool

14:16

it and move it. In a recirculation

14:18

system, you're going to do a lot

14:21

for your birds.

14:22

Somebody on one of our groups, and I

14:24

don't know whether it was a Poultry Keepers 360

14:27

Facebook group, or your Poultry Breeders

14:29

Nutrition group, posted

14:32

a design that he had for recirculating

14:34

water. I'd have

14:36

to go back and look to see if I could find

14:39

it.

14:39

The only other one that I shared, I, you're

14:42

right, and I don't remember who that was, but I've shared

14:44

one but it's more in like a large

14:46

coop confinement for, a group of blayers,

14:49

and really he just had two 35

14:52

gallon trash cans on,

14:54

at both ends, and, He

14:57

just uses a sump pump, and he'd

14:59

run it down that tube, and it'd go to the other end,

15:01

and when the sump pump kicked on, it'd push it

15:03

back, and it just recirculated, and

15:06

he had a stock float, so

15:08

the barrel never ran out of water, but he's

15:10

doing that for winter water. They

15:12

never, so it helps keep it from freezing

15:15

in the northern winter times.

15:17

And folks, this just occurred

15:19

to me, but if you have

15:21

a garden center around you that

15:24

carries a lot of equipment for aquaponics

15:27

and hydroponics, they're going

15:29

to have some of these smaller pumps, and they're not

15:31

too big. They're not really all that expensive, so

15:33

that could be a good place to pick up one of those without

15:36

paying a horrendous price for it.

15:37

If you want to get really crazy, this is

15:39

what I do here. I have, from

15:42

a company called PetSafe, you can find them,

15:44

Tractor Supply, online at Chewy, wherever,

15:46

right? PetSafe. I have a water

15:49

fountain for my three cats and the dog, right?

15:51

And, I can't tell you

15:53

how many times in the course of a day

15:55

I watch them. They're drinking where

15:58

it comes out of the fountain. Versus

16:00

out of the bottom of the trough. Now,

16:02

if she's in a hurry and she needs volume

16:04

in a hurry, she'll drink out of the trough, but yeah,

16:07

her and the cats, the dog and the three cats,

16:09

they all like to drink it where it comes out of the top of

16:12

that fountain. You could invest in those.

16:14

And you need electric, but I

16:17

swear, you're going to increase your, your

16:19

volume of water intake and

16:22

anytime you get more water in them, they're going to be healthier,

16:24

just bottom line.

16:25

What about. And

16:28

we've talked about this in other situations,

16:31

but is, would

16:33

there be any benefit, to example, adding

16:36

molasses to your water?

16:38

And I posted that out there. Did

16:40

you put it on Poultry Keepers 360? I know

16:42

I put it on Poultry Breeder Nutrition, but

16:45

basically, the poultry

16:47

electrolyte, And you can use it for anything.

16:50

I shouldn't just say it's for poultry. Here's the thing,

16:52

it's two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar,

16:54

one tablespoon of cooking molasses

16:57

or blackstrap molasses. Great

16:59

about, and this is per gallon of water,

17:01

and great about a teaspoon of fresh

17:04

ginger. And about a teaspoon

17:06

of salt. Mix that up really good

17:08

and serve it. And, I

17:10

think, John, aren't you doing that?

17:13

You just described what I drink every day.

17:15

And give it to my chickens when it's

17:18

appropriate. I try not to give it to them all the

17:20

time.

17:21

I quit using the word switchel because People

17:24

thought it was some sort of voodoo,

17:26

I found out there's an alcoholic drink

17:28

Haymaker's Punch that they also called switchel

17:31

that's loosely based on the same flavor

17:33

profile.

17:34

But if you look up homemade switchel, the

17:36

base thing, the base formula is what I just

17:38

gave you per gallon and don't

17:40

put the lid on. When you put the ginger

17:43

and everything in there, because it's going to,

17:46

it's going to fizz up. It actually gets a little

17:48

fizzy like a carbonated soft

17:50

drink and it's fine. But

17:52

just don't put the lid on too tight. You could have

17:54

an accident. But the, the

17:56

birds are going to love it, right? And when it's really

17:58

hot, you can make this up

18:01

three, four days ahead of time. It's

18:03

not going to spoil. It's really simple.

18:06

But as far as heat stress, it's phenomenal.

18:09

When I use it I empty my waterers on

18:11

a daily basis because I was worried about bacteria

18:13

build up because of the excess sugar.

18:15

Really

18:18

not that much of a concern.

18:20

Yeah. If you used it today and tomorrow

18:22

you just went in and put in fresh water

18:25

I'm good. I'm good with that. Just

18:28

depends on, how often you're doing it, but

18:30

when you're above 90, 95 degrees, or

18:32

your heat index is above 90, man,

18:35

I could see doing it at least three or four

18:37

times a week. And as soon as you serve

18:39

it, you're going to see the energy level of the birds

18:41

pick up within an hour. It is

18:44

phenomenal how much difference it makes.

18:47

I know how much of a difference it makes when I drink

18:49

it. Okay. It's crazy. It's a

18:51

real energy boost. I was

18:53

calling it chicken Gatorade for a little while, but

18:55

that's not really fair. Switchel

18:57

is hard for people to understand or Google

18:59

it. So I don't know, but the recipes

19:02

out there poultry breeder nutrition

19:04

group. And Rip, you can grab it and put

19:06

it on the other. Phenomenal stuff,

19:09

cool water lots of shade, try

19:11

and capture as much moving air.

19:13

Is garlic going to help this time

19:14

of year? I, so here's my thing with

19:16

garlic is I like to hold it back and

19:19

only use it when I have an

19:21

illness. Okay. So if I suspect

19:23

I have an infection in the bird, that's

19:25

when I want to really get after the garlic

19:28

to use it prophylactically

19:30

or just use it You know, because it's

19:32

awesome stuff. I lose

19:34

the benefits, when it comes time to

19:36

treat an illness. So you just, you

19:38

need to make that personal decision

19:40

on your own. Do you want to reserve

19:43

it for an emergency or do you

19:45

want to use it all the time? There's nothing wrong

19:47

with using it all the time. I have

19:49

nothing against it, but you know that you need to bruise

19:51

it. And you need to let it change

19:54

from that creamy white to

19:57

more of a brown, right? It'll get dark

19:59

when you bruise it and then slice it up

20:02

cause you want to release the internal

20:04

compound known as allicin. And

20:08

the allicin is the true benefits behind

20:10

garlic.

20:11

What about vitamin or mineral

20:14

supplements? Anything you

20:16

would suggest there? I've heard all sorts of things,

20:18

but never tried any.

20:21

I'm not opposed to them. Here's

20:23

the thing is, all the electrolyte packs that

20:25

you buy at Tractor Supply, Jeffers

20:27

Supply every, everywhere online,

20:30

If you look at them and read the label closely

20:32

potassium chloride, magnesium chloride,

20:35

sodium chloride, okay, they're

20:37

loaded with salt. All those are salts

20:40

and, too much salt. So

20:43

you don't run those every day and you

20:45

don't run them over their recommended levels.

20:48

Just don't, cause you're gonna, that much

20:50

salt, you could do damage

20:52

to the kidneys. And you could also

20:54

actually have some salt burn, in the digestive

20:56

tract. So you use

20:59

those when you're under like severe stress

21:01

and you don't have anything else, then go

21:03

ahead and use them. I'm, people

21:05

are addicted to those things. It's crazy how

21:07

many people, give them electrolytes.

21:09

It's one of the first things I hear.

21:10

And I cringe, it's no, please don't

21:12

just give them the chicken gatorade and,

21:15

maybe we need to call that chickenade or something,

21:17

I don't know, we need to give it a name, but,

21:20

and just get it out there for people, it's

21:22

so much it's simple, once you have the

21:24

molasses, and every kitchen

21:26

should have the vinegar every kitchen has

21:29

the salt, the only thing that you gotta get is,

21:32

The ginger, and John,

21:34

correct me if I'm wrong, because I don't know this 100%,

21:37

but I would think you could grate the

21:39

whole ginger root and

21:42

take your teaspoon, put

21:44

the rest in a jar and probably put it in the

21:46

freezer and not really lose,

21:48

if you were cooking with it, you would lose flavor, but

21:50

for this purpose of the switchel or

21:53

the chicken aid, I don't think you'd lose

21:55

the benefits, but I don't

21:57

know the properties of ginger

22:00

frozen.

22:01

I'm just wondering if it's the aroma.

22:03

Or the flavor of the ginger, or there's some

22:06

thing that's in there. I would say,

22:09

mix it in with your salt and let the salts

22:11

absorb,

22:13

and then you can take two. If you went even amounts

22:15

and you could just go two teaspoons of the salt.

22:17

Yeah.

22:18

Or just take your bruised lump of ginger and

22:20

throw it in the container with the salt and let it absorb

22:23

that. If I, if that's what they're after,

22:27

I think it's more than the scent. I

22:29

really do think there's a compound

22:31

in the ginger that is giving

22:33

an energy boost, whether it's vitamin

22:35

or other, I don't know. There's

22:37

definitely an unusual taste

22:40

when you, with and without the ginger in the

22:42

switchel.

22:43

I notice that I use candied ginger because

22:45

getting fresh ginger here out in the hinterlands

22:47

is difficult. Why don't you start?

22:49

And for my own internal Hell,

22:52

if I notice a difference, you just

22:54

start growing.

22:54

Ginger,

22:55

I can do ginseng here. I can't do ginger.

22:58

Really? Not even in the greenhouse with the

23:00

chickens.

23:02

If I can keep the chickens from eating it,

23:04

I don't hardly think they'd eat it. It's a,

23:06

I don't either It's a root

23:09

or rhizome underneath the ground. Sometimes

23:11

I marvel at what chickens will and won't do,

23:13

and they'll prove me a liar every time.

23:16

I had a question we've been having horrendous

23:18

rains for weeks on end and everything

23:20

is just soaked here. And

23:23

I've noticed in the local Poultry groups, we've

23:25

seen an increase in respiratory problems,

23:28

and I'm expecting to see a rise in feed

23:31

and mold related issues. Anything

23:33

we can do to stay ahead of this curve?

23:35

Big thing is chickens aren't ducks, and

23:37

they don't like wet feet. So when

23:40

you get really soggy ground or

23:42

wet environment, throwing in a pallet

23:45

or something for them to get up off the ground

23:48

for it. a significant

23:50

part of the day and or night, right?

23:52

So if you don't, for people that may not have roost

23:55

for sure but they need the opportunity

23:57

to get up off the ground. Not

23:59

a good time to be spilling feed on the ground because

24:02

it's going to start fermenting really

24:04

quick and you don't want that.

24:06

So you need to be careful. But

24:09

truthfully people, when it gets horrible

24:11

rains like you guys have been having up there, John Everybody

24:14

kind of buttons up their chicken coop, but

24:16

they don't reopen it for

24:18

air flow soon enough. The

24:20

day after the rain, or as soon

24:22

as you can, open it up as much

24:24

as you can and let it air out. Okay,

24:27

just get as much moisture out of

24:29

that coop. Fresh bedding,

24:31

definitely key. Just anything

24:33

to get them separated from moisture.

24:36

I was actually thinking of putting in like a, almost

24:39

like a wire drop through floor in my

24:41

coop just to get the poultry

24:43

up out of their litter and manure.

24:46

Cause it is so damp. And even,

24:48

I went out and, use some peat moss, which is

24:50

awesome. And it like instantly corrected that

24:52

little hint of ammonia smell I was starting to pick up.

24:55

Yeah, it's tough right now. This brings

24:57

us to the close of another Poultry Keepers

24:59

podcast. We're very happy you chose to join

25:02

us. Until next time, we'd appreciate it if

25:04

you would drop us a note, letting us know your thoughts

25:06

about our podcast. Please share our podcast

25:08

with your friends that keep poultry. We hope

25:10

you'll join us again when we'll be talking

25:12

poultry from feathers to function.