In this episode, we are helping Mike Badger, host of the popular poultry show, called “The Pastured Poultry Talk Podcast,” To create a strain that can meet his needs, and the needs of his customers. Does he breed, raise and sell pure fowl, or does he use his pure fowl to create hybrid crosses? Join our conversation as we discuss ways to achieve his goals. There’s a lot of good information packed into this episode that I know you will not want to miss.
Mike Badger is the Host of a very popular poultry podcast called, The Pastured Poultry Talk Podcast. As of this podcast, he has 110 episodes. Here is the link: https://pasturedpoultrytalk.com
Mike is also co-owner of Badger’s Millside Farm. And, you can catch many of his video’s tutorials on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCESjhLJDIRcy8rxj12-j4eg/videos
I’ve known Mike since our days doing seminars for the Sustainable Poultry Network.
This episode is a coaching call I did with Mike back in 2019. It was this coaching call that led to my guest spot appearance on his show, The Pastured Poultry Talk (ep93). In fact, you will recognize many of the topics, as we revisited them in his show.
Mike wanted to discuss the idea of creating a strain that could meet is needs, and his customer’s needs. His primary market is backyard growers and small market flocks.
- He was looking for an egg layer that he could sell as “started pullets” (16 weeks old).
- His plan was to have a fall hatch and raise birds through the winter (north central PA), so they will hit the marketplace at the end of March as ready to lay.
- Then in the spring, he wanted to do day-old chicks.
His challenge was to find a reliable supply of chicks in the fall at a price that makes the numbers in the spreadsheet financially viable. So far, hybrids are his only choice. While these birds crank out the eggs, they have scrawny carcasses.
Here is the wish list he sent to me. As you can see, he had a good picture of where he wants to go, but he’s not sure if it’s achievable or not, and wanted to talk with me to see if we could come up with a viable plan.
- 80% to 85% (or more) lay potential. I’d expect these birds to go through at least 2 lay cycles, and they will drop production after the molt, so the higher rate of lay we can achieve, the better. I’d really like to see a drop-off of 5% to 10% (at max) in the second lay.
- Medium live weight of 6 lbs. so that there is some value as a cull hen.
- large/Xtra large brown eggs.
- First egg in 20 weeks; 26 is too long.
- Hybrids are ok, but I need something I can reproduce.
The problem Mike was having, in regards to bird selection is that most “breeders” lie about what they have in terms of capabilities. Or they just parrot internet talking points.
The question Mike had for me, and was hoping I could help was:
- What bird should I source? Or maybe the question is, what should I avoid?
- How many birds do I need and how do I setup the matings?
- How do I avoid making a bad seed stock selection?
- What are the most important things to consider when setting up – you know those things that will sabotage you 2 years down the line?
Although this episode is mostly a generation discussion, two guys rambling a bunch of ideas, I believe there are a lot of good nuggets within this many of you can learn from.
Special Note: I’m hoping to have Mike Badger on the show someday to talk about subjects he specializes in, that I know will benefit our listeners. He’s already agreed to come on. I just need to write and develop an outline.
