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Hey, everyone. Welcome to the coop podcast with Meyer Hatchery, where we talk all things poultry in hopes of educating chicken keepers and an inspiring future flock owners. I'm Phil and I'm here with Lauren from Meyer Hatchery. Hey, guys.

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And we just wanted to start out by saying thank you for joining us. We are bringing back the podcast for 2026 and hope that you will be along with us for the ride. We've got a lot of interesting topics. Some of you may have heard in the past. Some may be new.

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We hope that you'll join us every other week as we release a new episode. And look for your feedback on how we can better serve you.

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First topic we're going to chat about throughout this whole podcast is starting your poultry journey. And I know it sounds intimidating and I know everything can be very overwhelming at first, but we're going to just chat and talk you through it, and we're going to be like your best friends of the poultry world. So what are we going to cover in these episodes?

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Well. Well, I think the big question is, is is it hard to start? Yeah. Now it's it's really not hard to start. It's as easy as buying the chicks. But if you want to start correctly, there are a lot of steps involved. You want to make that process a little bit more streamlined for everyone and hopefully start with the end in the end goal in mind.

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I think the most important thing is that we mentioned the three essential steps that everyone focuses on or you should focus on. At first. And those would be checking the rules what your coop is going to look like. And then how are you going to staff your chicks? Where are you going to get them from? And what are the breeds that you're going to be looking for?

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Yeah, absolutely. And I know for us, when we were starting our flock, it was two little kids and two adults. So it's just all the prep that goes into it. And making sure that it's easy enough for you and your lifestyle is really the most that you have to do to get ready to start your poultry journey.

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I agree, and for me, like.

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On our list here we've got checking the rules. You know, as one of the first things that you should do. I don't know if if I'm unique, but I definitely didn't do that. No, I didn't do it either. Trust me. I feel like that's a step that a lot of people miss. And you can always go on to your local, local guidance areas.

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Websites, forums, all of that. But it's always a step that gets missed. So we'll dive more into that in another episode for sure. For sure. And when it came to the coop, I mean, we didn't have a coop ready for it for our flock either. I mean, I feel like I broke all the rules when I started.

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Well, I don't think it's breaking the rules. Ours were housed in our basement for probably, like, the entire summer. Not summer. It was winter, actually. The entire winter we had this little brooder in our basement. So I don't think it's breaking a rule at all. Yeah, I look back and I just laugh because we had ours in our garage.

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And my daughter, I have seven kids and my daughter, we just showed up at TSC one day and it wasn't even for chicks, but we ended up bringing home 11 chicks that day and then going back that weekend for more. So yeah, started for actually. Oh, yeah. No, ours was actually an Easter gift. So we were, my parents had been in the, like, poultry, agriculture space.

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So it was kind of just like they knew some but didn't know everything. So we kind of walked down into the basement on Easter morning and were like, oh my God, there are chicks. There are literally pictures of me holding a little chick in my little like nightgown. Like I was like a six year old just holding this little chick.

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I saw in our notes that we checked with the customer service team, which shout out to the customer service team for all their tips. You want to take away the first one?

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I don't have that up on my screen, so let me. What? Why don't you talk while I pull that up? About some of the, topics we're going to cover in future episodes? Totally. Yeah. Sounds good to me. So we're going to do a lot of stuff. Honestly, making sure that you don't go through what we went through and all of our mistakes.

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So first we're going to do a lot of coop Confidential. So we're going to deep dive into, predator proofing and ventilation and all things with the little extra stuff for the coop.

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We're going to go through some feed formulas. Anything from your crumbles to your pellets.

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What we sell here at Meyer Hatchery. And we're just going to deep dive into what your chickens need.

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Next we're going to have the egg spousal.

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So we're going to chat about common egg laying problems. So soft shells, sunny colors, being egg bound, etc.. Basically anything relating to eggs. We're going to chat about it. May may sound a little boring, but we're going to make it fun. We're going to talk beyond chickens as well. So we're going to talk about your ducks, quails guineas, turkeys, all that.

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So anyone starting a non chicken flock? We got you.

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the we did ask our CSR team, you know, sort of what's their why. And in hopes of making helping you to think about what your why and keeping poultry is all about.

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And I think the biggest thing that was shared was having a reliable source of food and knowing where it comes from. And, I think that's a pretty common why with folks. And, if you'd like to share your Y with us, you can always email it over to a podcast at Meyer Hatch Pre-Comp.

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We're happy to spotlight anyone that, sends us an email or reaches out to us. We always want to hear from you. And in return, did you know that you can save 10% off your next Meyer Hatchery purchase of $50 or more? Just enter the coupon code. The the Coop Co-op at checkout, and you will save 10% off your next purchase of $50 or more.

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I think that's pretty sweet. I'm excited about it. I know I'll definitely use it.

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yeah. So we're going to have a ton coming up. And if you guys like us and our silly little antics, definitely check it out.

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Leave it email for us at podcast at Meyer hatchery.com. Leave a like subscribe all our fun stuff and we will see you in the new year. How's that down? I think it sounds great. And with that, we thank you for listening to the coop. Be sure to subscribe. And if you would be so kind as to drop us a review.

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We'd appreciate that. Do you have a poultry related question or topic you would like for us to cover? Again, just we want to hear from you. Send us an email to podcast at Meyer hatchery.com. Woo. See you guys in the new year. Have a great one.