From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - The Duffys Bought A Chicken Coop!

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

Sean has dipped his toe into homesteading, from his interest in growing vegetables to raising bees. Now, after finally getting Rachel's approval, Sean is taking things one step further: with chickens!   CEO of Carolina Coops Matt DuBoise, who set the Duffys up with their own backyard chicken coop, joins Sean to give the rundown on all things chickens -- including the benefits that you reap from them, how he was able to get Rachel to face her chicken fear, and the ways you can start your own chicken journey (even if you have limited space!). Follow Sean & Rachel on X: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Hey everyone, welcome to From the Kitchen Table. I'm Sean Duffy, now with my co-host, my partner in life and my wife, Rachel Campos Duffy.

Because not that she wanted to bail on this podcast, the fact that she got stuck in traffic has made her late. And so I'm going solo. Rachel in traffic, Sean hosting from the kitchen table, going solo. But this is an important podcast because those of you who listen to us know that we talk all the time about how important it is to know where our food comes from. To try to look at, are we eating ultra processed foods? Are we going back to the way our grandparents and great-grandparents ate? And I've been on a mission by the grace of Rachel saying, yes, I have bees. I just got bees a few months ago. No honey this year. Hopefully the bees make it through the winter and I'll get honey next early summer. Built raised beds, planted vegetables this year, mostly tomatoes and peppers.

It was okay. I could do better next year. I learned a lot. Got tomatoes, got peppers, but not as much as I would have liked. But if anyone starts to think about doing things on your own, growing or producing your own food, you always come to, which is really supposed to be the starting point, really vegetables and bees are not the starting point. Chickens are the starting point. This is the foray into homesteading. And so recently,

so Rachel's afraid of chickens. Rachel doesn't like chickens. She wants nothing to do with chickens. So we've had this conversation for a year and a half. Finally, Rachel broke and said, OK, you can get chickens. And the two of us, we started to look at coops. And I went to the different big box retailers. They get their coops from China. And I started going down this path. And it led me across the country through the states.

And I ended up in north carolina with carolina coops and so help me bring in our next guest matt boys who is the owner of carolina coops and if you watch fox and friends he was just on fox and friends uh this last weekend uh showcasing uh one of his great coops um which actually ended up, because we bought it from him, in my yard with my chickens. Matt, welcome to you from the kitchen table. What's going on, Sean? You're giving me goosebumps right now. That was a great intro. And I tell you, I'm so happy to hear what you just said. And so many more people are starting to finally talk about our food, how important our food is,

and that we've been getting lied to, that it's poisoning us. And I'm so thankful that you are helping be part of this wonderful message for people to hear. Well, can we just start? We're talking about food. Let's start off with the basics. We go to the grocery store, and if you buy a carton of eggs you get the same size white little eggs um and they have these little um these little yolks that don't really look vibrant in color and then if you get like a free range a chicken from someone's from someone's you know yard or farm and you crack that egg open and it's a dark yellow orange yolk what's going on with the different eggs that we buy in the store versus you know what we're doing on the home front

getting right into it wow okay um well i love that because here's what i was just thinking about when you were in asking that question is a lot of people don't know that there is a difference and i was thinking about a lot of my don't know that there is a difference. And I was thinking about a lot of my upbringing right in that when you're bringing that up that my mother who was a germaphobe and I got only knows how many vaccines I got as a kid. Like that was just what my mother kept telling me is like, no, no, no, you got to buy from the store. They got to be clean. They got to be white and this and that. So, you know, how many people still have no clue about what you just described? I had no clue until I got into backyard chickens that, wait a minute, you cracked that fresh egg.

I mean, I'm telling you, you went out to your coop and it's still warm. That is a great feeling. I'll never forget when I cracked my first egg, right? You always remember your first one. I cracked it onto the frying pan. Thank you. You can laugh. I cracked it onto the frying pan and it is dark, dark yellow.

And actually, it doesn't lay flat. It actually stays nice and tight. And the reason is because now you're seeing something that most people had no idea how it's supposed to be, and that is a fresh egg, a healthy egg. It came from a chicken that's eating what chickens are supposed to eat. Our store-bought eggs that we are being lied to, we are told that they should be refrigerated. We're told that they should be white, that they should be clean. Or if you don't eat an egg other than that, you're going to get sick.

And that is simply not true. It's actually the opposite. And what I've realized is this is hard for people to wrap their mind around. And especially nowadays, we want to believe what we want to believe. It's hard to open up, especially something as simple as our food. But I started to learn about this when I was an exterminator. And it's amazing. I was that nerdy bug guy. I absolutely loved killing bugs. And I started seeing what's called factory farming. Okay. And I'm not here to beat up factory farms by any means. You got a lot of hardworking people there, but what I want people

to realize, the reason why you see the difference in those eggs is because do you want something cheap and quick and convenient, or do you want to work a little bit more for your food? Because it's the cheap, convenient food that is killing us. And in order for these factory farmers to provide that, which is a service, let's face it, you're going to have to cut corners, if you will. And because these chickens are in a cage, it's getting better. Okay, I get it already. I can already hear people yelling, no, that's not true.

They're still in a cage. They're cooped up so tight they can't raise their wings. They never see sunshine. The conditions are so bad in there that they have to actually give them food with antibiotics to keep them alive. All right? But they're eating the same thing over and over and over. And that's why the egg is bleh. And then by the time you get it, it's not fresh.

And always remember, you are what you eat. So whatever that chicken's eating, when you eat that egg, that's what you're eating. That's a really good point. And again, I think you see it in the difference. Take a white egg bought in the store and take a farm fresh egg that was maybe free range or even eating good organic food, and the difference is profound. But one of the problems we had, Matt, is Rachel and I were talking about chickens. And again, you helped with the breakthrough with Rachel and her chickens. We're going to show that in a second. But what I thought was interesting was she was like,

even though I don't want to hold a chicken, I don't want to pet a chicken, I want the eggs from the chicken, but I don't want them to get slaughtered. I don't want to have a mink or a fox or some animal get in and totally wipe out these chickens that we're going to invest in. And we probably had an hour, hour and a half conversation before we went with the Carolina Coop. And you were walking through chicken math and what the coops look like and why your coops use you i don't know that you give us a a carolina coop guarantee that nothing's going to get in the coop but you've told me nothing's ever gotten in our coops um you build them so well talk to me about how you build the coops and and and what you do different to make sure that you don't get these wild animals coming in and killing your birds well that, that's a great question.

All right. So first, I want to point out to everyone listening, I'm actually thankful that Rachel had that concern from the beginning because a lot of people don't. 90% of the people, and I'm guessing there, I'm probably pretty accurate, build their own coop. And what happens is they underestimate predation. That coop is on guard every single night. And the other thing is, and we get these calls every day, it always starts out with people that, oh, I got predators. And we sell these all around the world, so we get calls from all around the world. And they're like, well, I got predators.

And our response is, in the nicest way possible, everyone's got predators. Is there going to be different predator pressure levels? Absolutely. Who's going to have bears? Who's going to pressure levels? Absolutely. Who's going to have bears? Who's going to have more hawks? Who's going to have more foxes? Absolutely. But those coops are on guard every night.

And I'm so thankful that Rachel was thinking about something that a lot of people don't think about. Now, fast forward to Carolina coops. I am all about quality, not only in the quality of our design, how beautiful it is, the quality of our function, the quality of the materials. And I get calls all the time for people saying, Matt, I don't know what to do about my coop. I keep getting predators coming in. What do I got to do? And a lot of it has a lot to do with their choice of materials.

And then, of course, your craftsmanship. You cannot underestimate predators. So the biggest one, for example, here's a most common mistake is a lot of people will build their coop out of pressure treated lumber. And that makes sense. Okay. Yeah. Pressure treated lumber. It's going to be outside. It's gonna last forever. What people don't realize is when they build that coop out of pressure treated lumber and you're going to attach that screen, which there's a whole nother conversation about screen. Let's just say, Hey, we got really good screen. We're going to put chain link fence up there. It's all about the fasteners.

And when they fasten that screen and the fasteners go in the pressure treated lumber, you've got to understand different metals don't like each other. Except for stainless steel. Stainless steel is like that person that everyone gets along with at the party, right? So what happens is they go the cheap route. They use the wrong fasteners and it corrodes in that pressure treated lumber because it has copper in it. And it's something that might sound complicated. It's really not when you really think about it.

It's things like that, that you just don't want to make that mistake. And I'm very fortunate growing up in construction. I've been building animal enclosures since I was born. I've learned these things along the way and I was born. I've learned these things along the way and I love studying and I have to be the best. I mean, having backyard chickens, there's nothing worse than losing chickens to predators. So there's an example right there. So like, we are also very fortunate. All of our hardware now that we use in our coops is made just for us. We buy it in bulk. We know exactly what we want. And we even, here's the best part too, going back to 90% of the people. I always tell them, if you're not going to buy one of my coops,

learn from us, build your own coop. But we sell even the staples that we use to attach our screen that's stainless steel. And I want to get that message out there because I can understand someone, you got baby chicks now, your kids are attached to them. You're doing all the right things. You're going to raise them. You got 21 weeks of hard work before they're going to lay an egg. And then all of a sudden, a fox comes in and wipes them out. That's devastating. And you got to start all over.

You don't get that time back. So the choice of materials is so important. And never underestimating every little detail to make sure everything's buttoned up tight. is so important and never underestimating every little detail to make sure everything's buttoned up tight. Okay. So I imagine some people listening may have a house where they're like, listen, we can't have chickens in our yard, right? That's not going to work. So I'm going to get to that in a second. But, or you might have a spouse who's like, listen, I don't want a chicken. I'm afraid of chickens like my wife was, or still is. Let me show you this clip from Fox and Friends when Rachel met

a chicken on set. Watch this. It's just a bird. It's that one. It's a chicken. Do not. Do not. Do not. Do not. Do not. I am definitely and that is a really do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not

do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not do not I can't. I can't. Okay, so for those of you who are listening to the podcast and not watching, that's Rachel on Fox & Friends where Will and Pete brought in chickens, and Rachel is freaking out running on top of the couch and behind the couch trying to get away from this chicken she's terrified of. But just to talk about the progress, we got 13 chickens. Matt's team helped us pick out the right breeds of hens to get.

So they came in a couple weeks ago. We've been raising them in a rabbit's cage in the basement in one of our bathrooms. And I just moved them out to the Carolina coop. But before we did that, Rachel was on the set with Matt on Fox & Friends out on the plaza. And watch and see what Rachel responded to with one of these little baby chickens, what she did. Watch this. There it is. You got it live on camera, folks.

The first time Rachel ever touched a chicken. Yes. There's a first time. Yes. There's a first time. Yes. This is a big step for you. I think Matt is more proud of himself than I am.

I am really proud of you right now because when I spoke to you a month or so ago, you were literally, I mean, they were like, they might as well be snakes and spiders. I know, but you know, they are creepy cute cute at this age it's just those ones in there that are i just i can't imagine that i would ever be able to it's a first step right wait mom are you trying to like it mom's gonna like it and you guys you guys are really gonna to... I think that might be a step too far. They're the most gentle, beautiful babies.

Do you hear how happy she is? Wait, hold her. Can I hold her? So just put your hand out like this close to your body. You can't hurt you. One hand out. Matt's going to place it in your hand. I can't because the feet just go. Okay, so there you go.

With Skip and Matt there, Rachel was able to break the phobia and pet this little harmless chicken. So, Matt, I have to imagine that people think about these two questions. One, I have a spouse who may not want chickens. And also, do I have the room and space to raise chickens even though I may want to do it? I don't know that I have the space. What would you say to someone in those two situations? Hear it all the time. Hear it all the time.

And we have never had a situation where we couldn't solve the problem. Case in point. I wanted to ask you what was going through your mind when you watched Rachel pet that baby chick. Well, listen, I was delighted. First off, I'm like, she's been, I mean, they're the most harmless, beautiful little things, right? It's like just pet its head.

And she, you know what? The problem was she wouldn't even get near them to see how docile they are. And it was at that moment where I think maybe she had the pressure from you and Skip kind of bringing her in to see the chicken and reach out to it. And she trusted that you weren't going to, like, throw it at her. And so, listen, I was delighted.

It was one step, and many were going to have to get to her for her to hold one of those big chickens and stroke its little neck and rub its chest or breast. But, yes, you know, i'm really happy that we made you know that one step in progress but you do see that quite a bit the one spouse that doesn't want to yes so yes um so we have the reluctant spouse a lot actually very seldom and we ask this all the time who's the chicken person who wants the chickens uh because we know there's always going to be a reluctant spouse and our job at the end of the day is to educate because we know there's always going to be a reluctant spouse. And our job at the end of the day is to educate. Because we know when we educate, you'll realize why we do what we do with our coops. And a lot of times a reluctant spouse is a major hurdle we have to overcome.

And that's part of selling. You've got to really learn and listen why they don't want chickens. And 99% of the time, it's because they have the wrong idea. They think they have to have a rooster. They think they're going to smell. They think they're going to have to clean it out every week. And that's the beauty of Carolina Coops and what we've learned is how to solve all those problems. But there's always a reluctant spouse.

And again, case in point with Rachel, but most of the time we will always see that spouse will say, you know what, I'm going to go along with it. And what I've learned from that, and I guarantee you, it might take a little bit longer for Rachel. Every time you have that reluctant spouse, you know who falls in love with the chickens the most? That reluctant spouse. I promise you, I see it over and over and over. But we'll let that play out.

Now, we will take the time. And that's been a big message of ours this year is I worry how many people don't get into backyard chickens because you read about the predators, you hear about avian flu, you hear about all these things. I'm not going to say it's nonsense, but let's think a little bit. Let's do some research and think about the things that we are actually saying. So when you have that reluctant spouse, and I wanted to ask Rachel, you know, what was it that put her over the edge when you convinced her to finally say, you know, I'm going to go out and have backyard chickens? And I was so happy, even all the way up to when the coop was on the set and then you got to see it in person. Even she said, she goes, I had no idea how beautiful these are and that's another one that the reluctant spouse is like you think you know it's a rickety coop that you're just gonna hide in behind the garage and she actually said that if you remember that in the very first meeting she goes i don't want to see it and i want in the back and i'm like

you know i was a little sick but i was like i know what she sees it's gonna be a whole different story and she was just wowed by the design um so, and the thing about Carolina Coops, and again, if you're listening to this and you can relate, you have that reluctant spouse, I promise you, give us a call, watch our YouTube channel, continue to listen to this podcast because we have made it so that if you got the right coop, raising chickens is so easy. Now, Sean, you mentioned the other very important thing. How much room do I need? That is the most important thing if you're thinking about getting the backyard chickens. You've got to have the right size coop.

You've got to understand chickens need to work. Us human beings, especially in the western part of this planet, we coddle our pets. And we love to do it. I do it. You know, my cats, my dogs, but chickens, I find a lot of people do that with their chickens. They have problems. You want to keep it simple with chickens and all you got to do is give them space and let them work. But you have to understand there is a little bit of math there. Now I'm going to use Southern

California, for example, actually probably most of California, most of our coops are in California. And we actually have a coop called the California coopop. And it's the opposite of the California bed. You think big. We had to go small because a lot of people in California, they got maybe an eighth of an acre. But believe it or not, with the right setup and you don't overload with chickens, you can be successful with your standard hens. And a lot of people don't realize you can have bantams, which is half a chicken, if you will. So they don't require as much space, but they are great chickens.

They're great pets. They will also give you eggs. And then of course, there's also people that have quail. It's very similar to chickens, some differences, but there are ways if you're limited on space, you may not be aware of it's very doable.

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Helping make sense of the world when it matters most. Stay in the know. CBC News. And quail eggs are as good or similar eggs to chickens? Very similar. Gorgeous. I wish I had one with me. Usually we have eggs all around in here.

Um, a lot smaller, but quail are amazing. And I see a huge future future in quail because more and more people are raising them because they don't require a lot of space. They lay eggs like crazy. They reproduce like crazy. They're actually a great source of protein. And I predict you're going to see more and more people, especially in the city, having quail because you can actually raise them right in your apartment if you had to. Quail in your apartment. Wow. Okay.

Didn't know we could have quail in the apartment. I'm happy to have chickens in the backyard. Matt, are you seeing? I went with Fox Business. I went to a homestead conference. And I wasn't sure what I was going to find when I got there. But it was remarkable. And by the way, these homestead conferences are happening all times of the year in all parts of the country. It's like this whole cottage industry. And it's bees, it's chickens, it's gardening, it's cows, it's sheep and pig, like all the things that people might

do on their homestead. They have this conference and they have speakers and then people are there selling their wares or their books and their knowledge. The thing was packed. Are you seeing more people just in your line of business, maybe even since the pandemic, people are going, you know what, I thought about chickens, but you know what, I'm going to take the leap now because after the shelves were barren over COVID, I want to have more control over the kind of food supply and food source that comes into my house. What have you seen with regard to more people getting involved? Exactly that. So many people are getting involved. And again, I'm so thankful. But here's the sad truth that I've seen with my business. It started in 2008. If you remember 2008, the recession. And people are like, man, things aren't going well. So we

go into survival mode. We start nesting. We don't waste money on going on vacation. So it's like, okay, I should get into backyard chickens. And then, thank God, my business started. Like, okay, you know, I should get into backyard chickens. And then, you know, thank God my business started. And then COVID hits. And I don't think any of us had a clue the results of COVID. And I'm an entrepreneur. And I think a lot of us entrepreneurs just have a natural gift for being optimistic, seeing the silver lining, figure out how to solve problems. And I realize, once again, fear drives our business.

And I hate fear. Fear is awful. But it's how we handle that fear. And I am so thankful for all the bad that happened in COVID. So many people said, you know what, I might have to take matters into my own hands. And we're seeing that again recently in the news. And I'm so thankful. And like I was saying on your interview, I'm so glad to be a part of that. And I'm seeing a huge amount of people getting into it and why it's so important that the people are out there sharing the message of what you need to know. Because I also, you can also have a lot of bad

information come out real fast and people are going to take advantage of them. And that's why we have our message out there. Just always explaining why not just here, just believe everything I say. No, but I'm going to always explain why. And with COVID, looking back from a business point of view, I wish I knew what was going to happen. Because we literally had five to eight people answering the phone every second, and we still couldn't keep up with the calls. We lost so many potential sales. But it is what it is. You is. We did really well. And most important, we've learned a lot from it. And I'm convinced we haven't even seen the worst of it. And that's what scares me. And that's why I want so many people to listen to what we're saying.

Learn now to have backyard chickens. Don't wait until it's too late. I was thinking about when I was in New York City, you met Kristen, our chicken expert, years ago. She's been with us for about 12 or 15 years. Years ago, I'll never forget, she said something to me. She goes, one day a chicken is going to be more valuable than a pair of diamond earrings. And I thought she was nuts. You see that now. And also, here's the other thing. You can't eat diamond earrings, Matt.

That's right. And here's the other thing. I was just thinking about also. You can't eat salmoneers, Matt. That's right. And here's the other thing. We still are dealing with Western North Carolina where they got devastated by the hurricane. And I was thinking, they have no electricity. They're dying for water. They need food. A lot of people also don't realize with backyard eggs, you don't have to refrigerate them. It's never been more important to get that source of protein

over there where a lot of people are like oh we can't bring eggs because that'd be refrigerated they don't nature has simplified it for us we keep screwing it up so here's what i as i thought about doing this as well i think i'm just i i i love talking about this because i'm excited that we have a coop and we have chickens. But one of the drawbacks, or I thought it was a drawback for me, was, you know, listen, I've got a lot of kids. Rach and I are working all the time. But once in a while, we want to leave and get away with the kids. And no one's going to be here.

And when I was looking at the different systems in place on how do you, how do you have a self-sustaining coop? Um, I didn't realize it till you and I spoke, but you're like, listen, our coop, we have these add-ons where you can put a hundred pounds of feed, um, you know, into a, into a container that by the way, slams really tight. No one can open it up. That'll last them for almost a month. but it slams really tight.

No one can open it up. That'll last them for almost a month. You have a barrel feeding system that feeds into these nipples. You fill that up, it's going to give them water for a month. And you have the composting system in the hen house. And you're like,

you could leave these chickens in the coop for a month and they're going to be completely fine. This system works. So the amount of work when I thought of like every day or every couple of days, who's going to go deal with the chicken and who's going to clean it out? Who's going to? You're like, no, no, no, no, no. All you have to do is you got to go get the eggs. You got to get the eggs.

And, you know, every three or four weeks, you got to make sure there's food and water. But you don't have to clean the coop out, whether it's a year, you might even go two years before you clean the coop out. Explain what you've done to make this so simple for really busy families who think that it's a full time job to have chickens. It's actually not. You've made it really simple. Thank you. Yeah. Such an important part of the message. And I mean, you just nailed it. So I realize a lot of people want to get into backyard chickens, but we're not going to be full-time farmers.

It's a lot of work to be full-time farmers. We still want to be able to enjoy our lives, go away on vacation. So I just, again, the entrepreneur in me, I'm going to figure out how to solve problems. There's a way to crack this riddle, if you will, crack the egg. And the feeder hopper was a idea. And here's something that's very true about our coop designs. And I'm very proud to say this. A lot of the ideas came from our customers. Our job was to figure out how to engineer it and design it and make it work

to execute, right? So you got the feeder hopper that a lot of people are like, oh my God, 100 pounds of feed in the feeder hopper. That's too much. It's not. Okay. Yes, you got the feeder hopper that a lot of people are like oh my god 100 pounds of feed in the feeder hopper that's too much it's not okay um yes you got to have everything in check with you know how many chickens you have in your coop however um feed as long as it's protected well uh the chickens will continue to eat and it won't go bad as long as it doesn't get wet and then as far as the water system, there's two things about water. It freezes and it can run out. Actually, with your system, as long as it doesn't stop raining,

you continue to capture rainwater off a metal roof, which is perfectly safe, and it feeds that water bar that has the nipples so the water's not getting dirty. It's making the chickens work. So important. Let those chickens work. Also also we've designed a system so as long as you don't run out of power it won't freeze on you so it just circulates the water it's got the de-icer down inside the barrel it's a sweet

system and then yes the deep litter system this is something that we did not invent we just figured out how to incorporate into all of our chicken coops. I love the story. Back in World War II, when most of the men were out fighting the war, the women had to stay back and they had to do everything, including take care of the chickens. They didn't have time to clean out the hen house. So they just said, you know what? This stinks. I'm just going to throw some litter on it and hope the smell stops. And it did in seconds. And that's the birth of the deep litter. And all you're doing is composting. So all those things that people say, no, I can't have chickens. You can. And I'm going to take a one step further. You ready for this? You mentioned, yes, you're going to want someone to come get

those eggs. The person to come get those eggs is your neighbor. They probably can't stand chickens, but they love eggs and you just pay them in eggs. But all those devices we just talked about, the feed and the water and the egg hodge, are on the outside of your chicken coop. They don't have to go in where the chickens are. So you have very little problems. Usually you have neighbors fighting over who's going to come watch your chickens and get those free eggs. Yeah, watch the chickens, take the eggs, even trade. So, Matt, I mentioned earlier that Kristen, your chicken expert, got on the phone call with me.

I wanted to get different colored eggs from the different chickens. And I had a lot of questions. I'm like, can I have different breeds of chickens all together? And they live together. It's like, yes, you can. And she helped me walk through and pick the different chickens that I wanted. I wanted to get like eight to 10. She's like a drug dealer.

She pushes drugs. She pushes chickens. I have 13 chickens, Matt. And they came. None of them died. And I bought a rabbit cage, and I put pine chips in there, and it made a huge mess. And by the way, when I saw you at Fox & Friends, I ended up getting the hemp bedding, which was way better and way cleaner. But anyway, i kept them

in there but they grow i mean listen they grow fast i mean they're they came as little chicks and i'm two and a half weeks in and the things have exploded in growth well the cage was getting too small and uh kristen said listen it's cold but if you get a couple of heat plates which is kind of like the mom and chicken they get underneath that heat plate and stay warm get a couple of them put them in the, and they're going to be fine. So I got an extra heat plate. I put it in. And yesterday I brought the chickens out of the cage to the coop for the first time.

I have video of it because I put a video camera inside the coop so I can see them. Dude, it was freaking amazing. They were like the happiest birds I've seen. And I mean, they had a room, they were flying, they were eating, drinking. It was, it was really cool to see him get in there. Now I don't, I don't have the run open yet. So they're still too small. I have that still closed off. But I mean, they have, they have the space and you have the, you have, we have the windows, right, so we have windows on all sides that you can actually open up in the summer, but it's cold right now, so I've got them, I've got them closed, but the sun will shine in there in the morning, and it's interesting,

they'll run into the, they'll all be sitting in where the sun's coming through the window, then they'll all run away, and, but it's not a's not a box. It's there's windows that's light in there. You can open it up and air it out. But again, the, the, the, the, so my chicks are in and they're absolutely loving their Carolina coop. Yeah, no, that's awesome. And honestly, that's one of my favorite ways to do it. And using your hen house, like you just said and this is you keep those windows closed keep that front hen house door closed let that become their next brooder just make sure they you know never run out of electricity because if those heat plates turn off you can absolutely have a problem but what you're doing is giving them more space yes baby chicks grow so fast

faster than you would ever imagine. And what's also happening, remember this chickens are creatures of habit. It is critical. They learned that that's home and you're kickstarting it right from the beginning, which is my favorite way to do it. Where normally a lot of people will get their baby chicks because they see them at the store. They're so cute. They don't think they're going to grow up fast. They get them. And then next thing you know, they're calling us and they're like, Matt, I got to get a coop. And I'm like, oh boy, well, we're booked out months, unfortunately. And that is getting better. Thank God. But they don't realize how fast they grow.

So next thing you know, they're in their bathtub. We call them the bathtub calls. This is where when I said we've saved marriages, we've had to rush out coops or there was going to be a divorce. I am not exaggerating. And it can be a little bit trickier when they get older. You know, six to eight weeks is usually that ideal time that most people say to put them in the house. But as long as they have a heat plate, they're good. They're going to know that's home right from the beginning. And once they're fully feathered, that's when you'll know you'll be able to get rid of the

heat plates. And you'll also see them getting up on those tree branches, those rope wrap roost bars that you don't have to train them. It's in their instincts. And that's all you're trying to do. Encourage your instincts. They're going to know that's home. And I promise you this will happen.

A time's going to come. You're going to realize the same thing once again, when you let them free free range remember that how happy they were when they went to that hen house they're going to do the same thing when they can free range yes is there a potential chance for predation absolutely i'd rather be free with a little bit of risk um than in a coop all day so they will always come back home you can almost set your clock to it. So one of Rachel's co-hosts, Pete Hegseth, he has chickens. And he's had a rooster, and the rooster was not very nice, was really aggressive with him and the kids. And I'm not sure how his chickens were aggressive.

His hens were aggressive as well. But what you guys told us was what's important is when you get these chicks, you actually got to make them a pet. So, and Rachel has not been as involved in this part as I would like, but you're like, you got to go hold them. So every day I go down or the, and the kids also go down every day. So someone picks up, we pick up all the chicks, hold them, pet them, rub their breasts. And it's interesting, because they've been in the coop for a day now, a little over a day. And I went out today, and some will run away from me. They don't want me to touch them.

But others will come up, and they let me pick them up. They're only two and a half weeks old. They let me pet them they're totally fine um and i think you said that's important to go listen you want them again it's not like a dog it's not a cat they don't they don't purr and they don't snuggle up to you but they they are a creature that will build a relationship with you which i find fascinating and i never knew that about the chickens build a relationship with with with their owners. And if you do it right from the start, they actually become pet like.

Yeah. You know, and that's definitely a Kristen, our chicken needs to talk. And that's one that she's a huge advocate of. And if you can do it and you have the time. Awesome. Especially if you got the kids,

you continue that bond. And also certain breeds supposedly are going to be more friendly than others i'm not really sold on that but in general you know your orpingtons and maybe your buffs can be a little bit more friendlier uh but it can make a huge difference and it just makes you appreciate that when you get that egg or you get those eggs i'm telling you it's it's it's kind of hard to describe. And then the other thing about that, starting to create that bond with them. And there's going to be something when you let them free range that is extremely therapeutic.

And a lot of people don't realize it until they get their chickens. I will never forget years ago, I had a lady, we did a coop for our family, and a lady called me up thanking me. And I could hear her sobbing on the phone. I said, what's going on? Is everything all right? She goes, no, you don't understand how happy I am. And I was like, oh, that's great to hear. She goes, my husband has stopped drinking since he got these chickens. Wow.

Yeah, that's what I said. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. I mean, it's incredible. He doesn't eat AA anymore. Exactly. See, nature, that's the thing. We have complicated our lives. And when we get back to nature, we get back to getting dirty in the soil,

we get back out into the sun, we are going to be happier. And I want people to go, huh, might sound crazy. That's crazy, but let me try it. It's so real. And you're going to experience it. And I'm so happy let me try it. It's so real. And you're going to experience it. And I'm so happy that we get to be a part of this. You have one of our coops.

And that, you know, you guys do such a good job with the podcast and sharing the story. You're going to be proof of what I'm talking about. And I can't wait for that moment. So, again, there might be some people who are like, listen, you know, I'm on a budget. I want chickens. You know, I got to do a lot of this myself. But you mentioned something when we first started talking. So, if you're like, hey, listen, we'll actually help people.

You'll actually have people come up and go, hey, I'm building a coop. I can get this stuff at Home Depot, but I want to make sure I'm doing this right. You're like, well, we can sell you the fasteners. We can, like, so you'll sell, you don't sell just the coops. You'll sell different components to help people set up their coops in a way where you're just a small part of it, not the full enchilada, you know, making their coop function and work for them, for their backyard chickens. Absolutely. So there's a strategy there. One, we love what we do. We're chicken people.

We're woodworkers. Most of us here at Carolina Coops actually come from the hospitality industry. It's a little hack I've learned in hiring. There's something special about people that work in restaurants because we just love customer service, but we can handle stress. We can think fast. We know how to work as a team. We all love our animals. We love our chickens. So we love what we do. And again, I realized so many people are building their own coops, but I know what the difficulties can be like windows and windows are so important because you can't just go buy a window that you're going to use on your house. It won't keep the predators out. You can't function the window from the outside. You're not going to want to go inside your hen house to work the window. We've solved all that. And through our windows, our pre-hung windows, our pre-hung doors, our egg hutches, our feeder systems, water systems, we sell all that now as an accessory.

And people actually love it. And here's the other thing I've learned in business is if you want to sell, you want to get out in front of the line. And by even the people that maybe didn't buy a darn thing from us, they listen to our podcast every Friday noon Eastern VCL, and they listen. They type in their questions. We answer them, and they're going to design their coupes. We get letters all the time.

It's got a thank you letter today saying thank you so much for all the knowledge. They still become our best salespeople because people are going to come to the house. Think about it. Where do people usually learn about chickens for the very first time? And it's typically going to a friend's house. You're drinking a glass of wine. You're walking out back. Oh, hey, is that a chicken coop?

Did I just see a chicken run by? You're like, absolutely. And they're like, I never thought about this. And people that have built their own coop are like, yeah, if you don't want to build your own coop, call Carolina Coops. Boom, done. You know what I mean? So when we were going to put the coop in, again, Rachel said yes. But she's like, okay, we're going to get this kind of as far back and out of the sight line as we possibly can.

So I can have the chickens out of my life and the coop out of my life. And you can do this, Sean. You can have the chickens. I can't wait to get the eggs. So I'm in. I want the eggs, but I don't really want to see and be part of the process. And I actually shot a video for you, Matt. I'm like, can we put it here?

Can we fit it there? And you're like, measure what kind of slope you have there. So I did. I measured the slope to make sure what kind of work it was going to take to get the coop in. On Saturday, we were at Fox and Friends. She saw the coop. She was like, it's beautiful.

And so I don't know if you know this, but when the coop came out to our house, it was not anywhere near where we said it was going to go. We put it right in. It had a regulation that it has to be in our backyard. So it has to be a backyard coop. But it is quite prevalently placed in our backyard because it looks so beautiful. And I was like, got to get back a little further. We want it kind of nestled in this corner. It's a sight line we can see. And she was like, well, I don't know. Maybe we need to move it up a little closer to the house. I want to be able to see the chickens. I want to see the coop. Is this too far away? So it's interesting that you can have these birds. And again, if you

got to do it yourself and you need the insight, Carolina Coops can help with that. They helped us with that as well. But if you want to get a coop from them, it's interesting to go, this is, as well but if you if you want to get a coupe from them it's interesting to go this is it's it's a it's it's craftsmanship and it looks really great alongside your house yeah which is our ours as well I wanted to ask you because I hated that I wasn't able to be out there with the road crew but I'm sure you got to witness what I talked about not only everyone here in the shop and office my road crew guys are phenomenal I love when customers don't want them to leave. They're hugging.

They're crying. I bet you they knocked it out of the park for you. Well, I don't know if we're saying that we all took a picture before they left. We were, yeah, you have a wonderful crew. And you know what? I think we're at a point in American, I don't know if it's politics. I don't know if it's politics, I don't know if it's society, economics, but I think we're at a time when people are looking at, and again, RFK and even Trump has

engaged in this as well, going, listen, are we poisoning people with the food that we're giving them? We have more chronic disease, we have more illness, more cancer, more obesity than anywhere else on the planet. You know, what is it? Is it who we are as a people or is it what we're putting in our bodies? And so, again, that's one component. And then when you look at the supply chain and not knowing where your food comes from, and I thought you made a really good point, what you feed your chickens is what your eggs are going to be made of, which is what you you're eating and so to actually see the process be part of the process and you know it came from your yard and you know that you know if if the supply chain fails uh regardless you're going to

have chickens and in my house i'm going to have honey i'm going to have eggs and honey i don't know if i can survive on those two things uh and a few vegetables. But that is I think that's key, especially right now, as we look at not I don't think as many of us trust the system like we used to because we've seen it fail. And then we've seen the lies that have come from government that have that have told us things are good for us and healthy for us, when in reality they weren't good for us and they weren't healthy for us. And so I'm listen, I'm delighted that people are making the plums. They're saying, you know what, I do want to be part of this small movement. And again, I don't live on a farm. In my house, I don't have a whole lot of space either. But I do have some room and I can engage in this process

and start to see where my food comes from, at least one small corner of what I eat. And I think what you guys do is so cool, Matt, that you have a product that allows people to go, you know what, again, if you want to be a farmer and do this every day, you can get a coop, and it's going to be awesome for you. But if you have a busy life and you have a backyard, we can make this coop. It becomes really easy. And you can have chickens, and you have a backyard, we can make this coop just, it becomes really easy. And you can have chickens and you can have eggs and you don't have this massive workload,

which I think, especially because, listen, a lot of people are still hustling and bustling and they have kids and they're going about their daily work and their business. And to have a system that works so easily, I think is really cool as well. I think it's a great service to those who want to take this step, Matt. So I appreciate you helping us out and all the information and guidance you've given us. And I just, I can't wait to see this. By the way, I keep calling like, when do my birds get feathers? When do I take the heat plates out? When can I open up the run? He's like, stop calling me, Sean. I'm going to block your number soon. But it's true.

You're a great source. By the way, when do they get feathers? How long is that again? Typically five to six weeks. Fully feathered. Once they're fully feathered, that means they can thermally control their temperature. You can remove the heat plate. And then my advice is wait until they are sleeping up on those roost bars by themselves every single night.

So they're all hopping up there. And then you open up the front hen house door so they can go down into the run. Let them go down on their own. And that's also when you're going to transition the food and water from the hen house, which is now acting as a brooder, down into the run. And they may not be big enough to start using the feeder hopper, so you can still use that smaller feeder. So it's just like children.

You're going to kind of graduate from the bottle to the baby formula to eventually solid food when they get their teeth, if you will. Not that chickens have teeth. I like that. People commenting now. That's not what I mean. But you get what I'm saying. It's kind of a transition.

But the nice part is they're inside that coop because they're going to learn that is home. And as the chickens continue to grow, you're going to start to see more and more why that coop and all those functions, all those features are so incredibly valuable. And one of the things I'm seeing, because we, again, we ship these coops all around the world and I pay very close attention to what happens, especially in Europe. It's funny. You can always almost predict what's going to happen in the United States about 20 years later. It always happens here, whatever happens in Europe.

And we're seeing more and more of this grassroots getting back to growing our own food. And again, yes, we're seeing it here. There's a lot of communities being developed now that is literally a compound if you will in a good way of homesteading and i am a huge fan of we the people and that's what people have to remember that's what i see chickens doing that's why i see bees goats it's bringing people together there's safety in numbers. You can protect each other. You can help each other. You learn from each other. You become a society again.

It's the opposite of what's happening right now. And that is, again, in my opinion, is killing us. We won't even talk to each other anymore. So think about it. Even something as simple as chickens, it's bringing us back together. So we the people. And all you got to do, if you're worried about wanting to know what's going on with our food supply, follow the money. It's bringing us back together. So we the people. And all you got to do if you're worried about wanting to know what's going on with our food supply, follow the money. It's so simple.

Follow the money. People are making a killing off of poisoning us, period. Yeah, I think no more. Take your life back. Take control back. And again, I think you're right. It brings families together. It brings communities together. Listen, Matt, I'm so grateful for Carolina Coops and you. I'm glad we stumbled into you, found you, and you're willing to take the time, like I think you do with all your customers, to walk us through what we should think about, what would work for us, what won't work for us. The process of a coop and chickens, Rachel and I are so grateful for it. And again, for your whole team who has been so generous and kind to us.

We've loved the process. We've loved the process of, you know, picking out a coop, getting it here. You know, the chickens are now in it. And again, I hope that day comes, the not too distant future, where we'll be able to go out and see. I feel like I laid an egg when that first chicken lays an egg. I did it. I did it, man. I laid an egg.

It's going to be the greatest. I promise you, it's the greatest feeling. And then you got to start getting ready for chicken math. And that's the reason why we talked about what size coop you're going to want. Because everyone gets addicted to chickens. And you have room to double your flock you're going to love it especially when one of your hens go broody you won't even have to use the heat plate anymore you have you know a wonderful large family that you're gonna just the kids are gonna love watching nature happen um when the when that mama hen lays on those eggs incubates them hatch, hatches them. Your egg

hutch is designed to accommodate that chick nursery, if you will. You have chickens are the gateway drug to homesteading. So welcome aboard. You know what I think is cool is whether I was doing my bees or now chickens, people have been so willing to help. People are excited about doing this and other people doing it as well. The number of people who've been willing to help and go, you do this, don't do that. Try this, don't try that. Learn from my mistakes. It's really cool. No one hoards information. It's an excitement that more people are going to share it in the mission of whatever it is, whether it's, again, chickens and eggs or bees. Even in gardening, people have been really helpful,

giving me advice as I've tried to, you know, grow a few things. And by the way, I haven't done any of this, Matt. Like, I'm not, I haven't done, I'm 52 years old, haven't done anything. Like I said, I was a DA, I was in Congress, I didn't think about this. But I've kind of taken these steps and I've really enjoyed the process. And I think, again, I'm thinking like so many other Americans are thinking of just trying to do a little more, um, with, uh, with, with my food source on my little plot of land and knowing where it comes from. So again, I want to thank you. I want to thank Carolina Coops. I appreciate you doing the podcast. Appreciate the coop. I'm going to keep you, by the way, I just did a video and posted a little bit later, you know, coming out to the coop and showing my happy little chicks in there fluttering around and eating.

And so I'm going to post that a little bit. If you guys want to go to my Facebook page, you can check that out, too. But Matt DuBois, Carolina Coops, thank you for joining me at the kitchen table. Very grateful. No, thank you. Pleasure is mine. Awesome. Have a good one, Matt.

We'll have more of this conversation after this. Great conversation with Matt from Carolina Coops. Again, I'm so sad Rachel wasn't here because she's been such a big part of this process. Again, she's still stuck in traffic. You know what? I would have made it. I would have gotten around the traffic and got here on time, but I'm not judging. Anyway, thanks for being with us on this edition of From the Kitchen Table. If you like our podcast, please rate, review, subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts. You can always find us at

foxnewspodcast.com wherever you get your podcasts, whether it's Apple or Spotify. When you're there, rate us, review us, subscribe to us, and tell your friends and family members about From the Kitchen Table. Also, check out Carolina Coops.

Think about chickens or bees. Take that one step. Take the leap in taking control of your life and your food supply. Until next time, when I'll hopefully have the boss of the family, the queen bee herself, out of traffic and with me. But that does it for The Kitchen Table. Thanks much. See you next time. have the boss of the family, the queen bee herself, out of traffic and with me. But that does it for The Kitchen Table. Thanks much. See you next time.

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