334: Kunal Sampat on Raising Backyard Chickens.
Knowing the joy of being a chicken parent.
After living in urban neighborhoods for his entire life, Kunal wanted to experience a sustainable, rural lifestyle. In 2013, he welcomed a flock of 16 baby chicks at his home in San Jose, California. Since Silicon Valley kids knew a whole lot about technology and very little about raising chickens, he started to offer free farm tours in his backyard.
A teacher at heart, Kunal recently launched a comprehensive online video course on raising chickens. He enjoys connecting like-minded people, introducing new ideas, and immersing himself in an environment of continuous learning.Don’t miss an episode! Click here to sign up for podcast updates
In This Podcast:
Technology was the world he was most familiar with, until Kunal Sampat got introduced to the life of raising chickens. He shares the story of how he started his flock, and how it did not take long for this to become a passion. He also helps break a few myths about backyard chickens. Kunal has regular tours of his farm to help others learn about keeping these flocks, teaches classes online and offers a special to Urban Farm listeners.
Listen in and learn about:
- Growing up in Mumbai and how his travels led him to live in California
- The influence of a co-worker on how they started raising chickens
- The growth of his flock and his new business
- Having people come tour his farm and his chickens
- The joy and curiosity of a particular young child visiting his farm
- Getting started and learning about chickens from a few people as well as trial and error
- Busting the myths of raising chickens: 1 – needing a rooster 2 – the smell of chickens and the coop 3 – the time it takes to clean a coop
- Feeding the chickens
- Transitioning to making his own feed
- Why he started his online course
- Special offer for Urban Farm Listeners Use Code UrbanFarm10
As well as:
- His failure – He needed to learn that not everything was about himself and he needed to help others feel good
- His success – Moving to the United States at the age of 17 and succeeding on his own
- His drive – He’s going to learn something new every day
- His advice – Treat animals as your partners, treat them ethically
Kunal’s Book recommendations:
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
How to reach Kunal:
Websites: raising-chickens.com & sampatfarms.com Facebook: @SampatFarms Twitter: @kunal_sampat Instagram: @wildfirekunal Email: kunal@sampatfarms.com
UrbanFarm.org/SampatFarms
This episode was sponsored by Health IQ. Visit them at healthiq.com/urbanfarm to support our show and to see if you qualify for lower insurance rates.
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Great episode. Truly enjoyed his story. Raising chickens can be really fun and rewarding.