Things You Wish You Would Have Known?

[Coop de Grass]

That chickens come with flies... and that fly traps stink...

 

[Lefu Ntlele]

I never know that my girls can lay eggs without the cock . And that 5 hens drive away hunger. 5 hens equals 4 or
5 eggs per day .Feeding them mostly food scraps from the kitchen.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Get your chicken medical kit together ASAP (preferably before getting chicks) and stock it well. It's inevitable that the chick(en) will pick a time to get sick/injured when all the stores that sell poultry supplies are closed.

My kit includes: poultry Nutri-drench, poultry Vetericyn spray, blue-kote, Corid, oxytetracycline powder, terramycin ophthalmic ointment, various sizes of syringes, gauze pads, vet wrap bandaging, bandaids, ProBios powder, q-tips, oxine, electrolyte powder, tweezers, styptic powder, olive oil, chemical hand-warmers.

I probably need to add a dewormer and a treatment for lice/mites too...

 

[Blooie]

That chicks are a lot hardier than we give them credit for, and raising chicks with regular outside/free range times from as early as a week old will not only make your chickens happier, but also a lot more comfortable with you. Our high outside today was 88°, but our week old silkies have been outside since 9 am and are more energetic and happy than ever! Especially if you sit in their run with them for a while and hand out treats!

x2 I raise mine in a pen out in the run from the beginning. Temps in the teens and twenties and they do great. I don't even use a heat lamp - just a heating pad draped over a metal frame with an old towel and straw on top. They definitely aren't the delicate little flowers most folks think they are.

 

[AmberSchmieg83]

I wish I had known the proper way to introduce new chickens to an already existing flock. It would have caused a lot less trouble and heartache.
I wish I would have known how much they poop - because it's a LOT!

And if you are in the yard with bare feet or flip flops, you will find it!
I wish I would have known how fast they can destroy things. Particularly freshly planted flowers and gardens! And that they will find any way they can to get in. Little boogers

I wish I had known how much I would enjoy hearing our rooster crow everyday. If he wasn't around, I would miss him!
I knew I would like having chickens, but I didn't realize how much I would LOVE having chickens. They are the best therapy and I love to just sit and watch them.
They are little stress relievers!

 

[thefreis]

We were determined to get chickens and jumped in with both feet. Didn't research it, got what was available at the feed store, let our girls free range in the yard, leave the coop open, named them all, let everyone have their own pet chicken... You name the mistake and we've made it. You take the good with the bad, same as with any other creature that lives with you. But we love to see them happily roaming in the yard. They also come and peck on the back door to be let in to what I call the "original coop" since they all lived in the house - watched tv with the kids and cuddled on the couch (with a roll of paper towels handy

). We wouldn't trade a minute. They bring lots of joy and entertainment. But to answer your question about what I didn't know before that I wished I did.. I didn't think they would poop all over the deck, a lot, everywhere. Or that we would have to find someone who was willing to chicken and dog sit when we're out of town and pay them extra to mind the girls as collect eggs. Still wouldn't change our minds about chickens. My husband would probably have a different answer about owning a backyard flock that keeps growing, but he was out voted on all things chicken related

 

[AllynTal]

This is such a great thread.

Three tools I have come to love for chicken coop maintenance:

Angle grinder - so much easier than snips for cutting hardware cloth. I just used it yesterday to cut the doors off a dog crate, after trying every other tool I owned.
Plastic putty knife - scrapes poop off of any surface.
Plastic zip ties - good for attaching things. Just really handy to have around.

X2 !

I also found this invaluable for coop cleaning:


The head with the brush and squeegee swivels.

I used to live in the Northeast just north of Boston before I moved to the Deep South. My husband has lived here all his life and has seen snow maybe twice (maybe) in his whole life and even then it was a few flakes that didn't even make it to the ground. After we built the big coop and went to clean it the first time, I pulled this out of the trunk of my car (it was next to the folding snow shovel, of course). My husband looked at it, turned it over a few times and asked me, "What is this for?" I told him it's the new coop-cleaning tool -- it's a combo poop scraper, litter brush and squeegee (because let's face it, something is always wet) on an extendable handle.

For those of you that are in the same boat as my husband, it's a snow brush/ice scraper/squeegee for cleaning the snow and ice off your car in the winter.

 

[Gnarled Carrots]

Oh what I wish I'd known before getting chickens! Although I'd probably still make the same mistakes again, because learning with chickens is oh so much fun

Anyway, my top 10 pieces of advice for new chicken parents are:

1. Chicken math is real. Everyone will say it and no one heads the warning at first! But, once you get chickens, you'll always want more. My first time I wanted 3, but ended up with 6. My second I wanted 6, but ended up with 9. I'm already planning on what my next brood will be. As well as the next goat...and alpaca. And maybe some quail...

2. Always, always, always build a larger coop/run than you think that you'll need! You'll either end up with more chickens (chicken math!) or your chickens will be happier with more space. Either way, building bigger is a win-win.

3. Start building the coop before you get chickens. As much as you think that you're going to want fluffy little chicks cheeping at you all day, it gets really old really fast. If nothing else, THE DUST WILL GET YOU. Chickens produce such an incredible amount of dust that will cover your entire house. Believe me, if you have allergies, you do not want that indoors!

4. A caveat to number 3: brood outdoors. Chicks are more resilient than they seem and, as afraid as I was to try to keep chicks outside, they'll thank you for it later! Outdoor brooding eliminates the need to cover up for dust, teaches them about the day/night cycle, oftentimes provides them with more space, eliminates the need for a transition outside, and gets them more quickly acclimated to what's "their territory." Also, it keeps all of the chicken dust away from your carpet and computers and nasal passages.

5. Don't be afraid of hatcheries! I've heard so many horror stories with feed lots, backyard "dealers," chicken swaps, and auction houses. These places can be a great place to find chickens. However, they're largely unregulated and can be a breeding ground for disease. I've known people who've driven hundreds of miles to pick up their "perfect chickens" only to find out that it was too good to be true!

A lot of feed stores and feed lots also order their birds from hatcheries, so there's virtually no difference between the two. Reputable hatcheries use farmers across the country, are very good at sexing (My Pet Chicken will also sex bantams now, which is exciting!), and offer money back guarantees on fatalities during shipping and improperly sexed chicks. If you're new to chickens and are looking for a specific breed and/or sex, hatcheries are your best bet. They oftentimes have a large breed and color variety, the chickens are vaccinated (or have the option to be vaccinated for Marek's, etc.), come from NPIP verified flocks, and are reasonably priced. They can be a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to adhering to breed standards (I've had problems with comb type and specific feathering). However, if you're new to backyard chickens and aren't planning to show immediately, they're a great place to start!

6. RESEARCH YOUR BREED AHEAD OF TIME. I can't stress this enough. There's nothing worse than falling in love with a breed only to find that they're flighty, broody, and don't get along well with others. Although not every chicken will conform to exact breed standards and every flock is different (although handling them a lot when they're young can help with this), there are general traits that you can expect from certain breeds. After all, if you're looking for production layers, you don't want an ornamental bantam that averages 1-2 very small eggs a week! If you live in a particularly hot or cold climate, you're also going to want to make sure that your birds are heat or frost hardy.

7. Watching chickens run is the most hilarious thing ever. They're really not meant for running and rather waddle quickly...with their feet sticking out and their necks crooning in odd positions. Who wouldn't want to watch them run all day?

8. Chickens can't fly, but they can flap quite a bit! They'll take running head starts and jump in the air. They'll hop up on things to "climb" them. Even the small chickens can get themselves on top of fences! Most flocks tend to stay together, but that doesn't mean that they won't wander sometimes. I had a Belgian d'Uccle bantam hen who used to get on top of the garage, make her way into trees, and sit on top of the 8 foot concrete fence around the yard. I even found her perched on top of the molding above the back door once. At the end of the day, chickens like heights. In the wild, they roost in trees.

9. Chickens eat and poop a lot. This can oftentimes be seen as a nuisance, but I'm always excited about it! They eat your weeds, keep the grass a little bit more kept, and their poop makes great fertilizer. Right now we have a tractor coop/run. Every couple days we move it to a slightly different part of the yard. It keeps our grass looking great.
10. Chickens are heartwarmingly addictive. See number 1. Once you have them, you'll want more.

 

[JaeG]

There is nothing cuter than a mother chicken excitedly clucking to her chicks that she has found something tasty to share, and seeing the chicks all fight over it! I love using broody hens to hatch eggs and raise chicks.

Also, candling an egg and seeing a little shadow wriggling around in there - magical.

 

[Notaneggspurt]

I wish I would have known that DHs coop plan does not include a retirement wing