Things You Wish You Would Have Known?

[RodNTN]

I wish I would've known that chickens are addicting!

 

[lcertuche]

They are addicting. When I need a break from inside I sit in a chair outside and wait for them all to run to me. Sometimes I will have 3 or 4 in my lap, one on my should, one on the back of the chair behind my head. I look like some weird chicken-lady, lol.

 

[chickrunfun]

Personally, I have had my younger/smaller birds injured and even some eventually died by being caught up in the great exit in the a.m. I try to separate the young ones at night because of this. I eventually plan to make some chicken tractors just for this reason. My older ones are about 16 weeks old now and are rough on my 7 week old chicks. They still peck at them but no permanent damage but having a good size pullet or rooster landing on you when coming off the roost is very damaging to their little fragile bodies. I am trying to figure out a way to divide the coup for nighttime for now. I hope to have my tractors built soon however.

Some well placed pieces of scrap wood and left over hardware clothe made up our younguns safe zone in the hen house we lovingly call "the mini barn" The main body of it was an unused ferret cage top on it's side. The "door" was an old grill zip tied in place. Not the prettiest but kept the babies safe till they were big enough to fend for themselves. Heck a box with a door cut out just big enough for lil chicks would do. Thankfully chickens don't know the difference between no $ and $$ spent on stuff done for them

 

[mossyroo]

In honor of the thread title...I wish I had known I don't have to get up at dawn to let my chickens out. Of course, I do make sure they have enough water in the coop to last until I do get up. And good ventilation.

I like to wait until 10:00 or so. Some of the predators have finished browsing the poultry section by then.

 

[ChickNanny13]

In honor of the thread title...I wish I had known I don't have to get up at dawn to let my chickens out. Of course, I do make sure they have enough water in the coop to last until I do get up. And good ventilation.

I "sleep in" until 7 but thinking they're hungry I'm always up at 6 to get them fed. I take run errands in the mornings, rush home to let them out of their Coop/Run cause I feel "bad" they're cooped up. They have the whole backyard (fenced) to grub but spend their time in the patio. Yup, they're spoiled

 

[chickrunfun]

I "sleep in" until 7 but thinking they're hungry I'm always up at 6 to get them fed. I take run errands in the mornings, rush home to let them out of their Coop/Run cause I feel "bad" they're cooped up. They have the whole backyard (fenced) to grub but spend their time in the patio. Yup, they're spoiled

Well that's what my wife and I say to everyone about ours. "They're the most spoiled chickens around"
They even get frozen feed mash with peas and meal worms served up to them in the shade during the hot part of the day sos to cool off...we're sick. Yeah, I got no life...

But hey, they give eggs everyday and make me laugh all day so it's all good in the chickenhood

 

[lcertuche]

Well that's what my wife and I say to everyone about ours. "They're the most spoiled chickens around"
They even get frozen feed mash with peas and meal worms served up to them in the shade during the hot part of the day sos to cool off...we're sick. Yeah, I got no life...

But hey, they give eggs everyday and make me laugh all day so it's all good in the chickenhood

Cute bowl. I just throw scraps on the ground where the grass is tall. They beat the grass down good where I need to walk. My husbands weed-eater went out and I'm putting my guys to work, lol. I do actually get up early to get them out of their coup. It is really hot when the sun comes up.

 

[shelbyhopkins92]

When we first got our chickens we underestimated our predators. We made a pretty decent size run with trees incorporated in it for shade. We had the metal fencing, with chicken wire wrapped on the bottom, a 2 foot skirt of hardwire on the ground, and cherry netting on the top. We thought we were golden until one day we came home to a pile of feathers from one of our buff Orprington pullets. We then noticed a few gaps in the cherry netting. Fixed that then a week later it got one of our java pullets by ripping a hole in the netting and pulling out the boards from our coop and actually getting her from the coop. Since then we have set a trap, caught 2 raccoons and a opossum. We put sharp barb wire type daggers at the whole top of the fence just in case something tried climbing in again. Oh, and got a beautiful rooster! If I would have known that we had a high volume of predators I could have prepared better and not lost 2 of my girls. Ya live and ya learn. But never let your guard down!

 

[ldawntaylor]

I like to wait until 10:00 or so. Some of the predators have finished browsing the poultry section by then.

I'm usually up and about by 7:30 so I let my birds out then. I'm just glad I don't have to be up at sunrise.

 

[Birdydeb]

I'm usually up and about by 7:30 so I let my birds out then.  I'm just glad I don't have to be up at sunrise.

X2 I figure that little extra in the coop is not a problem and my thought process was: I am usually up by 7:30 and maybe predawn and dawn predators have already gone through. I am in the mountains so it is still decently cool at 7:30.