What was your worst mistake as a chicken keeper?

[eveliens]

@eveliens I have a great recipe for squirrel sauce piquant, if you would like it. We use it for squirrels who eat our figs.
Sorry your poor quail are on edge due to these very tasty meals when well cooked

Haha, thank you. I wish I could cook and eat the hawk as well. Looking at a tiny hotwire to run on the inside of the fence to deter the hawk from landing on it and the squirrels from hanging around and as a bonus to run off the neighbor's worm-filled cats. If chickens are a predator's delight, man, I don't know what quail are because I was not expecting so many things to go for them! I don't even live in a place with a lot of predators (stupid squirrels are just opportunistic scumbags with fingers and a furry tail ) but they zero right in on those poor quail.

 

[helicopterchickenmom]

The first year we had our two chickens we put bird feeders in the back yard with our free range chickens. They got lice from the wild birds. Had to go to vet. The feeders were removed immediately. Everything and every one was treated with Sevin per vet's instructions. Cagney and Lacey are fine. Now the bird feeders are in the front yard and I keep a bird bath outside the chickens' yard so those little wild birds take lots of baths and stay clean. Those birds still get in the yard of course but they don't bring creepy crawlies with them.

 

[lauraschicks]

While I am grateful for your story… it scares me I currently have 2 roosters in a flock of 6… 3 of the hens are mature and one is an 8 week old chick. Alpha rooster is a 1 year old golden partridge silkie named Rex who does a wonderful job taking care of everyone. Beta rooster is a 6ish month old rhode island red named Plum. Plum has been slow to mature, hes displaying absolutely no rooster like behaviours as of yet, even though his sister Nugget started laying about a week ago.

Rex and Plum get along fine as of now but that’s all because Rex doesn’t view Plum as a rooster. Rex tidbits and protects everyone, I’ve even seen him do his little mating spur dance to Plum a few times. The real kicker is that my flock has a respiratory infection (we don’t know what kind) so it makes it nearly impossible to rehome them at all, much less one rooster. I have seen flocks where two roosters get along but Ive seen even more where they haven’t. Given my flock size and circumstances it’s likely they will run into issues and we may have to cull one of the roosters (these birds are like my babies and it really hurts me to say that)

On the flip side, these were just a summer project for us and we are definitely not keeping them for the Canadian winters we endure, we were originally going to give them back to the lady we got them from but obviously we can’t do that now. Hopefully we find someone who can take out infected flock, with two roosters, so by winter it’s not my problem what they do with them

Thank you for sharing your story and showing that it absolutely can go 100% wrong with roosters! Definitely brings me back down to earth from my happy little coop fantasy.

Not everybody experiences the bad side of roosters though. This may not help you to say this, but my first flock was started with one little Silkie roo , several Silkie pullets, and a few layers. We got them for eggs. Of course I fell in love and my flock grew. I added Malines, Blue Bresse, Svarte Hona, Jubilee Orpingtons, etc. Ended up with over a hundred birds of all ages, types, colors. Silkies and their offspring are great broodies or terribly broody depending on your situation. I only ever had 1 mean rooster (Malines) and my Silkie roo Big Daddy was the dominant rooster his entire life. I never saw any really challenge him, but his betas would run to back him up when he would stop the hen squabbles that occasionally broke out. I always had way more roos than needed even though I regularly culled 10-20 cockerals at a time. I never had any Hens being over bred. Sheer dumb luck. In fact the only problem bird was my lone Guinea. I think Big Daddy used Gwennie the Guinea as his Enforcer. If someone got on Gwennie's bad side he'd chase him around their acre for 15 minutes.

Long story short, I now have 2 roos, 11 hens, 1 drake, 1 gander, and one goose. For the first time I have one hen that those 2 roos favor and that is a problem. The gander and drake are now the enforcers and I will have to either rehome my drake or get some ducks for him. The gander only wants you to respect Her Majesty the Queen...and stay away from her!

My point: it's not always the number of roosters that's the problem. I think the breeds, the amount of space...all play huge parts in flock dynamics. Also I started with one rooster that raised all of my others. Even the Mean Malines never challenged for domination of the flock that I could tell, but he challenged me a few too many times, so he was rehomed to somebody that wanted a really aggressive rooster for flock protection during really free ranging.

Personally if you love having the chickens and can keep them, I have found that I really MISS them when they aren't here. Just food for thought.

 

[lauraschicks]

Here we go…Long post, but might help(you will understand the pun in s second…)

1. What did you do?
   Misdiagnosed having mites in the flock as being aggressive mating from roosters and summer molting.
   
   
2. What were the consequences?
   Found a broody hen on the floor of the pen, unable to stand, not tending to the two chicks she’d hatched a week before and was fine the night before. Brought her to my house to check for injuries, thought there was food or fluff on her eye, when I touched it, it moved. Ended up checking her and found mites all over. Checked the flock—all had them—top rooster was the worst, with eggs on all neck/nape feathers.
3. Did you fix it? How?
   Working on it…Gave the broody hen two dish soap baths that day and one the next day, continue daily sprays of bird mite spray to kill eggs. Took her to vet—said mites were gone, but gave spray to treat eggs and any that may hatch. Not injured and not dehydrated. Malnourished and suggested separation for recovery(in my house in a low comfy padded box, personally feed every hour, rest, exercising legs for strength, short sunshine time—so she doesn’t overheat.)
   Cleaned out the coop and run from ALL bedding(burned), washed everything down, moved flock to cleaned and treated section of barn. Cleaned and treated with DE after DIY mixture of water/vege oil/dish soap sprayed everywhere on everything. Nest boxes removed, cleaned and treated. Treated the whole flock with spray and dusting.
4. What did you learn? Oooof…I learned everything—didn’t know what bugs to look for while cleaning and wasn’t cleaning well enough…don’t presume all roosters mating are the cause of feather loss…remove bedding instead of litter method (going to have to figure out something different for upcoming subzero winter )…add supplements to food and water…don’t presume broody hens are ok(get them out of the box and check them over)…check coop and yard for bugs, treat for bugs in free range area. LOOK AT PICTURES OF ILLNESSES AND SYMPTOMS. Had I not looked (on this forum) at what mites look like, and seen the pictures of mite egg infestation on feathers, I would have passed over my top rooster(who is an aggressively protective jerk doing his job). He was only one covered in eggs. He got a flea/tick/mite soap soak, sprayed and gets a nightly dusting. View attachment 2814045View attachment 2814046View attachment 2814047View attachment 2814048View attachment 2814049
   Ash is a good mama, she’s only 10 months old and went broody for a month. Hatched and raised 3 chicks in my backyard flock. I love my sweet girl (Yokohama red shoulder/Cochin frizzle mix)

The pun being you house her in a box marked SNACKS?

OMG

 

[agold23]

Absolutely! Its just a waiting game at this point to see how the pecking order will handle 2 mature roosters. I reaaaaaally hope that my silkie chick is a hen because that’ll just put me over the edge if it isn’t I’m not too worried about right now, they all get along fine and I honestly don’t think the flock will get too disrupted when Plum does mature. Rex is an amazing rooster, he takes care of everyone so well and is really good about not overmating (his ladies are only 6-8mos old) He’s so protective that he perceives us as a threat so of course he comes after our shoes and legs. He’s like 4lbs so it doesn’t hurt that much but sometimes he can get ya! Like I said, it’s just a waiting game. I’ve seen flocks where they’ve had a small amount of hens per roosters and it’s worked out fine but we’ll see.

Right now the pecking order goes:
Rex
Lexi and Dori (8mos ameracauna mix and lavender orpington)
Plum
Nugget (Plum’s sister)
Phoebe (8 week old silkie chick, Rex’s only offspring)
I think it’ll be interesting to see if Plum will eventually rise above Lexi and especially Dori as there’s an obvious gap in hierarchy between them and the girls like their space!

 

[Cecisflock]

I made the mistake of thinking that I could never have a disabled chicken. Now that I have had two, clover and Daytona, I feel the need to tell everyone it can happen to you. I now have a part-time house chicken with asthma.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I wasnt new when I made this mistake. I kept 2 roosters that I liked because I read somewhere that Buff Orphingtons were the calmest of gentlemen. I also believed that I could have 2 roosters for 30 hens.


The consequences were slow to show but they were not doable for anyone or hen involved! The 2 Buff guys were hatched & raised together & both named JimBob. They acted like besties until one day the taller JimBob tried mounting the girls. It wasn't long later the shirt JimBob did also ... then the fighting started. They stared each other down & danced in circles on my porch for a couple weeks even mostly forgetting about the adult ladies! It became clear the taller JimBob was the alpha. So he was doing the rooster thing and the ladies didn't mind, he danced for them, clucked at the good treats, waited for them to eat, even herding them inside each night they were outside... it was winter. The beta roo was acting like a hen so I thought coop life was good... wrong! I was so wrong!! In the coop, the boys were both taking turns yanking the girls around, actually saw them flipping a few Leghorns on the ground & stomping them. If that wasn't bad enough they were both constantly & repeatedly taking turns jumping on the same couple girls. Outside the coop, The alpha JimBob started chasing down the beta & it was a fierce! So I believed removing the beta JimBob was the solution... wrong again! So I had 1 rooster & 30 hens now ... shoulda been ok. Life in the coop seemed calmer but the learned bad habits or insecurities were well established now. The beta roo was doing well in his new place. The alpha JimBob was working triple time! I studied him and found he was up on a hen every 10 minutes all darn day long!! At this time 3/4 of my flock was kinda young they'd only been laying about 8-9 months. Most of the girls had featherless wings tails and lower backs. Over time egg production went from 22-24 down to 7-8 each day. The eggs had bloody striations & couldn't be sold. So away went the JimBob in all his beauty to live out his days free ranging on the other side of the farm. The girls didn't really recover most looked like they were 10yrs old when they weren't even 2 years old. I studied them for about a month and kept track of who was laying & if their eggs were clear of blood. I'm not talking about a tiny streak of blood. In the thicker part of the white of the egg, it was cloudy with red blood where the raw egg wasn't even like a clear raw egg white.


Yes the only solution was to butcher most if my girls because the JimBob actually hurt them & caused irreparable damage. I did keep a handful of girls that didn't submit to him. Those girls are still here and laying. My criteria for keeping a hen was kinda simple ... whomever didnt submit to the JimBob... or the JimBob didn't let have treats... or that was laying clear whites & good eggs.


Lots!
1) No real need for more than 1 rooster unless it's for breeding & hatching.
2) Size matters! A very large rooster can damage a tiny hen
3) Reading articles on the internet isn't always good advice or rule of thumb
4) Pretty doesn't make a good rooster
5) An ill mannered rooster probably can't be changed into a gentleman
6) When considering a young rooster, study him first. Look for a calmness, listen for clucking at treat time, watch him in the coop to see if he's looking around taking notice or inventory of the hens. Avoid young cockerels that are aggressive, selfish, have dark pronounced comb/wattles & don't show they are gentlemen!

Sorry for such a long post but it was a huge mistake!! Edits to fix typos

View attachment 2809633View attachment 2809634

Hes SO handsome!!!!

 

[RDchicken99]

Getting my first chicks in February. Period. Don’t do it.

 

[Aunt Angus]

This one's easy for me!

1. What did you do?
I bought ONE chick for my broody because my hubby wasn't happy at the idea of having more chickens.

2. What were the consequences?
That one chick grew up to be an isolated, neurotic loner who is so, so far down at the bottom of the pecking order.

3. Did you fix it? How?
There really wasn't anything I could do to fix it, unfortunately. Bryony the Welsummer is still crazy and often picked on. I take pity on her sometimes and give her some alone time in the chicken yard, just so she can have some peace.

4. What did you learn?
I learned 2 things. 1) Don't ever get just one chick! At least have others of a similar age or "generation." 2) Don't listen to hubby about anything chicken-related, which is why I got 3 more chickens last month even though he protested.

 

[esme13]

• What did you do? Spilled blu kote all over my porch and French patio doors.
• What were the consequences? Stained floor and door
• Did you fix it? How? I tried alcohol and windex (not to great success).
• What did you learn? Do not use that near the house or with good clothes!