Thank you so much for those words. In some aspects however, I am truly like a beginner. Obviously in the hatching aspect (since I started this year), but also chicken nutrition, and most importantly, I am a beginner in dealing with/treating diseased/sick birds. While I probably have a lot of opinions on a lot of things, sickness and disease is not something I encountered often, since the birds I kept were only really here for 4 years (if that) each
I don't think the learning ever stops when it comes to keeping chickens, they are way more complicated that we ever give thought too. Superficially they make it look so easy to keep them but they are actually quite complicated. And nobody and I mean nobody can ever know everything there is to know!! See now you know a ton about breeds, genetics, genders, colors, other stuff I don't even know you know,
. For me, my first flock was diagnosed with MS (Mycoplasma Synoviae, it's a bacterial infection, fluid drains out of the synovial tissues down through the leg into the foot pad, of course lots of laying issues, anorexia, hepatitis, etc..... They would remain contagious for the rest of their days IF they survived) all at 10 months old. Everyone here on BYC told me to cull the entire flock, set the land on fire and start over! I was totally devastated, I didn't know what to do and I cried a long time before I made the decision to make it a learning experience instead! If they died, at least I tried and maybe I'd learn something along the way! Without a vet to guide me, I learned how to do bumblefoot surgery and did them DAILY on several birds for 3 months so the birds could walk and wouldn't be lame. I had to learn how to give injections, what antibiotics to use, after miles of vet tape and hundreds of dollars in months of antibiotic use, I pulled every bird through! I made a ton if mistakes along the way for sure! But I learned SO much about how chickens work, how drugs worked in their bodies, I understood medical treatments, surgery and other things I never thought possible! I've also had SO many crop issues and heart disease cases, medical issues have become my Forte! 
BUT....I don't know squat about breeds, IDing birds, completely clueless about genetics, breeding, colors, there is SO much I don't know. We definitely become experts, if we devote ourselves, to what we are exposed to.
