Official BYC Poll: What Is Your Least Favorite Thing About Keeping Chickens?

[Huntergatherr]

Getting rid of unwanted roos. I'm having to try to find a home for one now.View attachment 2860962

He's cool, he should be easy to find a home for!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh yes! Having to choose between having a garden and having chickens. Obvi, the chooks won.

 

[Shezadandy]

i don't want to take any chances with broody rejecting the chicks I don't have an incubator

There is that - my broodies have to be OK with being moved to a dog crate inside the house for their last days of sitting because I no longer have the knees (and other parts) that are going up and down the stairs of doom to check in regularly, and there's only so much the camera will show. A few hens don't make the transition but most do fine with it. My sigh of relief is when the hens talk to the adopted chicks- once that happens it's all good. Maybe a couple would have completed the cycle if they'd hatched eggs in the coop. I used to be OK hatching in the coop until a broody chucked a hatchling out of the nest and it died - and she abandoned the rest, and from there on out the rules changed.

 

[3KillerBs]

Love everything except tracking poop into the house when I’m not paying attention !

Coop boots!

Mine are a pair of mens, rubber muck boots that I use for all messy/wet outdoor work. They slip off just inside the door.

Trying to keep the run dry. I picked what I thought was the highest spot in the side yard and I STILL have mud problems when it rains. Sand has not helped. I am considering pavers for the area around the coop.



Rusty

Lots and lots of dry organic material. Coarse wood chips -- the sort you get from at tree-trimming service -- are generally considered the gold standard for this sort of thing.

 

[alwaystj9]

I am smiling at everyone talking about chickens in the house...the part I hate is getting them to stay out in the run or pasture. I don't want them in my yard, carport, porch. They need to be out doing their job: scratching up & spreading other animal poo, killing/eating bugs, laying eggs (in the nest boxes please!). I have house animals and farm animals: the chickens are in the latter category, along with goats & the horse.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

My Brahmas feet feathers are my least favorite thing, lol. She is so pretty, but her feet feathers get so dirty it makes me nuts! And of course the occasional ingrown feather that has to be plucked. I don't think I'll ever have another lady with feathered feet again.

 

[miokiollie]

The poop. All the poop! In the bedding, in the chicken yard, on the bottom of my shoes getting tracked into house yard.

Poop is the pits.

I got a pair of shoes that I leave outside.. So much poop..

 

[MTKitty]

I got a pair of shoes that I leave outside.. So much poop..

Yup. I kick mine off at the door and they go in a boot tray. I just tracking the stuff into the house yard because the dog already eats deer and rabbit poop when he finds it.

 

[3KillerBs]

My Brahmas feet feathers are my least favorite thing, lol. She is so pretty, but her feet feathers get so dirty it makes me nuts! And of course the occasional ingrown feather that has to be plucked. I don't think I'll ever have another lady with feathered feet again.

This is where the sand I have instead of soil shines -- it's perfect conditions for the feather-footed breeds I love..

 

[LizzzyJo]

I feel like free ranging saves me from mites, illnesses, and a lot of the cleaning, but going out in the rain/cold/snow to open and close SUUUUUUCKS. I know - I know, I could have an electric pop door, but having that sort of convenience would lead to me not checking on them as often and I can't have that. They need me.