Topic of the Week - I wish I knew…

[RNPAULIE69]

I wish I had known that different breeds really do have different requirements for space. Also that you just shouldn't put certain breeds together because of bullying

Which breeds should be avoided together?

 

[sylviethecochin]

Which breeds should be avoided together?

Many, depending on your setup and existing birds and kids and area.

If you don't have much space, you aren't going to want a pile of Production reds.

If you have a bunch of gamebirds, you probably don't want to add a silkie to the mix

If you have young children, I advise avoiding most commercial hatchery production roosters (Production Reds, Barred Rocks, etc.)

If you live in Northern Canada, you probably don't want straight-comb leghorns.

If you want long-lived birds, sex-links usually aren't the way to go.

There are exceptions to every rule, but there are no useless breeds--At some point, someone developed them for some purpose.

 

[path.otto]

All of the above!
Add I wish I had started raising chickens years ago instead of waiting till I was 66. 12 years ago would have been good cuz that's when I bought this 1 acre property. Ah well, I'm raising them now and loving it.

I also started at 66 and have 10 acres - no excuse. Now...so many chickens, so little time.

 

[Cryss]

Wish I had more acreage. I'd have enormous flocks!

 

[007Sean]

I wish I knew just how real chicken diseases are.

Thankfully I learned about biosecurity and practice it religiously.

x2, wish I could double like your post! @KikisGirls . I've preached BIOSECURITY for years....seems to fall on death ears, until they get an outbreak or entire flock dies. but Opps, to late then.

 

[007Sean]

I wish I had known what I now know! 52 years of heartache, blood, sweat and tears might have been avoided. Back then there just wasn't an abundance of available knowledge, as there is today!
Experince is the best teacher! Hogwash! I could have learned from others mistakes, instead of me making them!

 

[Aerliss]

I wish I'd known that chicken caecal poop is squishy and orange-brown, not black and sticky like bunny caecals. Could have avoided several days of scratching my head trying to figure out why overnight poops are so perfect, while out in the day someone (now I know all four of them) was producing weird brown blobs of poop.

D'oh.

 

[Akrnaf2]

I wish I had known :
1. The reason why all the hens want to Lay in the same spot and in the same time even that they have plenty on nest boxes!
2. Why some hens sound like a a honking boat when they want to lay.....

And indeed BIOSECURITY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT BREEDER SHOULD PRACTICE!

 

[Redhead Rae]

1. Subtraction (through selling or culling) is an important part of Chicken Math.
2. When buying full grown birds, ask LOTS of questions and make sure you are comfortable with how the person you buy from raises birds (or else I wouldn't have bought birds that had been treated with frontline).
3. When buying full grown birds, make sure you check EVERY bird over carefully AND make sure they are all walking and moving well. (I bought a bird I had to kill 2 weeks later because she couldn't stand).
4. Bad roosters aren't worth keeping for any period of time and are best off in freezer camp.
5. If chickens are happy in their containment, they don't escape. If they aren't happy, nothing can contain them.
6. It is best to remove cockerels from the flock before sexual maturity and raise them to slaughter weight separate from hens.

 

[Queensilkie]

Wish I'd known that as amazing pets chickens are, there actually are a lot of things required to really help them thrive, as well as the struggles with diseases and taking care of sick birds.