What did you wish you knew when you got chickens?

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Starting out 52 years ago, there's so much I wish I would have known then, and didn't....that I know now!
Wish I would have known the addiction, obsession with hatching, raising birds in general, how they truly were a "gateway" to other avian adventures.
I may not have even attempted to raise birds if I would have known all the heartache, frustration, and errors of my thinking that led to the demise of some but at that time, there wasn't a BYC, internet, very few books and other breeders willing to share their knowledge were few and far between....so trial and error was the educator of the day.
 
Welcome to BYC from Arlington, Texas!
I wish I would have known just how long it would take before I started getting eggs! I started with pullets instead of eggs or chicks because I didn't want to buy the extra equipment. I know my girls are only 16-18 weeks old but still, earn your keep ladies!
Also just how truely addicting they are, I know people joke about chicken math (and it's true) but what they don't tell you is that chickens are just the gateway drug. Once you get them, you have to do something with your time while you are waiting for them to start laying. At first you just start looking at the different varieties, then you wander over to another thread to check out some of the other birds (ducklings are really cute) and the next thing you know you're "just looking" at prices, just incase...
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go check out how to build a quail coop. Did you know they start laying at 6-7 weeks, and they don't need as much space as chickens, and...
 
That as beautiful as they are, polish chickens are loud, get picked on by other chickens, and get mites on their crests. That silkie chickens can't perch, that old english game chickens like to fight and one ended up killing my silkie rooster by pecking him on his head.

That breeds who are produced mainly for egg production can get eggbound and die in their first few years of life. Sex link hens usually die around age 3.

That chicks could die if the hen has other eggs to hatch and she doesn't take them around to eat and drink. This usually happens when other hens lay in their nest and they incubate the eggs that take longer to hatch. It is best to mark all eggs and remove the other eggs.

That no crow collars don't work. I bought one on Amazon and the seller (My Pet Chicken) was nice enough to include a free bag of mealworms but that was $30 for the bag of mealworms, I think there was about a pound of them.

This isn't chickens but in case you get quail...they shouldn't be kept with chickens because they can get their diseases that the chickens don't show symptoms for. Also if you have too many quail chicks in a brooder their will be cannibalism. This happens with chickens too except the quail chicks actually eat each other whole. I didn't have a whole lot of quail together but there were different species and that might've been the reason why my bobwhites and/or coturnix attacked my buttons.

Muscovy ducks will eat baby chicks and sometimes their own ducklings.

Okay I'm venturing too far away from chickens but that's all for now. Other than that I love chickens.
 
I wish I had known to cull birds as soon as they appeared sick and that all I had were Easter Eggers, not show birds. I wish I had known that they would cost so much and give me so little money in return.

And that Silkies are terrible broodies, mite magnets, can't roost, and are the least brainy birds in the flock. They are cute though. Just not in my own pens.





I love it all though, despite all that.
 
I wish I’d had a thicker skin and not been offended by suggestions offered here, everyone has an answer but you need to be confident enough to do what you feel is right ,also I also cull at first sign of sickness, no more bathing or eye dropper meals , birds are not strong animals and I rid the flock of disease asap.

Welcome here and enjoy the ride
 

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