What do you wish you had known before you got your chickens

[Eggsravagant]

I bought a sick bird and she not only died but she took to other hens with her... the medicine I was sold worked wonders!!! but it was no fun trying to figure out why my girls were dying

 

[wsmith]

I put this checklist together after many conversations with unprepared well0menaing folks, and from my own experience. Not all inclusive, but just my opinion:
Checklist

1. I have decided that I definitely want chickens and the responsibility of caring for a flock.
2. I am aware of the costs and preparations that must be made BEFORE getting any chickens.
3. I have a mentor or other experienced chicken person I can use as a resource to assist me when needed.
4. I know how many chickens I want/need, and how many I can legally raise in my location.
5. I have decided on which breed or breeds should work well for me.
6. I am aware of the common diseases and ailments that affect poultry and am ready to handle them accordingly.
7. I know how big of a coop and run I need.
8. I have a coop and run designed and built.
9. I have decided on my method of chicken-raising.
10. I have decided to order chicks from a breeder or hatchery, or will buy them from a supply store.
11. I have purchased all the needed equipment, i.e. feeders, waterers, heat lamp as needed, etc.
12. I have chicken feed ready.
13. I have a basic understanding of chicken-raising, and am ready to start.

Now you should be ready to get chickens.

 

[wsmith]

"well-meaning"

 

[KelsiNS]

Be prepared for more advice than you can handle-most of it contradicting.
I.E.
Hens NEED scratch.
Hens do NOT need corn.
Chickens eat anything. (Mine missed the memo).
You have to clip their wings.
1 rooster only or they kill each other.
Chickens carry disease.
You only need to clean the coop once a month.

You will learn by trial and error. Take the advice with a smile, then use what you think applies (my coop is cleaned every other day. Mine also won't eat 70% of the treats i bring them.)

I wish i had known how much harrassment i would grt for hanging out in the run. Laugh all you want-i dont ever "catch" my chickens, they come when called

 

[aart]

"well-meaning"

You can actually edit a post to make corrections

 

[newbie32]

I put this checklist together after many conversations with unprepared well0menaing folks, and from my own experience. Not all inclusive, but just my opinion:
Checklist

1. I have decided that I definitely want chickens and the responsibility of caring for a flock.
2. I am aware of the costs and preparations that must be made BEFORE getting any chickens.
3. I have a mentor or other experienced chicken person I can use as a resource to assist me when needed.
4. I know how many chickens I want/need, and how many I can legally raise in my location.
5. I have decided on which breed or breeds should work well for me.
6. I am aware of the common diseases and ailments that affect poultry and am ready to handle them accordingly.
7. I know how big of a coop and run I need.
8. I have a coop and run designed and built.
9. I have decided on my method of chicken-raising.
10. I have decided to order chicks from a breeder or hatchery, or will buy them from a supply store.
11. I have purchased all the needed equipment, i.e. feeders, waterers, heat lamp as needed, etc.
12. I have chicken feed ready.
13. I have a basic understanding of chicken-raising, and am ready to start.

Now you should be ready to get chickens.

I had about half of this list accomplished before getting my chicks! OPPS! I read up on here for about a month before taking the plunge but my biggest issue is not reading up on ALL diseases. I have not had to deal with any yet but I need to do more research. Last night was my first read on wet pox. I will try to learn a new one every night until I have covered them all. Why the sudden interest to do it now? Because I have read this thread since day 1 and keep seeing too many people discuss how they could have prevented such and such.
I am grateful I built a BIG coop to start

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Be prepared for more advice than you can handle-most of it contradicting.
I.E.
Hens NEED scratch.
Hens do NOT need corn.
Chickens eat anything. (Mine missed the memo).
You have to clip their wings.
1 rooster only or they kill each other.
Chickens carry disease.
You only need to clean the coop once a month.

You will learn by trial and error. Take the advice with a smile, then use what you think applies (my coop is cleaned every other day. Mine also won't eat 70% of the treats i bring them.)

I wish i had known how much harrassment i would grt for hanging out in the run. Laugh all you want-i dont ever "catch" my chickens, they come when called

Amen. My chickens come as spon as they hear me come onto the yard pr rven ip to the femce whether I call or not. I can barely ealk because they follow me everywhere i go. I don't chase chickens. I do clip flight feathers because guess who, Primrose, flew over the 8 foot fence into the neighbor's yard. Luckily no dogs. Of course Primrose will try any opened door or gate. The others are chicken yard content. I started out putting newspaper on the bottom of their coop (dumb, but I thought it was "neater"). Now they don't like to walk on dirty paper or hardware cloth. Spoiled little chickens. So they get fresh paper daily. But when I got my 2 new girls their own coop, they never got newspaper and they are happy. I keep the coops clean. The rabbit hutches are the highest maintenance. The chickens have never had an odor, but the rabbits quickly have an odor and must be maintained a lot. Mine get scratch everyday, but that is "fun" food, their main food is layer pellets. They also get daily treats which varies: corn on the cob, watermelon, yogurt, berries, cucumbers, tomatoes, cottage cheese, banana are their favorites. But that's just small amounts.

 

[Faith67]

I would get a different coop. I love mine, but my next one will have:
-room enough to stand in, and an entry way that I can walk through.
-high roosts, well above the nesting boxes.
-...and it would be bigger...I started with eight, which sounds like a lot. I want more and understand how people end up with 30+ flocks.

I have one of those flocks I am up to 40

 

[chippysmom327]

Two things:

1.  EVERYTHING likes to eat chicken

2. Roosters WILL grow up and become adults.  And if you have too many, here comes the rape squad.

I thought I understood this, but the reality was shocking!

I know that rape isn't funny, but that post made me laugh!!! It's so true!

 

[Twinklin]

We used an existing resin shed and bought the most inexpensive materials we could to build a run and modify the shed into a coop. We ended up spending at least $400 on materials, feed for the first 5 months, brooder necessities, and the 4 chicks. It was about twice as much as we expected for only 4 chickens but I wanted the run to be large enough for about 6 chickens to have 10 sq. feet each because at the time I planned for them to be confined to the run all day and I wanted it tall enough for me to stand in. Now that they free range we spend almost nothing on feed but are always throwing out $30 here and there to add something new like PVC feeders or more sand for the run/coop floor. Most expensive eggs ever but they are my pets so it was totally worth it.