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

[aggiemae]

I don't know how much land you have, but if your raising them in a small backyard with neighbors super close to you, be ready for the noise! Yes, even my hens are extremely loud. Not rooster loud normally, but I have a welsummer hen who's voice is louder than any rooster I've ever heard. Not all are like this, but be prepared in case you get one and get complaints form neighbors (they might not be too pleased with the noise)

;

Our Wellsummer so LOUD and we have a RIR hen that crows!

We have eight hens which IMO is the most noise that an urban neighborhood can tolerate but I find that giving my extra eggs to the neighbors encourages tolerance of the noise.

 

[simplepleasures]

What a great thread, some sad and some funny experiences.

As most have said, I wish we had built a bigger coop. Ours looked HUGE when the chicks were tiny, and I thought it would be plenty big enough. Now my six girls are grown up, it seems too small. They are happy enough and they get to free range a lot but still.. they can't wait to get out of it lol.

I wish I had acres and acres of land so I could have as many chickens as I wanted, they are such adorable things (even if they do peck my toes). I get 5 eggs a day, just waiting on my last girl to start laying. I don't NEED any more eggs but oh I really want more chickens!

I also wish I'd known how much my dog would LOVE to eat those chickens. It's a shame they can't all be outside at the same time.

 

[aart]

I wish I put more thought into the breeds I chose for my urban yard, I love my girls but would have selected QUIETER breeds and I wish I had known to get chicks hatched locally instead of chicks shipped here from Arkansas. Also I should have had the first aid emergency kit I put together later on hand before I needed it.

Would you share what is in your emergency first aid kit?

 

[Katt66]

lol! Yeah, I love watching them play in the dust. They do kind of startle ya a bit when you come upon one of them in mid roll and it's just sort of laying there on it's side with it's legs out and wings all spread and you'd swear it's dead. They're like cats, they find a nice patch of sun and just soak it up.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Glad you were lucky and wish I had done my homework to save a lot of grief and expense.

One good thing was by the time they needed to move from the dog crate on my secure back porch to a coop I had read up on predators, so they have been safe throughout. You are right, I was blessed and very naive.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Our Wellsummer so LOUD and we have a RIR hen that crows!

We have eight hens which IMO is the most noise that an urban neighborhood can tolerate but I find that giving my extra eggs to the neighbors encourages tolerance of the noise.

Lol. I was told that neighborhood chicken raising 101 Rule #1: keep your neighbors in eggs. Lol. I do not allow that to slip. My neighbors are well supplied.

 

[wsmith]

You can actually edit a post to make corrections

LOL. Not while I'm at work. The company server has issues and I cant pull up the edit feature. At home it works just fine.

 

[wsmith]

Yes  Begonia turned out to be a rooster and so did Mabel. I think Chloe might be one too. That is 3 out of 9. We bought them at a farm store and they said they were females. How many hens per rooster is good?

It all depends on the breed and how effective the rooster is. For my breeding pens, I keep it to 1:4-5.

 

[wsmith]

That even in the most natural "free-range" healthy conditions problems will arise.  And thinking it won't happen to you is a "no-no."
I wished I would have known:
     ***That buying all pullets meant I was going to get 3 roosters
     *** That despite 2 roosters "getting along" doesn't necessarily make for good conditions for the hens.
     ***That even though chickens love tall roosts, they will jam and break toes.  Not good in freezing conditions.
     ***  That because a chicken bred "New Hampshire" and has a single comb doesn't necessarily make it's comb winter hardy.  LOL.
     ***That despite all the problems having a Rooster in the flock entails that free ranging without losses would be impossible.
     ***That chickening is as hard or as easy as you want it to be. You'll learn about yourself whether you are a high maintenance chicken keeper or a person that doesn't sweat it.

LOL. Very nicely stated.

Chickens are always entertaining. Even after having kept chickens for many years, they will do something to surprise you.
I prefer to be a low maintenance chicken guy. Food, shelter, water, protection. They pretty much manage themselves. Deep litter, clean out the coops twice a year. Collect the eggs several times a day. Rose combs because I live where it gets REALLY cold sometimes. One "flock rooster", younger cockerels are fine untill they start creating probelms, then, if they avoid processing, they go into a different pen until breeding time.

 

[aart]

LOL. Not while I'm at work. The company server has issues and I cant pull up the edit feature. At home it works just fine.

Awwww-slacker! tsktsktsk haha jk