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

[Valk]

Thank you your perky post was sweet and just fine. That was a very nice clarification. I am getting 24 chicks in October after neighbor's dogs killed 14 of my 16 hens last week. Thats the second time in 4 months neighborhood dogs (not the same ones) have killed my chickens while free-ranging on my property. Two different neighbors have compensated us both times but it is small consolation for the loss of the birds. The remaining two that survived from last week were culled over the weekend due to CRD. It's been a rocky road so far. I'm enjoying this thread very much and appreciate all the tips and suggestions. Keep them coming please.

Goodness, Wednesday, that is just awful. It was decent of them to compensate for the birds, but yes, starting over would be hard! I know accidents happen, but I guess we live in an age where people don't have to have control of their pets. I'd sit out with a 12-guage loaded with rubber shot and pop those dogs in the butt! Maybe they'd keep their pets where they belong after that.

Thanks for the reply and good luck with your new chicks!

 

[Fentress]

I did not know that supposedly Heritage dual purpose breeds from the hatcheries were basically just layers and that the roosters in general were mean. I wish I had started out with better quality, standard bred stock from a breeder, but then who knows I have not had those yet, so I might have complaints about them.

Electro-net stops all four legged predators cold. Moving your chickens and keeping them on fresh grass keeps them healthy.

 

[Valk]

Socialized with them a lot more! They need lots of love. One of my chickens that I held all the time now stays at my side when I walk around the yard. She stays at my side all the time and never leaves. When I coop them up at night and put her in the coop she jumps into the window and watches me leave. Then she goes back to ordinary life until the next morning when I let them out and she starts to follow me around again. I am never able to sleep in the grass or in lawn chair without her hopping up onto my stomach and sleeping with me. She is my love...

I agree! I have a similar situation. One of my chicks had pasty butt (I felt awful for not making sure she was clean down there!) and once it was all cleaned up, she was clogged. The poor little chick needed help to get things moving so I had to - um - "plunge" her very delicately with a petroleum-lubricated q-tip. (This worked wonders, by the way, and I read about the remedy on this site, of course!) This went on for a week and she was eventually able to evacuate all by herself. Since then, she has been the sweetest chicken in the flock and I'm convince it was because of our "socializing sessions." Now, I'm not saying to go and plunge all of your chicks to anyone, but holding this one often made her a bit different from the rest. Now I'm trying to socialize more with the others as adults. It's not as easy, but they are becoming more and more indifferent to being (gently) held. Perhaps soon, they'll all be my favorites!

 

[Wednesday]

Thanks Valk. Before I got chickens we lived in a neighborhood with an HOA. I dreamed of having property and getting chickens. We purchased 7 acres and built a house. I envisioned chickens happily foraging for bugs and be locked up safely in their coop at night. Death, disease and all those comes along with having chickens is a much different reality. Hoping for better outcomes. Thanks

 

[Valk]

Wednesday, your experience is a sobering one. It's easy to paint a rosy future with these darling yard birds, but I see now that it's important to keep in mind that nothing is perfect and things can go wrong. Because of your thread, I will try even harder to care for my dears as perfectly as the universe will allow and I will enjoy my chickens even more than I do now. Great thread, Wednesday!

 

[browning6]

I wish i would have known how quick a pack of dogs can wipe out your chickens and that they will always return. Even if you keep them cooped up for a month, the dogs will return. The second thing i wish i would have done is shoot the dogs the first time you see them. I would have saved myself 30+ chickens and heartache.

And last with everyone else on this post. vaccinate, worm and keep sick chickens out. Keeping them healthy is easier than medicating and certainly easier than culling your birds.

I am back up to 40 birds (mostly ones i hatched myself) but the wet avian pox has my chickens sick sick sick! I have lost 2 with another one on deaths door as we speak.

 

[kkenney]

Don't listen when the lady at the store tells you "oh they grow slow! If you buy them now you will have plenty of time to finish the coop you are building!" Store assistants sometimes lie! Having pooping chickens flying around your bathroom is NO fun!

Never feed them snacks anywhere you don't want poop. They will congregate there daily expecting goodies.

Roosters doing there little flogging dance may be adorable, but it is not fun to be on the receiving end of those foot shuffles or kicks! (carry a "chick stick" or broom!)

Trail cams are a priceless defense! They allow you to see what, where and when predators are coming up to the chicken fortress!

Chickens do have a certain "aroma" so place the coop downwind of windows

Every single one will have their own personality. Going into it you may think that eating your own roosters will be simple and easy but it may be more difficult than expected. Raising something from a day old chick is a hard animal to kill sometimes.

Expect to get attached...at our house even the manly man has a fondness of his chickens

 

[sepaditty1]

That chickens with feathered feet are walking dirt mops and bumblefoot magnets

That "chickens will eat anything" is a lie (after buying very expensive raspberries for a treat that was refused)

Understanding that just because they are "only chickens" doesn't mean your heart won't break when one dies

We lost our first yesterday. Gladys got trapped under a gate that we'd made but thought we could finish later. It fell on her and crushed her. I feel like a monster!

 

[Faith67]

if we would have researched more we would have known how to keep the babies warmer we did have a red bulb heat lamp on them it just wasn't low enough we lost two on the first two days we started with six four survived but know we have a healthy flock of 37 four of which our chicks. my advice is to make sure your babies are warm enough ad are eating drinking and pooping normally.

 

[Mathew544]

Be prepared to kill your chickens for a variety of reasons. I was naive and thought I would never have to do this since I got them for egg laying. First, one of the chickens gets attacked by a dog and I had to put her down. It was awful. Then some of the roosters got so mean they were attacking the others and beating the crap out of them. After that one came down with a disease and couldn't walk and wasn't eating/drinking. It's not easy to kill a living thing. But it's a fact of life when raising poultry, especially if an animal is suffering or your other chickens are getting killed. Just prepare for the worst and hope for the best!