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

[lauranickerson]

OMG my friend has hens with feathers missing permanently from their necks because of a roo. Mine better not do that!!!! or he is dinner!

Just make sure you have a decent hen/roo ratio and you should be fine.

 

[scooter16]

I will not buy straight run chicks.I thought since they are cheaper it would be worth it even at 50% chance of getting roos .I bought 3 NH got 3 roos I bought 10 GLW 8 turned out to be roos,then I bought 8 BA 6 turned out to be roos. Okay now I learned my lesson and I bought 6 black pullets from TSC 4 were roos. Dang the luck!!

My daughter bought me an incubator, cool I'm going to hatch my own chicks 8 eggs hatched 6 were roos

I bought 4 CM pullets 3 were roos

I sold 15 roos and have to butcher the rest this fall I am going to keep 2-3 roos for breeding, because I want to hatch eggs in the spring. Must be the year of the rooster. I did buy10 pullets from Townline hatchery guess what, all pullets.

Is it really that hard to sex young chickens by looking at their parts?? Anyone have any experience with this? I would like to learn how and at least have a slightly better chance of pullets. Experts please step forward !!!

Lynn Marie

 

[Wednesday]

No expert here. Vent sexing is hard from what I understand. However, some breeds like Wellsummers can be identified by "eyeliner" around their eyes. Other chicks can be sexed by differences in wing feather lengths. Many chicks can't be sexed until much older. The joke is you know it's a roo when it crows. If it was easy, almost everyone would pick females for all breeds.

 

[Buxton Ducks]

I wish I first built the run correctly the first time (tall enough for me to stand up inside and doors wide enough to fit the snowblower in)! I then wish I took quarantine seriously and didn't just add adult birds which killed off 3/4 of my little buddies with coryza.

 

[racinchickins]

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!

 

[sdm111]

That one sick chick can wipe out a flock.

 

[OliverZoe]

I wish I would have known that chickens can potentially have a lot of health issues. That's why you always do your research before you jump into things! lesson learned

 

[Richleeblessed]

when I was very young, I had a roo named chicken little (he was about 14 lbs when he finally died, and he was also afraid of thunder), well Chicken Little pecked me one time, and I smacked him. He never did that again. Instead, he became more loyal and protective of me. This is what I don't get, he was afraid of thunder all his life, but would attack neighborhood dogs that meant harm or got on his turf any explanations?

 

[nikkers390]

when I was very young, I had a roo named chicken little (he was about 14 lbs when he finally died, and he was also afraid of thunder), well Chicken Little pecked me one time, and I smacked him. He never did that again. Instead, he became more loyal and protective of me. This is what I don't get, he was afraid of thunder all his life, but would attack neighborhood dogs that meant harm or got on his turf any explanations?

You let him know you were the bigger, meaner chicken, so he respected you. Strange dogs, on the other hand, are invading his "turf". They gotta GO!

My mean looking pit bull (she's not mean at all) turns to a quivering bowl of jelly when it thunders.

 

[newbie32]

Just make sure you have a decent hen/roo ratio and you should be fine.

I'm hoping to have a 1/7 or 1/8 ratio. Unless I get more than one roo which I think I might have more than one. It sucks not knowing what the sexes are until older because I will either have to raise more chicks and wait longer for eggs or buy pullets and risk diseases and deal with pecking order issues. A few more weeks should be plenty of time to sex. They are almost 6 weeks now