What is your "If only someone had told me!" moment?

[bantamrooster]

I wish I knew NOT to buy from a hatchery! could have saved me a lot of time and heartache

I've read you posts and I dont get it all. I can understand if youre against hatcheries because of their practices but I cant get my head around the idea of bashing a hatchery based on your bird buying experience or how you seem to support induvidual enthusiasts because of your experience. Seems youre supporting who caused the problem and focusing your anger against the one that didnt do anything wrong.
Its like someone buying a car from a dealer and running it in the ground for a few years then putting it up for sale. Then you come along see the car notice that it isnt in the best shape but really wanting a car you purchase it anyways then when it breaks down you turn around and say dont buy cars from dealerships.
You could of used your experience to give the OP some great advice.
As you said you saw red flags and ignored them because you were excited to get chickens. Thats a great lesson that many have learned. Dont let your emotions guide you. Trust your gut, pay attention to warning signs. Dont buy on impulse.
Look at every situation as it is. There can be the good, the bad and the ugly about every route you go with getting chicks. Whether its from a hatchery, from a backyard breeder, feed store, eggs from BYC or whatever.
Health. Buy smart. If theres red flags about or concerns about health of a bird. PASS IT UP. As you know its hard to get back ahead with a sick bird. Its not worth it to bring home sickly birds in hopes of saving them. It is a lot of heartache and if you already have birds it can cost you your whole flock and even any birds you bring in for years after.
Quarantine any new birds you bring home even if they are not showing signs of illness.
I'll let this post go now but as you see there could of been a lot taken to help newbies from your one experience but instead you went on a hatchery headhunt.
JMHO

 

[what did I do]

Hi everyone, im completely new to this and dont have any chicks yet...yet, but am wondering why regret buying from hatcheries? what sort of heartache? I would prefer to buy locally but it seems there isnt much breed variety where I live.

I don't know. My hatchery chicks have all been just fine. Hatchery chicks do require more care than a chick you hatch yourself but they both do well. My hatchery chicks have even done well at our small fair.

Hatching chicks would be so much fun and also a way for chicken math to affect you.

 

[pollopicante]

Hatching chicks sounds exciting and rewarding, I would just be afraid of ending up with a bunch of little roosters. We are in the middle of the city so that wouldnt fly at all. But thats the risk you take even with sexed chicks from the sound of it.

 

[SampyArctica]

When we got our first two chickens, the previous owners told us they got four eggs a day out of them. Never having had chickens before, I thought that was amazing. I wish I'd known what an obvious lie that was, not because it would have effected my purchase of them in any way, but so I could have called the sellers out on it.

 

[Skink]

Yeah, when a seller is willing to lie to you about something as basic as egg production, it really makes one cringe to think what other things they could have been fibbing about that would be harder to detect!

As for Hatchery vs Feed Store vs Hatching, having just gone through all of that decision making myself, I feel like it really depends on individual location. The small business feed stores within an hour of where I live, for example, are disgusting. Poorly kept chicks, fly infested stores, and tuned out employees. I don't feel like I'd be surpassing sickly hatchery chicks by purchasing from them, and their businesses aren't the kind I'd want to support for a variety of other reasons.

Hatching eggs would have been a fine thing for me if I lived in any other town around here, since there are LOTS of farms both rural and urban around. I'm sure I could find a home for unwanted roos! However, I would be testing the law. There's a strict cap on poultry numbers in my town, and roosters are 100% illegal. I could end up hatching more chicks than I'm allowed to have in an attempt to get a decent hatch rate, and they could all be roosters! One crow would be all my neighbors have to hear and I could be looking down the barrel of a fine. That would be a disaster, and as an exotics keeper I am also adamant about operating within the law. I know all too well how one keeper making a flub can spoil it for many, many more.

I took the hatchery route. I'm unlikely to have to deal with any roosters, and if I must it will be a much more manageable number of them. There are many more sources available, and research through review is very possible (thanks in part to places like BYC, I found the hatchery I went with through here!) I was also able to get the exact breed I wanted! This was all-around the best choice for me right now.

Thank you muchly for the warning on cecal poops especially. I know those would have scared me otherwise! I went on and researched more about egg production and chicken poop so I know what weirdness coming out of their back end is worth getting alarmed about. I'm used to "this is healthy, anything else is not" so it probably saved me an embarrassing vet visit or 3!

I'm scared of chicken math. I went from one snake to over 30. I don't doubt chickens will sweep me up the same way. I'm going to be a Mother Cockatrice at this rate! Especially once we move and I can start hatching eggs... I NEEEEED Jubilee Orpingtons like a burning!

 

[kmiller11]

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[dstinett]

I wish someone had told me a lot of things. top of the list is eggs can explode in the incubator and that keeping a standard rooster will often tear up the girls backs. I felt so sorry for them. now I have a banty frizzle Cochin rooster that is a gentle lover. no more bald backs

 

[aoxa]

If only I had of known more about safely using electric in the chicken coop.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/745178/fire-safety-in-your-chicken-coop-barn-important

 

[HenriettaPlume]

I wish someone had told me that the small lump on a chick's chest is NOT a tumor, but actually the crop full of food. I totally freaked out about that!

 

[heartsizedfarm]

I wish someone would have told me NOT to project my own maternal feelings onto a broody hen. I let her keep her eggs and she hatched out only two -- TWO ROOSTERS!!!