What was your worst mistake as a chicken keeper?

[springvalley123]

I forget where I read it, but I remember reading somewhere that the hatcheries do the sexed orders first, and then fill the straight run orders, so the likelihood of getting more boys in the second batch is much greater. Batch is much greater.

I always wondered about that, so straight run isn't really. to be straight run they'd have to fill straight run first...grr!

 

[saving grace]

My biggest mistake was keeping too few hens with a rooster. When I first got chickens I didn't know you had to have at least 10 hens to 1 rooster, and we had only 7 hens. They got beat up pretty badly by the time we got rid of the rooster. I now have 14 hens and 1 rooster, so all is good.

 

[sweaterthebroodyrooster]

Mistake :
Forgot to do a night check to make sure the coop had been locked up properly.

Consequence:
Lost over forty birds in one night and have become a favorite hangout for predators.

what I did:
I now have 3 LGDs one sleeps in the coop with the birds, one is tied out near the coop, and the other patrollers the yard freely. I also managed to kill one of the foxes with the help of my LGDs


What I learned:

No matter what I have to make sure I do a night check, no excuses, no forgetting no nothing it has to be done.

 

[Cryss]

Hi Nola985,
Do you have a link to the video you found by any chance?

I'm experimenting with Prid on a bumblefoot case now but am still bandaging. The bandaging is a real pain - mostly because I need a helper and I don't have someone available to help me every day.

Thanks!

I am going through exactly the same thing. I hope you get an answer. I need to see this video.

1. At first, it was a choice, not a mistake. I chose kennels instead of 1/2” hardware cloth runs to house my flocks because I’m building impaired and budget crunched.
2. I figured my dogs would keep the flocks safe but didn’t count on the rat snakes eating eggs, killing chicks or killing two of my broody hens.
3. It had evened out last year. No deaths and no egg losses but so far this year I’ve relocated about 12 rat snakes just the past two months. There has been a lot of clearing surrounding my farm and the snakes and predators have come around. My dogs do not protect from snakes. I have coral snakes here too so it was never my intention to teach my dogs to guard from snakes.
4. I’ve learned snakes live here too. I didn’t move out to the country to destroy the natural balance so I’m still learning how to prevent tragedy. That many rat snakes living off of my eggs is not natural though. They found a buffet and need to move on. While I would love to say all my future coops will be in hardware cloth, they probably won’t be. Especially with wood being so expensive to purchase a coop, I’m looking at the TSC 10 x 10 right now. But I’ll probably continue to use kennels and put broodies in the few snake proof coops I have. My chicks are either with their adult flocks and therefore I’m alerted to predators during the day or they are in a snake proof grow out coop with regular supervised forays onto grass and sandy spots. And I collect eggs as early as possible several times a day while continuing to relocate snakes about 1/3 mile away.

I also used a chain link dog run because I can’t build. But I did cover the entire thing with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Makes for a very strong base for that HC.

 

[CHlCKEN]

My biggest mistake was underestimating predators and overestimating the effect of my precautions against any.

As a result of this, I lost what was nearly my entire flock in one night. Predators killed all of my ducks and I was left with just four chickens.

After this experience I’ve become rather paranoid about predators. Locking up my birds the moment I spot a hawk in the sky. The biggest precaution Ive taken was ditching my entire set up, and moving to something super secure and fully closed in. Yes, it’s smaller, but it’s safer and that’s the most important thing. Due to this switch I haven’t lost a bird to a predator in two years.

I learned that predators are going to outsmart you no matter what. You need to think outside the box and double your sense of what will be safe.

 

[TropicalBabies]

1. What did you do? Trusted my dog
2. What were the consequences? He randomly killed a few chickens through 2 years.
3. Did you fix it? How? Yes, I rehomed him.
4. What did you learn? Even if you think you are buttoned up and on your game. Don't trust unproven pooches... and I mean PROVEN pooches only. My sweet Biscuit systematically offed a chick here and there... I never suspected him, he never chewed, hoarded, left a mark or got caught. I always blamed the bigger, younger dog... and kept my eye on him, or thought it could be a feral cat... I had no idea why I would lose chicks when no one was around and w/o a sound... My dog was a great listener as long as I was there... it was the not there that cost me about 4 chicks and 1 chicken. Both mad at me and him.

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

Worst mistake:
Buying 3 straight run chicks at TSC, thinking I had 1 chance in 8 that they would be all cockerels.

Consequences:
I ended up with all cockerels. (I think "straight run" means they can't tell if it's a pullet, ie, it's probably a cockerel.) At 4 months, they became hormonal teenagers, harassing the 3 pullets I also bought, to the point the girls wouldn't get off the roost. They also became aggressive with me.

How I fixed it:
2 of the 3 had to go. I didn't have anything set up for culling them, so I caught them in a fishing net, took them behind the coop, and shot them. Then I cried, hard. It wasn't their fault they were male. I buried them in my garden, and I thank them for their contribution to the soil.

What I learned:
Do not buy straight run unless I have a plan for dealing with multiple cockerels. I will apply this lesson to hatching eggs, if I hatch some. I generalize this lesson to be: have a plan for ANY bird that doesn't work in my flock.

We had a straight run but my dogs killed half of them and took us from 13 males to 6 males.
We had to cull one because it was aggressively attacking my daughter and chasing her down in the yard anytime she was outside.

 

[Tclloyd0812]

Mistake: Bought full grown laying hens from a big local mennonite egg farm because I wanted more eggs and felt bad for the battered hens. I asked questions, got pictures of them before and were told they were super healthy. Quarantined for a few weeks away from my flock, didn't see any signs of sickness, just thought the hens were battered and tired from being crammed in a small area all of their lives.

Consequence: My whole flock contracted mycoplasma and mareks disease. Many of them died and suffered, the rest had to be culled.

What I did: Culled the whole entire flock that had not already passed from the diseases. Cleaned the coop extremely well 2 times, aired out for 6 weeks before introducing new members that I decided to get mareks vaccinations for (yes I know it doesn't help prevent it necessarily, but after my experience you would probably do the same).

What I learned: I learned not to be deceived so easily by someone selling "healthy" birds. I learned to take small symptoms into consideration like being lazy and not moving around much. I learned not to introduce new chickens, especially older chickens, to my flock unless they have a clean bill of health.
Personally, I will never be getting adult chickens on my farm again, and I am having all of my birds on the property NPIP certified because it's a bigger problem than people like to realize.

 

[Tashua]

My biggest mistake was buying two chicks from tractor supply to keep one chick that I inherited company and they all were supposed to be pullets. Definitely not pullets had one rooster and one hen that we call TSD for tractor supply defect .
boy or boy is she a defect she shaped funny she lays eggs in a funny shape that usually crumble there’s so much more I could tell you but you get the general idea. so I’ve learned I will not ever be getting chicks from tractor supply again!

 

[the_peanut_coop]

My biggest mistake was buying two chicks from tractor supply to keep one chick that I inherited company and they all were supposed to be pullets. Definitely not pullets had one rooster and one hen that we call TSD for tractor supply defect .
boy or boy is she a defect she shaped funny she lays eggs in a funny shape that usually crumble there’s so much more I could tell you but you get the general idea. so I’ve learned I will not ever be getting chicks from tractor supply again!

I WILL NEVER. EVER GET CHICKS FROM TRACTOR SUPPLY!