What was your worst mistake as a chicken keeper?

[Ponypoor]

One night I forgot to lock the chooks in their shed after they put themselves to bed at dusk.
We're not sure if it was a dog or a fox, but the screaming woke us to find two of our four dead. One was smart and was playing dead and the other had got away thank God. It was extremely traumatic for all involved and I will never forget it and how painful it was, even though it was about five years ago. The worst part was that it was my fault I had failed to protect my babies and they relied on me to keep them safe. Now I have three alarms set for bed time to lock them in safely. The three alarms are if I miss the first or second one I at least get one of them which guarantees them safely being put away. I love them all so much, to lose any others in this way would just be too terrible to bear...

I lock everyone away in the barn at 5pm when I bring the horses in. Mine also put themselves to bed for the night, the youngsters are tucked up on the roost when I go to the barn to do night chores around 8pm, the Silkies I have to chase in there as they find pecking around the horse stalls for little bits of grain just too much fun! There are no more unattended excursions for my chickies, too sad when a Fox gets one for sure!

 

[MaeM]

Believe it or not, I've obviously made mistakes, but luckily I've never seen any major consequence directly related to my mistake so far.

Yeah, I got an unvaccinated chicken and she ended up paralyzed with Mareks... But then I found out that only chickens in the industry are vaccinated where I live. You can't get the vaccine unless you have a flock of at least 5000 members.

Yeah, I bought baby chicks and ended up with two roosters... Luckily they get along, my main problem now is that they're plucking their favorite hen, but I plan on getting a saddle for that.

The worst thing that happened to me is that the rooster from my previous flock killed my hen. I didn't have chickens for years after that. But it wasn't really my fault that the rooster was an asshole, right? And they were in separate coops. But she still found a way to get in his (I'll never understand this!) and he pecked her eye out.

Other "oops":
- Using hay as bedding.
- Got feed molded (I didn't give it to them, tho!).
- First coop was too small. I built another one.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I'll tag some of the more popular peeps here on BYC.
@Kiki @Overo Mare @casportpony @aart @the_peanut_coop @muddy75

 

[chickentrains]

my coop is too small.

 

[MaeM]

my coop is too small.

You're not the first chicken owner who saw their birds grow larger than expected This is the chick I have in my avatar

 

[DatCampG]

What I did: I let the chickens out to free range like always, but, I decided I wanted to take a seventy-five minute power nap in the recliner, I just nodded off. The consequences of not being attentive to the free range flock, I heard a bark. I grabbed some firecrackers I keep in a metal can just for such occasions, lit and threw, don't want to waste ammo unless I have to. I learned to put chickens up before a power nap. The dog came back after the birds were secure but I did not use firecrackers the second time. I think the dog and owner got the message loud and clear!

 

[Killyhawker]

The pun being you house her in a box marked SNACKS?

OMG

actually it was that I said “might” and my mistake was “mite”…but that was an unintentional one…snacks

 

[lauraschicks]

actually it was that I said “might” and my mistake was “mite”…but that was an unintentional one…snacks

Too bad chickens can't groom each other and snack on mites like chimps do...

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

View attachment 2809406

We learn from our mistakes, right? Even pros and experts make mistakes.
I was wondering what your biggest mistakes were as chicken keepers.
Maybe newbies could find this thread and learn from it.

1. What did you do?
2. What were the consequences?
3. Did you fix it? How?
4. What did you learn?

Please remember, we all make mistakes. Please do not belittle or bully ANYONE for their mistakes.

Having too many roos in with the ladies.
Too many same-looking mutts. .
I haven't. .
Never to do that one again! .

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

What did you do?

My Black Australorps often where escaping by flying out. Twilight was the worst. So I wing clipped one of her wings of Primaries. She escaped again, so I did the other. She kept escaping till she had no flight feathers at all because I kept clipping them trying to stop her from flying out......

Then I discovered that she was escaping by going UNDER the fence.

What were the consequences?

I had a very ugly Black Australorp named Twilight. She was the ugliest bird I've ever owned! Some bird also thought they'd help ruin her looks by tearing one of her eyelids so this gross piece of flesh hanged in front of her eye! Discusting!

Did you fix it? How?

I moved the Black Australorps to a different chicken run that they COULDN'T go under the fence. Couldn't do anything about Twilight's looks though.

What did you learn?

To always make certain that I know WHERE the bird is escaping.