What was your worst mistake as a chicken keeper?

[Mrs. K]

I kept patching a run, with more and more wire but could not out patch the coons.

Tore all the cheap stuff off, and covered the whole thing in chainlink fencing lined with chicken wire. My husband is a saint!

MRs K

 

[Brooks_]

I fear my worst mistake is yet to come.

So far it is an over breeding roo. Now being over 1 year and entering first molt, I am holding judgement on him. Otherwise he is great.

 

[Ryguy3684]

Biggest mistake:
Buying a prefab, 8-10 large breed, coop for my 6 BO's. I set it up when the chicks were 6 weeks old, and they were already in tight quarters. I would have felt horrible keeping any amount of birds in that tight of a space. I quickly sold that coop, cut my loses and built a walk in, shed type with a big covered run.
What I learned:
Never trust the coop manufacturers idea of a good size home for chickens. Also, a bigger coop meant more chickens.

 

[Bryce Thomas]

I tried helping 2 chicks out of their shells but ended up killing them

I remember getting sharp tweezers to slowly peel back the shell and using a wet q tip to wet the rest of the shell to help the chick out but I guess I went too far back in and i remember hearing them squeak and then blood slowly pooling and I just remember think please be ok

I saved one by clotting the blood using a paper towl and im never trying to help one out again

 

[SilkySilkie]

so it wasnt my fault or this happened to my flock but my grandpa told my sister to have a head count of the chickens at that time they had 40+ hens so being a 10 year old my sister just quickly counted my grandpa also owns a dog who kills chickens so every night she is unleashed so in the morning we wake up to 12 dead chickens and one very badly injured fighting to survive hen what my grandpa learned was to never let my sister do a head count ever again

 

[nuthatched]

Not having enough ventilation in my coop, especially in winter. A new coop is coming in a few months now that lumber prices are more reasonable.

 

[MadamContrary]

I've been keeping birds for about 15 years, chicken and quail for almost ten. I have made many mistakes. My first mistake when I first got chickens was thinking chicken wire was going to keep things away from my chickens, lost 4 birds to opossums in one night. We wrapped everything in hardware cloth and these days I opt for 1/4" heavy gage wire for all my projects.

This year I failed on maintenance, I didn't inspect the wooden fencing around our back yard where about half of my quail we're kept, and a pack of stray dogs chewed through the boards in one corner, they chewed through the wood frames and ripped back the hardware cloth and killed about 30 of my birds, didn't even eat them, just killed. I have reinforced the entire wooden fence with pig fence panels, and put up privacy screen on all the chain link. I also haven't moved any quail to the back yet, I've been nervous, but I have 33 new quail chicks and I have the front yard pens full so now it's time to move some to the back. I'm just grateful I didn't lose all of my birds, I've been breeding for temperament for several years and I'm starting fresh with 4 new bloodlines, so not starting over completely from scratch, but close.

The take away for me it an ounce of prevention is worth it's weight in gold. Check your fence lines, inspect the pens and coops regularly for any weak points. Build stronger than you think you need.

 

[Geckolady]

1. What did you do?
Took advice on bumble foot “surgery”.

2. What were the consequences?
Stress and pain (even though she didn’t show it) and daily wrapping which I have since found stupid and completely unnecessary.

3. Did you fix it? How?
Yes. I now use Prin. Administered to the spot each night while on the roost. No cover. No vet wrap. In the morning, apply antibiotic ointment. Do this for a week. Completely healed without hurting my girls, without opening a wound to potential infection, or stressing them or myself unnecessarily.

4. What did you learn?
Research. Research. Research. Just because countless ppl say it’s “what I’ve always done or do” doent mean it’s right or the best. There are many ways to achieve a beneficial outcome and the most poplular doesn’t make it the way to go. The whole “surgery” things is archaic, completely unnecessary and needs to be ended.

Prin? What is it, and where do you get it?

 

[Everose]

1. What did you do?
Two really big things in my first year
The first would be not researching breeds and temperaments. The second would be keeping them in cramped conditions.

2. What were the consequences?
The wyandotte chicks (super docile and sweet breed) were brutally bullied by the California white chicks (a super flighty agressive breed), and add to that cramped living conditions and you get canibalism.

3. Did you fix it? How?
Separated the California White chicks into the broiler tractor (the broilers are too big and ugly for the California Whites to bully) and pulled some of the more docile breeds out and put them in their own brooder. Treated the wyandottes for their injuries.

4. What did you learn?
I learned quite a few things. Topping the list would be that temperaments really do matter even if you raise them to be nice and sweet, some chickens will just be plain mean. I also learned the importance of space. And finally, I learned that pine-tar smeared on the picked area tastes nasty and keeps chickens from further injuring a docile chicken.

Thank you @PippinTheChicken for this thread, it was a really great idea! Hopefully lots of people can learn from our mistakes

 

[Nola985]

Prin? What is it, and where do you get it?

Prid (sorry typo..going fix)
I got it at Walgreens. You have to look good. It’s not by the other ointments and all.