What was your worst mistake as a chicken keeper?

[Geckolady]

I saw a startup hatchery within easy driving distance, and needed some chicks to be pals to a singleton who was the only one that hatched. They had some that hatched the same day as my chick and in a breed that I already had. I drove over and they let me inside to pick the chicks I wanted and I thought that was great, especially since they would be spared the stress of shipping.

A few days later it was apparent that they were seriously sick. I don't know what they had, but with advice from the people here I treated them and saved two, both pullets. I'd wanted a cockerel. When I tried to contact the hatchery, their web site was down. It's never gone back up. They are closed. Fortunately, I practiced quarantine and nobody else here caught it. The original chick was the first one to die.

Lesson: Buy chicks from someone you know about who does their best to prevent the spread of diseases, and always, always quarantine!

 

[the_peanut_coop]

Biggest Mistake? Putting a Young Brahma in with lil bossy peanut

 

[RubelliteRose]

1. What did you do
We didn't start building a chicken coop before we got our first chickens. Chickens were a planned impulse buy for us last year. Planned because we bought our house with the intention of having chickens someday. Impulse because covid made us finally decide to get them. We had ideas and plans, but then changed them once we actually had our chickens.

2. What were the consequences
Our chicks were in the house WAY too long We loved being able to interact with them for hours and they are now all very friendly, but SO much "dust".

3.Did you fix it? How.
We eventually finished the coop after set backs due to weather and mistakes in the plans we bought - we should have followed our instincts instead of just using the measurements on the plans. We also fortunately used a room that we were planning to strip and remodel anyway. Did I mention all the "dust"?

4. What did you learn.
Start your coop before getting chickens - only partially learned. We started to build a bigger coop this year(chicken math), but stopped due to the crazy wood prices. We ended up moving a shed instead. This years additional chickens were only inside a little longer than we wanted
Learned successfully- take everything non essential out of the room before adding chicks. And carpet, make sure there is no carpet

 

[jklhgyfhg]

1) What did you do? As a first timer I told my partner to portion off the shed smaller than I feel I should have. I feel I didn't do enough reading on BYC in terms of chicken math, and coop setups. Aka: Build it at least twice the size you think you'll need, if not three or four times the size. I did that with their run (7 birds have well over 2000sq feet of grassy run), just not the coop itself (they've got about 60sq feet of floor space instead of potentially 100). I didn't think thoroughly about locations of outside access door/roosts/nesting boxes/waterer locations and winter time and as a result the coop feels cramped and awkward.
2) What were the consequences? Aside from me feeling a little irritated in my lack of thorough research in terms of building bigger than I felt I would need for my goals there really aren't any. My desires for more birds just has to wait.
3) Did you fix it? How? Not yet. I intend to do further, in depth research and utilize more vertical space, I have about 7-8 feet of height I can be using. Perhaps moving their outside access door to a different location will help immensely. The use of a poop board under their roost has proven very effective. And perhaps there isn't anything wrong with the current setup and I am simply overthinking it.
4) What did you learn? RESEARCH. Ask questions here on BYC! There are a LOT of knowledgeable, kind folks on here happy to share their mistakes, knowledge and resources.

 

[RobinGel]

1. What did you do?

I wasnt new when I made this mistake. I kept 2 roosters that I liked because I read somewhere that Buff Orphingtons were the calmest of gentlemen. I also believed that I could have 2 roosters for 30 hens.

1. What were the consequences?

The consequences were slow to show but they were not doable for anyone or hen involved! The 2 Buff guys were hatched & raised together & both named JimBob. They acted like besties until one day the taller JimBob tried mounting the girls. It wasn't long later the shirt JimBob did also ... then the fighting started. They stared each other down & danced in circles on my porch for a couple weeks even mostly forgetting about the adult ladies! It became clear the taller JimBob was the alpha. So he was doing the rooster thing and the ladies didn't mind, he danced for them, clucked at the good treats, waited for them to eat, even herding them inside each night they were outside... it was winter. The beta roo was acting like a hen so I thought coop life was good... wrong! I was so wrong!! In the coop, the boys were both taking turns yanking the girls around, actually saw them flipping a few Leghorns on the ground & stomping them. If that wasn't bad enough they were both constantly & repeatedly taking turns jumping on the same couple girls. Outside the coop, The alpha JimBob started chasing down the beta & it was a fierce! So I believed removing the beta JimBob was the solution... wrong again! So I had 1 rooster & 30 hens now ... shoulda been ok. Life in the coop seemed calmer but the learned bad habits or insecurities were well established now. The beta roo was doing well in his new place. The alpha JimBob was working triple time! I studied him and found he was up on a hen every 10 minutes all darn day long!! At this time 3/4 of my flock was kinda young they'd only been laying about 8-9 months. Most of the girls had featherless wings tails and lower backs. Over time egg production went from 22-24 down to 7-8 each day. The eggs had bloody striations & couldn't be sold. So away went the JimBob in all his beauty to live out his days free ranging on the other side of the farm. The girls didn't really recover most looked like they were 10yrs old when they weren't even 2 years old. I studied them for about a month and kept track of who was laying & if their eggs were clear of blood. I'm not talking about a tiny streak of blood. In the thicker part of the white of the egg, it was cloudy with red blood where the raw egg wasn't even like a clear raw egg white.

1. Did you fix it? How?

Yes the only solution was to butcher most if my girls because the JimBob actually hurt them & caused irreparable damage. I did keep a handful of girls that didn't submit to him. Those girls are still here and laying. My criteria for keeping a hen was kinda simple ... whomever didnt submit to the JimBob... or the JimBob didn't let have treats... or that was laying clear whites & good eggs.

1. What did you learn?

Lots!
1) No real need for more than 1 rooster unless it's for breeding & hatching.
2) Size matters! A very large rooster can damage a tiny hen
3) Reading articles on the internet isn't always good advice or rule of thumb
4) Pretty doesn't make a good rooster
5) An ill mannered rooster probably can't be changed into a gentleman
6) When considering a young rooster, study him first. Look for a calmness, listen for clucking at treat time, watch him in the coop to see if he's looking around taking notice or inventory of the hens. Avoid young cockerels that are aggressive, selfish, have dark pronounced comb/wattles & don't show they are gentlemen!

Sorry for such a long post but it was a huge mistake!! Edits to fix typos

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

I postponed my first Bumblefoot treatment until it got too bad for her to walk well during a major heatwave. The treatment/removal of such Bumblefoot went perfectly and she healed right up. However with the added stress of a small surgery and the extreme heat she was susceptible to heat stress and related issues. So she died 3 days later very suddenly and in her sleep. Obviously I could not fix this. Now I know not to do such things in the heat of the summer and I should have fixed her up the moment I found the Bumblefoot.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

My biggest mistake:

Getting a 600$ pre fab that said it was for 12 chickens, looking back I feel awful that 6 lived in there for a while. I thought that having 6 in there, they would have more than enough space. Boy was I wrong.

I don’t know that there were really any consequences, but I guess that it wasn’t super healthy for them, and it was a Waste of 600$

I fixed it by getting a much larger coop built (to my preferences) for 2000. It’s raised off the ground, and is walk in.

I learned that pre fabs are NOT the way to go, I mean sure, they’re cheaper and take less work, but they aren’t healthy for the birds, inadequate ventilation, cramped, fall apart easily (no matter how much they tell you it’s sturdy and durable) and is a waste of money.

 

[chicknmania]

Not recognizing Coccidiosis in chicks for what it was.

 

[LizzzyJo]

The classic ordered the chickens before the coop was built. Had them in the house until the originals were 12 weeks old However...they are the friendliest birds I have...

 

[CreveChris]

1. What did you do?
Thought I could build out my open-air coop by myself, then thought it would be easy to hire a "helper". Hired a couple of young landscapers to build the two-cement-block-high wall, but ended up having to do it myself because apparently math: geometry.

2. What were the consequences?
For a year I used a chicken tractor by day and garage brooder by night (I'm overprotective). The garage was covered with dust, but hemp bedding kept it clean-ish. Ma and Pa Kettle over here.


3. Did you fix it? How?
After building the brick-and-mortar foundation and installing 4x4s myself (with husband help), I finally got a referral on an older carpenter who got the PT lumber and hardware cloth coop/run design I carefully explained to him done.

I tried to be available but not "in the way" to ensure it was built to my plan--learned this from redoing/flipping houses.

The open air coop is Fort Knox. And only cost me 400% of my budget.

4. What did you learn?
Custom builds are hard. And expensive. And worth it!