What was your worst mistake as a chicken keeper?

[Geckolady]

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

I don't remeber ever seeing that, but will look. Thanks!

 

[Nola985]

I don't remeber ever seeing that, but will look. Thanks!

I remember it was low and not by antibiotic creams. It’s been a while since I got it. And a little goes a long way.

 

[Ironclay]

4. What did you learn?

Nothing, apparently. I accepted the gift of another half-high structure this spring, turned it into a brooder and had this happen last month.

More seriously, build your coop and run considering your ability to access every nook and cranny. Hardware cloth is cheaper than chiropractors (not to mention the ER).

I have been looking for DIY coop plans for a while, and almost every single one of them is like, "Check out this adorable coop! Teehee!" And it's, like, 3 feet tall with a permanent roof and a tiny door on one end.

Like, no, friend! I am 6 feet tall and 300 pounds, how am I supposed to catch a chicken who don't wanna get got in a 3-foot tall tube? I guess I'm supposed to crawl in there on hands and knees to get the feeder they decided to kick all the way to the back every morning?


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For the main question:

I wish I had picked my "main breed" before jumping in. I got an assortment, and they were great for what I originally got them for, but I very quickly got interested in breeding to SOP and the prospect of showing. None of my starters were the same breed and the ones I did have were very low quality.

Then I wish I had just went straight to my breed clubs, instead of trusting egg sellers who insisted they had purebred birds. They even sent me pictures of really nice looking birds -- yet, once everything was said and done and my new babies were hatched, they were very clearly from communal pens with mixed varieties.

 

[nuthatched]

I have been looking for DIY coop plans for a while, and almost every single one of them is like, "Check out this adorable coop! Teehee!" And it's, like, 3 feet tall with a permanent roof and a tiny door on one end.

Like, no, friend! I am 6 feet tall and 300 pounds, how am I supposed to catch a chicken who don't wanna get got in a 3-foot tall tube? I guess I'm supposed to crawl in there on hands and knees to get the feeder they decided to kick all the way to the back every morning?


====

For the main question:

I wish I had picked my "main breed" before jumping in. I got an assortment, and they were great for what I originally got them for, but I very quickly got interested in breeding to SOP and the prospect of showing. None of my starters were the same breed and the ones I did have were very low quality.

Then I wish I had just went straight to my breed clubs, instead of trusting egg sellers who insisted they had purebred birds. They even sent me pictures of really nice looking birds -- yet, once everything was said and done and my new babies were hatched, they were very clearly from communal pens with mixed varieties.

There's lots of great coop plans in the articles section, designed by real people who keep real chickens!

 

[Silviaschicks]

What did you do?
Let my girls free range while not paying too much attention, thinking they were big enough to watch out for themselves
What were the consequences?
Juvenile hawk swooped down and picked up my BR. Luckily, she managed to fight it off but she lost most of the feathers on her back and looked like she was plucked
Did you fix it? How?
I brought her inside to take closer care of her, put cream on her skin, sprayed it to prevent bugs and pecking from the other girls. Took a long time but eventually the feathers grew back
What did you learn?
To never let my guard down and to always be on the lookout for predators. Even if your girls are big they still rely on humans for protection and getting poultry means committing to that protection

 

[rosemarythyme]

1. What did you do?
Had the run uncovered for 2 years with no predator losses, so we figured having a big tree overhanging it was good enough protection.

2. What were the consequences?
Came home to find a hawk pinning down and eating a hen in the run, ironically on the day she resumed laying after winter molt. Hubby came home excited to see the first egg of the year and instead we were down a chicken.

3. Did you fix it? How?
Had to cull the hen then and there (I was my first time... I've learned to cull more effectively now, I think). Bought heavy duty netting and had to engineer a way to get it up over the run. Since my run is split we did one side first and restricted the girls to that half (200 sq ft for 3 chickens so they weren't suffering), then once we got a much bigger coop I netted the remainder.

4. What did you learn?
Just because something hasn't happened yet doesn't mean that it can't happen.

 

[kurby22]

1. What did you do? Made the mistake of not quarantining two new birds from my flock, because I’d gotten several birds from the same breeder already with no issues. I thought it was related to smoky air quality issues…and I really didn’t have a good space to keep them.

2. What were the consequences? My flock got mites and a URI.

3. How did you fix it? I spent lots of money buying permethrin dust, Elector PSP, and several different antibiotics. Ended up still having to take the most obviously sick hen to the avian vet and pay for that too. Then spent an entire day cleaning coops and spraying the coop and chickens.

4. What did you learn? I learned that while a hassle to quarantine, you save money, time, and chicken lives by keeping them away from everyone until you’re sure they’re not carrying something problematic. I learned that stress alone can trigger things even if they seemed perfectly healthy before and it is NOT worth it to skip the quarantine time!

 

[Georgiasoutrunning]

Didn't separate mum and chicks well enough from main flock. Chicks were killed by "Inez the Chick Killer" and mum injured trying to protect them. Inez lives up the road now.

I made a strong new set up away from the main coop. Taylor Swift our lavender Pekin raised a lovely group of Lavender Araucanas this year. She brought them back to the main coop herself when they were all ready.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A CHICKEN - my painful and joyful lesson

 

[PippinTheChicken]

Never expected to see this on the homepage!

 

[McChooky]

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.

I agree 100% This last batch of chicks I ordered from a hatchery had a couple chicks of another breed.It makes more sense to order pullets and pay the difference up front than feeding cockerels you don't need for 4-5 months