What was your worst mistake as a chicken keeper?

[Driley62]

The biggest mistake I’ve made is probably when I bought 10 straight run chicks and hoped that I’d get only a few cockerels…I ended up with all 10 being cockerels

Seems to be a trend! I got a straight run and you got it! All of them males!

 

[topochico225]

What did you do?

Flipped out when my Red Star Flo mildly prolapsed. I had a fully stocked chicken first aid kit but I let my emotions get in the way and whisked her to the vet instead.

What were the consequences?

$400 down the drain.

Did you fix it? How?

I researched much more about helping prolapsed vents, and I've been working on not being too emotional when one of the girls has a crisis.

What did you learn?

LSU Vet School is overpriced and I am a wimp.

Flo ended up being fine btw!

 

[RobinGel]

If it's not mites and lice on the birds or termites and carpenter ants eating the wood then I don't care about bugs in the coop. Any bug brave enough to come within range of a hungry chicken is known as "extra protein".

I've used Demand CS in my basement for many years. Just the past few years I started using it to prevent mites. It also kills/prevents termites, carpenter bees & carpenter ants. Idk why there's so many carpenter bees here.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

What did you do?

Flipped out when my Red Star Flo mildly prolapsed. I had a fully stocked chicken first aid kit but I let my emotions get in the way and whisked her to the vet instead.

What were the consequences?

$400 down the drain.

Did you fix it? How?

I researched much more about helping prolapsed vents, and I've been working on not being too emotional when one of the girls has a crisis.

What did you learn?

LSU Vet School is overpriced and I am a wimp.

Flo ended up being fine btw!

Better safe than sorry I guess... That vet is expensive... My local vet only charges around £20 for a chicken appointment (depending on severity of the situation)

 

[topochico225]

Better safe than sorry I guess... That vet is expensive... My local vet only charges around £20 for a chicken appointment (depending on severity of the situation)

It is a veterinary teaching hospital, and the only one within 15 minutes of me that treats chickens. There's something insane like a $150 (about £110) cover charge just for checking the bird in.

 

[kurby22]

What did you spray your coop & chickens with? I'm just wondering because I'm about to do a more than thorough coop cleaning before winter...

I used Elector PSP! It's expensive but will last a long time and is safe around animals and effective against the mites. Sprayed every nook and cranny, cinder block, and anything else that was in the coop.

 

[hkeibard]

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 Prid. 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. I’m so thankful I found a buried video of a vet tech talking about how it should be done and that evasive protocols were not warranted.

4. What did you learn?
Research. Research. Research. Just because countless ppl say it’s “what I’ve always done or do” doesn’t 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” protocol is archaic, completely unnecessary and needs to be ended.

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!

 

[casportpony]

Another one...

1. I gave a young peacock a small metronidazole pill and he aspirated it! This is where the pill went:
   
   Photo by Craig Hopkins
2. Luckily he coughed it out. If he hadn't he would have died
3. I gave it again, but this time I was very careful to get it past the opening to his trachea.
4. I learned that giving small pills could be problematic.

 

[Araucana Nest]

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.

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.

 

[godzillaandfriends]

What did I do?

I forgot to put my two chicks in the coop, Grogu and Skywalker

What were the consequences?

Lost Skywalker

Did you fix it?

No, I was too late to grab Skywalker, though I was able to save Grogu

What did you learn?

Check how many chickens are in the cage before letting the dogs roam.