What was your worst mistake as a chicken keeper?

[WaveyCreekChickens]

My biggest mistake was to when I got my first chickens. I had planned to get them from a breeder of heritage breeds, but the breeder was lousy at calling me back. I went to see a former school student who had taken up keeping chickens. I just wanted to see his set up. He greeted us with a rubber maid container full of 9 teenage chicks and said we could take these right away. A weasel had gotten into his coop and taken 4 chicks. These were the survivors. He needed to get rid of them. He went on to tell us what breeds they were and that it was easy to see most of them were hens.
Well, 5 were roosters, the breeds were completely off and all the hens had a genetic problem with their shell gland.
I learned not to jump to the pump to save someone.
We learned to butcher and ate 4 roosters. We learned that we would not ever want to do that again (slaughtering).
I could not fix the problem of the eggs, and i am the type to fall in love with every animal, so all the hens and one rooster got to live.

 

[Gigi_The_Chicken]

Getting nine as a beginner.

 

[Chickenslol]

two things

1. buying chicks from TC the night thst i lost two of my original flock to a hawk. do not buy chicks on a whim when you are in emotional distress, and never from tractor supply

2. not worming my chickens at the first sign of disease. 9 times out of ten it is not mareks but just worms. i could have saved two of my girls if i had just gone with my gut and dewormed them. if the answer to what if wrong with your chickens is easy and fast, it’s usually wrong. don’t ignore details that don’t fit a narrative. my mom thought one of our chickens had bumblefoot, and we treated it accordingly. i had a nagging feeling that wasn’t what was happening. 175 dollars in hospital bills later turns out the leg was paralyzed because of a kidney disease. listen to your gut not what is easy.

 

[nuthatched]

I'm going to narq on a lady I know, she's the sweetest thing but she simply didn't do her research.
In early 2020 she decided to get chickens to keep her kids entertained during covid. Okay, not too bad.
She bought 30 chicks. (I'm pretty seasoned a chickens and I can't handle more than 15) She nor her husband had ever had chickens before. They built a 20 x12 coop, ( a decent size if she had a third of the chickens) then she couldn't understand why people were giving away roosters everywhere so she adopted 4-5, she already had about 4 roosters already. so she had 35ish chickens in 20x10 coop, 8 roosters, who were fighting and chasing her kids etc. I should have said something but I don't know how to gently tell someone "everything you're doing is wrong!"She gave them all away a few months ago because chickens were more work than she thought

I'm still learning and experts on byc has prevented a lot of stupid and fatal mistakes on my part, I should have directed her here. Thankful for byc!

 

[JaeG]

This is to give you a giggle.

Recently I saw one of our English Araucana pullets slumped in a nestbox, neck outstretched etc. She looked like she was dead, but the kids were helping me wrangle everyone into bed so I didn't draw attention to the fact that she could potentially have passed away. I quietly snuck out a little later with a bag to put the body in. I quietly went into the coop and grabbed her tail to haul her out, but it went through my mind that she still felt warm (how sad - was there something I could've done if I'd found her a little earlier?). Then she growled at me! Not dead - broody! In my defense our old Araucana never went broody so it never even occurred to me that she could be, plus it's still the end of winter in my little corner of the world.

Also, our coops are next to some big, old native Totara trees. I currently have 5 bantam pullets (I kid you not) nesting in two of them. If they manage to hatch anything I don't know how they think they are getting them down.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

I wish there were shops in the UK that sold live chicks and lots of chicken supplies. Like a TSC or something. It would be much easier to get chicks and supplies

 

[BesideStillWaters]

There are many. But I'll start with this.

1. Many, many years ago I bathed a hen that was covered in mites.
2. She died.
3. It could not be fixed.
4. I learned that bathing a sickly chicken could kill it.

...I just dunked my whole flock in diluted permethrin solution yesterday. Didn't know this. None of them are sick though. (I didn't dunk the one who isn't feeling well, powdered her instead.)

So sorry you lost her.

 

[BesideStillWaters]

Not recognizing Coccidiosis in chicks for what it was.

Same. Lost two four-month-old pullets to this nightmare.

 

[Tashua]

I WILL NEVER. EVER GET CHICKS FROM TRACTOR SUPPLY!

Was a desperate move to keep one lone chick from being alone

 

[BesideStillWaters]

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.


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.


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.


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

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I did this too, except I had 6 roosters to 7 hens... I was selling the roosters, but I didn't do it fast enough. Then the roosters started fighting, the hens lost feathers, it was awful. I never had blood in the eggs like yours did, so I still have all of mine. Hoping their feathers return once they molt!

Your boys are so pretty. It's sad they ended up doing so much damage.