What was your worst mistake as a chicken keeper?

[Sapphire Sebright]

Technically not a "chicken" keeping experience, specifically, but it could also apply to keeping chickens.
Insecure coop. Not just like there was a hole, or something -- we had a structure on a layer of sand, and we were keeping half-grown guineas in there until we could introduce them to the chickens. The floor was sand.
Got woken up at five in the morning by all six guinea babies screaming their heads off. Something had dug underneath the edge of the coop and had killed three guineas, dragging two off into the woods and leaving one behind for me to deal with come morning.
We never figured out exactly what it was, but I assume that it was a raccoon or two.

Other than that, mistakes include not having everything totally set up and prepared before bringing babies home, resulting in a scramble. That, and having a light fixture but no incandescent bulbs to fit in it because everything is LED and cold nowadays. We bought an actual brooder lamp after that.

 

[yakitori]

1. What did you do?

Built a half-high run on the original version of the Little Monitor Coop. We were trying to save the cost of another roll of hardware cloth.

2. What were the consequences?

Cleaning was a nightmare and collecting run eggs or anything else that needed access under the coop required sending a child in with a hoe.

3. Did you fix it? How?

It could not be fixed under those circumstances. We just had to live with it.

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 a half sized coop as well! But I have it 4 feet up between two trees and it’s only 4x4x5 so I can reach in and clean it just fine. Got lucky I guess

I know I have already stated my second biggest mistake (second only on the timeline not the severity of it). I want to correct myself. It is the third biggest mistake I've made. The first I believe that many or most of us have made, which is to fail in obtaining a university degree in chicken mathematics prior to getting your chickens . BUT...

My second second biggest or first second biggest, or..,mistake was in not understanding physics at the university level as well.

When I got my first set of chicks I bought 6 silkies from a local backyard flock. They were totally awesome so I went to TSC and bought 4 little pullets ( 2 layers and 2 bantams) to join them. Kept them inside under all of the rules that I was learning, proper heat etc, and they flourished. Could handle all of them . Friendly. All good things going well. Bought a 10x10 dog kennel and covered with HW cloth. Put a tarp over it for a roof. Built a raised 3 sided roost area, and put two dog kennels beneath it for their nesting area. They had a sweet little open air pen coop and got to free range and eat all the bugs they could find. Til a big storm came through...

...have you ever seen a wire caged balloon fly? I have and it ain't pretty! That cage flew over an acre away and busted through the neighbor's fence. I just knew all my babies were dead.

We all ran outside to start hunting for the carcasses we knew we'd find, but all that was there was 2 dog kennels flopped over on their sides with pine chip guts spewed all over and barely visible a small top-knot of light brown feathers.. My heart sank and I prayed they had gone quickly and didn't suffer.

To my surprise I heard some scared little sounds and ran over and found one of the kennels with several of the young pullets cuddling together inside. My brother came over with my little Silkie roo and another pullet in his hands. They had run up and begged to be saved. We soon had all of them except the one laying in the second kennel with a roost bar on her neck. My pretty little Silkie girl. I girded my loins and went over to gather her up. Lifted the bar off her neck and about passed out when she jumped up and ran out of the kennel with not a scratch on her.

The morals of my long story:
1) Hot air balloons and tarp covered dog kennels will fly away if you don't anchor them down.
2) The deep bedding method has a great way of cushioning some of life's blows.
3) It doesn't take much to save a life by just lifting their load for a moment in time.

When I got my flimsy but expensive dog kennel run from amazon.com I noted a bunch of reviews that said these were practically kites in disguise... and so I made sure to anchor it down to several weather treated 2x4s. A couple of tropical storms later, and it’s still standing! I still get nervous everytime we get a strong breeze though...

 

[lauraschicks]

I have a half sized coop as well! But I have it 4 feet up between two trees and it’s only 4x4x5 so I can reach in and clean it just fine. Got lucky I guess


When I got my flimsy but expensive dog kennel run from amazon.com I noted a bunch of reviews that said these were practically kites in disguise... and so I made sure to anchor it down to several weather treated 2x4s. A couple of tropical storms later, and it’s still standing! I still get nervous everytime we get a strong breeze though...

The kennel itself would probably have stayed okay, but the big blue tarp we put on it for rain and wind protection was homemade SHOCK AND AWE! My babies thought they were going to OZ. Luckily Dorothy had already taken care of the Wicked Witch and her evil monkey minions.

 

[Laura_BelgianBantams_63]

• What did you do?
• What were the consequences?
• Did you fix it? How?
• What did you learn?

1. When sanding and clipping on of my belgian's nails, it started bleeding! I clipped a blood vessel!
2. Blood. Not too much luckily.
3. Put a little bandage on her toe.
4. Be careful when clipping chicken toe nails! Also, corn-starch is good to stop a chicken bleeding!

 

[CreveChris]

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...

This is waaaay more common than anyone may want to admit. Especially if our previous experience with keeping animals was dogs, cats, and parakeets! Our lovebird used to sit on my son's shoulder while he did his homework and would hop onto his pencil when he needed kisses.

We've built doghouses and cat scratching posts since childhood but always had our animals under the same roof--and often in our beds--at night. Supplying a completely predator-proof nighttime facility for a flock of beloved birds is an overwhelming responsibility.

 

[Pippin quail]

What did you do? I bought 9 new hens from 2 different flocks. I did not quarantine them and put them all directly in with my chickens.
What were the consequences? First of all, several of my 8 cockerels went crazy! They started trying to mate the new hens and pulling each other off/fighting. Also didn't inspect the hens very well or have forthcoming sellers... One has crooked toes. She seems fine and the lady told me she hatched like that and she tried to fix it but couldn't. (Thanks for letting me know beforehand lady!) Two have scaly leg mites.
Did you fix it? How? The cockerels are separated into one side of the run. But they can still see and hear and interact with the hens from behind the fence. So there's still some scuffles and attempted jail breaks. I'm hoping my husband will start butchering them this weekend before they kill each other or escape the run at night, which one did last night! Thankfully I was there to catch him and fix the fence where he climbed out.
As for the feet thing, I'm now preemptively treating all the chickens in the coop for scaly leg mites. Cleaned out the whole coop, etc. And as for Ingeburg (the swedish flower hen with the crooked toes) I guess she's fine, just looks weird and would maybe avoid breeding her, she also has a crooked comb.

What did you learn? Do my due diligence when buying chickens. Have a setup to quarantine. Don't just buy more because winter is coming and you feel like you need more to keep each other warm. Maybe don't buy any more adult chickens and just hatch my own!

 

[KingD]

My biggest mistake as a chicken keeper was, assuming there are no daytime predators. Big mistake, lesson learned the hard way.

Another one was, not securing hardware cloth correctly.
Ripped by fox, 12 guineas lost in 1 night.

 

[Shaleen Ann Brown]

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.

I decided to help a chick hatch too early.... Ended up causing a bleed.... The chick died
Lesson learnt never help a chick hatch.... Unless it has made most of its way around or is shrink wrapped....I even try avoid helping then.

 

[Pippin quail]

My biggest mistake as a chicken keeper was, assuming there are no daytime predators. Big mistake, lesson learned the hard way.

Another one was, not securing hardware cloth correctly.
Ripped by fox, 12 guineas lost in 1 night.

Yikes! I feel like I really need to do some upgrading to my run. If one of my cockerels managed to fly to the top of the fencing and get through the bird netting on top and out of the run last night, I assume many predators could use his technique to get in.

 

[KingD]

Yikes! I feel like I really need to do some upgrading to my run. If one of my cockerels managed to fly to the top of the fencing and get through the bird netting on top and out of the run last night, I assume many predators could use his technique to get in.

Yes definitely.
It's not really something that people worry about until it's too late.