What were your worst mistakes when you first started?

[cmom]

My birds do have leg bands so I can keep track of them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I preferred the leg bands because I could read them from a distance.
With wing bands I can't read them till I pluck the bird off the roost at night because there is no way to catch one during the day.
But if more than one bird lost them, I couldn't identify who was who. I still sometimes leg band but wing band every bird because they are permanent.

 

[cmom]

I have had a few birds loose the leg bands too but more often than not the majority still have them on. Usually when they have lost the leg bands and are in a coop with birds that have the same colored leg band I sometimes put another band on the other leg.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I have had a few birds loose the leg bands too but more often than not the majority still have them on. Usually when they have lost the leg bands and are in a coop with birds that have the same colored leg band I sometimes put another band on the other leg.

I didn't want to do the wing band because I would have to be holding the bird to read it.
2 years ago I resorted to getting 2 sets of leg bands, putting the same color and same number on each leg but still lost some. I finally bit the bullet and switched to wing bands.

 

[D-Bar-B]

Not having a walk-in style coop. My back is killing me.

Our first coop was a pre-fab (it was given to us and we were thankful), but even at 5'2", I had to hunch over to add bedding, etc. into part of the coop. When we decided to get some chicks to add to our flock of 6 hens, my awesome hubby built my new coop! It's 7' in the front and slants down to 6' at the back. I have plenty of space to walk in, sit down and have some quality time with the girls. First picture is the pre-fab one (which is now used for the chicks until they're big enough to integrate with the flock), and the other two are the new coop.

 

[Camellia]

Didn't check if my dogs were aggressive or not towards my chickens, long story short, lost 3 hens

 

[DobieLover]

Our first coop was a pre-fab (it was given to us and we were thankful), but even at 5'2", I had to hunch over to add bedding, etc. into part of the coop. When we decided to get some chicks to add to our flock of 6 hens, my awesome hubby built my new coop! It's 7' in the front and slants down to 6' at the back. I have plenty of space to walk in, sit down and have some quality time with the girls. First picture is the pre-fab one (which is now used for the chicks until they're big enough to integrate with the flock), and the other two are the new coop.

View attachment 1775566 View attachment 1775567 View attachment 1775568

That's a sweet upgrade!!
Here's my before and almost after...

I've still got to finish and install windows and fascia and build the run. But it's already soooo much better than the first one I built.

 

[aart]

Be still my roofoverhang loving heart!!
You need to update your coop page @DobieLover

 

[DobieLover]

Be still my roofoverhang loving heart!!
You need to update your coop page @DobieLover

I'm working on it!

 

[Folly's place]

Very nice!!!
Mary