What were your worst mistakes when you first started?

[harmonyp]

Top mistakes

1. My biggest one - After 6 years, I still had 3 of my original 6 hens left. I had never let them truly "free range" on my acreage, in fear of our coyotes (and other predators). But as they spent more time mulling around the human entrance door, I decided to have a few supervised excursions. For the first week, for their supervised hour a day they stayed on the exterior perimeter of their pen. Over time they started getting bolder and bolder. We had so much fun. I'd be gardening with the 3 dogs, 2 (no longer) feral cats, and 3 chickens, all peacefully intermingling - I felt like Alice in Wonderland.

This went on for a few months - and unfortunately I got bolder. The horse barn is about 200 ft from the chicken pen, and one day I left them out while I fed the horses (about 45 minutes). And ... it was coming dusk. I didn't hear any noise. Dogs, with me in the barn, never barked.

I returned to the chicken pen, with no more chickens. A few feathers on the ground, but nothing more. I was hysterical and horribly heart-sick. I'm sure there was more than one coyote.

Never again. I'm so sad they cannot experience the joy of true free ranging. But I expanded my 20' x 30' run with another 16' x 16'. And now my April hatchlings are starting to lay. I'm constantly adding enrichments from outside the pen, and will make their life inside their pen the happiest I know how...

 

[Matilda Belle]

My biggest mistakes when I first started:

1. Getting too attached to the cockerels I had to part with due to lack of space.
2. Not reading reviews on products before buying them. I wasted a ton of money buying crappy feeders, waterers, etc.
3. I should have gotten a bigger coop. I ended up adding on because I wanted more chickens.
4. Not having enough ventilation in the winter (hopefully fixed now.)
5. Taking and trusting advice from people who know very little about poultry. Beware, there are quite a few who act like experts that know very little. Fortunately I have a few notable members here I seek for advice and know I can trust. I appreciate them a lot.

 

[legojenn]

My mistake as making the coop three feet tall. I built it three feet off the ground so I could wheel a municipal compost bin to the door and rake the soiled woodchips into the bin and then off to the curb once full. I now have 4x8x3 coop for four birds. If I could rebuild, I'd add an extra foot or more so a bird could walk under the perch without bending her head down.

 

[NH Chicken Mama]

I bought one at the feed store and it was crap. The Cozy Coop brand is very good.

Good to know!

Chickens don't need heat, they need good ventilation up high.

I thought it was dependant on the exteripr temperatures? We go as low as -10° F here, I thought I had read that at those temps they did need supplemental heat.

 

[aart]

I thought it was dependant on the exteripr temperatures? We go as low as -10° F here, I thought I had read that at those temps they did need supplemental heat.

If it's -10°F air temp constantly for days/weeks on end then, yeah, maybe.
Gets that cold at night here too, but not for long or for days on end.
Ventilation is way more important than heat.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

...

I thought it was dependant on the exteripr temperatures? We go as low as -10° F here, I thought I had read that at those temps they did need supplemental heat.

That is not true for most chicken breeds. If you are raising frizzles, fayoumis, cubalayas, seramas or equally cold intolerant breeds, they really can't take a lot of cold. If you are raising the bulk of other breeds in the US, cold isn't a problem at all if given fresh air and allowed to acclimate as it gets colder.
As @aart said, ventilation is much more important than any attempt at warmth.
I can't imagine why birds that have been developed over centuries in extremely cold climates with no heat in winter would all of a sudden need protection from cold. They wear a down winter coat around the clock. How do tiny sparrows and wrens survive in well below zero temps without protection?
If you try to provide warmth and don't provide enough ventilation, that is the best way to promote frostbite and the pathogens that create respiratory disease.

 

[tuesdaylove]

Building the most basic pen imaginable - chicken wire and a few poles - and thinking that was secure enough. I've had a long series of predator attacks over the years and each time, I would add some reinforcements to my pens, but always the bare minimum to make it feel safer. It took losing several of my favorite birds to sink in that you've got to build their enclosure right the first time.

 

[Margiebirds]

Well that explains why you're slightly anti rooster.

 

[Margiebirds]

I thought of another one, and this ones IMPORTANT!

“Free ranging fairy tales”

Free ranging is great- don’t get me wrong, i free range daily. BUT there are drawbacks that you have to work out ahead of time.

1. PREDATORS
And
2. Total destruction of your yard.

You need a LOT of space
or
a VERY well planned “restrict and rotate” system to avoid having your yard end up a moonscape by the end of year 1.

Those pictures you see on blogs and in magazines...
of beautiful chickens happily grazing in pastoral settings...
with the sun shimmering off their beautiful feathers....
amidst lovely gardens and lush lawns....


Oh honey,
That’s fake news!

 

[WindingRoad]

Good to know!

I thought it was dependant on the exteripr temperatures? We go as low as -10° F here, I thought I had read that at those temps they did need supplemental heat.

Chickens body temperature run in the 106 F range. 10 degrees higher that we do. Actually, new studies show that 98.6 F is not correct for humans. Put your hand under a wing. It's pretty darn warm under there. Dry birds are the best. Proper ventilation is key. They either tuck their heads under a wing or their neighbor. Now it was hot (high 80's some 90's ) and humid all the month of July. here. My birds didn't snuggle at night. And they even roosted with their wings out away from their bodies. Watch your birds they will let you know if the temp isn't right. I keep a gallon plastic jug with water in it. I live in the Western Maine mountains. We get down to -30F in the winter. I have 13 mini heaters ( AKA chickens) and only once or twice the water was frozen in that jug over night. Last winter was not a snowy or cold as usual. But the winter of 18 I kept four birds in a TSC THIN wooden coop. The bottom was twice as big as the upstairs coop. I warped the coop in a clear plastic tarp. All except the door to open to collect eggs and the other to dump the poop board. No frozen birds. I kept small bowl of fresh water that I did have to change out about every 2 hours They laid eggs most every day all that winter and were still pullets.

I am pretty sure more chickens have died from FIRE in a heated coop than from the cold.

Disclaimer get cold hardy birds.