What were your worst mistakes when you first started?

[Seaecho]

We DID do SOMETHING right. We had the coop and run ready, and fortified with hardware cloth, a skirt, the works. BUT it was a prefab coop that was barely big enough for our 4 bantams. First mistake. Second mistake was the prefab itself. Never again! Was falling apart six months down the road, before we'd even had any rain! So we put stakes in to fortify it, a new roof, but it's still junk. Thought I'd done my homework, but didn't read about chicken diseases. Oh Lord, an 8 month old Silkie died of Marek's. I was beyond heartbroken. Prayed for a miracle that didn't happen. Took care of her every need while she was paralyzed, and a month later she was gone. Now I have to watch my others like a hawk for any sign of it, and it haunts my every waking hour. Can never get any more chickens now. Also, I didn't get a walk-in coop or run. Went and bought a 5x15 dog run to attach to the run that I could walk into. So now when I want a chicken, I have to drive them into the dog run so I can catch them. I guess I thought I was still in my twenties, and could crawl into a 4 ft. tall run and catch them!

 

[MissChick@dee]

Ewwwwww!
That's nasty!

Wallllruusss!!!
Poor fella just couldn’t help himself. YOU on the other hand...now don’t go there!
Wag’s her no no finger @ Walrus

 

[Blooie]

Ordering chicks in February! I was so excited at ordering that I didn't notice that I could pick my breeds early and schedule delivery for a more appropriate time, and I didn't take into account our rural postal system! Our postal hub is Casper, Wyoming, and then it goes out on smaller trucks to deliver to all the outlying communities. So my February ordered chicks were sitting on the loading dock in Casper, awaiting a truck, in 10 degree weather! The tracking showed them as having been "delivered" on Wednesday, but they still had to go on the truck for final delivery. Our postmistress was fantastic, calling Casper and asking them to have the driver put them in the cab of his truck while he made all of his stops on his way to Lovell. Lovell is 6 miles away, and mail is sorted there one more time for those of us in towns that surround it. So it could be a couple more hours from the time mail reaches Lovell (after a 6 hour truck ride from Casper to Lovell) until the time it reaches our community and Jan could call me for pickup. So she made arrangements for me to pick up as soon as the truck reached Lovell. It was 6:30 am and the temp was 17 degrees below zero when we picked them up! They were chilly, but despite everything we only lost 3 out of 22.

Never again! I learned to schedule deliveries, and I learned that tracking means nothing - once they reach Casper they won't be here until the next day.

I also learned NOT to ever raise chicks in the house or use a heat lamp, but that's a story for another time!

 

[scrambled please]

Going out and leaving my sweet chihuahua to watch the babies. Yikes!!! Sad and stupid, I only had to massacred.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I have been very very lucky with chickens. I learned from a knowledgeable person at a rural co-op 20+ years ago.

My mistakes happened with my waterfowl.

Not knowing ducks need more niacin than chickens was one mistake.

The biggie was not forcing them into a secure structure at night.
Apparently the only thing predators like more than chicken is duck.

I lost several to foxes.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

I just remembered a major flop i had! I had let them out to free range and it started to pour down rain. They were all huddled under our porch but dry. I was worried about them and went out into the rain to get them back in the run. I stood by the run and yelled "Chick chick chick!" And they came running. It was insane how they reacted. They panicked realizing they were getting wet and couldnt figure out how to get in the run. I ended up grabbing them all like footballs and putting them back in. To my chagrin...it stopped raining 5 minutes later. In the end we were all soaked for nothing but my worried mothering

 

[BYC910]

I was hatched with chickens . Been trying to get rid of them ever since Its hopeless I tell you just hopeless . Honestly My biggest mistake ever, was thinking I had to be as smart as a chicken . Several hundred dollars in incubators and shipped eggs proved the chicken smarter . Chicken has me beat most of the time by 50%.For one thing they only set on local eggs .Sadly I joined the BYC after all that money was spent.

 

[Matieus27]

I would have to say my worst mistake so far has been buying eggs off of eBay where I can’t verify the stock the eggs are supposed to be coming from

 

[Matieus27]

Don't believe any suggestions for "how many chickens fit" if it's printed on the side of a pre-fab coop boxed kit. Look only at the total square footage and divide by 10, minimum! My first prefab coop footprint was 35"x85" which came to 20 SF plus another 6 SF in the little house. So divide 26 by 10.... comes to less than 3 chickens (box said 9 chickens free ranged!) That is still not enough room! My 3 girls free ranged all day until I could build a bigger coop.

This is Chicken Math
View attachment 1611064

View attachment 1611065
They say chickens are the "Gateway Livestock"
Gotta be careful!!!

Rabbits were my gateway livestock

 

[Shezadandy]

My biggest mistake was taking so long to figure out there are such things as poultry exhaust fans- and that they're not all that expensive when you take into account that they're made for the moist breathing dust mongers we call chickens with sealed motors etc. - and how much better things could have been for the girls that first summer.

https://www.jdmfg.com/poultry/exhaust-fans/indooroutdoor-es-shutter-fan-9-ft-cord​

Adding a poultry fan at the opposite end of the people door- a metal screen door meant for security purposes on a front door - allowed the coop to cool as fast as the air outside. It's also nice to have one to run right after a good cleaning to dry out the mats. And yes, there were plenty of windows, gable vents, roof vents etc, but nothing worked more effectively than the poultry exhaust fan- and all things combined with it improved life in the summer significantly.