What were your worst mistakes when you first started?

[my2ducks]

Trusting that the cute stray dog that seemed sooooo sweet would not harm my three girls! We lost one outright and the other succumbed to her injuries that evening.

I made this mistake as well, with my own cute puppy,,, had no idea he'd kill and eat them, came home from work to a bloody massacre in my house

 

[MissChick@dee]

I made this mistake as well, with my own cute puppy,,, had no idea he'd kill and eat them, came home from work to a bloody massacre in my house

Oh nooo! Sorry

 

[Hermit]

not realizing how long it would actually take to grow out chicks to food production (egg laying and/or butcher). and chicken math due to aforementioned time in addition to purchase minimums/desire for variety/and paranoia that there is a certain percentage of loss to predators, disease, etc. (won’t even add in newfound addiction to hatching)

This. lol
I took into account my limited experience from decades ago, and my grandpa’s motto of “buy ten, you might get five survivors”.
We now have SIXTEEN happy, healthy, incredibly thickly muscled hens & roos.

 

[shedinator]

- Buying a "chick starter kit" and thinking the "brooder" (cardboard octagon) wouldn't be easily escaped; get shredded by curious beaks and feet; and leave behind a floor cover in more poop than my children produced in their entire diaper wearing careers.

- Starting with all pullets rather than having a rooster from the get-go, then free ranging my hens. Like Dolly Parton before me, I went from 9 to 5, but the hawks were the only ones who made a living. Haven't had any hawk attacks since Rufio starting crowing.

- Arranging to buy heritage RIR and SLW on Craigslist, finding the guy was raising his HUGE chickens (seriously, his SLW rooster was over 2' tall) in crazy overcrowded coops and runs, and buying them anyway. Guy regaled me with a story about some idiot customer who'd overfed some birds they got from him, then blamed him when they died after a few months. I took those birds home, fed them the right about of food, and about 2 months after I bought them they all dropped dead in less than a week.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

- Buying a "chick starter kit" and thinking the "brooder" (cardboard octagon) wouldn't be easily escaped; get shredded by curious beaks and feet; and leave behind a floor cover in more poop than my children produced in their entire diaper wearing careers.

- Starting with all pullets rather than having a rooster from the get-go, then free ranging my hens. Like Dolly Parton before me, I went from 9 to 5, but the hawks were the only ones who made a living. Haven't had any hawk attacks since Rufio starting crowing.

- Arranging to buy heritage RIR and SLW on Craigslist, finding the guy was raising his HUGE chickens (seriously, his SLW rooster was over 2' tall) in crazy overcrowded coops and runs, and buying them anyway. Guy regaled me with a story about some idiot customer who'd overfed some birds they got from him, then blamed him when they died after a few months. I took those birds home, fed them the right about of food, and about 2 months after I bought them they all dropped dead in less than a week.

Rufio! Love it!

 

[RachelGM]

An acquaintance of mine has started an enterprise for rescuing battery hens and finding homes for them.
One thing that people assume is that they are poorly fed. That is just not the case. They don't get to forage like backyard and free range chickens but they are well fed. Virtually every large egg producer has their own local feed mill. The trucks run from the wee hours and all day running feed directly to the farms. Those chickens get feed within 24 hours of when it was milled.
That's fresher than any small holder's chickens can get.
Their bottom line depends on egg production. Feeding chickens poorly will put them out of business.

These were not battery hens. They were previously owned by a fellow allotment holder on my site, who neglected them. When I took them on they didn't have much body fat and were a real sight to look at. And they were only with me for a matter of a few weeks. But they looked a lot better by the time they died!

 

[frostic]

These were not battery hens. They were previously owned by a fellow allotment holder on my site, who neglected them. When I took them on they didn't have much body fat and were a real sight to look at. And they were only with me for a matter of a few weeks. But they looked a lot better by the time they died!

That is sad...

 

[5.3acredream]

1. Thinking that 2 months of weekends was enough time to build my coop and run and that the weather wouldn't be miserable. It took me from March to August to complete the coop and run. First of was freezing temperatures in March- So cold that my foreman (dad) called it quits until it warmed up. Then it got so hot and humid we bought giant fans to work around. 90s with 90% humidity is just evil. We had to get a temporary tractor supply coop in order to keep the chicks after they outgrew their brood box in June. Bright side is now we have a way to brood and introduce any new chicks with ease in the coming years...

2. Not just getting all the run components separately and putting it together but relying on a run kit. The kit was fine but my foreman (dad) felt very strongly about modifying it so it was 6ft tall at its lowest point and extensively modified for more support. It would have been cheaper to suss out all components myself than get the kit and add.

3. Thinking only free ranging on weekends would be safe enough. Nope, lost a girl to a hawk a few weeks ago. Now the girls are locked in. We are lucky our roo is a gentleman. Now we only have 5 girls to 1 roo.

All in all our mistakes have been mild (as far as I know at this point). We've been lucky.

 

[HuffleClaw]

Loving this thread!

 

[Hermit]

Ewwwwww!
That's nasty!

I would like to put in an order for one of that rooster wrangler. Where do I send my address?