What were your worst mistakes when you first started?

[Folly's place]

I tried Bogs, and others, and NO WAY were they fine to wear. 'Muck Boots', on the other hand, are comfortable, and warm in winter, and don't leak, and wear for years, and I wear them every day out there.
And I don't own stock in the company!
Mary

 

[NH Chicken Mama]

I tried Bogs, and others, and NO WAY were they fine to wear. 'Muck Boots', on the other hand, are comfortable, and warm in winter, and don't leak, and wear for years, and I wear them every day out there.
And I don't own stock in the company!
Mary

This is good to know. I lose circulation in my fingers and toes when the temps drop below 70 so good warm boots are definitely going to be a necessity this winter!

 

[aliciaplus3]

I liked my boggs.... only took me 5 years to wear em out... never had muck boots, wouldn't mind trying but ? I am currently using a walmart special rain boot, that only took me 3 months to split. Oh well back to the drawing board

 

[NH Chicken Mama]

My parents made all the big mistakes; we got chickens when I was twelve, so I watched as they raised seven RIR cockerels to a year old (luckily, I dropped them in the goat pen on a whim, so they stayed in there and the hens were free of them) and then tried to butcher them. First, we chased them down. Then dad killed them. Then we scalded them in boiling water, just as his father had when he was a kid. Funnily enough, the chickens came out tough and partially-cooked. Who'd a' thunk?

We kept the feeders full all of the time. No problems with little birds; many problems with rats. I hate rats. My chickens get fed twice a day and then the feed gets put away. Every so often, I put poison up under the roof where the chickens can't get it, just in case. Because rats are bad. I'm looking into getting a small terrier. I hate rats.

We brought bantam chicks inside (homicidal broody) and put them in an uncovered brooder. The dog thought they were funny-looking, so he picked them up and dropped them in random places. Some of them, he crushed to death. Not intentionally, of course; he was generally a good dog, and he never killed any other chicken, but we were pretty angry at him.

We fed our dogs whole eggs. These dogs had access to the coops (guard/watchdogs) and soon, egg production started dropping. (???) Luckily, border collie crosses are sensitive sorts, and it only took a two smacks on the muzzle to get the message across once I figured out what was going on.

Galvanised metal waterer. Overnight. In thirty below weather. Need I say more? (In case I do, the water expanded and split the weld on the bottom. Dad's a welder, but he won't touch galvanised steel because of the fumes and how thin this stuff was, so we scrapped it for a rubber pan.)

We allowed a hen to brood herself nearly to death.

We allowed a hen to brood on upwards of thirty eggs because she just kept collecting them.

Funnily enough, and contrary to the expereinces of everyone else on here, we ignored biosecurity and never had a problem (except with lice and one case of Mareks.) Free-ranged without limits and only ever lost one hen.

Galvanized metal waterer here. This is a good tidbit. Thanks.

I'll also remember not to feed my dog eggs.

 

[NH Chicken Mama]

So sorry for your loss

What is HC?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

What is HC?

I assume it is hardware cloth.

 

[chicknmania]

I have heard this from several people, and am thankful for the information. I will never allow a heat lamp on my property.

There are heater panels now for poultry that you can buy on line, called Cozy Coops. I think MyPetChicken sells them, for starters. They are great. They are safe to use and provide very adequate heat.

 

[JoeInPA]

Well reading this thread has made me feel a whole lot better about the job I've been doing. I've only been in the "chicken business" for a few months and I have done hours of reading here, but here are my biggest mistakes/regrets so far.

1. Buying chickens without having a coop ready.

2. Procrastinating on building a coop.

3. Underestimating the cost of building the coop.

4. Buying straight runs and expecting 50/50 roosters to pullets.

6. Not knowing about AUTOMATIC CHICKEN DOORS!

7. Thinking "chicken wire" was meant for chickens. It's not! Go hardware cloth!

I haven't lost any birds to predators yet but when I bought straight run baby chicks, 4/5 were roosters. So I had to give away 3. I have 5 birds now and I am at capacity. Chicken math does not apply. I can do +/- 1 bird but 5 is really the magic number for me. My uncle kept 4 hens for years and was never tempted to get any more. I seem to take after him as I really have no desire for more. My neighbors already think I'm a redneck even without chickens LMAO.

I waited a while to build my coop as I wanted to spend a lot of time researching designs, and also I thought my first group of birds were about 2-3 weeks younger than they actually are. So now at about 12 weeks, my two older chickens are finally in their coop. Whoops.

Also I should've built my run enclosure as a walk in or at least partial walk in design. I don't totally regret building it to 4' tall, as my chickens have been fairly tame so far so it's not terribly difficult to run in and grab them, but it would be nice to be able to walk in standing up (I'm 6'3".) An automatic coop door should largely alleviate this though. I use a long broom handle with a hook on it to grab their feeder and waterers so I don't have to walk in for those.

Also chicken wire is a waste of money. It's a pain to cut and install and while it has thwarted attacks from hawks, it wouldn't be that hard to break through.

I still know very little about diseases but I haven't seen any obvious signs of illness. I do try to add some Bragg's ACV to their water every once in a while.

 

[NH Chicken Mama]

There are heater panels now for poultry that you can buy on line, called Cozy Coops. I think MyPetChicken sells them, for starters. They are great. They are safe to use and provide very adequate heat.

Yes, I think I saw something similar at my local feed store. I also (when I was originally looking at chicks) saw the DIY brooder heater. I definitely have to look in to it. We go very negative here.

 

[NH Chicken Mama]

I assume it is hardware cloth.

Thank you!