What were your worst mistakes when you first started?

[thepick4uchicks]

Put up Livestock fencing for the predators, w/ chicken wire attached to keep my birds in.

Should have gone electric from the start, would have looked better (my ground is uneven), and been easier to reconfigure. Fixing it now (admittedly, had no power to the barn at the time, and Solar charges won't deter large livestock).

Built a storage shed with a section I frequently use as a brooder and "time out box" for individual birds using 3/8" exterior grade plywood with a vertical lathe pattern. Its too heavy to move, too thin to not warp, wasn't nearly as "exterior grade" as promised, sucked up paint, destroyed brushes, and still wants to warp, mold and rot every time it gets wet. And the Brooder/Time Out was too small to use as a grow out box for more than 4 birds at a time - already fixed. When the walls fall off, they will be replaced with the same concrete board I used on the barn and the hen house.

/edit and I started my flock at the beginning of COVID - so I was forced to buy the breeds available, not the breeds I wanted.

I know what you mean by that. I spent $200 on nine chicks and some essentials. They are more expensive breeds but during the beginning of COVID getting any was a miracle. I placed my order in March and got them in May.

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

I know what you mean by that. I spent $200 on nine chicks and some essentials. They are more expensive breeds but during the beginning of COVID getting any was a miracle. I placed my order in March and got them in May.

My parents couldn't make up their minds about chickens, so we ended up running out of time. Instead, we got TSC chicks. The day after my grandpa died acctuly, my mom wanted a distraction. BTW, I'm not heartless, I didn't know the guy, I named a chicken after him though

 

[thepick4uchicks]

My parents couldn't make up their minds about chickens, so we ended up running out of time. Instead, we got TSC chicks. The day after my grandpa died acctuly, my mom wanted a distraction. BTW, I'm not heartless, I didn't know the guy, I named a chicken after him though

OMG! No not heartless! The chicken naming thing is a high honor. He should feel especially memorialized.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Not to mention respiratory illnesses. My cold hardy birds do fine in the summer. We had the hottest July on record last month. Some days were so bad hot and HUMID. Dew points in the 70's. I had planned on getting ice for my birds but never did. I have a run that might get partial sun for 2 hrs a day. Some days my coop is cooler that the run and they hide in there.

Chickens were wild animals at one time. You are correct their bodies respond to conditions differently than we do.

Same at my house. Heat was a nightmare.

 

[DaYooper_Duck]

Not having a good latch on my coop. I literally tied my coop door shut with a shoelace, thinking I had a few days to get a proper latch. Spoiler alert: I was wrong. So wrong. A coyote broke in around 9-10:00am ish, (my mom saw it slinking around) and it killed all 3 of my pullets/cockerels.

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

OMG! No not heartless! The chicken naming thing is a high honor. He should feel especially memorialized.

Lol, I guess, her name is Hazel, his middle name was Hazen. He had dementia, an alcoholic. He didn't have it when I was born, but I doubt he knew my name then either But it made my mom happy, and that's what counts. He does have a very special chick named after him she has always been a bit on the not so bright side.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I've made plenty of mistakes in the last 65years or so.
The sad thing is that I continue to make mistakes almost daily.
I screwed up royally yesterday and feel terrible.
I hatch anywhere between 50 and 200 chicks a year. I used to leg band with numbered colored bandettes. It worked pretty well except when the birds lost their bands.
If enough lost them before I knew it, I wasn't positive who was who.
I switched to numbered wing bands a couple years ago because - even though I can't read them from afar- they never lose them throughout life.
I was OK with that till yesterday. I wing banded really young chicks (less than a week old). I will never wing band chicks under 3 weeks old again.
The band is supposed to go through the wing web between the tendon and midway between the wing bones.
In this case the wing was so small, it was hard to find the point to penetrate. The last one I did yesterday I really screwed up. It went right through the joint between the ulna and humerus.

Essentially I blew out its wing bones. All that was left was a little string of skin. After my shock, I decided to amputate. There wasn't much blood and it didn't complain much.
It is doing fine today except short one wing.

How horrible for you both! Though I expect you were more traumatized than the chick in the long term.

Thank you for being brave enough to share.

If you are ok with graphic pics, here is a link to a thread about a pullet (that turned out to be a rooster) that had its wing torn off by a predator. The bird made a full recovery and gets along well with only one wing. It is an amazing and encouraging read.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/graphic-pics-wing-amputation-advise.1246736/page-20

 

[Amer]

Did you have a chick or a grown chicken that drowned them self? Are you serious?

Yes, two actually, both nearly grown pullets.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

How horrible for you both! Though I expect you were more traumatized than the chick in the long term.

Thank you for being brave enough to share.

If you are ok with graphic pics, here is a link to a thread about a pullet (that turned out to be a rooster) that had its wing torn off by a predator. The bird made a full recovery and gets along well with only one wing. It is an amazing and encouraging read.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/graphic-pics-wing-amputation-advise.1246736/page-20

Thanks. I know it will be OK. It already is. But I just can't believe I did it just to get the job done when I had a chance instead of waiting for them to get a bit bigger. I had a bunch of birds to get outside and needed to be wing banded before I moved them out.

 

[Matejka]

You could buy presexed pullets. That what we did. If you buy straight runs you usually end up with at least ONE rooster...if you are lucky.

This is my black Australorp "pullet". Paid extra for 3 black Australorp pullets and NOT straight run. I got 1 pullet, 1 black sex link pullet, and Randy. He is an Australorp-but he IS a he

The 2 straight run new Hampshire's were both pullets.
Go figure.