What were your worst mistakes when you first started?

[ChickenCanoe]

Yes but when you are putting roofing panels up it’s a lot easier when both people have drills.

I have a similar bit, but I still wouldn’t give up my set. I should have specified that one is an impact driver & the other is a torque drill. The impact driver moves through 6x6 treated lumber like its butter and having both allows 2 people to work on roofs and siding on opposite sides. no more passing the drill or waiting to use it or worse yet, dropping/losing a bit in the grass multiple times. that happens way more than i’d like to admit.

I get that.
If I was only so blessed to have a helper to use the other drill. I've had to be creative in figuring out how to conjure another pair of hands when no one else is around with strapping, chains, levers, hoists, angle braces, etc..
I was just saying that the annoyance of constantly changing bits isn't necessarily a thing.
Impact driver/drill driver sets are great to have.

It is nice to have multiple copies of tools in case one fails so a person isn't out of commission till a replacement is procured.

 

[chickawhat]

I get that.
If I was only so blessed to have a helper to use the other drill. I've had to be creative in figuring out how to conjure another pair of hands when no one else is around with strapping, chains, levers, hoists, angle braces, etc..
I was just saying that the annoyance of constantly changing bits isn't necessarily a thing.
Impact driver/drill driver sets are great to have.

It is nice to have multiple copies of tools in case one fails so a person isn't out of commission till a replacement is procured.

telll me about it! ugh. I literally just built another 4x4x6 coop for silkies. my usual help is at boot camp so i did the whole thing solo. it felt like some sort of advanced yoga trying to get all the pieces to line up i don’t want to do that ever again.

 

[chicknmania]

Would you mind elaborating on your working methods please? And would you mind sharing what dewormer you use? I am a newbie. My flock of nine girls are 14 weeks. They have had Mareks vaccinations and I gave them medicated feed and stopped it a couple weeks prior to them going outside like some recommended on here so I hope that was good. They got about 7 weeks of it. Hope that was appropriate. I have gotten mixed opinions on dewormed from posters on here. Some have said they deworm and some not. I live in the South. Mississippi. I have two small dogs but they don’t share the run space with them and they are also Vet checked and monitored regularly and dewormed also. My chicks do not free range but have a very large run for nine girls. I passed chicken math with an A+ too. My husband has ensured that we have made sure of that. . I appreciate you being willing to share. Thanks in advance.

Hi and welcome! It just kind of depends on where you are and the environment they live in, whether you need to deworm or not but I feel like it's always a good idea. You won't need to for a while yet, but if you want to make sure, just have your vet do a random fecal float for you once or twice a year. They don't have to be a bird vet to do that; I always say poop is poop and the parasites are basically the same. Our vet will do a fecal for 18.00 and if he feels a repeat is needed later, he does that usuallly for free. But our flock free ranges and we have documented worms so we know we need to deworm twice a year. For dewormer, we rotate them (yearly) and deworm twice a year with either Levasol (you put it in the water, which is nice), or we make mash with Valbazen or Safeguard. For just 9 chickens, you can just deworm them individually if they need it. You can use Safeguard suspension (we get that from the vet) or Safeguard goat dewormer, and there you'd have to research on here what the dose for that is. We get our dewormer usually on line from www.firststatevetsupply or askthechickendoctor.com.
Other than that, there's tons of stuff you can give your flock as supplements or whatever, but depending on circumstances (stress, heat, or maybe they just havent had any for a while) I'll supplement our flock with vitamins for a week or so at a time, and sometimes apple cider vinegar with the Mother in it. Usually quarterly I will give them either Strike 3 all natural dewormer, or BYC Zyfend A...not because either will get rid of worms on it's own, but I feel like they help, as a preventative.

It's not very scientific, but it's just what I do, and I feel like I have developed what works pretty well to keep a healthy flock over the past 15 years. I feed them Purina Flock Raiser crumbles and sometimes mix with cracked corn or even scratch grain.

I have never vaccinated our flock except once for ILT. They are not vaccinated against Marek's or anything. They seem to do ok. I also never use medicated chick starter, I just don't feel like they need it if they aren't showing symptoms of coccidiosis, and our chicks never have. Once in a great while we've had a pullet with Cocci, and they we will give Amprolium (Corid) to the whole flock.

But basically all I can tell you is just watch and learn. It's just such an individual thing. Be prepared to lose some, and if you don't that's wonderful! If you do lose one, you will have learned something and will know what to do, or not to do, for the next one. We have had lots of chickens and peafowl over the past years and have many stories that make us laugh, or smile, or cry over the memories, and most everyone on here does.

BYC will always be here to help. If you ever need anything, please reach out. And have fun!!

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask here.

 

[Wendy Case]

Heh ... I live in Texas. I worry far more about the heat than the cold - even with non cold hardy birds, they're not going to get too cold out here, I do not need to heat a coop. I avoid breeds listed as cold hardy, because I fear that means they won't handle the heat. I worry about the ones with small combs.

The other thing that gets dead chickens in a coop is people who think putting an electric fan out there helps with the heat. Chickens are not mammals and do not sweat. Indoor fans aren't designed for outdoor coops, and bits of bedding and dust can build up and cause fires.

Heh ... I live in Texas. I worry far more about the heat than the cold - even with non cold hardy birds, they're not going to get too cold out here, I do not need to heat a coop. I avoid breeds listed as cold hardy, because I fear that means they won't handle the heat. I worry about the ones with small combs.

The other thing that gets dead chickens in a coop is people who think putting an electric fan out there helps with the heat. Chickens are not mammals and do not sweat. Indoor fans aren't designed for outdoor coops, and bits of bedding and dust can build up and cause fires.

I beg to differ re the fan.
I have an extractor fan and an agricultural fan in my 162sq.ft coop. The air circulates great throughout our northeast Oregon summers. They also have five windows in there plus a screen door.
The fan I use is strictly agricultural with the built in motor so dust can't settle and burn it out. An ordinary domestic fan is definitely iffy, specially if it's free standing and I don't recommend those or any other domestic fan at all.
Mine is attached to the roof joists. There's nothing wing with fans providing you get the right one for the application.

 

[Josip]

My probem with chicken math is that I have stable were my grandmother used to have 10 cows, so it's big place . And I can add as many chicken I want, nothing is enough for me first I buy incubator this year and hatch then I have broody hen and again have chiks and at the top every other week I go to nearby livestock fair and by 5 or 7/8/9.. chiks.. I MUST STOP!! LAST YEAR I STARTED WITH 3 HEN'S AND 1 ROO AND NOW AM AT 55