What We Wish We Knew Before We Got Our Chickens

What we wished for and what we knew were two separate things. I realize that now. I only wish I would have researched chicken keeping from a beginner’s standpoint before now.

I was thinking back to before we purchased our chickens. I have been doing some reading on beginner backyard chicken raising these days. There are many things I would change if I had only known a little more before we got our chickens.

If Only We Had Known

I had raised chickens before, so I was kind of like, ‘It’s not so hard’. My hubby on the other hand was researching everything. I just wanted to get chickens again. He was trying to protect them at all costs. This was one good thing, though. The reason it is a good thing he was trying to protect them is that we live in a suburban area, surrounded by neighbors that have dogs. Plus, our backyard butts up to woods and on the other side of that, fields of corn.

I had decided that adding artificial light to force them to be productive all year round was a good idea. I had tried it with my first flock. So, it was good enough for this flock. It turns out that it is not such a good idea in pullets. It can cause all kinds of issues for them. We lost one chicken one month after we got her. She might have been egg-bound if only we had known before we got chickens.

Issues With Artificial Lighting And What We Knew About Chickens Sleep-Wake Cycles

Some flock owners believe that artificial light can cause issues with egg binding and vent prolapse. I have read that in the first year, pullets will lay all the way through winter and so no artificial light is needed. So we wasted money and possibly caused issues with our pullets last year.

I knew that I wanted eggs all year. We knew that if you use artificial light, we would only add about 5-6 additional hours in the morning.

This is a good in-depth article here.

What We Knew About Feeding Chickens

This is another issue we were searching to find the answers to. Some kitchen scraps are safe to feed chickens and other items, not so much. Be careful that when feeding kitchen scraps, there is no moldy items going out to them or if they don’t eat all of the scraps, pick them up before they go in the coop so they don’t become moldy.

We also have built a multi-feeder for the chicken’s food. The way it opens can sometimes allow water drops to enter and I constantly have to remove the moist food so it doesn’t get moldy.

I wish we would’ve used a plastic bucket with a screw-on lid instead of the one we used. I wish I had known to be more careful about moldy items, so our chickens would have been healthier from the start.

What We Knew About Chicken Diseases

Our chickens have had issues with Vent Gleet. I blame that on the moldy items that we didn’t watch for in the beginning. So we have to soak their butts in water and put antifungal cream on their tushies afterward—such a process. We even tried just to cut the feathers short so the poop wouldn’t stick to their butts so much. One of our main culprits has passed away and I think the other one is better, at last.

Then one of our flock got sick two months ago and I checked to see if she was egg-bound. I fed her egg yolks through a syringe and some electrolytes. I found her in the run just lying on the ground, not really eating or drinking most of the day. She wouldn’t even go in to roost one night, so I brought her inside in a dog cage. The vet said she probably had a virus, so we had her put down.

What We Knew About the Deep Litter Method

This is a new one for me. I had never heard of the deep litter method before. It sounded like a plan, and we thought we knew what we were doing. Last week I read an article that stated if you have a wood floor in your coop, you need to start with 2″ of wood shavings.

Well, I guess we’ve been doing that all wrong. Our chicken coop floor itself is made from wood and then a vinyl remnant is laid over top. From what I researched, we should have used 2″ of wood shavings first and then added the straw layers. The indoor run is laid with sand, which is a better way to start building your deep litter method.

Also, the last thing I didn’t understand with the deep litter method is that you only have to clean the coop out once a year. We cleaned it at six months, so that’s why our barn litter hadn’t become compost yet.

What We Knew About Eggs: To Clean Them or Not to Clean Them

There are many schools of thought on this. Some chicken owners rinse them. Others feel you shouldn’t clean them at all, only brush off dirt. One thing to know is never clean them with cold water, as this sucks the contaminants inside. The water should be slightly warmer than the egg itself. Soak the egg in a bowl and then rinse with warm water. Dry the egg. Use something slightly abrasive and scrape off the dirt or poop, such as a clean sanding sponge, fine grit sandpaper, loofa, or an abrasive sponge.

To keep your eggs clean in the first place, get them out of the nesting boxes early in the morning before the chickens have a chance to play with them. Yes, chickens will play with them any chance they get if you leave them in the boxes all day.

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Final Thoughts About Our Backyard Chicken Stories and What We Knew Before We Got Our Chickens

We love them. Getting fresh eggs is awesome! You can get really attached to them, so you need to lock them up each night. You WILL want more, so make your coop as big as you possibly can afford. Or if you build it in such a way that you could make it bigger.

Are there some things that you would have done differently or didn’t know when you started with your flock that you know now? Let us know in the comments below. We can all learn from each other and be a better Eden community because of it.

Blessings!

Kimberlee

Other articles you might enjoy. DIY Chicken Toys.

How to Clean a Chicken Coop

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Chickens Molting in the Fall? Here’s How to Support Them