We all make mistakes. We all learn along the way. In hindsight, what would you change in your chicken tending experience if you could? It can be something you wish you had done, wish you hadn't done, or wish you'd done differently. I wish I hadn't succombed to chicken math when I got my first chicks. I was supposed to get 4 chicks when my hubby and I went to Tractor Supply one spring day two years ago. We came home with 8. The plan was to get 4 the first year, then add 4 each spring. Oops! My biggest mistake was to separate two girls from the flock. Penelopeep (Penny) and Cleohatchtra (Cleo) were victims of feather pulling and had naked backs, so when it got really cold, we brought them inside. Then it snowed and sleeted, followed by an extended period of cold...a polar vortex came in January of 2025...then it snowed and sleeted again. So much time passed that we were worried they wouldn't be acclimated enough to go back outside. Next thing you know, 9 months had passed. Their feathers had grown back in. It was spring and time for them to go back outside. After a month of acclimation and careful reintroduction, we let the girls rejoin their flock. Unfortunately, despite a lot of effort and multiple kinds of deterrents (butter sprays, anti-pecking stuff, aprons, etc.), we still had a feather pulling problem that had spread as a neurotic bad habit. Penny and Cleo's pretty new feathers didn't last a week. They got bullied. Fast forward to now. We added 4 more chicks in spring of '25. Cleo started bullying them simply because she could and because poop rolls down hill. She was at the bottom of the pecking order, so she made sure the babies stayed lowbies. If chickens could smile, she would have a poop-eating grin every time she charges at them. She delights in tormenting them. Now I have two upper level pecking order bullies who pick on everyone (they are currently going through a hard reset) three feather pullers, and Cleo as the babies' tormentor. It's a disaster. I learned that chicken math is real. I learned I can't say no to adorable, fluffy chicks, so my husband has to keep me reeled in. I wish we had never separated Penny and Cleo from the flock last winter. I learned that unless a chicken is very ill or injured, or to "fix" problems in the pecking order, they should stay with their flock. I'm currently using separation to reset the flock dynamics. Now that my 12 hens are able to GTFO my sunroom (after a 10-day sub-zero cold spell with a foot of snow), my two Big Bullies - Buffy Buffet and Dolly Carton - are staying inside. After several days to a week, they will go back to the flock, and hopefully stop being bullies. Lessons learned the hard way are learned well.

When I designed my large 16ft by 8ft (twin 8ft x 8ft with a shared middle wall) for deep bedding and lots of ventilation I thought I had the rat problem solved with having the coops clad with tin. Well... bad news. only one of the coops is rat proof. One I had to clad three 4x4's with tin corners to make it impossible for the rats to climb. The final building corners are going on this coming Monday. The other 8ft x 12ft coop is mostly rat proof but it has a 4ft by 8ft storage area which they've gotten into and then chewed thru the 1/4 inch ply into the coop. I am planning on cladding the inside of the storage area with tin to rat proof. Wondering is there is anything else I can do? Also best way to clean up the mess they leave to make it less toxic for chickens... does anyone know?

Good Morning, I hope everyone is doing ok, we are finally up to 26 degrees in Alabama and I was wondering how everyone’s chickens are doing with the cold the last several days.

I can’t believe it but I found this beauty today at a thrift store and wheeled and dealed him right into my arms!!! This is going to be my only roo! I have a feeling he’s going to be very quiet 🤣 Now, to just come up with a name that suits him….

Congrats everyone! We just crossed the 100 member mark today and very excited to see this community starting to take shape! I hope you all find your people no matter where they are in the world and are able to get amazing information from this group. You are welcome to invite others to this community as well so post on your pages, groups etc and let's build the best chicken tender community on the web! For fun: Comment below where you live!